The Seamstress; or, The White Slave of England — page 92: what you’re looking at

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

THE SEAMSTRESS. 85 lady’s-maid had disappeared. The Duke very | that this was none other than the fugitive femme- naturally ordered a search to be instituted to see | de-chambre of Grosvenor Square. whether anything was missing——” Assistance was speedily procured from the near- “Was it suspected, then, that the young woman | est park-keeper’s lodge ; and the corpse was borne had bolted with property ?” to a public-house at Bayswater. Information of “Not a bit of it. It appears that such a/ the occurrence was then conveyed to Belmont thought had never entered the head of any one | House; and the Duke appeared to be as much in the house till the Duke and his son returned | shocked as any of his family or servants at the home from the party. The Duchess, the young | dreadful event. Indeed, his Grace, on recover'ng ladies, and the servants generally, had no sus-| from the mingled horror and consternation into picion of Clementine’s dishonesty: they were | which the tidings seemed to throw him, at once afraid she had gone out and met with some acci- | declared his intention of offering a reward of five dent. But when the Duke and the Marquis came | hundred pounds for the apprehension of the mur- in and heard that the young woman was missing, | derer, and a similar sum for the recovery of the they precious soon ordered a search to be made; | diamonds. and sure enough, a robbery had been committed.” An inquest was held on the body in the course of “The Duchess’s jewel-casket, eh ?””’ the day: but nothing transpired to afford the faint- “Yes—and one of the young ladies’ ball- | est clue to the elucidation of the mystery. The dresses, I believe. But no doubt other things | only inference to be drawn from the circumstances, have been taken likewise:—only, in the first | such as they were presented to the jury, was that hurry and confusion caused by the event, it was| the young woman had been murdered while de- impossible to ascertain what was lost and what | camping with her mistress’s jewels: but whether was safe.” / | she was the victim of a stranger whom she en- “T suppose you’ve got a description of the | countered accidentally, or whether some improper Frenchwoman’s person ?” acquaintance had led to the robbery and the catas- “Yes—here it is,” replied the constable who | trophe, it was impossible for the inquest to deter- was thus enacting the part of informant towards | mine. The usual open verdict of “ Wilful Murder his comrade. “The Duke sent the Marquis of | against some person or perone unknown,” was Arden and the butler down to the station to give | accordingly returned. notice of the flight and the robbery; and that| On the following day the remains of the unfor- description,” added the officer, as he passed a/|tunate Frenchwoman were consigned to the grave ; paper to his brother-policeman, “is said to be | and the tragic occurrence shed a deeper gloom accurate enough.” upon the Belmont family. “She must be a pretty girl,’ remarked the; Sixteen months now passed away, without being other, as he scanned the document. characterised by any incident of special import- “So she is. The inspector who took Lavenham ance:—but during that period what had become into charge—you remember that affair at the , of Virginia Mordaunt? Duke’s some months ago P” : “To be sure I do. But what about our in- —- spector P” “Why, he saw the Frenchwoman on that occa- sion; and he told me just now that she is a very tidy body and answers the description in that paper to a nicety. But, holloa! what have we here ?” “A drunken lady——” “ No—a murder, by heavens !” And the two constables hastened up to the spot where lay the object which, suddenly meeting their eyes, had elicited those ejaculations. On the ground was the corpse of a female, ele- CHAPTER XXVIII. THE WHITE SLAVE OF ENGLAND. WE now come to a painful—a very painful episode in our tale; and even as we glance forward upon the woes, the sufferings, and the distresses which we are about to record, our soul sickens at the task that we have undertaken. At the same time, too, our blood boils with indignation when we view the details of that picture which is stretching before gantly dressed. Her bonnet was all broken—and | us,—a picture so made up with the vivid-colour- the marks upon her forehead indicated but too ings of poor woman’s wrongs, the sombre hues of plainly the manner in which she had come by her | man’s cold-bloodedness and cruelty, and the dark death. Ata short distance was a bludgeon, mas- | outlines of a vitiated society and a heartless world, sive and heavy enough to inflict murderous blows; | that we wonder God’s vengeance sleeps when He —and a little further off still, lay a casket with | looks down from heaven and beholds the enactment the lid open and emptied of its contents. The | of such scenes on earth. pocket of the unfortunate woman’s dress had also} But to enter properly upon this harrowing been rifled—for it was turned inside out: and portion of our narrative, we must bring back our certain traces of violence about the ears showed | reader’s attention to that day on which Virginia unmistakably that the ear-rings had been torn | was made the victim of the atrocious treachery away, and not deliberately taken off. The corpse | planned and executed by Clementine the French- was quite cold—and from its appearance, some | woman. hours must have elapsed since the perpetration of | It will be recollected that on beholding her the terrible deed. lover ride past in the carriage, and on hearing him Provided as they were with the written descrip- | denounced as the hero of the tale of seduction tion of Mademoiselle Clementine, the officers were | and cruelty previously narrated, Virginia had fallen not long in identifying the murdered female. ‘The | senseless at the feet of her false friend. Three or dress which she had on—the casket—her personal four persons speedily gathered to the spot: and appearance,—everything corroborated the suspicion ' while Clementine, with every appearance of woe (COUN () co NOOKS