The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 302: what you’re looking at

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

tate . a eee jou cera 288 THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. Ramely, by the outer-door of the dressing-room; and this latter was used only by the servants in the performance of their accustomed offices. The suite of apartments which we have been de- scribing, was in the same wing of the building as those of the young Duchess herself ; for the latter had always chosen to be in the vicinage of her mother-in-law’s dwelling-place, so that she might be enabled to run in and see her at any moment, and be close at hand in case of any accident or emergency arising from the disordered state of the unfortunate lady’s intellects. We should add that by the strict command of the young Duchess herself, Mrs. Quinlan ‘always locked the outer doors of the suite of apartments at night—that is to say, the door of the sitting-room opening from the great landing, and the door of the dressing- room leading towards the staircase that was used by the servants. Mrs. Quinlan was likewise wont to sleep with the keys under her pillow; and often in the course of conversation, when the topic of the. Dowager Duchess’s malady was referred to, the female-keeper had been wont to affirm that from a long habit she slept so lightly that the slightest sound or touch would awaken her. . We must now proceed to inform the reader that at the other extremity of the building there were two suites of apartments devoted to the younger branches of the Ardleigh family ; for the Duke had several brothers and sisters. Be- tween himself and the eldest of these there was however an interval of about ten years, so that young Lord Dalrymple was between sixteen and seventeen—though he scarcely seemed to be more than fourteen, for he was slight and diminutive in form, childish in pursuits, and of a very back- ward intellect. There were a couple of brothers younger than himself; and there were two sis- ters,—the youngest of the entire family being about ten years old. The young gentlemen—or rather the young lords, as we ought to call them, occupied one suite of apartments under the special jurisdiction of their tutor, the Rey. Mr. Conda- mine,—a worthy and excellent man, of about sixty years of age. He was a scholar, but an enlightened one: he knew something more than the classics;—he had travelled—and he was exactly the sort of person fitted to have the care of the younger male branches of that aristocratic family. -He was, properly strict without being severe; for even when performing the conscien- tious part of a disciplinarian, he had the Pala of displaying so much kindness as to prove How he felt himself to stand in loco parentis towards his fatherless pupils. He never troubled himself with the affairs of others : —indeed he had really no curiosity on that score; and thus, even if the conduct of the young Duchess had been far more indiscreet than it actually was, in respect to either Sir Abel Kingston or Count Mandeville, the Rey Mr. Condamine would have been the very last beneath that roof to notice the circum- stance. Not that he wilfully blinded himself to anything—nor that he was a sycophant or a para- site—nor that if he did see aught improper he was capable of winking at it. Nothing of the rind !—but he was a thoroughly good man, feel- ng the responsibilities of the position in which he was placed, and knowing that they demanded all his care, so that he never gave his attention negligently or thoughtlessly to anything else. The young Duke’s two sisters — Lady Emms and Lady Jane Dalrymple—respectively ten and twelve years old—were under the special tutelage of their governess, Mrs. Boyle. This lady was a widow, verging close upon her fiftieth year, and in disposition very much resembling the tutor of the young lords: that is to say, she was properly firm while she was indulgent, thoroughly upright and well principled, utterly above all gossip and scandal, feeling that she had a particular part to perform, and never overstepping the limits of her proper sphere. Mrs. Boyle and the young ladies had likewise their own special suite of apartments, in the same portion of the building as those of Mr. Condamine and the young lords. Let it not however be supposed that the brothers and sisters were kept rigidly apart. Nothing of the kind. They took all their meals together, at the same time with the tutor and governess: they walked or rode out together; and in the evening, when the studies of the day were over, they all assembled in one of the drawing-rooms of the mansion, where they were generally joined by, the young Duchess, and often by the’ Dowager herself, when her mind was sufficiently settled as to be sure not to shock her children with any gross or grievous evidence of her unfortunate malady. As for the young Duchess, she had en- deared herself to her husband’s brothers and sis- ters; and for this reason she was ‘especially ad- mired and beloved by Mr. Condamine and Mrs. Boyle. The reader is aware that for some time. past the young Duke and Duchess had been much separated, and the latter had passed a consider- able portion of her time at Thornbury almost de- serted as it were by her husband. This was a circumstance which the worthy preceptor and the excellent governess could not of course help ob- serving : but they made no comment upon it, not even to each other. They felt assured that it arose from no ill-conduct on the part of the young Duchess ; and while they scarcely allowed their minds to speculate in secret upon what might be the behaviour and proceedings of the Duke, they experienced a boundless compassion and a deeper affection for the young Duchess herself. It is not however necessary to enter further into this description of details, inasmuch as neither the tutor nor the governess, nor the young lords or ladies have very much to do with the thread of our story. We will therefore resume it with- out any more digression or delay. It was the custom of Mrs. Quinlan to rise in the summer at about seven o'clock, and in the winter about eight, to unlock the outer door of the dressing-room, in order to admit the, female servants to sweep out the sitting-rooms, lay the breakfast, light the fires if the weather were cold, and perform their habitual duties. It was now the summer time; and therefore the female domestics ascended the back stairs ag usual a_few minutes past seven o’clock in the morning. Tha door was unfastened—they entered the dressing- room—and one of them stooping to pick up a towel which lay on the carpet, ejaculated, “‘ Why this is blood !” “Yes,” said the other handmaiden. “ And look ! the water in this basin is allred! I suppose some one’s nose must have been bleeding ?” Her companion naturally came to a simila: Connicloookks oO