The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 304: what you’re looking at

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

ee Te ner er ee ee ee 290 ——- — “Good God! this is horrible!” said our heroine in a deep hollow voice. ‘‘ But my mother-in-law ?” she suddenly ejaculated. ‘Ts sleeping as soundly and softly as a lamb,” replied Lavinia. The young Duchess raised her hand to her brow, as if to steady the thoughts which were making her brain reel; and then she abruptly exclaimed, “Help me to ‘put on some clothing, Lavinia ! 1 quick! quick !—and let me go and investigate this dreadful tragedy !” In a few moments the young Duchess was has- tening along the passage towards the suite of apartments which during the past night had be- come the scene of such a dreadful deed. On pene- trating into the bed-chamber a glance showed the young Duchess that a sheet had been thrown : over.the corpse in the alecove—that her mother- in-law was now sitting up in her own bed, gazing | vacantly upon some half-dozen female servants who were gathered about her -—and that these young women were exchanging awe-struck and mysterious looks amongst themselves. ‘Have you breathed a word to her Grace?” asked the young Duchess, i In a low quick whisper. ‘‘ Not yet, my lady,” was the reply given by the | senior handmaiden. ‘ We thought we had better wait till your Grace should come. We covered the body over so that her ladyship ’—thus allud- ing to the Dowager—“ should not be seized with a sudden affright when she awoke.” ‘And who think you could have done it?” asked the young Duchess. ‘Is it possible and she glanced towards her mother-in-law. ‘' Heaven knows!” said the lady’s-maid solemnly. “For my part I can’t tell what to think !” ‘Has any one been to fetch a surgeon?” de- | manded the young Duchess, as if suddenly struck by the idea. ‘‘ Who knows that life is extinct ?” ~-and hastening towards the alcove, she partly raised the sheet, though taking care to interpose her own form between the hideous spectacle and her mother-in-law who was still sitting up in her own bed. Pale as the countenance of our heroine previously was, it now hecame ghastlier still; and having laid her hand upon the cheek of the de- ceased Mrs. Quinlan, she shook her head. “Tt is useless I suppose, my lady,” said La- vinia, ‘‘to send for medical assistance ?” ‘'Yes—useless,” resumed the young. Duchess ; for the flesh is marble cold !” At that instant ejaculations of terror burst from the lips of the female servants who were near the bed of the Dowager ;—the young Duchess glanced round with a startled air, but in the twinkling of an eye her mother-in-law was by her side. The Dowager, who had been gazing in listless and idiotic vacancy upon the persons present, had leapt from her couch with an abruptness that eli- cited those ejaculations from the lips of the young women; and before a hand could be stretched out to retain her, or an arm extended to hold her back, she was by the side of her daughter-in-law. ‘‘ Good heavens, dear mother!” cried the young Duchess, letting the sheet fall from her hand; but the face and bust of the murdered woman, with the knife sticking in her bosom, remained un- covered. “Tt was the ghost that did it!” said the Dowager-Duchess. “The ghost ?” was the hollow echo given by OF TTY cee OT VI ve, OT ee ORS FOOL G2 * : 4 a 7 a; - THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. ot Hr the tongue of the young Duchess; and with a strange wild horror did she gaze upon her motker-~ in-law. ‘““Yes—the ghost,” repeated the Dowager. ‘You know, Mary, that dark shape—a fiend—a spirit of evil But where was it that I saw it?” —and now she raised her hand to her brow with a bewildered and vacant air. ‘Come away with me, mother, from this hor- rible scene,” said the young Duchess. ‘ Here! into the dressing-room !” Thither our heroine led her mother-in-law, fol- lowed by Lavinia and the other handmaidens. ‘‘ Now,” said the young Duchess, closing the door of communication with the sleeping apart- ment, “let no one enter there—let nothing be disturbed until the proper authorities arrive to investigate the lamentable transaction. Lavinia, go and send off messengers at once,—one to fetch a surgeon—another to the coroner—and another to his Grace, the Duke, in London. Quick, quick, Lavinia! there is no time to be lost !”—and our heroine now seemed to be inspired with a self- possession and firmness that were rendering her equal to the present emergency. So soon as Lavinia had disappeared to execute the orders she had received, the young Duchess left her mother-in-law in the care of the hand- maidens, while she repaired to the other wing of the building, to speak with Mr. Condamine and Mrs. Boyle, whose ears she had no doubt the ap- palling rumour had by this time reached. She met the tutor hastening along the passage com- municating with his suite of apartments ; and on beholding her Grace’s troubled looks and dis- ordered dress, the worthy preceptor clasped his hands, exclaiming, ‘‘I need not ask your lady- ship if it be true! Alas, I see that itis! and Robert "—thus alluding to one of the footmen— ‘has not deceived me!” “It is indeed too true!” answered the young Duchess. ‘‘ Have you yet broken it- “To my young pupils? No,” continued the worthy Mr. Condamine: “I was determined to go and satisfy myself of the truth of the report— and—and—learn some particulars ere I shocked their ears with the tale. For Robert was so ex- cited, I knew not what amount of faith to put in his statements.” At this moment Mrs. Boyle was seen hastening along the passage. She had just heard the re- port : she likewise could scarcely put faith in the horrible tale—she had been equally guarded in keeping it from the ears of the young ladies, as Mr. Condamine had from the ears of the young lords, until fully assured upon the dread subject ; and she was now hurrying forth from her apart- ments to seek this information, when she fell in with the young Duchess and the tutor in the pas- sage. “And thus itis all too true!” said the good widow, fearfully shocked. ““ All too true!” replied the Duchess. ‘But, good heavens! what are we to think, your Grace ?” asked Mr. Condamine, with horror depicted upon his countenance: ‘‘ what dreadful tale am I to prepare my young pupils to hear ?” “Ah! and what am Ito say to the dear young ladies ?” asked Mrs. Boyle, fearfully excited and deeply distressed; ‘‘ they who entertain so much love and sympathy for their afflicted mother !” COMO a | | Colin