Agnes: A Tale of the Streets — page 265: what you’re looking at

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

214 said she should ever remember it in her prayers. AGNES 3; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. “ Did she tell you who her betrayer was P” asked 1 myself was just fresh upon town then; and I Mrs. Maddox. recujlect that I sympathized with her. Inter I should have laughed at her. it———but that very Mrs. Chicklade——” “ What of her ?” demanded Ormsby hastily. A year But, Ab! you | his name.” will be surprised-——for you do not seem to know | “No,” was the response. “She mentioned not “ Neither to me did she ever mention his name,” ‘said the woman. “She often spoke of him—she loved him well—as I also had loved my betrayer § “She was the landlady of this house—yes, the Ab, I daresay it is tho common atory of all us un- landlady of this house twenty years ago— who turned poor Lucy Maitland cut into the streets when sho was abandoned by her seducer and had become destitute !” ‘Good heavens! is it possible?’ exclaimed Ormsby. “Ab! a terrible retribution at length overtook that vile woman!” “ But would you believe it ?” cried Mrs. Mad- dox, as a recollection struck her, ‘“‘ Mrs. Chicklade told me when she was lodging here a fow weeks before her death, that she had somewhere or another falion in with Lucy Maitland a * What! at that time ?” ejaculated Ormsby. “You—at that timo. But she would not toll me where, or how, or under what circumstances sho had met hor. Perhaps she thought that I might interfero with some plans which she herself had conceived ——”’ “ And thus poor Lucy Maitland lives! That at all events is certain !” exclaimed Ormsby. “Or at least that she wae living about thirtcen or fourteen months ago is certain,” said Mra. Mad- dox; “because that was the time when Mrs. Chicklade tuld me so.” “Have you livod in this house for twenty long years P” inquired Ormeby. “Ob, no!” replied tho woman. “TI have seen a great many ups and downs—the story is too long to tell you—but during thos” twenty years I have lived in at least fifty houses in this and other noighbourboods. At last 1 got to be mistress of this house. It was a strange coincidence—the very house where I first dwelt when I was se- duced in the country and brought up to London! Mrs. Chicklade too, she saw many reverses; and it was singular also that she should have been land- . lady of the house when | first camo here as a lodger, and that after sv long a lapse of time she should have come to lodge with me when I got tu be the landlady of it!” “Yea — it was singular,” wbsorved Ormaby. “But now let us speak of poor Lucy Maitland ; and then we must converse on other and more serious subjects. Ae for the money which you owe your landlord, fear not—it shall be presently , forthcoming.” The woman expressed her pratitude for this assurance; and she chuckicd inwardly at the pro- gress that matters were taking, for she saw that with one thing and anothe: she was tulerably cer- tain of clearing ‘a pretty pouny for herself, “Yes,” said Ormsby, “let us speak of Lucy Maitland:” and then he continued, in a sort of audible musing rather than because he was con- ecious that he was addressing himself to anybody, “Twenty years ago I was a wild fellow. I re. wember one night 1 was ‘going to the gambling- house and I encountored the puor girl, She told me her tale: she had been scduced—she was in the way to become a mother—Bir: had been brought un to London by her betrayer ud abanduned by Ey, oem"? | fortunate women !—one tale suits the caso of pretty nearly all!” | Ab! but I think gou said that Lucy Maitland was different P” exclaimed Ormsby. “Ob, yes! she would not go astray,” ejaculated Mrs. Maddox. ““ Now look you, let us compare notes and see ex- actly how it was,” said Ormsby ; “ for this isa nar- rative sufficiently interesting to dwell upon. I met ‘her that night, and she told me how she had been abandoned by her seducer, and how her landlady | had bidden her go forth into the streets and obtain money as many other women did. And I relieved | her-——” ' She came home,” interjected Mre. Maddox, “and said that she had met avyoung man who had | been her saviour. She was-Jeeply thankful !” | “She told me whege “ve lived,” pursued Ormaby, | ‘and thgSioxt day I called hore, To tell you the | truth, I he! my doubts in reference to her story, ; and I was Yotermined to see whether I bad been ; deceived or not.” ; “If she told you that she was virtuous except in Treference to him whom sho loved and who had be- trayed her,” said Mra. Maddox, “ she told you nothing but the truth.” | “ And that was precisely what she did tell me,” ; resumed Ormsby ; “ and when I called here-——” . “YT remember you, sir! I remember you well !” interrupted the woman. “I will give you a.proof ‘uf it! You called twice on two consecutive days— | and on each occasion I opened you the door !"” ' “By heaven! is it possible ?” exclaimed the | nobleman. “I remember a slender, beautiful girl 7 But he stopped short, for he would not hurt the feelings of even the depraved creature who sat opposite to him. But this depraved creature was moved by that reference to by-gone years when she ; was young, fascinating, and beautiful ; and as two tears trickled down her rouged cheeks, she said in a low vuice, “ Yes—that person who opened you the door and whom you evidently remember—it was J 1” , “Well then, 1 will tell you why I called twice on Lucy Maitland,” hastily continued Ormsby. , ‘The first time was out of sheer curiusity to ascer- ; tain whether the tale which she had told on the | preceding evening was true: and the second time | it was to take her au additional sum of money, for she assured me that if she could ouly get away from London she should be safe from, *<.:t “atid tempation. I confess that I did~47 place much reliance on the statement ; suf il had pluuged too deep in dissipation to ent¢ktain a wholesome faith in the virtuous resolggs >’ human nature. How- ever, I took her the mon/-y; and thenceforth I saw her no more. I becamf’ involved in a vortex of exciting incidents———¢sut enough! 1 am glad te have received from bur lips the assurance that my sympathy wae i thrown wey upon an ~~ worthy objept.” IN@alK