Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 229: what you’re looking at

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

rr SSS, sss ess _ wronged her ! _ thought that you had killed me then! your horrible purpose would have been accom- AGNES: OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE, Gustavus ; “it is your mouth that is polluted with the falsehood you are uttering !” **Falsehood P” echoed the quadroon, her eyes now flashing forth the fiercest fires. ‘‘ You dare tell me that I lie, Gustavus ? Was not her dis- honoured condition visible enough? did we not accuse her of it? did she deny it ? was she not overwholmed with the charges? and was she not called Miss Barrington at her lodgings?” “ Everything is now accounted for!” cried Gus- tavus. ‘She was wedded to a Dalham—and she dared not tell the secret! Ob, my God! how we Poor girl, poor girl! what must ehe have suffered !” The red blood mantled vividly through the transparent duskiness of the quadrcon’s counte- nance; and that indignant blush descended on her neck, and even spread over her hosom which was swelling like the billows of a tumultuous sea as she sat up in the ouch darting lightning looks upon her husband. “What ! you dare speak of her tenderly in my presence ?” she exclaimed: “ you are bold enough thus to outrage and insult me?” “It is you who have outraged and insulted my _ pure and virtuous cousin!” exclaimed Gustavus fiercely. “Oh! I care not for younow: I defy you! Your looks will not kill; and with those white teeth of yours you dare not bite! I re- peat that I defy you! Hear me, then, speak of Winifred! Yes— she whom vou despised and scorned, is now a titled lady—she is a baronet’s wife—and it is as the honoured and respected— aye, and the beloved Lady Dalham that she must now be spoken of !” “ Beloved ?” echoed the quadroon, looking like a panther that was about to spring forth upon its prey. ‘Beloved by all who can appreciate virtue and goodness,” rejoined Gustavus; and then, after a moment’s hesitation, he added, “‘ For any one who loves not Winifred must indeed possess a soul strangely warped by envy, jealousy, or other ab- horrent passions.” * Do you mean this for me, Gustavus P” de- manded the quadroon, “Tf the cap fits you, wear it,” he replied with an air of cold scorn and defiance. “But I have other intelligence for you. Your father—as your father you know him to be, since I have told you that he is more than your uncle—your father, I ~say, is ill—dying—perhaps dead—and you must hasten to Jamaica !” “ Yes—with you,” interjected Emily. “ With me?” and Gustavus laughed scornfully. “No, no! I have had enough of your Jamaica!” ‘““Wretch!” cried the quadroon, her eyes again flashing fire ; “ is it remorse that renders Jamaica terrible to you ?—is it not the scene of the black attempt you made to murder your own wife? Did you not hurl me from the cliffs? Ah! you Yes—and plished, had not the projecting branches broken my fall, and I fell into shallow water!” “Tis false that I tried to kill you!” vociferated Gustavus, stamping his foot violently. “ I pushed you from me because I loathed you!—you reeled to the edge of the precipice—and as God is my judge, I spravg forward to save you! if we are to bandy accusations, let me enter upon the long catalogue of my charges against you! Think of the document you stole and hid, and which kept my poor grandsire in gaol for months and months when he might have been free. Think of your kidnapping me when I slept, and putting me on board a ship and taking me Back to Jamaica! Think of the life you have led me for weeks past! It is you that have made me a drunkard! Ob, you are a terrible woman! Lucifer himself has seemed to look out of your eyes when you have overwhelmed me with threats: but Syrens have given their blandishments to your glances, your smiles, and your toyings, when you have sought to subdue me into a melting sensuousness |” While Gustavus was thus speaking, the qua- droon exhibited the most violent emotions: her entire form writhed and convulsed as if it were that of a panther experiencing some fierce rage ere springing upon its prey: her eyes vibrated like sinister stars—and her fingers kept agitating with a nervous movement, the nails each time making deep indentations into the palms of her hands. All of a sudden—indeed the very mo- ment when Gustavus ceased—she sprang from the couch—not heavily, nor jumping down with a force that shook the room —but lightly and almost noiselessly as if her feet were of velvet; and she confronted her husband. “ Do you mean,” she asked, “that there is to be war between us P—for if so, you will havea terrible enemy to deal witb, and the love which has been so fervid can only turn into an equal extreme of hatred!” She had used the word terrible; and terrible she certainly looked at that moment. Her large eyes, dark as jet, seemed to be full of a concen- trated fire; her brilliant teeth beamed betwixt the parted lips: and the bosom was upheaved with the fierce suspense wherewith she awaited her husband’s answer. For a moment he trembled. Intemperance had attenuated his mind too much to permit him to recover its strength allin an instant; and the vaguely horrible idea struck him, to the effect that this woman alike so beau- tiful and so terrible, was different from other women, and far more potent for mischier. The quadroon observed that quailing on the part of Gustavus; and she experienced a sudden glow of triumph. ‘You will not have war,” she cried, ‘‘ because you dare not have it! You know me too well, Gustavus! If you choose to go to England, I will go with you. If you wish me to go to Jamaica, you shall come with me. These are my resolves. And now, if there is to be peace, let us embrace !” Peace ?” ejaculated Barrington, his mind sud- denly regaining its strength: “peace?” he re- peated scornfully. ‘“ What! when you have just made known your resolves as if you were an empress dictating unto the veriest of your slaves! No, by heaven! there shall not be peace between us simply when you choose to command it! I am your husband—and therefore your master!” “My master?” cried the quadroon: and never did a more bitter expression of scorn thrill through the tones of a more musical voice. “ My Aud, Ob !| master?” she repeated ; and ber form was drawn COnmcoooks.c© 99 =~ nn