The Seamstress; or, The White Slave of England — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

a THE SEAMSTRESS. do that word “ dearest” which had just been addressed bride. It is true that I move in a sphere where to her, did raise her blushing countenance: and | this marriage may excite some astonishment: but though her feelings hushed the syllables that rose | when I present my young and lovely wife to the to her lips, yet did the Marquis of Arden read the | circle of my friends, they will be impressed with wished-for response in those eloquent blue eyes | no other conviction than her worthiness to attain which blended their looks with his own. Yes— | thatrank. Tell me, then, dearest Virginia, whether those beauteous orbs spoke in silence to his soul— | you have relatives or friends to consult :—tell me and their language was the unmistakable confession also what I can do to render you happy and place | of a reciprocal love! you at your ease until that day when you will con- Yes: quickly as this change had been wrought in | sent to accompany me to the altar. Tell me, in the heart of Virginia—rapid as had been her learn- | fine, all that concerns yourself———” ings in the lessons of love—the sentiment was not) But at this moment an ejaculation of mingled the less deeply rooted in her bosom. A few days— | astonishment and rage struck upon the ears of the almost a few hours had done it all: but then, had | lovers: and raising their eyes, they beheld Miss she not been placed in circumstances the influence | Barnet confronting them in the pathway. of which no young girl can be exposed to with im-| “Osmond! is this youP—and, Ah! you little punity? That adventure which at once laid her | traitress—you deceitful Virginia!” exclaimed the under so vast an obligation to the young Marquis— | infuriate young woman, gesticulating violently, then the mingled generosity and delicacy of his | while her cheeks were scarlet with passion. conduct, so closely following up that chivalrous! ‘Osmond! echoed Virginia, a fearful suspicion gailantry which made him peril his life for her sake flashing across her brain: then, turning towards then the effect of her own meditations upon the | her lover with looks full of anguish, she cried, “ No course which she should adopt towards the hand-|—no! it cannot be! You are not——~” some youth—and now the tenderness of his looks, But the infuriate manner in which Miss Barnet the music of his voice, and the enthusiasm of his | now continued to level the bitterest reproaches language,—Oh! surely, surely, all these influences | against the young man, carried to the tortured soul were more than sufficient to win the soft affections of the seamstress the wretched conviction that her of a young and confiding girl, at that age when no_ lover was indeed none other than the paramour of selfish caleulations nor voluptuous sensualities had , her friend. penetrated like a serpent into the Eden of her heart. “OQ heaven! have mercy upon me!” murmured We said that Charles had conducted his fair com- | the poor seamstress, suddenly abandoning the youth’s panion into the most secluded walk in the Park. | arm and sta:gering for support against the,iron There were not many persons in that avenue at | railing which fenced the pathway. the time; and therefore the lovers—for such they | ‘ Virginia—do not judge me harshly—hear me, indeed now were—had escaped any unpleasant ob-!I implore you!” exclaimed Charles, regardless of servation. during the interesting discourse above | the bitter invectives which Miss Barnet was level- detailed. Virginia was now leaning more confidently | ling against him. : upon the arm of the handsome youth to whom she| ‘“ No—no—it is all over between us!” cried Vir- haggiren her love: that is to say, her hand reposed | ginia, in a voice penetrated with the anguish of upon that arm with a more perceptible pressure | cruel disappointment: and, suddenly gathering ail than on the former occasion when they were to- | her strength and all her presence of mind, she fled gether. precipitately from the spot. And she was happy—Oh! supremely happy: | The young Marquis, maddened by the scene, was although it appeared to her as if she were walking | about to rush after her: but Miss Barnet seized in a dream. The other day, and she had not a/ him by the arm—clung to him with all her foree— friend in the whole wide world: now, she had more | and was not to be shaken off, save by a degree of than a friend—she was wooed by one who promised | violence which Charles, goaded to desperation to make her his wife! Ah! was this fairy vision | though he were, was incapable of exhibitiag towards destined to endure *—would it continue until all a woman. its associated hopes should be fully realised? The * Leave me, Julia—unhand me—I implore you sequel will show: but in the meantime the young | to let me go!” he cried; “and I will behave muni- Marquis is breathing to the maiden’s ears those | ficently towards you.” words of fervent love and golden promise which} “Traitor ! — villain!” exclaimed Miss Barnet, are so welcome to the heart that beats with its first clinging to him with the tenacity of a tigress: “you virginial affection ! shall not have another opportunity of making love “T have already assured you, dearest one,” said | to that hypocritical minx!” the youth, his eyes pouring forth floods of tender- “ Julia—I command you—I beseech you,” cried ness—while the maiden, with all the innocence of | the Marquis: ‘“ hear me——” a fond reliance and ingenuous confidence, turned| ‘“ You will not move me either by threats or her heavenly countenance up towards his own,—“I | prayers!” interrupted the enraged Miss Barnet. have already assured you, dearest one, that never | “There! people are approaching—Virginia has dis- did aught in female form make such an impression | appeared—and now will you be reasonable ?” upon my soul as your modest loveliness. And it is “Yes—but permit me to say one word to that because I feel that I could not be happy without | young creature whom it appears you know,” ex- you,—it is also because I shall experience the most | claimed Charles;—‘ and then I will devote my lively joy and the proudest of triumphs in raising | attentions to you.” you from a position of dependence and toil toone| ‘ You cannot catch her up—she has fled precipi- of prosperity and competency,—it is for these rea- | tately—she is out of sight,” persisted Miss Barnet, sons that 1 long toconduct you to the altar as my _ still clinging tenacivusly to the arm of the young a { (E@) ii CORMIELOOOKXS