Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 348: what you’re looking at

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

’ ; ’ ' ' 340 AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. Gustavus! it grieves me thus to deal with thee: but whatamI todo? Thine heart still seems to have a slight secret yearning towards Winifred— | and I must tear thee away from her! You must be wholly mine—not partially! If I were to live | on with the conviction that thy remembrances and thy thoughts are tending towards another, I should” go mad—I could not endure it! N Qo, no—I could not !” Emily stood by the side of the couch for some minutes, watching the face of her sleeping hus- band; and then consulting her watch, she found that it was past the hour of noon. She proceeded to dress herself in handsome apparel ; and she pre- sently ordered luncheon to be spread upon the table in the sitting-room. Between one and two o'clock Gustavus awoke—or rather he began by. degrees to shake off the drowsiness which a pro- found slumber from soporific effects had left behind it. Emily was by his side, to lavish earesses upon him—to charm him with her bland- ishments. There she was, his beautiful quadroon wife,—radiant with smiles—assuring him that he now looked quite well—that the sleep had evidently refreshed him—and that it was fortunate he had taken her advice and-yielded to that inclination for repose. Gustavus suspected not that the liqueur had been drugged: he could not suppose Emily capable of such a piece of wickedness; and there- fore the idea did not for a single instant enter his head. must have been seized with a sudder indisposition. He did not however feel quite so well as Emily | assured him that he looked: he was languid—he | experienced a disinclination to exert himself: there was a certain sinking at the heart and a faintness at the stomach, as if he required a stimu- lant. It was therefore with no great difficulty that | the quadroon persuaded him, so svon as he was again dressed, to sit down and partake of the luncheon which was ready served in the adjoining - room. “Yes,” said Gustavus, “I do indeed feel as if I needed refreshment. But after lunch, Emily, we must really delay not in paying those visits “You see, my dear Gustavus, that I am ready dressed for the purpose,” answered Emily. “ Tuere is plenty of time—we will tell your grandfather that you were seized with some slight indis- position 1 “ But Winifred will think it strange that I have | suffered these hours to elapse without calling at | the prison!—and then too there is a document of some importance which Winifred gave me, and which I put in my pocket “Do not distress yourself upon these points,” said his quadroon wife: “it is no more than two o'clock, and by three o’clock we will be at the prison. Recline upon that sofa, my dear Gus- tavus—partake of the champagne—it will exhila- rate and refresh you; and you will be in all the better spirits for the interview with your grand- aire.” But instead of acquiring energy and strength to seek that interview, Gustavus experienced the sense of drowsiness returning upon him: he en- deavoured to shake it off—but he could not,—and perbaps sll the less because his head was now pilowed upon his wife’s bosom, and it was delight- ful thus to repose in the arms of the beautiful On the contrary, he firmly believed that he. quadroon. Ina few minutes Gustavus again slept profoundly. When he awoke, candles were burning in the apartment—the cloth was laid for dinner —the plate and the glass were reflecting the rays of those waxlights. The curtains were closed—a cheerful fire was blazing in the grate—the wine sparkled in the decanters upon the snow-white table-cloth And there sat Emily, now in evening costume—for she had again changed her apparel; and to the eyes of her husband she looked more wondrously beautiful than ever. Her arms were naked almost to the shoulders; and how superbly modelled were those arms !—how robustly rounded, and yet how perfect in their symmetry !—how warm and glow- ing even to the look! Warm and glowing likewise were the rich contours of that bust which the low corsage of the dress half-revealed; and in contrast with the duskiness of the skin there was a necklace of pearls, cefining the luxuriant shape of the _ bosom on which it rested. How clear, how trans- parent was that skin!—how finely grained in its olive hue! And her hair was all flowing in its jetty luxuriance upon her sloping shoulders and down her back; and the light of the wax candles shining upon her countenance showed the delicate aquiline configuration of the profile, and set off the moist redness of the lips—affording a glimpse likewise of the teeth of ivory whiteness, as those lips were slightly apart. And her eyes—those _large luminous handsome eyes—were at first half- -curtained beneath their long thick ebon fringes; and then they were slowly bent upon Gustavas to see if he were still sleeping. When Emily perceived that his eyes were open, and that as he lay upon the sofa he was surveying her with impassioned admiration, she uttered an | Senealen of joy—she flew towards bim—those warm glowing arms were clasped around his neck | —and his face was pressed to that warm glowing | bosom. Then she bent over him—she lavished | kisses upon his lips, his cheeks, and his brow—she tapped his face with all the appearance of affec- eae playfulness—and her large luminous eyes | | looked down into the depths of his own, as if re- flecting as well as infusing the unspeakable tender- ness that filled her heart. “Dearest Gus,” she said, after a little while, “do you know that I have been uneasy on your account ?—for I did not like these fits of drowsi- ness. You have been again slumbering for hours = it is now six o’clock in the evening ye | “Oh, my poor grandfather! how I have neg- lected him!” exclaimed Gustavus. “And Winifred —what must she think? And that document ee “Do not make yourself uneasy, dearest Gus,” said Emily. “I have sent kind messages to both : have sent the packet likewise—yes, to Mr. Barrington a “Ob, how thoughtful of you!—how good! how generous!” cried the young man, fervidly em- bracing his beautiful quadroon wife. “ But this is not all,” continued Emily. “I tell you that I was uneasy in respect to this re« newed slumber ca your part—lI sent for a surgeon —and Cb, Gustavus! you can imagine what a re- lief it was to my mind when I was assured that there was nothing to fear—nothing to apprehend —and that to-morrow you would be entirely your- cComilcbooks ee —