Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 339: what you’re looking at

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326 ELLEN PERCY; OR; THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTREsS. ___ rick Ravenseliffe were both in good spirits, and , corded sufficient for the information of my readers. that the young nobleman had lost somewhat of | I will therefore only say that having sat up for that diflidence and restraint which he had exhi- | some time conversing on the subject, we retired to bited before we took our departure from Hunter our respective chambers. arly on the following Street. The postchaises were ordered to be in| morning the necessary arrangements were made readiness half-an-hour after our halt was made: for providing suitable mourning; and in the but scarcely a quarter of an hour had elapsed course of the day we visited the apartment in before an equipage drew up to the door. which the corpse lay. This solemn duty being “ Why, this is before the time!’ exclaimed Mr. | fulfilled, we were visited by the attorney who was Norman, consulting his watch. Mr, Norman’s co-executor in the administration of “It is not either of our vehicles,’ I said, | the will; and he explained to us the instructions springing up from my seat and glancing through | which he had already given for the funeral obse- the window. “It is a chaise for some other | quies. These were to take place in the plainest, traveller.” simplest, and most unostentatious manner, accord- Seareely had I thus spoken, when the traveller |ing to the request of the deceased. In this way for whom that equipage had just come round out | was the funeral therefore solemnized on the fifth of the hotel yard, issued forth from the hotel ) day after our arrival; and when the ceremony was itself; and I at once recognised his countenance. | over, the will was read as a matter of form, though It was that of the Count of Carboni. we were all previously acquainted with its con- He entered the vehicle, which immediately | tents. The details were precisely as Mary Glent- drove away in the same direction that we our-| worth had sketched them in her letter ; and the selves had to pursue. I made no observation | attorney intimated his intention of repairing to upon the circumstance as I returned to my seat at | London in a few days to co-operate with Mr. the table ; for all the romantie occurrences which | Norman in taking out the requisite letters of ad- regarded the Count of Carboni and his wife | ministration and disposing of the property accord- Beatrice were utterly unknown tomy present com: | ing to the testament of the deceased. panions, But I had now received a proof that the | In the meantime Lord Frederick’s behaviour Italian nobieman had not fulfilled the intention | had been most kind and affectionate towards which upwards of six months back he had signified | Juliet. She informed me that they proposed to to his wife, to the effect that he should seek some | make River House their home, at least for the seclusion, there to bury himself for the remainder ' present ; for as her husband had received no letter of his existence. from his parents, he supposed that they were as Our journey was resumed: but it was not until | yet too indignant on account of the alliance he nine o’clock in the evening that the first equipage | had formed, to bestow any notice on the epistle reached River House. ‘This was the one which | he had addressed to them ere leaving London. bore Mr. and Mrs. Norman, myself, and Beda; ** Frederick desires seclusion,” said Juliet ; “ and for it was purposely arranged that we should be/|I am quite willing to second his inclinations in about half-an-hour in advance of the other one, in | this sense. The more we are alone together, the order that I might have an opportunity of prepar- | better we can cultivate that species of friendly ing the domestics to find in Lady Frederick | love and confiding intimacy which, under exist- Ravenscliffe the same young lady who under the | ing cireumstances, must become a substitute for name of Mrs. Hall had become a mother at that | the mad reckless passion which he in the first in- house. The Normans and myself were received | stance conceived for me, and for the youthful by Mary Glentworth, who threw her arms arourid | freshness of that fond adoration which I at the my neck and weleomed me with mingled joy and | time cherished for him, Our present plan is sorrow. It was not much more than a month | therefore to remain here in complete seclusion ; since I was last in that house: thew the mistress | and Frederick’s solicitor in London will receive of it was in good health—but now she lay | immediate instructions to look thoroughly into stretched a corpse upon her bed. Mary doubtless | the state of his affairs.” felt the solemn and awful lesson taught by the| I highly approved of the resolve to which Lord change; and she gave way to her feelings. I also | and Lady Frederick had come; and we next spoke wept : but when we had regained our self-|of Mery Glentworth. I told Juliet that I in- possession, I presented her to the Normans. I | tended to ask Mr. and Mrs, Norman to allow then sought an interview with the deceased Mrs. | Mary to find a home beneath their roof; and in- Oldeastle’s lady’s-maid, who, as well as the livery- | deed I had already ascertained from Miss Glent- servant, were already aware that the Mrs. Hall | worth that nothing would more contribute to her who had sojourned at the house, was in reality | happiness than to live with me. As the reader Juliet Norman; for those domestics had accom- | may suppose, I had no difficulty in obtaining the panied their late mistress on her visit to London, | consent of Mr. and Mrs. Norman to this plan ; I said all that was sufficient to the lady’s-maid: | for the worthy couple were not merely ever ready she promised to go and speak to the other servants | and willing to yield to my slightest wishes, but upon the subject; and she assured me that every | they had likewise conceived a great liking for reliance might be placed upon their discretion. | the frank-hearted and ingenuous Mary Glent- Shortly afterwards the other equipage arrived: | worth. Lord and Lady Frederick Ravenscliffe alighted;| It was arranged that Mr. and Mrs. Norman, and when the latter had embraced Mary Glent- | Mary, and myself—with Beda of course—should worth, her husband was duly introduced to our | return to London on the third day after the fune- young friend. ral. On the day previous to our departure, Mary Mary gave us all the particulars attending Mrs, | Glentworth and I walked forth alone together ; Oldeastle’s death, but her letter had already re-| and she said to me, “ Let us pass by the cottage. SSS SS A A GoOmicvooks7Gcom