Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 80: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

el ~—. — 72 AGNES; OZ, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. by the landlady—a middle-aged good-natured matron, who had conceived a great friendship for the grand-daughter of the unfortunate old pri- soner in Whitecross Street. Mrs. Slater—for that was the landlady’s name—possessed a little an- nuity of some twenty or thirty pounds a year, from one of the City Guilds to which her husband had belonged; and she converted her humble means into a competency by letting portions of her house in ready-furnished lodgings. Being a thoroughly respectable woman, she was very par- ticular whom she thus harboured; and conse- quently, during her sojourn there, Winifred had never fallen in with any improper acquaintances. The rooms which she occupied were small: but Winifred, with a view to economy, would long ago have given up one and contented herself with a single apartment, had not Mrs. Slater insisted upon her young favourite retaining them both at a reduced rent. On opening the door for her on the present occasion—the maid-servant being out at the time —Mrs. Slater was at once struck by Winifred’s appearance. She looked exceedingly agitated : there was something strange altogether in her aspect; and the worthy dame was seized with the apprehension that some new calamity had over- taken the prisoner in Whitecross Street. “T hope there is nothing wrong, Miss?” she said; for knowing that Winifred was a lady by birth as well as by education and by manners, she always treated her with respect. “ No—nothing,” answered the damsel: and with her box in one hand and her bundle in the other, she passed hastily by Mrs, Slater, in a few mo- ments disappearing up the staircase. “Something has however happened to the poor girl, I am convinced of it!” said the worthy woman to herself, as she closed the door and slowly retired to her own parlour. “I have often seen her look unhappy: but she never seemed so strange as she is this afternoon. What can it possibly mean? I would go up and renew my inquiries—only I am afraid of being thought in- trusive.” Having brought her musings to this point, Mrs. Slater presently sat down to her tea-table ; and as she lingered over her little repast, she con- tinued to reflect on the agitated and excited looks of her favourite lodger, until she gradually sank into a doze. lt was about an hour later that the landlady was startled by a loud imperious knock at the front door; and when the maid-servant had an- swered the summons, Mrs. Slater heard the sounds of two men’s heavy footsteps in the pas- sage. Then her ear caught the words, “ Want Miss Barrington ?” which were ejaculated in ac- cents of mingled consternation and affright by the domestic. *Yes—Miss Barrington. You say she lives here?” answered a rough commanding voice. “ Which floor ?” “The second,” responded the maid-servant. * But good gracious! is it possible ys * Hold your tongue, and don’t be foolish,” in- terrupted the same rough voice that had before spoken: and then the heavy footsteps of the two men began hastily to ascend the stairs. Those were two police officials, Immediately after the corpse of Mrs. Chicklade was borne from the scene of the tragedy to the nearest public- house, the police had instituted inquiries in the neighbourhood ; and they had quickly learnt that a young seamstress, with bandbox and bundle, had been seen to call at Sidney Villa. Thither one of the policemen bent his way; and without pre- viously explaining his object, he elicited from Rachel Miss Barrington’s address. He then hur- riedly stated for what purpose he required it: but he tarried not to hear the indignant exclamations of the worthy woman against the possibility of Winifred being the authoress of so frightful a deed. We will here pause only for a single in- stant to state that the report of the murder dif- fused throughout Sidney Villa the same horror and dismay which were already experienced in the neighbourhood wherever the tale was known: but Agnes experienced even stronger feelings still ; for she was alike afflicted and indignant at the thought that so amiable a creature as Winifred could have been deemed guilty of such a crime. The reader has however no difficulty in now comprehending the purport of the ominous visit paid by the two police-officiale to Mrs. Slater's house. They ascended to the second floor: they opened the first door which presented itself, ob- serving no ceremony in the process; and Wini- fred started up from her seat on thus beholding them. * Ah! you know what we come for,” said one of the constables, laying his hand upon the girl’s shoulder. ‘‘We want you for the murder of the old woman.” It would be impossible to describe the strange horrified look which Miss Barrington bent upon the police-officer : her countenance became ghastly- something appeared to waver upon her lips—but it was inarticulate: and then with a scream sho sank upon a chair. : “And, by Jove, here’s the ring!” exclaimed the other police-official, snatching up the jewel from the table where it lay. “A ruby in the middle—with four pearls eet roundit! ‘The very same!” Great God! I am innocent!”’ cried Winifred, throwing herself upon her knees and wildly clasp- ing her hands. “I take heaven to witness that I am innocent! Give me that ring! I conjure you not to take it from me! Ob, you know not what it has cost me to obtain it!” “Ab, but we do know,” rejoined one of the offi- cials ‘“‘ and that’s what we are here for. Come, get up, my girl: this gammon won’t do for us! You must come along to the station.” The officer who thus spoke, raised Winifred by force from her suppliant posture; and the unfor- tunate girl gazed upon him with the vacancy of an idiot. She seemed as if her senses had com- pletely broken down beneath the weight of this stupendous calamity. Thus she stood for a few moments: then, as if su denly smitten with the consciousness of her posi ion, she gave vent to another wild scream,—again clasped her hands in a psroxysm of indescribable agony—and sank back in the chair. ** Come, young woman,”’ said one of the officials, } taking up her bonnet and shawl: “if you don’t choose to move of your own accord, we must carry you by main foree——that’s all.”’ = oz COMniclooolK< |