Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 306: what you’re looking at

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

» rte en et —E —_ ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS, I was more and more astonished. “ A good education !” I thought within myself ; “and yet he professed to Agatha to be unable to read or write! Was if some deeper piece of wickedness on his part, for the purpose of shift- ing all the responsibility, in case of detection, from his own shoulders to that of the young woman who loves him? Yes—it must have been so! Unless indeed there is an extraordinary mis- take somewhere or another? But no! how can this be? R.B. stands for Richard Brownlow. Yes !—and did I not hear the unmistakable voice of Agatha address him as Richard, the other evens ing when I was returning from depositing the letter in the vase ?” I was much bewildered with the incident that had thus occurred: but it is needless to swell out my narrative by a record of all the reflections and meditations that passed through my brain upon the occasion. Indeed, my attention was presently diverted to other subjects; for between one and two o’clock a carriage with four post-horses drove up to the entrance of the Hall. This was the Countess of Belgrave’s barouche: she had just arrived from London—and she had brought Mrs. Gower with her. Warm were the greetings that now ensued: indeed the Countess was specially delighted to meet me at Kelvedon Hall; while both she and Aline were rejoiced to learn that Hermione’s health was improving. After luncheon we went out for an airing in the -earriage,— Lord Kelvedon riding on horseback ; and this was the first time that Hermione had been outside the front door for the last three weeks, She was in excellent spirits: the presence of her friends combined with the exhilarating in- fluence of the clear frosty atmosphere to produce this effect. We proceeded nearly as far as Peters- field ; and I beheld the ruined farm-buildings where I had so recently been a prisoner in com- pany with Dame Betty. As we were returning home, a very elegant equipage dashed past us: a female was seated therein—and I at once recog- nised Melissa Harrison; so that I had no diffi- culty in conjecturing that she had succeeded in making her peace with the Marquis of Tynedale. Although the glimpse which I had of her was so transitory, if was nevertheless sufficient to show me that she was magnificently dressed, and re- clining back in the splendid equipage with the fastidiously insolent air of a great lady. We returned to Kelvedon Hall; and as the dinner-hour approached, I repaired to my chamber to perform my evening toilet. Matilda was quickly in attendance, and she lavished on me her usual assiduities. “So your fellow-servant Agatha,” I said, “ is going to leave her situation in this establishment?” “Yes, Miss,” replied Matilda. “ Agatha is going to be married.” “T heard her ladyship intimate the fact,” I re- sponded. “The person whom she is going to marry is named Brownlow, I think P” “Yes, Miss; and he is a very respectable young man,” said Matilda. “I have known for some months past that he was courting Agatha, though she did not like to mention it to her lady- ship till this morning ; for you know my lord is very particular, and will not allow the servants to have any followers,” ee TT A Sse ests 293 “ And yet I heard his lordship speak very favour. ably of Richard Brownlow,” I remarked. “Of course, Miss,” rejoined Matilda; “ because his lordship could not possibly speak in any other way of the young man: but for all that, his lord- ship would be dreadfully angry if he knew that Richard Brownlow had ever visited Agatha here by stealth. Perhaps you might have seen, Miss, that the moment Richard collected the tax to-day,, he turned and rode off ?” “Yes—I noticed it,” I answered. “ But did I understand you that this Richard Brownlow has visited Agatha stealthily ?” “ Ab, Miss, you know it!—or at least you must have suspected it!” cried Matilda; “and on that very account poor Agatha thinks you have taken a dislike to her.” “Explain yourself, Matilda,” I said, now feeling that the discourse was every moment becoming more and more interesting. “Why, Miss, the other night, you know,” con- tiuued Matilda,—“ it was the second time you came to the Hall—on the 13th of this month—I remember the date very well,—you went into the garden because you had a headache—you left the private door unlocked—and Agatha went up the staircase Pe “'Yes—all this is true, and I remember the circumstance,” I said. “ Well, Miss,” continued Matilda; “ Agatha told me that she met you on the occasion—she said if was in the bath-room, and that when you questioned her you looked at her so very hard that she fancied you suspected something.” ““And what did she suppose I suspected °?” I inquired. “That she had stolen out into the back garden for the purpose of meeting her lover—which was really the case; and poor Agatha said she: felé all of a tremble in your presence—she stammered, blushed, and looked confused, for she told you a story—she said that she, like yourself, had gone out to get the fresh air on account of a headache, while in reality it was because she had expected to meet young Richard for a moment that she might exchange a word with him. But he did not happen to come that evening.” “ And so Agatha fancies,” I said, “that [ have conceived a dislike towards her? Is this idea based upon no other ground than that which you have just explained ?” “Not that I know of, Miss,” answered Matilda. “This is all that Agatha told me. She is of rather an independent spirit—though I believe she pos- sesses an excellent heart x * At all events,” I interjected, “I am quite pre- pared to hear you tell me that she has conceived a dislike towards myself.” “No!—I don’t think that, Miss,” responded Matilda: “ but she certainly thinks that you have once or twice spoken rather harshly to her—ané she has therefore shown the independence of her disposition in return. Perhaps she considers it rather hard that you should have questioned her sc closely and looked at her so suspiciously on that evening to which I just now referred; because, ag she says, she was real!y doing no harm—and if now and then she did stealthily meet a young man to whom she was honourably engaged, it was only because she was not allowed to receive him in the JOO SS (EO) im