The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 252: what you’re looking at

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

No explanation on this head had been offered to the Grand Duke; and if he had not asked a question on the point, it was because he? fancied that an explanation would be volunteered. Finally, he was resolved that his daughter should be brought up with the strictest principles of recti- tude and virtue, and that she should be kept apart from all contaminating influences; so that he was not altogether satisfied with the somewhat hasty and off-hand manner in which Count Olonetz had disposed of the subject of taking references and making inquiries with respect to Ethel Trevor. From all that we have just said, the reader may perceive that there was suflicient to excite some little misgiving in the mind of the Grand Duke in respect to Count Olonetz’ present motives, and likewise to render him desirous of learning some- thing more than he already knew with regard to Ethel. He had looked in the Court Guide—he had found the name of Lady Langport as a re- sident at Hendon Court—and accordingly, after dinner his Imperial Highness had sallied forth from the ambassadorial - mansion in Grosvenor | Square, had taken his seat in a common hack | cab, and had repaired to Hendon Court, little dreaming indeed that on crossing the threshold of that mansion he should find himselfin the presence of her whom he had once loved so devotedly and who was his divorced wife ! And there it was that they met! Seventeen years had elapsed since they had last seen each other!—seventeen years since the husband was torn away from the wife in the very heart of Siberia! The Grand Duke had lately seen Mildred’s portrait,—that portrait which was in the possession of his daughter Roxana. It had been taken when Mildred was in all the bloom and glory of her beauty; and though the image of her who had once been so much loved could never have passed out of the Prince’s mind, yet the impression had been revivified, so to speak, and restored to all its pristine clearness by the sight of that portrait. Thus the idea which the Grand Duke had of Mildred, naturally was as she had appeared seventeen years back in Siberia ere he was so rudely separated from her. But since that time, as years had passed away, he had often thought to himself that Mildred was getting older and older—that she must therefore be changing in appearance: and he had often caught himself wondering how much was likely to be left of that superb beauty which had at the outset so ensnared -his heart. And now he beheld her before him! And how looked she? He was amazed to perceive at the first glance how handsome she still was—how well preserved all her charms! Let it be borne in mind, too, that her grand beauty received every advantage from the exquisite toilet in which she appeared, and which it would almost seem as if some presentiment had made her embellish herself wherewith as if for such an occasion as this. The Grand Duke was astonished. Instead of time, and care, and wandering, and penury, and dissi- pation, having marred all the beauty of that face, spoilt the contours of that form, and stamped the whole being with every evidence and sign of pre- mature old age, those features conserved all the perfection of their outline—there was not a wrinkle upon the brow—nor had the eyes lost their lustre, ‘nor the lips their redness, nor the teeth their ivory THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. purity. No !—all those charms were still there, the same as characterizing the Mildred of his imagination,—differing only in their association with a womanhood of riper years! Yes—there they were, those charms so well preserved that any one might have in a moment recognised in her the original of the portrait! There also was the rich symmetry of the shape, outlined as if still with all the freshness and firmness of youth: —there also was the luxuriance of the rich brown hair! the gaze of the Grand Duke,—true also that she had tottered to a chair, on which she had sunk down overwhelmed by feelings which the reader may easily comprehend, and which despite all her hardihood and the audacious readiness of her self- possession, she could not immediately control. But chiefly it was terror that seized upon her ; for the sudden thought flashed to her mind that it was an indignant ex-husband who had come as a harbinger of some terrible fate—perhaps exile for a third time to the horrible wilds of Siberia! But perceiving that it was a sense of amazement with which the Grand Duke was smitten—and there- ~° fore speedily comprehending that he was as much surprised at the encounter as she herself was—she took courage; and with «a characteristic promp- titude of purpose she resolved to be guided by circumstances in whatsoever discourse might now ensue—not perhaps without the hope that some- thing might yet transpire to her own advantage. Rising from her seat, she stood with an air of mingled suspense and meekness, anxiety and submission, in the presence of the Prince. Her look, her attitude, her entire bearing were sud- denly chosen and adopted with all the skilfulness of a cunning woman who held herself prepared for any emergency or requirement—to sink down as a suppliant if she found her cause weak, or to hold herself up as the wronged and outraged woman if she should happen to find the tide of circumstances flowing in her favour. Two or three minutes elapsed ere a word was spoken,—two or three minutes, which may seem a ridiculously short space in the ordinary affairs of life, but which constitute a long pause when every second is characterized by a hurricane of conflicting thoughts — when every moment is marked by the conjuring-up of countless recollec- tions of the Past! And therefore this pause seemed a long one now; and it afforded Mildred leisure to recover her self-possession, and to balance her mental equilibrium firmly as if for the encounter of a crisis wherein all depended upon the power of intellect that she might dis- play. “Mildred,” said the Grand Duke, at length breaking the long silence, ‘ I little thought that it was destined for us ‘to meet again in this world.” ‘Nor I,” she responded, purposely adopting a low tone in order that no particular interpretation might be put upon the emotion it displayed. “ T know not whether it be 2 good angel or a demon of evil that has now brought us thus to- gether,” continued the Grand Duke, who endea- voured to appear severe and cold, but who could not repress the tremulousness of his accents. “If it be a good angel it must have been with a heavenly meaning for us to meet once again on COMO YN Wn) It is true that Mildred had shrunk back from * Colin