The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 242: what you’re looking at

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

228 PETC AOE" ce ater © THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. ‘‘ {followed the individual whom you indicated, sir,’ replied the valet; ‘‘ for he left the house almost immediately after you had given me your orders.” “Well ?” said Mandeville. ‘* He entered a street cab,” continued Vaughan, ‘“‘ and drove to a house in Windmill Street, near the Haymarket.” ‘Some queer houses in that street, are there not ?” inquired Mandeville. ‘I believe so, sir. The house which this per- sonage entered is a middle-sized one—gloomy- looking enough—and has the name of Pluckley on a brass plate on the door.” ‘¢ And what is this Pluckley ?” ““T do not exactly know, sir—although I asked the question: but I will find out to-morrow morn- ing.” ‘Do nothing more till I tell you,” said Man- deville. ‘Ha! that note ?” “Why, you see, sir,” proceeded the valet, who had just taken a billet from his pocket, ‘‘I have done something more than you told me—I hope I have not done too much—but I thought that you must have particular reasons for ordering that person to be followed, and that you would natu- rally like to know as much about him as pos- ' sible——” “Good !” said Mandeville. ‘‘ You are the astute and intelligent fellow that [ from the very first took you to be. But that note which you hold in your hand ?” “Tt is directed to the Duchess of Ardleigh, sir.” ‘Indeed! From whom did you receive it?” demanded Mandeville, with difficulty concealing his amazement. ‘“‘ From the person whom I followed, sir,” re- plied Edmund. ‘Shall I explain? or have you any orders first of all to give in reference to the note ?” ‘‘Hxplain,” said Mandeville. “T followed the Turk—as I must call him for distinction’s sake,” resumed Edmund, ‘to the gloomy-looking house in Windmill Street. There he alighted from the cab which brought him; and having said something to the driver, he entered the house by means of a latch-key which he had about him. I had alighted from the cab in which I had followed him and was watching at a little distance. In ten minutes he came out of the house again u “Still disguised, and with a mask upon his face?” asked Mandeville. “Yes, sir—and it was this that struck me as being so strange as to make me play the little trick which put me in possession of the note. I will now explain how it was, sir. I saw the Turk give the cabman a note: he also thrust something else into his hand, which was no doubt more than the regular fare, for the cabman touched his hat with exceeding politeness; and the Turk, having given him some instruction, re- treated into the house and shut the door. Hastily dismissing my own cab, I sped to the bottom of the street, and there I waylaid the one which had conveyed the Turk.—‘ I’m engaged,’ said the cab- man.—‘ Engaged ?’? 1 cried: ‘why, you are empty !'—‘Ah yes, but I have got to do an errand,’ said the man.—‘In which direction ?’ I asked.—He named it; and then I exclaimed, ‘Why, that is precisely the quarter to which I want you to drive me !’—‘ Then jump in,’ said he. —'‘No,’ said I: ‘I prefer riding on the outside; it’s a fine night:’ and I leapt on the box. ‘You must go quick,’ I said, ‘for I am in a tremendous hurry, and I shall give you something handsome. But what may happen to be the errand you have to perform with an empty cab? To go and fetch somebody may be ?’—‘ Not a bit of it,’ answered the cabman: ‘it’s a note I have to deliver at Ardleigh House.’—‘ Well, that is strange !’ cried I; ‘for I belong to Ardleigh House.’-—‘ You ?’ and he eyed me searchingly.—‘ Yes,’ I said; ‘ and it’s there you are going to drive me.’—‘ Then of course,’ resumed the cabman after a few moments’ reflection, ‘you know «a young woman, a lady’s- maid.’—'‘T’ll be bound you mean Lavinia!’ cried I, hazarding the guess——‘The same,’ responded the cabman.— Well,’ I continued, ‘ this Lavinia and I are on such terms that any little business which is entrusted to her might as well be en- trusted to me.—To make matters short, the cab- man gave me the note, enjoining me to consign it with all possible caution to the hands of Lavinia. —‘ Who gave it you?’ I asked.—‘ I don’t know,’ he replied curtly : then after. a pause, he said in a more civil tone, as he saw me twirling half-a crown between my fingers, for his proper fare was only eightpence or a shilling at the outside, ‘It was a gentleman who I set down at one Pluckley’s in Windmill Street.’—‘ Pluckley’s ?’ said I: ‘ what a queer name! Who is he?—‘I don’t know exactly what he is,’ rejoined the cabman: ‘I know him by sight very well, and his wife too. They are rum-looking people.’—At this moment the cab stopped at Ardleigh House; I leapt down, gave the driver the half-crown, and at once made a pretence of descending the area-steps; but the moment the cab had rattled away, I sprang up the steps again without being seen by any one be- longing to the premises—and here I am, sir.” ‘“‘Excellently managed altogether,” said the Count, who listened without impatience to his valet’s narrative ; for its details afforded him the most gratifying proof of the astuteness and ready wit of his faithful follower. “You have done well, Edmund,” continued Mandeville; “and it is perhaps useful that this billet should have fallen "into my hands :’—then, as he consigned the note to his waistcoat-pocket, he thence took another sort of note—namely, one of the Bank of England for ten pounds—and this he bestowed upon Vaughan. The valet bowed, and retired on a sign made him by his master to that effect ; and the instant he was alone, Mandeville broke open the letter— and having read it, he sealed it again with such niceness and accuracy that it was impossible to tell that the original seal had been violated. Then hastening down to his carriage, which had been kept waiting, he drove back to Todmorden House in Piccadilly, which he reached a little before one o'clock. On ascending to the brilliantly lighted saloons, Count Mandeville found that nearly all the guests had by this time removed their masks; and he also noticed that there were several more ladics in plain evening toilet than there were when he had taken his departure upwards of an hour back: so that it was evident they had put off their fancy- costumes and made these changes in their raiment COMO YN Wn) Colin