The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 254: what you’re looking at

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

240 x cecegtrd . THE YOUNG DUCHESS; CR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. master as he is to the veriest serf in his dominions —dissolved our marriage—aye, broke with a brutal and impious violence the bond which religion’s sacred rite had established between us. Well then, you became free. But, Oh, my God! that you should have ceased to be my wife in heart !—that you should have forgotten the duties which love itself imposed !—yes, those duties which were likewise strengthened by the fact that you were the mother of my child! For Oh! I swear to you, Mildred, that though the decree of divorce went forth, yet in my heart did I remain your husband! Jn heaven I registered a vow that I would never marry another—and I buoyed myself with the hope that the time might come when circumstances might alter, and that our hands might yet be re-united. But then came the terrible tidings that you had fled———” ‘Good heavens!” cried Mildred, as if with an air of mingled affliction and astonishment ; ‘ would You have had me remain in that horrible exile? why do you accuse me because I fled ?” ‘‘Woman,” said the Grand Duke, again re- newing that air of fierce sternness to which we have above alluded; “I blame you not because you fled—but because it was in the company of a paramour !” “Ah!” ejaculated Mildred : ‘my enemies have dared say that? But yes—it was natural! The opportunity was too good to be lost by my per- secutors !” ‘“Do.you deny it? dare you deny it ?”—and now the Grand Duke strode another pace towards Mildred as if with threatening purpose. She saw—or at least hoped that this might be made the crisis of the game that she was play- ing; and fortified with all her hardihood, but giving to it the appearance of a woman’s natural indignation, she exclaimed, ‘ Yes, I dare deny it! —and here will I fearlessly proclaim that Ivan Zadouski was one of the noblest and the most magnanimous of men! Entertaining for me a chivalrous compassion, he undertook to ensure my escape from an exile that my _ persecutors meant to be eternal; and as delicate in his at- tentions as he was faithful in his friendly devo- tion, he never for a moment sought my society or addressed a syllable unto me, except when in the sanctioning presence of the matron who ac- companied me,” an | “What!” ejaculated the Grand Duke: “you were accompanied by a female ?” “Assuredly,” answered Mildred, opening her eyes wide as if in astonishment at the question. “But, Oh! I understand, I understand !” she cried, as if a sudden light had burst in upon her mind. ‘My enemies suppressed that fact!” “Good God, if it were true!” muttered the Prince, averting his countenance and covering it with his hand: but the next instant turning to- wards Mildred, he said with the coldness of re- vived suspicion, ‘ven if that young aide-de- camp was not your paramour, and even if on this particular point you may be enabled to exculpate yourself,—yet what of your behaviour in Aus- tralia and subsequently in India? Ah, Mildred! Ihave read with my own eycs the reports which were addressed to the Government by our agent in Sydney, likewise by our Consul at Bombay ; and they spoke of you as leading the most aban- doned and profligate of lives—especially with an PORT NO OT EY TD 1 TRIES ee, | Englishman—I forget his name at this moment — it was the same who betrayed you in India - ““The villain, from whose false lips,” cried Mil- dred vehemently, “went forth all the calumnies that were embodied in the reports to which you have alluded! But, Oh! wherefore do I attempt to justify myself? Ought I not to shudder at the consequences? Leave me—for God’s sake leave me! Yes, yes!—better deem me guilty !— better avoid and hate me as for years you have done! Fool, fool that I was to suffer the natural pride of woman to get the better of me for a moment!” ‘What on earth do you mean, Mildred ?” asked the Grand Duke, startled’ and bewildered by this vehement outburst of passionate exclamation flowing in a channel so different from that in which the previous topics had been progressing. ‘‘T mean,” she exclaimed, “that if by any chance But no, no! do not question me! Go —leave me! Why did you come here?” ‘‘ Mildred, I insist upon an explanation,” said the Grand Duke. “Iam just and upright—and I swear that if I have been deceived by any mis- representations concerning you ” “Oh, it is this that I dread! For God’s sake leave me!” she cried, now appearing to be in an agony of terror. . . ‘Again I ask what do you mean? Tell me— I beseech you, tell me!”—and the Prince mecha- nically seized Mildred by the hand. , ‘Save me! save me!” she murmured, sink- ing upon her knees at his feet; and then as a perfect agony was still expressed upon her features, she cried, ‘Do not let them drag me away and carry me off again to Siberia!” “Why should you fear this, Mildred?” asked the Grand Duke. *. © ~ ‘Oh, because if by any chance,” she responded, ‘‘T should be enabled to make an impression on your mind in reference to all the foul charges that have been levelled against me, you will go and institute inquiries—you will tell Count Olonetz that we have met—and my God! I would sooner die—Oh, I would sooner die than be dragged back into that awful region from which I have twice escaped !” - : ““By heaven,” exclaimed the Grand Duke, moved by this picture of mingled grief and terror which looked all so completely natural, “I would not take a single step, Mildred, that should harm a hair of your head! No!—my God, no! Poor creature! you have already suffered too much; even if you have been guilty !”—-and with an irre- sistible impulse he passed his hand caressingly over her luxuriant hair as she still knelt at his feet. ‘But if innocent—Oh! if innocent, whole years of happiness would not repay you for the sorrows through which you have passed! Mildred—trise !”. He raised her up; and then suddenly turning away, paced to and fro in the apartment, utterly bewildered how to act—a prey to the most pain- ful agitation, and even excruciating excitement, But suddenly stopping short in front of Mildred, he said abruptly, ‘‘How came you to voyage with that Englishman from Sydney to Bombay, unless he were your paramour ?” ‘“The wretch followed me—1 did not voyage with him of my own accord. Ile was a spy and er COMO YN Wn) cereeeeni ctemanerrenitinss Micrenlpatiaaps Teams ee natant, a Itise, 8 Colin