Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 48: what you’re looking at

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ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. Bd he was about to return for a few minutes. He | yet she could not help doing so, because they in- proceeded to his own room, where he however | volved matters of importance :—but she desired stayed not more than a few seconds ; and then he | me to abstain from speaking to any other living went back to the chamber of his wife. that he must have gone to fetch something which she wished to see before she died—and perhaps it was the very flower pa “The flower?” I ejaculated, with something like a start. “Ah! I was proceeding too rapidly with my narrative,” rejoined the maid; “but my mind is still full of grief—and there are moments when I grow bewildered. But I will endeavour to speak calmly and collectedly.” * Proceed,” I said, now experiencing a painful degree of curiosity. “Mr. St. Clair went to his own room—then he returned to that where his perishing wife lay———” * Yes, Miss—it was thus that it happened,” continued the maid. “ But in a very few minutes he came forth again; and he said to me in a broken voice, ‘The catastrophe is approaching ; my poor wife has not long to live: I would re- main with her until the last, but she will not per- mit me. Goto her: she requires your presence ; hasten, delay not !’—It was thus that he spoke ; but I inquired whether the physicians were not also to return into the sick room?—‘ No,’ replied Mr. St. Clair; ‘your mistress will see them no more, unless indeed she be very much mistaken in her sad presentiment, and this should be a mere passing crisis which will leave her better after- wards. But of this I fear there is no hope’— Mr. St. Clair then hastened away, with his ker- chief to his eyes; and as he repaired to his own room, I returned into the chamber where my poor dying mistress lay. I found her perfectly calm, resigned, and collected. She told me that the bitterness of death was now passed since she had taken the final leave of her husband. She pro- ceeded to thank me for what she was pleased to term the kind attentions I had displayed towards her: she presented me with her watch and chain, several other little articles of jewellery, and a purse filled with gold, telling me that it was with Mr, St. Clair’s perfect concurrence that she thus rewarded me for my services. I need scarcely tell you, Miss Percy, how affected I was while pouring forth the assurances of my gratitude.” Here the maid wept; and for some moments she was unable to pursue her narrative, At length she continued in the following manner :— “ My dying mistress then proceeded to speak of you, Miss Percy. She said how much she loved you—how highly she had ever esteemed your character—how consoled and comforted she was by the visit which you had paid her. She went on to say that as she knew her death to be ap- proaching, and that she had not even an hour to live, she begged that I would see you in the morn- ing and remind you of the generous promises you had made her, but to the nature of which she did not allude. She entreated that through my lips you should be enjoined to keep those pro- mises 2 * Oh, ié was not necessary !” I exclaimed: “ I am incapable of violating them! Proceed—tell me the rest of this sad, sad narrative !” “My mistress said that she knew it was un- necessary to remind you of your promises ; and sce ee LL I think | soul besides yourself of what was then passing be- tween us. When she had ceased giving me these instructions, she lay profoundly quiet for upwards of half-an-hour, as if absorbed in the deepest meditation—doubtless in prayer. I sat as mo- tionless by her bedside as if I had been a statue : there was something awful in the silence which prevailed in that chamber—I can scarcely describe the sensations that possessed me. Then indeed I knew that death was close at hand: the presenti- ment that it was so sat like a nightmare upon my mind. At last my mistress spoke again. She bade me open a bureau, of which she gave me the key, and which key she took from beneath her pillow. I obeyed her; and she directed me to bring her a little rosewood box, about six inches square, which I should find on a particular shelf in that bureau. This also I did. She took the box in her hands, and desired me to raise her up somewhat in the couch by placing additional pillows behind her head. When I had fulfilled this man- date, she went on speaking in a low, plaintive, but clear and firm voice. As nearly as as I can recol- lect she spoke to the following effect :—‘ This box contains an artificial flower which was bequeathed to me by my mother, and which was almost super- stitiously associated with her own fate. What the tale was I cannot tell you, for I feel that my life is rapidly ebbing away. But it is a strange wild tale: I firmly believe that it was prophetic of my own fate! I wish to pray alone; and my prayers will be influenced by the presence of this object, trifling as if may seem in your eyes, yet dear as it is to me because it was bequeathed by my deceased mother. Now leave me, and return in five minutes. You need not gofar! Remain just outside the door; and I repeat, in “i minutes you can return. Ab! she added; ‘a thought strikes me! The very moment that I am no more, go and summon my husband: it is my wish, and I desire that it may be fulfilled.’—I had a pre- sentiment that I should not again see my poor mistress alive : I knelt down and pressed her hand to my lips. The tears were flowing fast from my eyes as I issued from the room. I did not close the door: I merely left it ajar—for I thought that if my mistress wanted anything I ought to be readily accessible to the summoning of her voice, which had become low and feeble. I re- mained outside—and all continued still within the chamber. That verystiilness seemed to me to be solemnly presentient of death ; and never in my life had I before experienced such feelings, At length, when I conceived that the prescribed in- terval of five minutes had elapsed, I slowly and tremblingly pushed the door open and crossed the threshold. I at once saw that all was over: my mistress lay dead upon the pillows! One arm was by her side, the other hung down over the edge of the couch—and upon her bosom was an artificial flower resembling a faded white rose.” I moaned inwardly; for I had a horrible com- prehension of if all! But my lips gave express sion to no sound; and whatsoever feelings my features may have " expressed, might well appear to the maid to be simply those of deep affliction for my friend Zarah’s death. i ECORNICLOO© SS (EO)