Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 189: what you’re looking at

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176 ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. SS Se ee sincerely do I congratulate you!—and I leave you your connexion with anything that has taken with one who was doubtless consoling you to the | place can never be known.” best of his endeavour, but who may now congra- tulate you likewise.” Having thus spoken with rapid and vehement utterance, Mr. Lockhart hurried from the room ; and as J was subsequently informed, Lord Fre- derick Ravenscliffe looked the very picture of piteous confusion and consternation. Suddenly, however, he burst into a laugh, exclaiming, “ You did not think, Cecilia, that I was really in earnest ? I was only a “Enough, my lord!” she indignantly inter- rupted him. ‘“ Accident has furnished me with an opportunity of putting your love to the test. Begone, sir! You know not how illimitably I despise you!” “ Nonsense, my dear Cecilia!” said the young nobleman : “it was only a freak—though a stupid one, I confess, on my part rs “Add not to your baseness by these ridicu- lous falsehoods!” cried her ladyship. ‘ Begone, I repeat. Whatsoever love I entertained for you has now turned into hatred. No—hatred is too strong a term: for it is only contempt which I can henceforth experience for Lord Frederick Ra- venscliffe !” The young nobleman dared not give utterance to another word: he saw that all attempt at ex- planation was vain, and that it would be useless to have recourse to entreaty. Thoroughly discom- fited, crestfallen, and miserable, he issued from the | ' I remained for some little while longer in con- versation with Lady Cecilia Urban; and when I took my leave, she repeated her desire that I would visit her frequently. I hastened home to Hunter Street, and gave Mr. and Mrs. Norman the wel- come assurance that everything was at an end between Lord Frederick Ravenscliffe and Lady Cecilia Urban. I did not however enter into the particulars of all that had occurred; for I consi- dered the matter to be of too delicate a nature for such unnecessary details. I wrote to Juliet, making her a similar announcement; and I also wrote to my father in the same sense. In this last-men- tioned letter I explained to him how I had fallen in with Mrs. Oldcastle, and how she had treated me with the affectionate regard of a kinswoman. A week passed,—at the expiration of which time letters were received from Juliet. Their con- tents did not excite in my mind much astonish- ment; but they afforded me as well as her parents a considerable degree of satisfaction. She had found that her aunt possessed many excellent qualities, though they were concealed beneath a demeanour which was cold and repelling until her disposition and character were thoroughly known, She did not live in Dover itself—but in its imme- diate neighbourhood, midway between the town and the beautifully situated village of River. Her house was not large: it was somewhat in the cottage-style: but it was commodious; and the room; and almost immediately afterwards Lady | furniture, though antiquated in its fashion, was Cecilia joined me in the apartment where I had been a listener to everything that had taken place. There was the flush of excitement upon her coun- tenance: but it speedily vanished, leaving her cheeks very pale; and she said, “Yes, you were not wrong, Miss Trafford: he is everything you de- scribed him! Thank God, I am saved, through your agency, from the abyss upon the edge of which I have been standing !” “In one sense I am rejoiced, Lady Cecilia,” I answered: “ but in another I am distressed i ‘‘T need no sympathy, my dear friend,” she replied : “for as a friend I shall henceforth consi- der you! I know that my cheeks have blanched: but that is only with a natural revulsion of the feelings. And in respect to yourself—Oh! pardon me if there have been anything supercilious or unkind in my former demeanour towards you “5 “Say not another word upon the subject!” I interrupted her; and I was much affected by the way in which she looked and spoke. “At least you will suffer me to call myself your friend,” she rejoined, taking my hand and pressing it affectionately. ‘ You have rendered me an im- mense service; and I possess not an ungrateful heart. Come and see me frequently: you will always be welcome here.—Ah! by the bye,” she exclaimed, “I need hardly inform you that the whole proceeding was arranged between myself and Mr. Lockhart ; and you must admit, my dear Miss Trafford,” added Cecilia, with a smile, “ that parts may be played to perfection in private life as well as upon the stage. By the plan which I have pursued, Lord Frederick cannot possibly suspect that the proceeding was otherwise than genuine— or that [ had received any previous intimation which induced me to put him to the test. handsome. She Jed a secluded life, and received very little society: but she was surrounded by every comfort. Indeed, it appeared that Mr. Nor- man’s prediction when Juliet was taking her de- parture, was realized to the extent that Mrs. Old- castle must be much better off than even her rela- tions had expected. But I must now explain the sources of the satisfaction which Juliet’s letters produced in the minds of her parents and myself. When the week for which she had been invited to River House— as Mrs. Oldcastle’s dwelling was called—was just about to expire, the elderly lady addressed her niece in a serious but affectionate manner. She told Juliet that she had discovered her secret— namely, that she was in a way to become a mother: but at the same time she assured her she did not believe she had wilfully erred or proved wantonly frail, for that she placed implicit reliance on the solemn averment that I had made in respect to my unfortunate friend’s honourable principles. On hearing all this, Juliet had thrown herself into her aunt’s arms and had confessed everything. She told Mrs. Oldcastle how cruelly she had been deceived by Lord Frederick Ravenscliffe through the medium of a mock marriage: and how I had penetrated the infamy of the proceeding by means of a visit to Embledon. Mrs. Oldcastle was by this narra- tive made aware how her own name was used at the time of that mock marriage, as a pretext and a cover for Juliet’s absence from home during the period which she had regarded as a happy honeymoon, The old lady was gratified to learn that it was really for so venial a purpose her name had been rendered available: but she was bitterly indignant at the treatment her niece had Thus | experienced on the part of Lord Frederick Ravenss CORNICE OOKS SE nUI Ene ee | | | | com