The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 300: what you’re looking at

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

286 taking a circuitous route in order to reach the habitation of Grills, and Karl Petronoff bending his way towards Waterloo Bridge, over the para- pet of which he threw the keys, the empty purse, and the clasp-knife belonging to the deceased. Mra Grills was sitting up for her husband’s retwn; and by way of beguiling the time, she more than once applied herself during the inter- val to the bottle of brandy which remained upon the table. She made sure that the girl Hester Sergeant was by this time sleeping profoundly; and she did not therefore take the trouble to con- vince herself on the point. The brandy had this effect upon the odious woman—that while it only Slightly intoxicated her (for she was well sea- soned and inured to drink), it tended to harden her—to inspire her with a boldness that defied all consequences—and to prepare her for plunging headlong into any iniquity, no matter how enor- mous, so long as it produced money. It was about a quarter past one when Mrs. Grills, who was listening attentively, heard the sounds of a vehicle turning in towards the stable- yard which communicated with the back of her own premises. The distance from Granby Street might really have been accomplished in about ten minutes; but Grills had purposely taken a some- what circuitous route—for he was cunning euough to adopt every imaginable precaution to destroy a clue or break a trail in case any should be by a possibility discovered. Mrs. Grills rose from her seat in the parlour—took the candle in her hand—and cautiously descending the stairs into the scullery, opened the door leading into the yard. Leaving the candle in the scullery itself, she traversed the yard—opened a back gate—and joined her husband, who was just taking the horse out of the cab and leading it into the stable. “Tt is all right,” he whispered, in a low tone, to his wife. To remove the burden from the cab into their own back-yard, was now the work of a very few moments: the horse was stabled—the cab was wheeled into the coach-house—the doors were fastened—and Grills concealed the key in a place where his friend Nat Bulmer might find it when he rose to prepare for the avocations of the day. All these arrangements being completed in a far shorter space of time than it has taken us to re- cord them, Mr. and Mrs. Grills conveyed the hor- rible burden into the scullery. There, having locked the outer door, she held the candle while her husband, having thrown off his coat and waistcoat, prepared to drag the corpse out of the sack. ” ‘ But was Hester Sergeant sleeping all this time? No—she was broad awake: she had not even undressed herself, nor made the slightest pre- | paration for retiring to rest. She had noticed that ) ? a et et a er there was something peculiar in Ponchard’s manner—that he had been evidently very anxious for the return of Grills and his wife—but that he | had pretended it was of no importance when Hester had questioned him on the subject. She ' was somewhat attached to the man—and perhaps more so this night than everpinasmuch as he had listened with so much intenest to those personal revelations into which she had been betrayed by a current of unusual feelings. Now, under all these circumstances it was natural that she should experience a sort of jealousy at, being excluded » - rn rn lm THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. from the knowledge of Ponchard’s secrets after she had so confidentially unbosomed her own. And then, too, it seemed strange that the Grills might be entrusted with matters which were to be kept secret from herself. What could it be? Had Ponchard taken a fancy to some other female? and was the aid of Mr..and Mrs. Grills required to further his designs with regard to this supposed new flame? Such were the questions which Hester very naturally asked herself; and even if they were not the conclusions to which she positively came, they were at all events suffi- ciently strong in the shape of conjectures to excite her jealous curiosity and determine her to fathom the mystery. The reader has seen that it was with an air of pique and vexation the young girl turned to quit the parlour at the request of Ponchard. Then, scarcely had ‘she ascended to her own chamber, when Mrs. Grills made her appearance ; and fancying from Hester’s manner that she was some- what intoxicated—though the girl was in reality perfectly sober, notwithstanding the wine and the brandy she had drunk—Mrs. Grills had adopted a coaxing and cajoling manner to induce her to go to bed. Hester had affected compliance ; but she was now more than ever resolved to fathom the mysterious proceedings which were evidently in progress and from alt share in which it was so studiously sought to exclude her. By dint of listening she heard Ponchard leave the house : she likewise heard Grills go forth—then the cab shortly afterwards rolled out of.the stable-yard at the back—and Hester’s curiosity was more than ever excited. She waited with impatience, in suspense, and with fullest wakefulness, to see what would follow. After a while the cab re- turned: she heard Mrs. Grills descend the stairs to the lower region of the habitation—and then the opening of the back door reached the girl’s ears. “Ah!” she thought to herself, “I was not wrong in my conjecture! The cab has been to fetch some one—perhaps to carry a victim off by force? It would not be the first time: Witness the scene of the other night, when they thought they were bringing Imogen the actress here, but it turned out to be some one else—though who it really was after all I have not been able to learn. No matter! my business is now for the present - arrival! Is it possible that Henri Ponchard could pretend so much sympathy for me while meditating the whole time the abduction of some one else and the bringing of her to this place? If he had not spoken in that way to me, and made me tell him my story, and listened with such an air of compassion and interest, I should not care. But now—but now, it is different !” Such were the thoughts which swept rapidly through the girl’s mind as she glided towards a back window, whence she could obtain a view of the yard. The night, or rather morning; was clear; but the shades of thebuildings enveloped the yard in comparative obscurity—yet not sv deep as to prevent Hester Sergeant from discerning that Grills and his wife were bearing something be- tween them towards the back-entrance of the house. Hester’s first impression was that the object thus borne was the inanimate form of some female who had fainted : and yet she was not con- fident in this surmise—but a certain vague pre- sentiment that- the mystery might be otherwise COMO a