Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 37: what you’re looking at

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

AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. 29 most mournful look: ‘*I am not displaying a grateful heart towards one to whom, as I may judge by circumstances, I doubtless owe my life! i meant not to accuse you, Ciprina “ Enough, Edgar!’ interrupted the young lady. “You may suppose that there are perhaps reasons — But let us not now discuss the course which you are to pursue when restored to health! I will send a message to Signor Paoli, to the effect that you have sustained an injury, but that you will communicate with him shortly. Will this suf- fice P”’ “VYes—it must—it must—under existing cir- cumstances!” answered Hdgar. ‘“ But I beseech you, delay not.” “This moment the messenger shall depart,” said Ciprina: and she hastened to ring the bell. Antonia answered the summons; and she was instructed to proceed without delay to a particular destination, to inquire for a certain Signor Paoli, and to deliver a message in the sense already sketched out by Ciprina. Away went Antonia accordingly; and during the half-hour that her absence lasted, Ciprina insisted that her patient should abstain from conversation; and she likes wise persuaded him to partake of some nutritiou- broth which she had ordered to be prepared. An- tonia came back with the announcement that Sig- nor Paoli had been arrested by the police at about nine o’clock in the morning, and that he was es- corted to the outskirts of Florence with the most positive orders to leave the Tuscan territory with the least possible delay. These facts Antonia had ascertained from the landlord of the lodgings which Paoli had recently occupied and who had become interested in the unfortunate Neapolitan refugee. Ciprina was alarmed lest the intelligence which Antonia thus brought, should produce an evil effect upon her patient; and it was with the most earnest entreaties she implored him to tranquillize his mind as much as possible. She again dis- missed Antonia from the chamber; and she said, “Compose yourself to slumber, Edgar, if you can !” “‘ T cannot !—no, I cannot!” he answered: “but believe me, Ciprina, if you will let me discourse with you, I will exercise the utmost control over my feelings. It seems to me that thero is a relief to the horror and anguish as well as the rage which fill my mind,—there is a relief, I say, in making known all that occupies my thoughts. Suffer me therefore to converse with you!” “Tf you will talk as you are now speaking, in a subdued tone and without vehemence of ac- cent. Proceed, Edgar,’ said Ciprina; ‘“ what have you to tell me? or what have you to ask P” ‘Tell me in the first instance,” said Marcellin, “ how I came under your kind care ¥ “Twill tell you,” interrupted Ciprina. “Io the midst of the grand entertainment which the Marchioness gave this evening, @ purse was thrown through the window ie “ Yes--by Signor Paoli’s hand,” rejoined Mar- cellin. “He had received it from the Mar- chioness herself z ““ Ah! then the Marchioness has seen Paoli P” ejaculated Ciprina. * Oh! I perceive that you have much to learn,” interjected Edgar; “and I rejoice on your ac- count that it is so—because it proves to me how completely you have been ignorant of the dark crimes committed by the Marchioness, and there- fore how free from everything akin to a guilty sympathy with that vile woman. Listen, Ciprina: I promise you not to speak too quickly—lI will not excite myself—but I will give you a narrative of circumstances with which you ought to be ac- quainted.” Edgar Marcellin proceeded to unfold the pro- mised history. He began by explaining to Ciprina how he had been accused by the Mar- chioness of the assassination of Giulio—how cer- tain circumstances had actually combined to give a colour to the charge—and how, yielding to the terror which such a horrible position naturally created in his mind, he had fled precipitately from Florence. “‘ Yes,” said Ciprina; ‘and the Marchioness told me at the time that you were the murderer, and that you had confessed it—and I believed her! Alas, yes! I believed her!—for as she told me the tale, it all seemed strong against you—and the circumstance of your flight appeared to be com- pletely damnatory. Yes—until last night did I believe in your guilt! And now proceed, Edgar.” Marcellin went on to relate how, on quitting Florence, he had returned into France—and how he had been there subjected to another charge which was as false as the one from which he had fled in Florence. He stated how he went to Lon- don, and there lived in poverty and obscurity. But he did not mention a syllable about Corinna Paoli: he had not the moral courage to confess to Ciprina that during the interval of absence he had so completely lost sight of her image as to become devotedly attached to another. JBesides, he thought—and naturally too—that the moment when he was indebted to her for life-saving minis- trations was not the very one to be chosen for the revelation of such a secret. As he did not men- tion anything about Corinna, he said nothing of his visits to Sidney Villa: but he accounted by some other means for his knowledge that Signor Paoli had come to Florence and had received the assurance that he (Edgar Marcellin) was the mur- derer of his son Giulio. “ And it was just at that time,” continued Edgar,—“ namely, about ten or twelve days ago, that a remarkable coincidence took place. I fell in with Lisetta if “ Ah!” ejaculated Ciprina: “that same Li- setta ie ‘The confidential lady’s-maid of the Mar. chioness,” rejoined Edgar, “ and who introduced me to your presence—you remember on what oc- casion, CiprinaP”’ “ And she left a few days after the murder of Giulio,” said the young lady. “ Yes—and I will tell you wherefore,” resumed Marcellin: “I will explain to you everything which at that time came to the knowledge of Lisetta, and which she herself revealed to me, as I have already told you, some ten or twelve days back. It appears that on the day after the mur- der of Giulio, Lisotta came up from the villa in the Vale of Arno to the town-mansion, as she was seldom long separated from her mistress. Lisetta loved Giulio dearly: but this was a secret which she retained, within her own bosom. She waa Comichboo SaGO© iim