Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 147: what you’re looking at

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

134 page rolled past; and I could discern no one at! man of protection against the designs of one who The cottage was soon out of sight: | was evidently bent upon persecuting me to the the windows. ee ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. => but as the chaise turned a bend in the road, I be-| very extreme. held Zarah leaning against a pate opening into a field, her eyes, to throw upon her a look expressive of gratitude for her behaviour of the previous even- ing: but the idea struck me that she was either absorbed in the profoundest reflection, or else that she was obstinately bent upon not seeing me. * All of a sudden, just as the chaise seemed to be shoot- ing completely past her, she advanced rapidly to- wards it—threw something in at the window—and the next instant was lost to my view. Wondering what this strange proceeding could mean, I hastily picked up the object she had thrown into the chaise; and I found it to bea small sealed billet. I opened it. The writing was in a bold masculine hand; the spelling was not altogether correct : but I give the contents of the note without preserving those orthographical errors :— “ Remember, Miss Percy, the promise you made me last night, that you will not give publicity to anything that directly or indirectly concerns my grandmother or myself. Beware of Edwin St. Clair! He was furious when he found that you had escaped: but he did not suspect my compli- city. Keep incessantly upon your guard; and do not think of attending to any strange or suspicious request to visit any unknown place, or keep any appointment which under the most plausible pre- text may be given you. But if despite of all your caution, treachery should prevail--if you should again find yourself in the power of Edwin St. Clair—use these words: —‘He who smells the white rose, sleeps the sleep of death !’—I con- jure you, Miss Perey, not to reveal the source from which you obtained these cabalistic words. If I had not faith in your honour, I would not entrust you to this extent. “ZARA.” How often and how often were fresh mysteries to arise in respect to Edwin St. Clair! But the present one seemed only to be an expansion of that which originated with Lady Lilla Essendine. The new one had the semblance of being a sequence and a corollary to the former. Lilla had bidden me present a flower to Edwin St. Clair, should a cer- tain emergency arise;. and it was to be accom- panied by the demand, “Do you recognise this symbol?” What the flower then symbolized was utterly beyond conjecture : but Zarah’s note seemed to give a fearful meaning and significance to that symbol. Was the question which, in obedience to Lady Lilla’s hint I had put to St. Clair, now an- swered by those sinister words prompted by Zarah, “He who smells the white rose sleeps the sleep of death !” Strange and fearful being, St. Clair !—what stupendous mysteries surrounded him! I shud- dered to give scope to conjecture : I contemplated his image as that of a man who was too profoundly enshrouded in such dark mysteries to be otherwise than criminal in some sense or another. But on the other hand, sincere was my gratitude towards Zarah for having put me in possession of a talis- Ah! a sudden thought struck me. Was not She did not appear to be taking any notice | Lady Lilla Essendine summoned into the old of the advancing equipage. I endeavoured to catch | gipsy’s presence through the medium of a white rose P—and again methought that the same sym- bol which had its weight with Edwin St. Clair, had)an equal influence with her ladyship, al- though it was at her own suggestion that I had used that symbol towards St. Clair. But now, after the bill I had received from Zarah, whatso- ever sinister significancy attached itself to that floral symbol in reference to St. Clair, seemed by irresistible associations to be reflected towards Lady Lilla Essendine also; and it was with a shuddering paroxysm that I said to myself, “ As- suredly there is something wrong— something darkly suspicious, relative to the one as well as to the other.” I arrived at Birmingham; and thence I at once took the train for London. It was seven o’clock in the evening when the cab which conveyed me from Euston Square Station, reached the theatre. The reader may be surprised thus to perceive that I in- tended to make my appearance on the stage on this particular evening — particularly after all the fatigues I had gone through, and all the anxiety of mind [I had experienced. But I felt that I was bound to keep faith, to the utmost of my ability, with the manager and the public: I felt likewise that my unexplained absence might give encou- ragement to the surmises and whispers of scandal; and I was resolved to do naught that should in any way imperil my good name. I knew that Juliet would make all requisite arrangements so that I should find whatsoever I required in my dressing- room at the theatre; for I had given her to un- derstand, previous to my departure, that it was quite possible I should not arrive at the theatre until the latest moment. Juliet did not come to me in my dressing-room ; for since her supposed marriage with Lord Fre- derick Ravenscliffe, she had not once set foot be- hind the scenes. Mrs. Norman came to me on hearing that I had arrived; and I saw that the worthy creature fully believed that I had merely been on a yisit to Lady Lilla Essendive. She was not however in good spirits; and she told me that Juliet had been very much indisposed all day long—that she had kept her own chamber— that she could not even see Lord Frederick when he called—but that by a strange inconsistency (as Mrs. Norman represented it) she wanted to come to the theatre in the evening. Her mother had however succeeded in dissuading her. I had thie greatest difficulty in keeping my countenance and concealing my painful emotions, while the unsur- pecting Mrs. Norman was giving me these expla- nations; and, Oh! how cruel a pang shot through my heart, as mentally apostrophizing my kind friend, I thought to myself, “ Perhaps to-morrow you will know all the horrible truth in reference to your daughter and the villain who has ruined her !” I entertained serious fears lest I should be un- able to do justice to the part which I had to per- form: but when once upon the stage, I was in- spired with that dramatic spirit which now seemed to have interwoven itself with my entire being; eR A NT SL TE el . (ECO CONNIE IOOKS