Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 116: what you’re looking at

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

Sr sss ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. —=> 103 feast! And afterwards, my dear Juliet, I shall be ready to accompany you to London; and thence we will repair with the least possible delay to River House—that home which hitherto has not been a happy one, but which henceforth shall prove the scene of smiles, and contentment, and domestic bliss ! * And now, Juliet, in bringing this long letter to a conclusion, I must repeat that the process of penning it has afforded a vent for my feelings, and has yielded an unspeakable relief to my mind, All that I could say to you from the lips, has now been said through the medium of this letter. Keep it, my dear Juliet; and if on any future occasion I should speak or look unkindly towards you—or if I should act harshly—produce the letter—hold it before my eyes—and a glance thereat will be sufficient to remind me of my solemn pledges and of my duty as a husband! Yes—keep this letter, Juliet!—for though I do not believe that you will ever find it necessary to produce it for the purpose that I haye just specified, yet I must not forget that human nature is frail—that we are all weak and liable to error; and therefore it were as well that in the shape of this epistle you should posess a talisman the mere sight of which will at any moment recall me into the right path if I display the slightest inclination to deyi- ate from it ! “T Jay down my pen, Juliet, after having re- newed and completed the assurance that I am henceforth your faithful, deyoted, and affectionate husband, “ FREDERICK RAVENSCLIFFE.” It was no wonder that when Juliet commenced the perusal of this singular epistle her mind should have been amazed and confused, and that this be- wilderment should have speedily assumed the cha- racter of downright dismay. Was it the letter of a madman? or was it the letter of a fiend, who under the pretence of affection was mocking her with the most cruel and caustic irony? She might have asked herself these questions; and even I was at first in a vague and dreamy uncertainty as to what construction was to be put upon the tencur of such an epistle:—but I had not read yery deeply into it before the conviction began stealing into my mind to the effect that the letter was written with a studied and settled purpose of serving some ulterior object of grave and serious importance. It occurred to me that it was a letter penned entirely with a view of being published to the world, so as to give a particular colour to cer- tain incidents that had already happened, or to others that might happen; and the nearer I drew towards the close of the document, the more did I feel convinced that it was the forerunner of some- thing that would presently startle or appal! Juliet listened with a half vague, half affrighted bewilderment, as I continued the reading of the letter; and when I had brought it to a termina- tion, she looked up at me with a sortof silent stu- pefaction, as if waiting for me to afford some clue to the mystery. “ Juliet,” I said, “it is now close upon four o’clock: let us hasten to the appointment !” * But that letter, dear Ellen?” she wildly ex- claimed: “ what in the name of heaven can it —it appears as if it were addressed to the world at large, and that I must prepare myself to corro- borate its statements! It misrepresents many things—it is not truthful: but its deviations from fact all appear to have a fixed purpose, and to be conceived in the idea that I, if appealed to, shall fall into the same views or tell the same tale! Does it not thus seem to you, dearest Ellen ?” “Yes, Juliet-—and I should be wrong to assert the contrary. This letter is not the offspring of a madman’s brain : there is all the reality of a terrible method in it! Neither is it meant to mock or insult you, Juliet. No !—on the contrary, it has the air of being the last atonement which a guilty husband has it in his power to make !”” _ ©The last atonement, Ellen P” ejaculated Juliet. “ Ah! there is something foreboding in your words! — they seem to associate themselves with the ominous character of the letter itself! Ah! you have formed some conjecture, Ellen?—there is something in your mind? Let us hasten—Oh! let us hasten and see what it all means; for I suddenly feel as if I were standing on the threshold of some hideous catastrophe !” “Come then, Juliet—come!” I said, unable to add anything that was hopeful or reassuring; for I myself experienced the conviction that something of a terrific character would occur ere the day was done. We issued from the garden; and as we entered the kitchen-premises, the old couple came forward to receive us—the husband hat in hand, the wife bobbing and curtseying as if she felt it was impos- sible to testify too much respect. “If you please, ladies,” said the old man, “ we have done our best to make the dining-room look as neat as possible—we have moved our own little table there * Hold your tongue, Jan—and let me speak !” cried the dame. “ Beg your pardon, my lady— but my husband has no more hidear how to ad- dress himself to genteel folks 4 “You know, my good woman,” I interrupted her, “ who is the writer of this letter be “ And we who never knowed that it was a lord until just now, when he come in, all of a flurry, and told us, says he, ‘There’s my dear blessed wife, an angel of goodness, which has some how or an- other heerd that I was here; but not being quite sure upon the pint, she and her friend Miss Percy comes down under pretence of wanting to buy the Manor va , “ And we,” exclaimed old Janson, “‘ who thought we mustn’t say a word about anybody else living on the premises, for fear when you went back to London you should tell the house-agent “Hold your tongue, Jan—and let me speak !” interrupted his wife. ‘ Well, ladies, so the young gentleman tells us right out that his name was no more Mr. Thompson than mine was—but that it was. Lord Frederick Ravenscliffe—and that the stoutest young lady of the two was his own blessed wife whom he had cruelly and shamefully deserted a couple of months ago, and who was come to be reconciled to him; and that he was now as happy as the day waslong! So he ordered us to prepare a nice little dinner—and Jan hobbles off to the Leather Bottle to get some wine v “We have no doubt,” I said, “that all your mean? It does not seem as if written to myself! | preparations will be most admirably conducted. (COMMU 0)(0 (0) (E)