Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 20: what you’re looking at

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ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. v4 But the old man appeared to speak with a sort of gasping effort, as if he were not in reality so completely convinced of his housekeeper’s disin- terested fidelity as he endeavoured to persuade himself that he was. ** But your room, dear grandpapa,” I exclaimed, “is so uncomfortable—the draught comes in from that window—there is no curtain to it—there are no proper draperies to the bed “Curtains enough, Ellen!” interjected Mr. “VVhat more would you have? Would Forsyth. —would you have me buy new ones? It would ruin me! up such a bill, I never, never could pay it—and you would see your poor old grandfather die in a debtor’s gaol, Ellen!” ** Heaven forbid!’ I murmured, amidst the sobs that now convulsed me ; for I firmly believed he was speaking the precise truth, and that he had no money to spare. ' I did the best I could to make the room seem comfortable—or, in other words, I put it into as good order as circumstances would permit ; and for For the that day I remained away from school. three or four following days, however, I was com- pelled to go to school, though my grandfather re- mained ill in bed and I besought permission to attend upon him. But Mrs. Parks suggested, with an air of great seeming kindness, that a sick chamber was not the place for a young girl like me, and that moreover the school-bill must be paid whether I went or not. This last hint was sufli- cient for my grandfather, who declared it would be ruin and literally picking his pocket if he had to pay for anything which I did not receive the ad- vantage of. Therefore I was compelled to go: but on the fifth morning Mrs, Kelly, seeing how unhappy I was, declared that she would give the girls a whole holiday ; and I knew it was entirely as an excuse to enable me to return home and attend to my grandfather. I sped homeward as if on the wings of the wind : the front door was standing ajar—I opened and closed it very gently, so as not to make a noise in the house—and I entered the parlour. There I found Mrs. Parks seated in front of the fire, with her son the clerk to the lawyer at York. ‘Their heads were at the instant very close together ; and they seemed to be in a whispering conversation from the midst of which my unexpected entrance abruptly disturbed them. They started up : Tom Parks (as I had heard him familiarly called) was very much in confusion; and his mother had an expression of countenance which absolutely fright- ened me. But the next instant it vanished; and resuming her wonted carneying kindness of manner, she asked what had brought me home so soon P I explained that Mrs. Kelly had given the school a whole holiday; and Mrs. Parks said, “Well, Miss Ellen, you skall come in with me and see your grandpapa. I hope he is better. But—but—my dear child—you need not say you saw Mr. Parks here He only just dropped in to ask how your dear grandpapa is; and it might annoy the old gentleman to think that visitors came while he is lying ill in bed and unable to re- ceive them.” I was thinking so much of my poor grandfather at the time, and was so impatient to get to him, that I readily promised to follow Mrs. Parks’s in- And as for the doctor, he would run junction. For the rest of that day I was almost entirely by the sick couch, The following day was the Sabbath: I went to church with my school- girls in the? morning as usual; and for the re- mainder of that day also I ministered to my in- valid relative. I feared that he was getting worse, though he declared that he was better, and that some medicine for which he had sent from the chemist’s, was doing him a world of good. And so indeed it appeared: for on the ensuing morn- ing Mr. Forsyth declared that he was almost well enough to get up, and that therefore I might go to school. , I did so: but when I went home to dinner at one o’clock, as usual, I found my grandfather still in bed; and when I again returned at five to tea, I felt convinced that he was worse than he had yet been. Young though I was, something told me that he was sinking. I besought him to take a glass of wine. At first he vowed that such exe travagance would be his ruin: but he evidently felt that he wanted it; and this feeling got the better of his niggardness. He took some wine; and then he slept soundly for several hours. It was near ten o’clock that evening when he awoke; and he declared that he was so much better that I might retire to my own chamber with the conviction of finding him convalescent in the morning. I withdrew accordingly, my heart full of hope: but on seeking my room I did not expes rience the faintest inclination for slumber. I knelt down and prayed that heaven would spare my grandfather yet awhile, and that his words might be fulfilled relative to the improvement of his health within the lapse of the next twelve hours. Then I sat upon my pallet, giving way to thought —wondering whether Mrs. Parks would sit up all night with my grandfather—and if she did not, whether he might not require some ministration while she slept? I knew that the servant-girl would not be employed for such a purpose; and then I thought to myself it would be cruel for a woman of the housekeeper’s age to be deprived of her natural rest night after night, as she had pro- bably been. I gently opened the door of communication be- tween our two chambers: Mrs. Parks was not there. I thought that I would descend—just see how my grandfather was getting on—and beg Mrs. Parks to awake me at three or four in the morning, so that I might take her place by the sick couch and she might have an opportunity of a few hours’ repose. Gently I crept down the staircase, without a light: noiselessly did I open the door of the office; and I was advancing through this room, when certain words which came from the inner one transfixed me to the spot. “And if you do not fulfil the oath you have taken—if you fail in one single particular—may the curse of a dying man cling to you for the re- mainder of your existence!—may it poison the very springs of that existence !—may it stifle your last prayer in your throat when your own time shall also come !—and may it hurry your soul into everlasting perdition !” These were the terrific, the fearful, the appalling words which came upon my ears, smiting my very brain as it were with blow upon blow—making my hair stand on end—curdling my young blood in my veils, Ee Reiss | GoOmichboo cS (SOLAN