Beautiful Rienzi; or, The Secret Vendetta — page 249: what you’re looking at

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

249 BEAUTIFUL RIENZI. Washington, but he did not confide anything to his mother. She meantime having searched vainly through Washing- ton for her ancient foes, and failed to find them, began to fear that she should never be able to reclaim her child. Then it was that Cecil, becoming more and more unhappy, at last besought his mother to accompany him on some pretext to New York, as he did not wish to leave her alone. He was determined to try his chance with me again, and, erhaps, having flattered himself with false hopes, he at ength told his mother that a lady had been the cause of his melancholy, but he hoped to win her. He came to me, and you know the result; when he returned to his mother he was in such a state of mad grief that he raved of his sorrow. What was her horror, her consternation, at hearing that the lady was the eldest daughter of Guiseppe Rienzi, the archi- tect! «<The mother was stunned; a grim fate seemed to have brought about the most awful results of her early unscrupu- lousness. Here was Cecil, the only human being who bore her love, almost insane over the rejection of her own daugh- ter. She could not bear to tell him the facts of the case. She resolved to summon the daughter whom she had _ for- saken so long, to tell her of the story of her true parentage. that she might avoid these two men, Victor Joselyn and Cecil Beaumont, who were bound to her by the ties of blood. Alas! she had little mercy when she made me the wretched repository of her secret. ““In my anguish I betrayed the real state of the case be- tween Victor Joselyn and myself. I told her that she was too late; that he was my husband, wedded to me in all sacredness. ‘ With a frantic effort at calmness, I besought her to spare Victor the knowledge that she had given to me, and I swore to devote my life to her, if she would hide her existence from him. “« «That is good!’ she replied. ‘When illness overtakes me, as it often does, I should like my daughter to attend - me. laccept your terms; but I must ask another promise from you; bury the events of this night in your bosom; re- turn to the house of the Rienzis, and feign still to be their daughter until I send for you. I am not ready for you yet.’ ‘Stunned and bewildered, I promised all she demanded. Comichbooks.Eo