The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 68: what you’re looking at

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

54 ‘* Let the prisoner be searched,” interrupted the | magistrate. ‘' Gibson, remove her.” Ethel was conducted into another room, where Mr. Ponsford’s housekeeper and a maid-servant searched her—but without effect. We may here seize upon the opportunity to remark that all the domestics of the establishment were gathered at the door of the library to listen to the proceed- ings ; for Ethel was well known by name and by sight to most of them, and the fact of her being arrested on a charge which was so grave and which, seemed so extraordinary had excited a con- siderable sensation. Miss Ponsford, the Squire’s only, child—a beautiful girl of about eighteen—- peeped down the staircase from the drawing- Toom landing at Ethel when she was conducted into the room where she was examined; and the young lady’s heart was. moved towards the unfor- tunate creature. We must furthermore add that when Tim Gaffney and Jack Peppercorn saw the front door thrown wide open after the admission ef the little party, their experience in the pro- ceedings before county magistrates at once en- abled them to comprehend that it was a judicial inquiry of some sort or another—and they boldly entered the hall. Squire Ponsford prided himself on the publicity which was always given to ex- aminations that took place before him: his ser- vants therefore took their cue from their master; and when one of the domestics beheld Gaffney and Peppercorn, he bade them advance to the door of the library. Ethel having been examined by the house- keeper and the servant-maid—an ordeal through which she passed with an air of vacant indiffer- ence—was re-conducted to the lihrary. ‘‘Has any paper been found upon her person ?” inquired the justice. The sexton made the report which he. had re- ceived from the housekeeper, to the effect that no paper had been found. , “Onder what circumstances was the Jeaf of the register extracted ?” asked Squire Ponsford. ‘““Mrs. Trevor called upon me,” answered Mr. Milner; “and in the. course of conversation she expressed a wish to have a copy of her marriage certificate,—alleging that she had lost the one she received at her nuptials. I took her to the church and produced the registers. While there, I quitted the vestry for a few minutes: ye “‘Did you leave the prisoner in the vestry ?” asked the magistrate. “T did,” replied the clergyman. ... ‘¢ And had she access to the register ?” the duty which I owe society also compels me to state that I temporarily left the vestry in con- sequence of the prisoner suddenly declaring that she heard the voice of Mrs. Milner calling me. I went out to see——” . “* And what followed ?” | fo “My wife was not there—and I supposed that Mrs. Trevor - “The prisoner you mean,” interrupted the magistrate severely. . . ‘* Yes, your worship—the prisoner. I supposed that she must have been mistaken.” ‘Was she standing wear the registers? were they open? or was there anything in her manner to make you suspect foul play?” ‘The prisoner was putting away the registers : | that particular leaf in the r “I am bound to confess that she had. Perhaps | THE YOUNG DUCHESS ; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. I thought the proceeding natural enough—I re~ garded it as an act of kindness intended to save me trouble, We went in to tea; and Farmer White called to request. me to give him a par- ticular certificate. I took him to the vestry; and my consternation may be more easily imagined than described when I found that a leaf of the marriage-register had been torn out! Indeed I was bewildered: I could even then scarcely be- lieve that: Mrs. Trevor the prisoner I mean— had done it. I hastened home: but, alas! it was then scarcely possible to doubt——In a word, sir,” added the clergyman, thus abruptly concluding his speech, ‘‘ the prisoner had fled.” ‘““What excuse did she make for leaving the house during your absence ?” “The excuse might be a very natural one,” Mr. Milner hastened to exclaim; ‘‘and if we could by any possibility account for the destruc- tion of the leaf without attributing the deed to the prisoner , ‘‘’'You are not to make a speech for the defence, Mr. Milner,” said the magistrate, for a moment suffering his features to relax into a deprecating smile. ‘ What excuse did she make to leave your house ?” ‘The excuse that a mother might well make,” responded Milner,—‘‘ that of having to go and look after her child. And now, your worship, you will permit, me to add my belief that the un- fortunate young lady is suffering under an aber- ration of the intellect.” “What makes you think so?” inguired Mr. Ponsford. | ‘‘ Several reasons,” answered the clergyman. ‘In the first, place, who can conceive a wife in her sound senses destroying the evidence of her own marriage ?. In the second place, her husband assures me that he has for some time past thought that her brain was affected. Thirdly,” continued Mr. Milner, lowering his voice almost to a whisper, “her behaviour when she was arrested was so strange—she: addressed me in such a singular style—her looks were so vacant and wandering— and altogether there was something so peculiar in the way in which she took this most serious ac- cusation, that I have no doubt as to her mental derangement. Finally, if your worship will only contemplate her now, you will see that her mien is not that-of a rational person.” ‘ ‘Can you conceive any possible motive,” asked _ the magistrate, turning towards the Duke, “ that ‘might lead your wife to seek the destruction of ister ?” ‘Qh, no} no!” sobbed the young nobleman, who throughout the examination had been labour- ing under the most terrible excitement; for the ‘bare idea of his beloved Ethel being. dragged ' through such an ordeal, and all on account of her magnanimous behaviour on his part, was fraught ‘with the anguish of excruciation. _ “If your worship .will remand the prisoner,” said Mr. Milner, “‘ until the state of her mind can be investigated, I will myself give bail for her appearance. Or,” he added, in a whisper, “ you may surely let her go on her husband’s recogni- zances ?” “No,” said the magistrate, shaking his head : ‘it is a felony, and I cannot take bail, I have heard sufficient, to induce me to commit the prisoner for trial. I may possibly share your NOO a) ©) = A Colin