Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 119: what you’re looking at

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

106 ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE that which otherwise would have been an act of | first was that he had committed suicide: humanity—or in other words, to stand the chance of withdrawing the countenance from the corrosive fluid before complete disfigurement had taken place. Yet must not such disfigurement have been in- stantaneous? No doubt it was; or at all events the work of destruction to the outline and sym- metry of those lineaments was speedily accom- plished. But I was at that moment too much agitated and horrified to weigh all these matters deliberately : I thought only of the wretched young nobleman’s object—and I was resolved that it should be accomplished, But I must mention a little incident. As I was approaching the horrible spectacle in the middle of the apartment, with the first impulsive idea of ascertaining if Lord Frederick were really dead, I trod upon a large graduated glass measure which was lying on the floor close by the tub. It broke to pieces beneath my foot. I did not pause at the instant to think of the occurrence; but a few moments afterwards, as I stood by the arm- chair into which Juliet had thrown herself—and as we were both in awful silence contemplating that horrible scese—a strange and fearful idea began to steal into my mind. Had the young noble- man taken poison before his face came in disfigur- ing contact with the corrosive fluid? Yes !—me- thought such appeared to be the case. There was a chair thrown down just behind: it was on the very spot where he might have been seated in such a manner that if he fell forward his head would necessarily become immersed in the tub. My imagination soon arranged it all. The unfor- tunate Frederick Ravenscliffe might have placed himself on the chair in front of the tub—his right hand might have held the glass of poison—scarcely had he poured that poison down his throat when its effect was accomplished—from his hand dropped the glass upon the ground—forward he fell—the chair rolled away from behind him—and perhaps at the very moment that the vital spark was extinguished, did the branded countenance plunge into the corrosive fluid! Thus might it possibly have all been; and there was the awful conviction in my mind that I had rightly con- jectured the whole tremendous truth. A thousand considerations however made me understand that the deceased nobleman had studied with all his art so to arrange and combine circum- stances as to avert the suspicion that he perished asa suicide. Yes!—the letter written to Juliet proved this: the manner in which he had for the last six weeks affected to be busied with chemical experiments, also proved it. His death was to seem the result of an accident; for he had doubt. less calculated that when thus found with his head half immersed in the tub of corrosive fluid, it would never strike any one to examine the measure- glass that might lie near him upon the floor. Or perhaps he had fancied that the glass itself would break when dropping from his hand. At all events, whatsoever his ideas on all these points might have been—and whether he had in the first in- stance taken poison, or whether this belief of mine was erroneous, and he had veritably trusted only to the stifling effect of the corrosive fluid to kill him at once without pain—nevertheless, be all this as it might, two facts were certain enuugh. The ST ———— MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. the 'second was that he had laboured with all his in- genuity to prevent the world from entertaining the suspicion. I was therefore glad that I had, although by accident, crushed the measure-glass under my feet; for at least it could betray nothing now ;—and snatching up a brush, I swept the pieces to the vicinage of the table. Juliet, re- covering her self-possession, seemed to comprehend ail that was passing in my mind; for she rose from her seat—and accosting me, she took my hand, saying in a low deep voice, “ The world must believe if was an accident, dear Ellen!’ “ Yes,” I responded: “it is our duty to throw as much as possible a veil upon the past. Society will not be benefited by the return of a verdict of Felo de se instead of Accidental Death, nor by the refusal of Christian burial. But on the other hand an immensity of injury would be inflicted by the publication of the entire truth: the feelings of yourself, as his wife, would be outraged !—the feel- ings of his parents and his brother would likewise be outraged!—the memory of the dead himself would be unnecessarily desecrated, and this would be a posthumous cruelty as abominable as it is needless !” ; Juliet pressed my hand in recognition of the kindness which thus prompted me to conjure up as many arguments as possible against the necessity of suffering the world to learn the stupendous secret which the unhappy suicide had studied so carefully to conceal; and we now hastened down from the apartment. The alarm was quickly given to the old people: they were seized with consterna- tion and dismay; and for some minutes they sat staring at us both with mingled horror and stupor. At length they began to recover themselves: buat I had to repeat the terrible announcement beford they seemed rightly able to understand it tho- roughly. Then they ascended the stairs: Juliet remained below-——-but I accompanied them. I bade them be careful how they spattered them- selves with the corrosive fluid; for they were now about to lift the corpse from its present position. They did so. It was a fearful task which I was imposing upon myself; and nothing but my strong affection for Juliet would have permitted me to drag myself through such an ordeal. But I knew that she was anxious to know everything, even to the minutest detail; and it was under this conviction that I acted. I therefore compelled myself to fling one look upon the countenance of the suicide, as the Jansons, with murmurs expres- sive of horror—with quivering forms and with trembling hands—dragged him away from that contact with the dread fluid contained in the tub. Yes!—I glanced at that countenance. Just heaven, what a spectacle! But enough I can say no more upon the subject ! Pale as death — sick—ill—my limbs failing under me—I staggered down the staircase, and rejoined Juliet. She did not require to put a question to the effect whether her miserable hus- band’s stratagem had suceeeded, and whether the brand was now utterly obliterated from his brow? —she saw by my looks that the wretched Frede- rick’s aim had been only too fearfully accom- plished ! It is not necessary to enter into the very minutest details in respect to the remainder of EOMAICE OCC) (C (E)