The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 229: what you’re looking at

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THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. 215 In this strain did Mildred continue to talk, until her credulous mother became fully persuaded that all the good qualities of her daughter had been hitherto concealed, but were now rapidly developing themselves. At length Lady Lang- port said, ‘1 leave the business all in your hands, dearest Mildred: but remember that I should never be happy again if any unkindness or cruelty were shown towards Ethel.” ‘There shall be none,” replied Mildred. “ And now, dear mother, good night. The first thing in the morning I will be with you to commence my ministrations.” Mildred then retired from the chamber; and she sought her own room with a triumphant smile upon her eountenance. ‘““T am glad that I have taken this step,” she said to herself. ‘It is wise to get rid of this Ethel Trevor at once! She is evidently a dan- gerous woman ; and already had she made herself SO necessary to my mother that it has required all my powers of dissimulation to play the part which I have just performed. Yes, yes! my eyes could not long remain closed to Ethel’s designs! She would have prejudiced my mother against me— she would have wormed herself deeper and deeper into the old lady’s confidence— she would have doubtless got her to make a will in her favour! And after all it might have ended in my being turned out of the house almost as suddenly as I was introduced into it! But still I must deal cautiously with this Ethel. with secrets which she must not be permitted to reveal; and therefore it will not be prudent to come to any open rupture with her.” Mildred retired to rest; but it was some time before sleep visited her eyes, for she lay and cogi- tated upon the course which she should adopt with regard to Ethel. As for Ethel herself, she sat down by the side of her couch, after that outburst of emotion which we have described, and she waited to see whether the dressing-room door would be again unlocked, and whether she would be summoned back into Lady Langport’s presence. Half-an-hour passed, and still the door continued closed. An hour went by, and Ethel felt assured that her services were not required any more, at least for the present. She tried the door—she found that it was still locked: she disapparelled herself and got to bed. But sleep was also slow in visiting her eyes; and she lay reflecting upon the incidents of the even~ ing. She saw that Mildred was her bitter enemy; and it assuredly was not a struggle upon which the amiable Ethel would willingly enter. She therefore felt perfectly inclined to abandon the ground to Mildred, if she could retreat without in- curring any blame or reproach on the part of Lady Langport herself. Indeed, her position had in the space of a very few honrs become well-nigh in- tolerable. Lady Langport had asked her to go and propagate amongst the servants the report that a sister, instead of a daughter, had been restored in the person of Mildred; and though she might have winked at the deceptive repre- sentation or have tacitly forborne from contradict- ing it, yet she could not bring herself deliberately and coolly to give utterance to the lie. This cir- cumstance alone would have induced Ethel to seek any honourable pretext for leaving Lady Langport; and therefore, when all other motives She is acquainted | were superaddcd—-when she reviewed all the in- sults she had received on the part of Mildred, and reflected upon everything that was bad, offensive, and repulsive in Mildred’s disposition and cha- racter — she came to the conclusion that her sojourn at Hendon Court would now be limited to the shortest possible space. But again she asked herself whither she should go? She had not forgotten the splendid offer made her by the Grand Duke: but she per- ceived an insurmountable obstacle in the way of her accepting it. The Russian Prince had spoken explicitly of the necessity of testimonials :—-what testimonials could Ethel furnish? A deep gloom fell upon her soul as she thought of the sad, the hopeless, the forlorn position in which the fatal love of the Duke of Ardleigh had placed her! Sleep at length stole upon her eyes; and when she awoke in the morning, at her usual hour, she tried the door of communication with the dressing- room—but she found it still locked. It was however almost immediately opened after she had turned the handle; and Mildred made her ap- pearance. To Ethel’s suprise, Mildred was all smiles and good humour, and she looked just as if she had never harboured u jealous feeling or spoken an angry word in reference to the young lady. “My dear Ethel,” said Mildred, “‘‘my poor mother is not very well this morning, and she is going to lie in bed for another hour or two. It shall be my task to minister unto her; and there- fore she dispenses with your services on the pre- sent occasion. I hope there is no ill-will, my dear Ethel, on your part on account of anything that I may have said?” ‘“‘Good heavens, no!” cried the amiable young lady, for the moment thrown off her guard by the seeming generosity of Mildred’s conduct towards her. “Well, we shall see each other presently,” said Mildred, “ and then I will tell you how my mother is and when it will suit her to receive you.” Having thus spoken, Mildred bestowed several smiles upon Ethel, and then retreated into the dressing-room, the door of which she again locked. It was only for a moment that Ethel was the dupe of this hypocritical behaviour on Mildred’s part; for a very brief interval of reflection enabled the young lady to comprehend the game which that deceitful creature was playing. ‘‘ By what she said to me last night,” thought Ethel to herself, ‘‘she fancies that I am in the way, and she is seeking to get rid of me. Heaven knows that I can no longer have any wish to re- main beneath this roof!” The nurse-maid now entered to take charge of little Alfred, who was playing about in the bed: and the young woman gave Ethel a letter which had just arrived by that morning’s post. It was addressed to ‘‘ Mrs. Trevor, Hendon Court ;” and the seal, which was avery large one, was im- pressed with the armorial bearings of some person of rank. It is not however necessary that wa should at this moment state from whom the letter i came, nor what was the nature of its contents. — COMO YN Wn) Colin