The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 241: what you’re looking at

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

THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. 227 slow musing tone, ‘“ Extraordinary things have happened in this world; and it would not be the first time that the dead have come to life again.’ “Good God! what mean you?” asked the Duchess : for though she could not see the Count’s face, as he retained his mask, yet there was something so peculiar in the tone in which he spoke that it struck her with a species of vague terror. ‘‘T mean, dearest,” he said, taking her hand and pressing it between both his own,—‘“‘ I mean that it would not be the first time that the sup- posed dead have reappeared in the world.” ‘‘ Ah!” said the Duchess, with a sense of relief. though she paused not to analyze her feelings “now I comprehend you. Let us take it for granted, then, that by some unaccountable means this man is still alive. And yet—and yet,” she added, eagerly catching at an idea which had ab- ruptly smitten her, ‘it is quite possible that there may be some one so exactly like himself” “Possible, but not probable,” interrupted the Count. “For if I remember aright, the news- papers declared that he had no brother nor any near relation, and that consequently the title was extinct. Come, Mary, busy not yourself with an idea that may prove to be delusive. If there be any evil to be encountered, let it be met boldly ; and therefore take it for granted that by some strange means or another that man yet lives!” ‘““In this case,” said the Duchess, shuddering visibly, ‘“‘I am completely in the power of a wretch who may haunt me day and night—one who may exaggerate trifles and misrepresent facts to a ruinous extent! It is true that he may not dare to appear publicly in society :— neither on the other hand dare I take steps to surrender him up again into the grasp of justice! Thus, unseen by all the rest of the world, he may secretly haunt me; unknown in the new spheres where he will perhaps move disguised, he may circulate scandalous whispers concerning me! For, Ob, such a wretch as that, crawling like a reptile in a thicket, may scatter forth its venom around —and I the principal. victim !” “Mary,” said the Count, who had suffered her to proceed uninterrupted, and who had reflected profoundly while she was speaking, ‘I am fully sensible of all the dangess to which you are now exposed. You may indeed be haunted by a spectre—pursued by an apparition—dogged as it were through the world by one who though really alive, must nevertheless seem as if he had risen up from the dead.” __ “Good heavens!” murmured the wretched Duchess, there is something absolutely frightful in the vivid truthfulness of the picture that you have just drawn!”—and again she shuddered visibly. “Oh, what ‘can I do? have you no consolation to give ?—nothing to suggest ?”—and her voice now sank into accents of the deepest re- proachfulness. “Mary, do you believe,” asked the Count, “that I can help you in this dilemma ?” “Ido, I do!” replied the Duchess, eagerly catching at the hope which his words seemed “to hold out. have every reliance upon you! I know not why, but it now seems to me as if you were the only person in the whole world who could befriend me !” ‘‘T am,” he said in a tone of confidence. “ And you will befriend me, Mandeville? Oh, you will befriend me, Hippolyte?” murmured the Duchess, with all the most winning accents of woman’s powerful appeal. “And if I do this for you, Mary,” he said, taking her hand and holding it in his own, ‘may I hope that I shall not sigh in vain ?” “] know not what you mean to do, nor how you purpose to act,” answered the Duchess, her eyes sinking beneath the glowing regards which Mandeville fixed upon her through the holes of his mask; ‘‘ but masmuch as I place an implicit —aye, almost a superstitious reliance upon your power, I will abandon myself blindly and confi- dently unto you. Save me—save me from any danger which may at present threaten me!—save me, Hippolyte, and I am your’s !” “Thanks, Mary! I will save you.” Mandeville now led the Duchess away from the ec conservatory; and as they paused in the dining-~ room to partake of some slight refreshment, he said to her, ‘‘ Will you remain until the end ; or do you wish to return home after the excitement you have experienced ?” “Which do you think I had better do 2” asked the Duchess. “If I were to consult my own selfish feelings only,” replied Mandeville, “ I should beseech you to remain. It is only just midnight—supper isto be served at one o’clock—and would it not seem strange if the brilliant Duchess were not amongst the company ?” ‘True !—and moreover I have made my pre- parations for remaining here,’ was her Grace’s response. ‘‘ Nay, do not think that I intend to lay aside my mask while still wearing this cos- tume; but Catharine Todmorden has kindly lent me her chamber—I have sent an evening dress thither—and presently, when I make a change in my toilet, no one will suspect that I had figured as a Page of the Court of Queen Elizabeth. For I happen to know that several other ladies will likewise change their attire; and then too there are all the dominos that will be laid aside “ And therefore, everything considered,” said Mandeville, “ you will remain ?” The reply was given in the affirmative, and the Count led the Duchess up-stairs again to the saloons. There in a few minutes he separated from her, with the whispered information that it were probably better they should not be seen too much together, inasmuch as the costume of both attracted no mean amount of attention, and it might therefore possibly be surmised who they were. Mandeville, on leaving the Duchess, hastened downstairs, leapt into his carriage, which was waiting for him, and drove back to the Clarendon Hotel, where he dwelt. He inquired if his valet Edmund had returned ?—and he was answered in the negative. Repairing to his dressing-room, he changed his Troubadour attire for a plain evening suit ; and by the time his toilet was accomplished “And you think that I can rescue you from | Edmund Vaughan made his appearance, this horrible nightmare —save you from this epectre that otherwise means to haunt you?” “T do, I do!” rejoined the Duchess, “Well, what tidings 2” asked Mandeville, without the least excitement, but in a sort of “Oh, I careless, indifferent tone. oO COMO Colin