The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 397: what you’re looking at

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882 animated me in dealing with the petty tyrants of the family which I had so reeently left, inspired me now with courage to meet my misfortunes. At first I thought of writing at once to Sir John Marston, telling him how I was situated and requesting his pecuniary assistance. But when I reflected on the independent manner in which I had left him, my soul recoiled from the idea of such self-humiliation. The only course open to me appeared to be that of ob- taining a situation as a governess; and this I thouzt would not be so very difficult, as there were many English residents in Havre, as well as re- snectable French tradesmen, who knew that I had been a year with Sir John Marston’s family. I ac- cordingly set about instituting immediate inquiries. The robbery of the diligence was of course gene- rally known in Havre; and it being likewise known that I was one of the victims, my position excited some degree of sympathy. An English lady, named Knight, who had recently been left a widow, and had several children, was staying at Havre at the time; and she offered to receive me as a governess. She frankly told me that she was not very well off, and. that she could not afford to give me a handsome salary: but my circumstances did not permit me to be over particular—and I therefore accepted her proposition. She was a woman of about forty: her eldest son, whose christian name was James, was just one-and-twenty ; and she had four other chil- dren—two boys and two girls, whose ages ranged from ten to eighteen. She was a good-natured person — somewhat weak-minded — and entirely under the empire of her son James, who, I must observe, was a handsome young man. Her husband had been dead about eight months: he was a mer- chant—but had left his circumstances in a less flourishing condition than had been expected from his mode of life. He had some little property at Barcelona in Spain: and it required the widow’s pre- sence there for her to take possession of it. She had arrived from England on her way thither; and as I found, more from compassion in respect to myself than because her views were sufficiently settled to enable her to engage a governess at the time, she received me into her family. In a few weeks we set off by the diligence towards the Spanish frontier. I soon found that James Knight had taken it into his head to make a conquest of me, if possible—and not in an honourable way. When unperceived by his mother, he besieged me with attentions; and even in her presence he sometimes looked and spoke in @ manner that it was impossible to misunderstand. On these occasions I saw that she reproved him with a glance, for which however he cared but little. She was however soon satisfied that he received no encouragement from me: for I gave him to under- stand as plainly as I could that his attentions were most disagreeable. But he persevered in them: and on one occasion it became necessary for me to resent his impertinence with a sound box on the ears, which I hesitated not to bestow. He was of an evil disposition —treachcrous, malignant, and spiteful to a degree; and finding that so far from making any tender impression on me, I treated him in this manner, he menaced me with his looks. For these however I cared but little; and deported my- selt towards him with aversion and contempt. THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. these circumstances was it that @p arrived at Barce- lona. I do not pause to say anything particular relative to the children entrusted to my charge, as I remained so short a time with Mrs. Knight: but I now come to the incident which caused me to leave her abruptly. On arriving at Barcelona, we | took up our quarters at an hotel preparatory to the hiring of suitable apartments during the period that it would be requisite for Mrs. Knight to remain in that city. The very day after our arrival, and at about eight o’clock in the evening, Mrs. Knight discovered that some articles of jewellery had been abstracted from her trunk. This announcement was made in the presence of her son James; and he immediately turned towards me, asking with a malignant look ‘ what I was doing in his mother’s chamber about an hour back?’ Instantaneously understanding the nature of the aspersion he in- tended to throw upon me, my indignation burst forth in no measured terms: for it was totally false that I had been to his mother’s room at all. He vowed that I had; and insisted that my boxes should be searched. This I at once assented to: where- upon Mrs. Knight, who, poor weak - minded woman, had begun to grow suspicious concern ing me, led the way to my chamber, fol- lowed by her son and myself. On our way thither, the thought—the terrible thought, flashed to my mind that if James Knight were villain enough to accuse me thus wrongfully, he was also sufficiently treacherous and malignant to have placcd the jewels in my box in order to ruin me. I beheld at a glance all the danger of my position; and in the swift brief moments that were passing, I revolved in my mind the two alternatives that lay before me —either to dare the accusation boldly on the one hand,—or to fly from it precipitately on the other. Though perfectly innocent, as God is my judge, yet I chose the latter alternative: for I could not en- dure the thought of being plunged into a prison. f therefore determined to escape. We entered my chamber; and in order to throw the treacherous young man entirely off his guard with respect to my intention, I affected not to entertain the slightest suspicion that the jewels would really be found in my box. I was thus enabled, when he was busily engaged in turning out all the things, to snatch upa bonnet and shawl and glide from the room. Locking the door upon Mrs. Knight and her son, I slipped on the bonnet and shawl—reached the stairease— descended it rapidly—and issued forth from the hotel. It was now dusk; and I sped precipitately along the street—gained the postern—passed the fortifications without hindrance—and was soon on the wide open plain stretching towards the Catalo- nian Hills. I proceeded onward with but little relaxation of speed for nearly two hours,—when I was compelled to sit down and rest. It was now a beautiful moonlit night; and I could see to a con. siderable distance. Three or four habitations were discernible amidst the sylvan scenery which formed a large portion of the landscape: but I dared not seck shelter at any of these, for fear that if informa- tion had been given to the Barcelonese police, the entire neighbourhood might be scoured by those officers and I should be arrested I therefore ra- He | solved to walk onward throughout the whole night, grew sullen and morose; and I saw full well that | and thus place as great a distance as possible he had conceived a bitter hatred against me. Under | between myself and the city which I had left. — ee ECORNICLOOO CS (€()