The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 200: what you’re looking at

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

v THE YOUNG DUCHESS: OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. rr rr i ca SU recollect she protested vehemently, when I ques- tioned her, against being made a traitress and a spy in respect to your ladyship a ‘Ah, kind, good Ethel,” murmured Lady Lang- port: and amidst all the torturing sensations which were harrowing her, there was a feeling of relief to be derived from the source of Ethel’s goodness. ‘“ But how came Mrs. Trevor here ?” she inquired. ‘* Accident—accident,” replied the Count im- patiently: then, as he paced rapidly to and fro in the apartment, he mentally asked himself, ‘‘ What can all this mean? This Lady Langport does not look like a base cheat. What mystery is at the bottom of her conduct ? what part can she be playing ?—Madam,” he suddenly demanded, stopping short and confronting her ladyship, ‘‘ who inherited the property left by the deceased Ed- ward Malcolm, of St. Petersburgh ?” “Who inherited it?” she said, with a fright- ened look. ‘*Yes—who? The fact can be easily dis- covered; for there was a commercial branch of the house in London. Indeed, one of my secretaries would ascertain the point for us in the course of an hour or two:” and the Ambassador advanced towards the bell-pull. “Stop, my lord!” cried Lady Langport ; ‘‘why do you thus seek to push matters to an extreme ?” Olonetz fixed his keen piercing eyes upon the lady’s countenance; and in a peculiar tone he de- manded, ‘*‘ What if the true Mildred Malcolm were to come forward and demand an account of that fortune which she nevér inherited ?—aye, demand it of those who are bound to give such an account, be they who or what they may ?” “Good God! Mildred lives!” ejaculated Lady Langport, all the feelings of a mother suddenly getting the better of any other consideration :— then throwing herself upon her knees, she cried, ‘My lord, my lord! keep me not im suspense! , If you know where she is, tell mé! tell me!—that I may go and embrace my child!” Olonetz started. The words which had just been uttered, constituted of themselves a complete revelation in one sense: but when he looked at this woman who knelt at his feet, how could he possibly believe that she was the mother of Mil- dred whom he knew to be forty-one years of age, and who indeed looked as old as this mother herself ! ‘You do not believe me, my lord ?” cried Lady Langport passionately: ‘‘ but it is the truth! Oh, spare me! spare me! It is a terrible secret which has been revealed to you!—a secret which for so many years I have kept 1"—then rising from her suppliant posture she murmured in a hollow voice, “T am a wretched thing of vanity, my lord; and in this I take heaven to witness lies the only cheat that I have practised!—herein is the only im- posture !” Count Olonetz, beginning to comprehend the actual state of the case, said, ‘Then I am to sup- pose, madam, that the Widow Malcolm did not perish amidst the crashing ice of the Neva ?” “No, my lord—no, she lived: she is here! Iam she! Yes—sixty years have I numbered; and if my Mildred be indeed alive, she will have just seen her forty-first birthday.” The Count looked very, very hard at Lady Langport—until he perceived that this survey was most disagreeable, most humiliating, most painful, because she understood why he was thus looking at her; and as she east down her eyes, he hastened to say, ‘“‘ Pardon me, madam: I have no right to be rude towards you. But by heaven! you were nearly suffering severely for this freak which has made you personify your daughter; for if you had not fled from Constantinople on a certain occasion, you would assuredly have been sent thousands of miles into the interior of Siberia !” A cry burst from Lady Langport’s lips; for the Count’s words seemed suddenly to afford her a horrible insight to what had been the fate of her unhappy daughter. ‘“‘T have no right to be rude to you,” continued the Count, who spoke with a tone and air which showed that he despised her very much and pitied her very little: “neither have I a right to keep you in suspense relative to your daughter. She lives—she has passed through a thousand vicis- situdes—some of her own creating—some created for her, so to speak “Where is she? Oh, tell me, my lord! tell me!” cried the wretched mother: “ where is she, that I may fly to her ?” ‘* She is in London, Lady Langport,” was the answer. “Oh !”—and her ladyship was almost overcome with the idea of meeting her daughter after a separation of nearly twenty-two years. ‘“‘T know not where she dwells—nor where she is to be found,” continued Olonetz ; “ but this will not prove difficult to be discovered. I myself wanted to see her :—pethaps the business which I should have sought to transact with her in a direct manner, can now be accomplished through your ladyship, her mother. Ah, by the bye !” added the Count, as he recollécted that he had 4 J just now seen Mandeville with her, ‘I may per= | haps be enabled presently to lay my hand upon a person who will tell us where your daughter is to be found: though, on second reflection, it is scarcely probable,” he muttered to himself, “ that she will tell him where she lives.” Lady Langport clasped her hands; and she could scarcely keep back her sobs or restrain her tears as she thought of the prospect of meeting that offspring whom for so many many years she had looked upon as one numbered with the dead. “Ido not exactly know whether it is my duty to inform your ladyship,” resumed Olonetz, after a pause; “but perhaps it were as well to prepare you for certain startling revelations. Listen. Let us go back to the year 1825. Yourdaughter at that time became engaged in a certain ama- tory intrigue. Your friends the Nevels were the secret go-betweens. You were ignorant of all that was passing; and thus, when the crisis came, the Government intended not to interfere with ou.” “Alas !” interjected Lady Langport, ‘‘ I disco- vered that my poor girl had been seduced—I | It was only the day before » knew not by whom. the accident on the Neva that I had my eyes opened to the fact of her dishonour and ruin. Until this day I am still ignorant of the name of her seducer’””’ “T may as well tell you the facts,” said the COMO YN Wn) Colin