Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 290: what you’re looking at

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

—— ee eS Ol SS ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. = Those difficulties which I had hitherto glanced so lightly at, appeared to take more colossal propor- tions the nearer the instant drew when they would have to be grappled with. But I need not dwell farther on all the hurried reflections that I made during that brief period in which hope and fear were thus clashing: I will continue the thread of my narrative. The last rays of the setting sun glimmered in the horizon; and the interval of twilight suc- ceeded. Ina short time, as my eyes were fixed upon the spot where all my interest was now con- centrated, I could discern through the gathering gloom some small white object within one of the windows around which the vines festooned. Then the lower sash of that window was opened: I could distinguish the white object more plainly : it was a kerchief that was being waved as ¢ signal to me; for both Beda and Zarah felt assured that I was on the look-out from some point where they themselves could not distinguish me. And almost immediately afterwards I could discern two forms at the open window; and then a length of rope, or rather of material formed of sheets and blankets and curtains torn into strips, which were fastened together, was rapidly unrolled from the window. Ab! it was Beda that was about to descend first ! it was she who had insisted upou testing with her lighter form the strength of the rope, ere the heavier person of Zarah should be committed to it. For a few moments the young girl sat crouching down upon the window-sill~I knew not whether her courage failed her, or whether it were that she was listening attentively for the last time to assure herself that no footsteps were approach- ing in the garden. Ah! I ought not to have fancied that she was deficient in fortitude even for a single instant: for now she was grasping the upper part of the rope—she was gliding down it until the wall of the garden concealed her from my view! I just waited until I beheld Zarah commencing the descent—and then I sped close up to the wall, where I remained, getting the rope- ladder in hasty readiness to be thrown over. In about a minute my ear caught the sounds of light footsteps on the opposite side of the wall ; and a small stone or .piece of earth was thrown over tome. This was a signal previously agreed upon between myself and Beda; and [I lost not an instant in obeying it. I threw the rope-ladder over the wall, making the extremity on my side fast to the trunk of a small tree. A few moments elapsed, during which Zarah and Beda were driving the pegs on their side into the ground; and then I had the satisfaction of beholding the counte- nauce of Zarah appear above the wall. Her escape was quickly consummated ; and she strained me in her arms. JBeda’s light form now dropped from the wall ; and we all three hastened to the cab. We took our seats in the vehicle; and it drove away at a rapid rate. Zarah overwhelmed me with thanks for the part which I had played in thus enabling her to escape from the lunatic-asylum; and I proffered her my sincerest congratulations on the event. We both of us lavished fitting eulogies upon the conduct of Beda in the transaction; and when all these first feelings of rejoicing had found their vent, I thought it absolutely necessary to discuss Zarah’s future plans of proceeding. In the first instance 277 if was necessary for her to consider whither she would go; for I did not suppose that she intended to return to the lodgings whence she had been forcibly carried away. On this point I found that her mind was already made up: she had decided upon going back to her former place of abode near the London University. We discoursed freely in the presence of Beda; for the young girl had proved herself by her fidelity and intelligence to be in every way worthy of this confidence. Indeed, Zarah had already initiated her, during the afternoon, into many de- tails of her late proceedings and her present plans in respect to Edwin St, Clair. “You must aet with the utmost circumspection, Zarah,” I said; “for you will bear in mind that Doctor Beresford, armed with a medical certificate, may seize you wherever he may find you, and bear you back to his asylum.” “T have not lost sight of that fact, my dear Miss Percy,” answered Zarah. “I have suffered once through want of caution and through an overweening confidence in the success of my planus as I had sketched them out: but the lesson has perhaps been a salutary one.” “ And is it possible, Zarah,” I asked, “ that you still think of linking your fate with that of a man who is capable of so much villany P” “Nothing can alter that resolve on my part,” rejoined Zarah: and as her eyes flashed fiercely, she added, “I will compel him to take me as his wife, were it only to punish him the more effectu- ally. Ah, my dear Miss Percy! my love has well nigh turned into hate; and Oh! I must be avenged! If his proud spirit scorn me—if his haughty disposition contemn the gipsy-bride, I must humble him—I must bring him down very low! And this I will do.” Her lips were then compressed with the fiercest resolution ; and for some few minutes there was silence—for I was reflecting mournfully upon what Zarah’s destiny might possibly be if she persisted in compelling that young man of dark villanies and of fiend-like machinations to conduct her to the altar. “Yes,” resumed Zarah at length, “my resolve is irrevocably fixed; and since I now find that it will indeed prove a terrible chastisement for Edwin St. Clair to make the gipsy his bride, it will bo with all the greater satisfaction that I myself shall inflict that punishment.—But here we are at the lodgings.” The cab stopped in front of the house in the neighbourhood of the London University; and Zarah, bidding us remain in the vehicle for a few moments, alighted. After a brief interchange of words with the landlady of the house, she returned to us to intimate that the lodgings were not let and that she could re-take possession of them. I and Beda accordingly descended from the cab—the driver of which was rewarded with even a greater liberality than I had promised. “And now, Zarah,” I said, when we were all three seated in the parlour of the lodgings, “ what step is next to be taken?” * With your permission, my dear Miss Percy,” answered Zarah, “I must continue to avail myself of the assistance of Beda, By the course which she has already adopted on my behalf, she has thrown off the mask, as it were, towards those Com Ghboo cS) Com