The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 331: what you’re looking at

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RS TD THE YOUNG 1 UCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. 317 have but to indicate the course itself and it shall be followed.” “What! even if it involve hypocrisy and de- ception ?”? The young man reflected for a moment; and then hastened to say, “‘ Whatever you command or advise, I will do blindfold !” “Then all I ask,” continued the capitalist, ‘“ is that when I present you to-morrow to your aunt and your cousins, you will throw a complete veil over the past ;—or rather you will so completely change. it in all its aspects and phases, that it shall assume an appearance as different from what it actually was as light differs from darkness. You will throw over it the gloss which I shall suggest:—yeu will commit to memory and repeat the story that I shall tell you. Now, will you do all this, Edward ?” ‘Ts it indeed necessary,” asked the young man, ‘to have recourse to so much deception ? But, Ah! pardon me—pardon me!” he suddenly cried. ‘ST was going to be both disobedient and ungrate- ful !” ‘‘ No, no, Edward,” said Seymour, in a low tremulous tone; “it was your virtue—your natu- ral rectitude of principle—which interfered at the moment to make you hesitate! But one word, my dear. boy ” “T know what you would say, uncle. feelings of others must be consulted !” ‘““Yes, my boy !—and mine—zmine chiefly, if not wholly in: this instance!” answered Seymour, rising from his seat, and bending a strange loek of mingled entreaty and distress upon the young man. ‘Good bye for the present, Edward. To- morrow at midday I shall come to fetch you to present you to your aunt and cousins. Good bye, my dear nephew. ”’ The capitalist wrung Edward’s hand fervently ; and hastening from the room, was in a few mo- ments seated in his carriage, which at once drove off into the City. Just as Mr Seymour alighted at the door of the Bank of England, where he had some business to transact, he encountered Mr. Warren the stockbroker. Mr. Warren had plenty of assurance, and he therefore hesitated not to proffer his hand with his wonted familiarity ; while Mr. Seymour, also dissembling his own feelings, assumed a corre- sponding air of friendliness. For be it remejn- bered that he fancied the stockbroker to have be- come possessed of some secret which deeply re- garded his honour and his personal safety ; and he was not therefore incautious enough to show any angry feelings towards a man in whose power he supposed himself so completely to be. '‘How are you, my dear fellow ?”’ exclaimed Warren. ‘‘ Full of business as nsual—eh ?” ‘© As full as ever,” responded Seymour. * And the horses—and the yacht - ‘‘ You know that I have little or no enjoyment on account of all the appurtenances of luxury which I maintain. But I have a wife, sons, and daughters 7 . ‘“To be sure! and you like them to be amused,” said Warren. ‘“‘ You are rich—and you spend your money liberally upon your family. Well, it’s all right enough. You've worked devilish hard to get it.” “© Ah!”—and the contractor looked at the stock- broker with a singular earnestness for a moment. The a “‘ Warren, my dear fellow,” he went on to observe in an altered tone, ‘I wish to speak to you.” Seymour led his companion into the Royal Ex-~- change, which was almost completely unfrequented at that hour in the forenoon ; and as they paced to and fro in the midst of the now deserted quadrangle, the following discourse took place. ‘“‘T thought perhaps, Warren,” began Seymour, “that I should never again be compelled to al- lude to that very painful topic which you your- self broached in your own office between three weeks and a month ago. But inasmuch as by some means that are to me utterly unaccountable, you became possessed of that secret, I think it right to inform you that I have made the com- pletest amends. When I say the completest, I mean the fullest and- most perfect atonement which can be made by a man who is unable to recall the past.” Be it recollected that Warren was in reality altogether unacquainted with any secret at all in connexion with Seymour. Acting according to the instigation of Count Mandeville, he had merely spoken at random on that day when in his own office he had availed himself of the sin- gular expedient to defraud and plunder the rich capitalist of no less a sum than fifteen thousand pounds. Therefore, in utter ignorance of the mystery which lay at the bottom of the topic to which Seymour was alluding—but finding him- self on the other hand compelled to maintain his pretended knowledge thereof—he said in a tone of becoming gravity, “ I am glad to receive this as- surance from your lips.”.. _-“ After that interview which took place be- tween us, Warren,” continued Seymour, “ I in- stituted immediate inquiries. Ah! I had long been stricken with remorse: but I had never- theless wanted the moral courage to take the proper steps for the performance of an act of jus- tice. It only required some such impulse as that which your words gave, to set me boldly moving on the right path. I have therefore to thank ou: "i ‘‘ Perhaps,” said Warren, ‘ we had better not speak any more of the business :’—for he had just been thinking to himself, “If by any possibility he should discover that I know nothing of this secret, he may turn round upon me—and all the more fearlessly too, inasmuch as he now seems to have set himself right in the matter, whatever it may be.” . ‘‘ Rest assured, Warren,” pursued Seymour, “ I shall not dwell a moment longer than is neces- sary on a topic which, as you may full well un- derstand, is fraught with so much painfulness and humiliation unto myself. But I have two motives in recalling it to your recollection. In the first place I was anxious you should learn that I have Jost no time in making amends; and as my in- quiry was most providentially crowned with a speedy success, I have been enabled to do this act. of justice, and ease my conscience from the load that had weighed upon it.” But I had another motive !—and this was to beseech and conjure that you will tell me how this sad secret came to your knowledge 2?” ‘I must not,” answered Warren, with an em- phasis which he hoped would put an end to the subject. ‘I do not understand you,” observed Seymour, COMO YN Wn) Colin