Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 194: what you’re looking at

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

en ele a i NS - serutinizing look upon his visitor. 186 AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. you will: not hesitate to take me into your confi- dence. You know that I treated you with confi- dence when I wrote to you about Mr. Timperley ; I elso conceived the utmost friendship towards | your grandson Gustavus ‘3 | “Ab, I wish that he was hero!” ejaculated the old man; and then in a paroxysm of anguish he added, “For it is bard to be all alone when one | has got relations—and particularly too at’a mo- ment when one is standing as it were upon the very brink of riches 1 preat riches, Mr, | eelgiere !—immensoe riches! For judgment 1s | to be pronounced in a day or two--and—and—it is no longer next Term—but it is this Term!— this Term !” shrieked forth the old man, “that I | shall regain my rights and crush my eneaiies !” “‘Well- then, Mr. Barrington,” said Lord | Ormsby, “ this is all the greater reason why you should not be alone at the moment when riches are about to be showered upon your head. It is also a reason why those who shared with you the} bitterness of vour advereity, should enjoy the, and no soul! gweets of your prosperity.” ashamed of yourself! Ormsby. — and your granddaughter would have been hanged without him! There! that is the plain truth! And now let mo tell you, Mr. Barrington, that of all instances of ingratitude from one fel- low-creature to another, your’s towards Roderick Dalham is the blackest and most atrocious that ever came within my knowledge!” “ By heaven! such language as this!” exclaimed ‘the old man, his face purple with rage; and grasp- ing his crutch-stiek, emed as if he were on the point of dealing « i “Ah! I mean to said Ormsby, with the most imper Iness, ‘in order that you may presently more completely Strike mo if you dare! | Why, I could tear that stick from your grasp and inflict a hearty belabouring on the shoulders of such a vile old man as you are! As for your age, /so far from rendering you respectable it mukes You have no heart I despise aud hate you! You are not worthy of the love of such a granddaughter you all the more infamous! “What are you driving at, Mr. Hargrave P”|as Winilred, nor the dutiful devotion of such a demanded the old man, again fixing a very keen | noble-bearted man as Roderick Dalham!. Ha- Cy I thought that you yourself told me just | nov, ” replied Ormsby, “ that you were all alone tho feet of such a man! at this crisis of your life. You said that Gus- treaties indeed!” continued Ormsby impetuously. “TI would not condescend to lay intercessions at bodied. When you were in gaol you would not tayus was not here—and I see that Winifred is have cared if you had lived upon the prostitution not.” “Come, confess the truth !” interrupted the old man: “you know or suspect something? You} you! want to pump me—or you want to intercede with me—but you shall do neither! Drink your wine, and let us talk of other things,” “ Really, Mr. Barrington,” said Lord Ormsby, | purposely assuming a cold look and tone, ‘‘ if you persist in this evasiveness whenever I speak to you of your granddaughter Winifred, I myself shall bezin to wonder how it is that the police do not knock at your door to inquiro after her.” “ What, sir!” yelled forth the old man, his faco corrugating into myriads of wrinkles: “ you dare —vou dare insinuate 6 “TI insinuate nothing,’ interrupted Ormsby ; “but I say openly that if you persist in refusing ano account of your granddaughter Winifred, I shall think it very strange.” “ Now I know that you @re acquainted with the matter!’ exclaimed the old mau, “ and that you are taking this roundabout course in the hope of | bringing me to the point! Well then, Mr. Har- grave, I tell you once for all it is useless for you | to plead for Winifred. What! to marry tho son of my bitterest enemy! Ah! there I have said it! Ihave let out the secret—ifa secrét it really was to you.” | “From which I gather,” interjected Lord of your granddaughter!—you never would have asked whence came the money which she brought But because sho remained pure and spot- léss—and because it was your enemy’s son that. furnished the means of supplying your wants— you pour out the vials of your odious anger upon: that excellent girl as well as upon that generous- hearted man!” Lord Ormsby had risen from his chair as he thus spoke: his tall form was drawn up to its full height: there was a majestic dighity as well as the most overpowering scorn in his whole do- roeanour, Barrington gradually sank back in his chair, aghast and dismayed at language to which he was so little accustomed and which was so little expected from the quarter whence it now suddenly swept over him like a hurricane. But Ormsby knew the world well. To.appeal to the feelings of _ the sellish, or the justice of the prejudiced, or to the liberality of the bigoted, was as useless as to expect to find a heart that could melt in a block of granite or in a mass of iron. But to assail the individual with scorn and reproach—to overthrow him with oppressioa—to make him seem infamous in his own eyes—to tear off tho mask from bis countenauce—and prove him to be a prey to the meanest, paltriest, and most odiously contemptible prejudices, Ormsby knew that thes is the way to beat down the defences with which a man sur- “You would have starved without him! You are selfishness em- — Orinsby, “ that your granddaughter bas married | rounds himself for the purpose of fortifying an evil Roderick Dalham, Well, I have heard something | position. concerning that gentleman which ought to make, “Mr. Hargrave! Mr. Hargrave!” said old Bar- you go down upon your knees and thank him, in-| rington, at length breaking silence, and speaking stead of harbouring this bitter venomous rancour | in atremulous voice; “ you—you—are taking very against him!” great liberties! You are presuming because—be- “ Ah, the old story! the old story!” exclaimed! cause yourendered me a service in unmasking that Barrington petulantly. ** Roderick Dalham’s get- | ‘scoundrel Timperloy—and then too, you have be- (ing upon the jury—or elso bis supplying me haved kindly to my grandson: but—but it is not with money through Winifred a "on that account that you must come here and abuse ‘Both, both!—let us say both!” ejaculated me in this style!” ' (eC) boo = a