The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 128: what you’re looking at

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

ii4, THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. call again in the evening or in the forenoon of the morrow. Let us now return to the Duchess. At an early hour in the morning she ordered the travelling- carriage, and proceeded to the metropolis. On reaching Ardleigh House, she learnt that her husband was at home ; and in a very few minutes the husband and wife were alone together. ‘Has anything happened, Mary,” asked the Duke, “that you return thus abruptly from Thornbury ?” ‘‘ Nothing very particular,” replied the Duchess. “All the family-are well. But I have something to ask—something to propose——” “Speak, Mary: what is it that you require ? or what can I do for you?” “You know how horrified and shocked you were at the idea of signing that paper which I begged you to give me the other day. . ‘You need not now refer to it,” interrupted the young Duke, somewhat bitterly. “So many grave and serious things have taken place, Mary, and my character and conduct must stand out in a relief of such flagrant boldness, that I cannot in justice suppose you ought to keep any terms with me. Neither have I the faintest shadow of a right to dictate, or to complaii—no, not even to ad- vise——” ‘Do not continue in this strain, Herbert,” Said the Duchess; “ot you will make me think that you are finding sibterfuges in advance in order to refuse the favour I am about to ask at your hands.” . ‘‘No—you whust hot think this. do for you, Mary ?” — “In one word I want twenty thousand pouids.” The Duke gave a slight start; and then he said, “‘ But what has this to do with thé docu- ment you made me sign the other day ?” ‘“ Simply that when you give me the cheque for twenty thousand pounds, I will destroy that docu- ment before your eyes.” a ‘Oh ! but the mere fact of your having at any time demanded such a paper and that I should have signed it, will remain in our memories—and both of us must ever feel that it was something to shock—to repel—to inspire ineffable dis- gus ” ‘““T know full well,” said the Duchess, ‘that everything is completely at an end between you and me, save and except so far as appearances before the world are concertied. But ‘yet, if you only knew why I wish to give you back that paper, and why I need this large sum of money: e “Tell me then, Mary. You have aright to look upon me as a friend, even if I am no more worthy of being regarded as your husband. Be- sides, I owe you every consideration! It is I who Baie sinned against you—and not you against me. “Well then, listen to me, Herbert,” resumed the Duchess. ‘J have advanced very close to the | edge of a precipice—but I have not:fallen over: I | have played as it were with # serpéent, but it has not stung me: I abandoned myself to a passion, but it has not carried me on until I was irre- | coverably terged in the whirlpool of destruction. | No, Herbert—I do not want to become depraved and lose iny own self-respect, if I can avoid it. But I have become so far compromised with a certain person that a sum of money is neces- sary , . “Why, such a man must be a scoundrel ejaculated the Duke. ‘I presume that he has got some letters of your’s which he threatens to show in a word, you are in his power ?” “T am in his power,” rejoined the Duchess, “though still innocent and unpolluted. But do not question me farther. Suffice it for you to know that by the aid of the sum which I demand, I can rescue myself from his influence ; and then, Herbert—then I offer to destroy that document in order that I may be the less in- dependent of my husband—the less free to yield eerie future temptation that may present it- self.” _“ You shall have the money, Mary,” said the Duke, with some degree of fervour in his tone. “It isnot for me to bid you remain virtuous ; and yet I know not how it is, but I am not quite so y | indifferent as to think of the possibility of your straying without experiencing feelings of torture, remorse, jealousy—I scarcely know what——” “ Ah! it is always the same,” said the Duchess ; ‘“‘the husband thay sin as much as he likes—but he does not like the wife to sin also!” “ This is a reproach, Mary—but a well-merited one,” said the Duke. “And now I will give you the cheque. But perhaps you will not require to present it until late this afternoon or to-morrow morning, as it is for a very large sum, and I shall perhaps have to go and make some little arrange- . | taent with the bankers.” What ean I ‘““T cai promise you,” answered the Duchess, “that it shall not be placed in the hand of the individual for whom it is intended until four @’clock this afterrioon. And now here is the docu- ment which I extorted from you the other day. By its déstruetion I shall fortify myself in the resolves which I have made to continue in that path which caniot be associated with reproach or blame.” With these words the young Duchess tore the paper into fragments; and then lighting a taper, sh'e watched. the pieces burning in the grate until they became reduced to tinder. The ducal husband and wife then separated— the former to go to the City and inquire whether Mr. Warren had seen anything of Ethel—the Duchess to her boudoir, where she enclosed the cheque in an envelope, addressing it in a feigned hand to Sir Abel Kingston. ‘At a quarter to four o’clock,” she said to her confidante Lavinia, “ take a cab and go and leave this letter at the lodgings of Sir Abel Kingston in Spring Gardens.” CHAPTER XXV. A BACHELOR’S APARTMENTS. Ir was between one and two o’clock in the after- noon, and Sir Abel was seated at a table on which luncheon was spread. He occupied the drawing- room floor of a housé in Spring Gardens. The apartments were handsomely furnished; and the disorder which prevailed in the sitting-room was precisely that which seemed to be appropriate to the dwelling of a bachelor, especially when that YN Wn) conniclooolkks.conn