Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 352: what you’re looking at

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

ser er rg rer ee ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. as for so long a time I believed he had done—but, on the contrary, actually leaving Aer in total de- pendence upon my bounty. In the midst of my meditations I sank off to sleep ; and when I awoke in the morning, I could not immediately convince myself that the lapse of a few hours would prove whether I were to possess riches, or whether I had been the dupe of a fraud and a delusion. Punctually at half-past ten o’clock my father came to fetch me; and I was in readiness to issue We engaged a cab, and took our My father’s features expressed a serene and steady confidence in the issue of the forth with him. seats therein. transaction; so that I began to chide myself for having entertained any doubt upon the point. “You have the cheque with you, Ellen?” said _my father, some little time after we had taken Our seats in the cab. Yes,” I responded. - “I put it into my purse yesterday, the moment I received if from Mr, Parks; and I locked it up in my desk the instant I got home, I did not touch my purse again until dressing myself ere now to accompany you. I was fearful of losing the draft!” *You cannot be too careful in such matters, Ellen,” observed my father. “I will give you the cheque,” I said, taking out my purse from my pocket; “and you can present it. There is no necessity for me to enter the bank.” While I was thus speaking, I began to open my purse; and I drew forth the draft which I had so carefully folded up and deposited there. I handed it to my father, folded as it was. He took it—and_ in a leisurely way began to open if as we drew nearer to the bank. An ejasulation suddenly peal- ing from his lips, startled mo as if with a power- ful galvanic shock. I glanced at the paper which he held in his hand, and I exclaimed, “ For heaven’s sake, what is the matter?” “Do you not see, Ellen?” gasped forth my father, scarcely able tospeak. “It is a blank!” “A blank!’ I echoed. “But turn it ovor! You are looking on the wrong side!” He turned it over; and the other side of the paper was likewise a blank. “What can it meanP” I asked,-in consterna- tion and dismay. “Ah! what does it mean?” said my father, in a tone of fierce bitterness, | “Mr. Parks must have given me a blank slip of paper by mistake!” I said. ‘“‘ No—nothing of the sort, Ellen!” rejoined my father, who was deadly pale and quivering with excitement. “I told you yesterday that I care- fully watched every stage of the proceedings; and I never lost sight of the cheque from the first in- stant that it was placed upon the desk, I did not throw a single chance away; for I knew that we had to deal with a villain, And now,” added my father, in the low hoarse voice of concentrated rage, “in spite of all my precautions he has orer- reached us at last!” “And yet Ido not see how!” I said: and I also was much excited, “If it were the real and veritable cheque which he gave me—the cheque with the writing upon it—that writing which said as plain as writing could be, ‘ Pay to Miss Ellen Percy, or bearer, the sum of thirty-six thousand three hundred pounds, —if it were that cheque, oOo father, which I saw with my own eyes and read word for word and letter for letter—how could it possibly have become a blank in my hands ?” “ Fool, fool that I was not to think of the pos- - sibility of this!” ejaculated my father, who seemed as if he were heedless of the rapidly uttered ques- tions I had been addressing to him, “ Ah, Ellen!” he continued, “you know not half the yillany which may be perpetrated in this world! Have you never heard of. sympathetic inks ?” “Sympathetic inks?” I ejaculated in astonish- ment. “No! What do you mean ?” “ Inks,” continued my father, with a voice and look of rage,“ inks which when written in one colour, will turn to another if held to the fire!— inks so contrived that all species of delusions may be accomplished by their aid for the amusement of a party of children in a drawing-room—aye, and for the deception of such grown-up persons as consider themselves wiser than those children! And we, Ellen, are now the dupes of one of these foul frauds !—for there is a sympathetic ink which may be read plainly upon the paper within a certain time after it has traced its marks there, but which at length begins gradually to disappear until it vanishes entirely !” “Good heavens!” I ejaculated, shocked and horrified at the detestable nature of the fraud which had rendered us its dupes. At the same moment the cab stopped at the door of the banking-house in Lombard Street. “We have no business here now,” said my father, in a tone of concentrated bitterness: then suddenly thrusting his head forth from the win- dow, he exclaimed to the driver. ‘We have forgotten something—we have made a mistake, Turn—and take us at once to Square.” The vehicle turned accordingly; and we were soon retracing our way through the crowded thoroughfares of the City. “By heaven!” ejaculated my father, “a trick more fiendishly villanous was never committed ! Bat the scoundrel shall not triumph over us! We will speed to him—and unless he fulfils his bar- gain, we will mercilessly give him into cuas- tody !” “Perhaps,” I said, with a tightening sensation af the heart, “the deed of conveyance in respect to the house at Leeds is likewise by this time a blank P” “ Heaven only can tell,’ exclaimed my father, who was growing more and more excited, “to what extent this miscreant’s wickedness may havy¢ reached !” “Pray tranquil'ise yourself!” I ssid, becoming alarmed at my father’s looks: “I implore you te compose yourself !” “Compose myself, Ellen?” he cried, clenching his fists in a fury of rage: “compose myself wher I have seen you thus cruelly plundered and de. frauded—and when I could curse myself for having sat by and sanctioned all the proceedings by whick you are thus robbed! Yet God knows how inno cent I myself have been “ “ Yes, yes, my dear father!” I exclaimed; “; know it—I feel it all!—and therefore for heaven’s sake do not reproach yourself! Perhaps it would be better for us to defer our visit to this vile un- principled man? perhaps we had better take legal advice P” Com ebook Com