Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 49: what you’re looking at

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

ee ee up to my very lips, but that I was not en- JOSEPH WILMOT 5 OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. for some one was evidently entering my chamber. I was seized with a mortal terror: for the thought sprang up vividly in my mind that Lanover was | coming to murder me. Such was the consterna- tion which fell upon me, that I had no power to move; and yet it appeared as if a scream had abled to make the exertion necessary to give vent to it. The door opened; and all in an instant my dismay was banished, as the whispering voice of Annabel said, “ J oseph, are you awake ?” “Yes,” I replied, speaking in a similarly low tone: for I was struck by the conviction that the utmost caution was necessary in the present pro- ceeding, whatsoever it were. “Do not be frightened, Joseph,” she went on to say, speaking in a low, rapid, and tremulous whisper ; and J had no difficulty in comprehending that she was striving hard to subdue her own agitation as well as she could. “Do not be fright- ened—and ask no questions: but you must leave the house You must fly, Joseph—you must fly ! 33 “Fly ? good heavens!” I said, in a paroxysm of terror: for a thousand unknown dangers appeared to be suddenly springing up around me. “ Hush! I implore you not to risk and ruin everything by any mad excitement :’—and these were strong terms for the mild and gentle Annabel to use,—smiting me therefore with the fearful importance of attending to her injunction. * But whither am I to go?” “Go, poor Joseph? Anywhere—so that you remain not here! For heaven’s sake ask no questions! delay not! Oh, I am myself half wild at the cause of all this! But you must fly— you must hasten away from London !—the greater the distance, the better. JI have money for ou 33 “But my clothes? Your father has taken them all.” “TI know it—and I could not get them. Per- haps I risked my very life O heavens, that I should say so! to obtain the key. You must apparel yourself in female attire There, Joseph, cn this chair next to the door is everything you want. Get up and dress yourself: I dare not give you a light—and I shall remain outside the door until you are ready. I conjure you, delay not!” Annabel then quitted the room; and the door was closed behind her as noiselessly as possible. The reader may imagine far better than I can possibly describe the state of excitement into which I was thrown—an excitement which made me-tremble all over with a nervous feeling, in which there was even something hysterical. I got out of bed, and felt for the apparel on the chair. All my limbs quivered: but I knew that some terrific danger must indeed menace me in order to urge the pure-minded Annabel to have recourse to the present proceeding. I therefore gathered all my fortitude to my aid, and began to do my best to assume the female apparel which she had brought for the purpose. Iwill not enter into minute par- ticulars on this point: suffice it to say that in about a quarter of an hour I was dressed in that raiment. It was her own that she had lent for the purpose ; and considering the intricacies of such a toilet for one of the male sex, and that it was ac- complished in the dark, I was surprised at my own expertness in mastering its difficulties in so short a space. It was finished—and I gently opened the door. Annabel took me by the hand, and guided me to the stairs: for the passage was quite dark. Gently —indeed with aerial lightness—did we both de- scend. As we passed the door of her father’s room, she pressed my hand with significancy—it was indeed with the spasmodic energy of direst. apprehension—to warn me that the slightest in- cautious sound, such as too heavy a tread—a — creaking of a board—a false step—even a breath too deeply drawn, would betray us and ruin every- thing. But we passed on unheard: indeed, no spectres ever glided more lightly ;—and the pas- sage of the ground-floor was reached. “ Now, Joseph, you stand upon the threshold of safety—and heaven be thanked!” whispered An- nabel, in a voice so low that three yards off it could not have been heard at all: yet so clear was: her musical voice that I lost not a syllable. “Here is a purse—take it—my mother sends it to you, accompanied by her blessing. It contains not much—but sufficient to bear you to a great dis- tance hence and the greater the better! O Joseph, you can judge what my feelings are when I tell you that your life is menaced—and by my own father !” Here Annabel was for a few moments so over- powered by her feelings that she clung to my arm. for support. I clasped her waist, and imprinted a kiss upon her cheek: it was cold as marble! “Now, Joseph,” she said, quickly recovering herself, “ you must depart !” “But you, Annabel — dearest Annabel?” I whisperingly answered: “to what perils am E leaving you exposed !”—and I was almost dis- tracted at the thought. “Be not uneasy, Joseph, on my account,” she rejoined: “my life at least will not be menaced! Beware of my father beware also of that man Taddy, who was here this evening. And now go!” “No, no, Annabel—I cannot leave you thus!” I said: “there is madness in the bare thought! Rather would I dare everything “ Joseph, Joseph—I conjure you to depart! You know not what you are risking by this delay !” “No, Annabel “ Joseph, if my father were to overhear us, he might in the first paroxysm of his rage L shudder at the idea you understand me—— for my sake depart!’ “You will have it so, Annabel—and I obey you. O God, that the time may come, dear girl, when we may meet again!” “Yes, yes, Joseph—we shall meet again: for there is justice in .heaven—and you will not always be persecuted thus. And now away!” I caught her once more in my arms: we em- braced fondly—fervently. She opened the front door in the most noiseless manner possible; and as the light of the street-lamp beamed upon her countenance, I saw that it was pale as death, and that in each eye there glistened a tear—those two tears resembling twin-drops of the diamond dew. I would have seized her hand again—but she waved me away: the door closed—and she was lost to my vicw. teal Gloo Ss (C@) im -