Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 370: what you’re looking at

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a ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. 357 dred pounds altogether; and this amount will be bought into the funds in your name, to be avail- able for any future requirement that you may have. Sono more, I beseech you, upon this sub- ject !” The Dover solicitor, acting conjointly with Mr. Norman, soon terminated the business; and the legacies were paid. Mary Glentworth’s money was disposed of as I had suggested; and I availed myself of my own legacy of three thousand pounds to render my father independent of peri- odical calls upon my purse. I had some difficulty in effecting this object, inasmuch as for a long time he absolutely refused to alter his pecuniary position towards me: but I begged and entreated that he would accept the amount, and therewith purchase an annuity, so that he might secure to himself a good income. Finally the matter was thus arranged; and I was rejoiced at my ability to place my sire in the possession of a comfortable independence. CHAPTER LXII. AGAIN AT LEEDS! Two months passed away from the date of the incidents which I have been relating: if was now the Christmas season—and the year 1841 was drawing towards its close. During those two months I occasionally saw Zarah—or I ought rather to call her the wife of the Right Honourable Edwin St. Clair ; and every time she informed me that she and her husband were still living on the same terms as at first— maintaining all outward appearances, but pri- vately keeping up as it were a constant struggle with each other. Yet Zarah was happy—or at least contented enough with her lot: she was sur- rounded by adulations and flatteries on the part of those who worshipped her hisband’s ascending star: and as she felt confident that her own spirit would never be broken by his treatment, she hoped that in process of time he would become wearied of waging a tacit warfare against her. Lady Cecilia Urban bestowed her hand, about this time upon the Earl of Belgrave—a young nobleman of great wealth, of unimpeachable character, and of considerable political promise. Her ladyship did not forgot me in the distribution of the bridal tokens; and an affectionately written billet gave me the assurance that she should always remem- ber me with friendship and gratitude. Melissa Harrison had altogether withdrawn from the stage, and was living in splendid style under the protec- tion of the Marquis of Tynedale,—a piece of intel- ligence which I received from my father. In has- tily summing up these little matters, I must not forget to mention that I frequently saw the Mar- quis of Dalrymple in his private box at the the- atre: for this young nobleman had not accompa- nied his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Ard- leigh, to the Continent. lt was now, as I have said, the Christmas sea- son; and I had a holiday for about three weeks. i was determined to avail myself of the leisure which I could thus command, to carry out my idea of making all requisite reparations to the house at Leeds. I had told the Normans and Mary Glentworth that Mr. Parks had assigned this property to me: but I did not enter into any further particulars with respect to the immense bulk of my deceased grandsire’s fortune of which I had been so grossly defrauded. My father had agreed to accompany me to Leeds: but at the very time when the commencement of the Christ- mas vacation afforded me the opportunity of pro- ceeding thither, he met with an accident, which though threatening no serious consequences, ne- vertheless prevented him from leaving his resi- dence at Forest Hill. This was a violent sprain of the ankle; and therefore he found himeelf unable to accompany me. I offered to postpone my visit to the north; but as I had previously set my mind on it, he insisted that I should accomplish it. I yielded to his wish; and made my preparations for the journey. Beda only was to accompany me; and we set off. It was late at night when we reached Leeds; and we took up our quarters at the best hotel in the town. - When alone in my chamber, I could not help reflecting with much emotion upon the difference of my position on my return to Leeds on this present occasion, from what it was when I had left it exactly seven years back. Then I was utterly dependent on the housekeeper of my de- ceased grandfather—uncertain of what my future would be—and very far from foreseeing that I was destined to rise to eminence as well as to wealth in the pursuit of any particular avocation. Yet soit was! At the age of twelve and a half I had one day been borne away from Leeds by Mrs. Parks, to finish my education in the metropolis : and now, at the age of nineteen and a half, I re- turned to this same town of Leeds with an esta. blished reputation and able to gain two thousand a year by my profession! Yet my career upon the stage had only extended over a period of about twenty months; and all this had I done for myself in that comparatively short interval! I was now again at Leeds ;—and everything which had taken place during the soven years of my absence there- from, wore the aspect of a wild and wondrous dream. After breakfast on the following morning I walked out alone to visit the house in which all the earliest years of my life had been passed. I dia not take Beda with me; for I felt assured that when crossing the threshold of that edifice I should become the prey of many emotions—and I chose not that any one should witness them. In about ten minutes I reached the street in which the house was situated. But besides that house and all its associations, there was something else in my memory; and this was the image of Mrs, Kelly, the worthy old schoolmistress who had been so kind to me in my juvenile days. I had often thought of her:—on several occasions I had made up my mind to write from London and ascertain if she were still living—but something had always transpired to prevent me from fulfilling my inten- tion. Now, as I entered the street where the old lady had dwelt, I was smitten by a feeling which savoured of remorse; for it struck me that I had been ungrateful and neglectful towards one who in past times was a good friend to me. “I wil inquire after her,” I said to myself, “before I proceed to the houso which is now my own.” er Com Ghboo CS Com