Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 45: what you’re looking at

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

| | --——— 32 his children. Yes, they would be reduced to destitution !—and surely this would prove suffi- cient chastisement for the crimes of which he has been guilty ? Murderer though he may be, yet is there not a punishment equal to that of send- ing him to the gibbet P—or indeed I would ask whether the long agony of want, penury, and des- titution, which for the remainder of his life he must endure, be not even a greater punishment than the shorter agony of trial, condemnation, and the preliminaries to death upon the scaffold ? Dispossess him utterly of his ill-gotten gains, and you leave him to his own remorse—you leave him likewise to the excruciation of beholding his wife and children wanting the common necessaries of existence—and thus terrible must be the penalties that he will have to pay for his complicity in the death of your grandsire! But even in this very vengeance will you be exercising a mercy, Ellen ! —for you will leave a husband to the wife and a father to the children—whereas if you gave him to the scaffold you would be striking a blow that would not fail to redound upon the heads of the innccent! And there is yet one other considera- tion which I have to offer. 1 have hitherto been reasoning as if you absolutely possessed the power of sending that man to the scaffold :—but I will now ask, ‘ What if you have mot that power ?’ You may be morally certain of his guilt—but how would you establish it in a court of justice ? Where is your witness? That wretched woman <-my grandmother—who sold him the poison, is no longer in England. True, you and Beda might repeat the confession which you extorted from her lips at the cottage near Petersfield : but this would be regarded only as hearsay evidence. In a word, you would noé be enabled to convict Mr. Parks ; and therefore, for this reason alone, apart from all other considerations, I put it to you whether it were not better to inflict the other ven- geance which I have suggested P—a vengeance which will be sure in its execution and equally certain in its effects,—I mean the process of com- pelling him to the restitution of your long usurped fortune, and leaving the man to misery and desti- tution, with his wife and his children P” My feelings were so absorbed in the distress produced by Zarah’s fearful calamity—and the idea that she was actually upon her death-bed, was, after all she had previously said, so para- mount in my mind—that I had no faculty for deli- berate reflection upon matters personally regard- ing myself, and which, indeed, under such circum- stances involved only selfish considerations. And then too, any appeal, no matter of what nature, which was made to me by one who declared that she was hovering upon the very threshold of the grave, exercised an influence which at any other time and in different circumstances might have been far less potent. In a word, my mind was so attenuated by the shock it had received on her ac- count, that I was prepared to give my assent to any appeal which she might make to my reason, as well as to any favour she might ask at my hands. “Yes, my dear Zarab,” J said, still weeping and sobbing, “ I yield to your arguments! Give me your counsel, and with gratitude will 1 follow it {” “ Our interview must soon terminate,” she said ; “and I have therefore but a brief opportunity for a ge ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. 8 ee speech. Look in the centre drawer of that toilet- table—and you will perceive, in the left hand inner corner, a scrap of paper containing a name and an address. Hesitate not to seek that man at his abode: he is already prepared to go through fire and water to serve you, because Zarah has so willed it! On this point I need say no more; for he is acquainted with the plan which I had conceived in reference to Mr. Parks—and he will carry it out.” I proceeded to the toilet-table—I opened the drawer, and possessed myself of the scrap of paper. I glanced at the words written upon it: but my eyes were dimmed with tears, and I could not decipher them. I therefore thrust the paper into my bosom, and returned to the side of Zarah’s bed. “ Tell me, my dearest friend,” I asked,—“ tell me, I entreat you, is he you know to whom I allude "4 “* My husband ?” she said in a firm tone. “Yes! Is he indeed kind to you under Misting circumstances P” *‘ Oh, Ellen!” ejaculated Zarah, “ is if possible that you know so little of Edwin St. Clair as to suppose that he is capable of a real and genuine kindness towards one whom he has never ceased to hate as -the wife that forced herself upon him ? No, no!—it suits him to maintain an appearance before the world, as he has hitherto maintained it! Is he not a Minister? is he not one of the tulers of the people ? and must he not study any point which may in any sense affect his reputation ? Yes !—and this is his study!” added Zarah, with bitterness and scorn in her accents. ‘“ When he is in this room, and my maid or the physicians are present, he is full of endearment, and he mani- fests the deepest distress; while I on my part, with a corresponding dissimulation, seem to ac- cept his language as the outpouring of a sincere and genuine grief. Yes!—because I would not have it known, nor even suspected by the world at large that instead of being the loved and cherished wife, I have been the hated and the loathed one !—instead of being the woman whom for her beauty he voluntarily espoused, I was the woman who forced myself upon him! The same feelings of vanity and ambition which inspired me when I soucht the elevation which this marriage would give, extend beyond the grave: I am care- ful of what shall be said of me when I go hence and exist no longer in this world! Perhaps you may wonder at such feelings, such ideas, and such precautions P—but if you have studied my character aright, you will perceive that they are consistent therewith.” There was a brief pause, during which I.re- flected with mingled painfulness and perplexity on this last speech of Zarah’s; and at length she pro- ceeded in the following manner :— , “ T have tole you how St. Clair behaves towards ‘me when others are present: I will now tell you how he acts when he is alone in this chamber with me. He does not condescend to what he would deem the pettiness, the paltriness, and the meanness of expressing his triumph in words: but his looks full well demonstrate that he is veritably trium- phant at what may be termed my downfall! You know that at one period I thought I might pos- sibly win back his love: but that for some time —_ ee eae | | rr oe Gomichboo