Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 100: what you’re looking at

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ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS, 87 announced that the attempt would be vain—for that the flames had caught the ceiling. It there- fore became necessary for every one to think of safety ; and never perhaps in all my life were my own garments more expeditiously put on. The same was the case with Lady Lilla Essendine, as well as with the other inmates of the house; and then began a scene of indescribable bustle, not un- mingled with confusion. I rushed down into the garden, with my writing desk containing my jewels: Lady Lilla had also possessed herself of her own valuables of the same description. One of the men-servants had rushed off to fetch the nearest fire-engine : the other was busily employed in getting the horses and carriages out of the stables. The female servants were bringing forth all portable articles of furniture, ornaments, nick-nacks, and plate, from the ground-floor apart- ments. Two or three policemen were speedily upon the spot; and they rendered most efficient assistance in carrying out the furniture upon the lawn. The upper part of the house was speedily in a blaze; and it was a considerable time before the fire-engines arrived. Many gentlemen from the villas in the neighbourhood came to the spot; ana we received the kindest offers of hospitality. As for the maid who was the cause of the accident, she was a prey to so wild a grief that she could scarcely assist in bringing out such articles as it was possible to save. When the engines came they began playing vigorously upon the conflagration; for as there was a well in the coach-house an ample supply of water was afforded. The wind was in such a direction that the flames were carried chiefly to- wards the point where my chamber had been situated,—though Lady Lilla’s was also on fire. But still it was the first-mentioned part of the dwelling which suffered first, and likewise most —as will presently be made apparent. Her lady- ship, I should observe, displayed the utmost pre- sence of mind; and we both of us helped in re- moving the articles in the ground-floor rooms, until the fire spreading thither rendered it im- possible to return into the devoted edifice. Several of those neighbours—who, as I have already said, made their appearance upon the spot —pressed her ladyship and me to retire from the scene and seek refuge in one of their houses. But the autumnal night was not cold enough to compel us to follow this counsel; and as Lady Lilla per- sisted in remaining in the garden to seo the issue of the calamity, I of course kept her company. Three engines had arrived: but they came too late to save the villa from an almost complete destruc- tion. For two hours did the conflagration last— the flames during the second hour battling as it were against the jets of water for the mastery. The fire spread to all the outhouses; and at one time the heat was so intense that the lookers-on were cowpelled to retire toa considerable distance. At length the deyouring element was subdued in every point except in Lilla’s own chamber and the room above it, from the windows of which the lambent fire was still gushing forth. All of a sudden there was a tremendous crash: a dense volume of black smoke rolled upward: the roof had fallen in—the fire was crushed. The engines however continued to play for some little while ts longer upon the ruined building, until the firemen were satisfied that their labours were no longer necessary. It was too dark for us to discern the full extent of the damage wrought ; and now Lady Lilla no longer refused the proposal that we should take refuge elsewhere. Several offers of hospitality were made us, as I have already stated: but her ladyship selected that of the gentleman to whom the nearest villa belonged;—and thither we re- paired. Without entering into any unnecessary particulars, suffice it to say that by this gentleman and his wife (an elderly couple without any family) we were treated with the utmost kindness; and accommodation was likewise afforded to her lady- ship’s three female domestics,—the men-servants proceeding with the horses to the York and Albany Tavern at Camden Town. ‘Although I retired to rest, I could not close my eyes in slumber, so great was the excitement which I experienced. Therefore, having for some three or four hours tossed sleeplessly upon my pillow, I rose and dressed myself. The house where we had found such hospitable refuge, was only about two hundred yards from Claremont Villa; and I issued forth to visit the ruins, Thinking that Lady Lilla Essendine had not as yet left the chamber which had been assigned to her, I did not inquire for her --but proceeded alone to our recent habitation, A police-officer was there in charge of the nume- rous articles of furniture which had remained upon the lawn; and the gardener was contemplat- ing the spectacle of the ruins with a rueful coun- tenance. IL beheld no other persons: but the gar- dener hastened to inform me that Lady Lilla Hssendine had just passed in amidst the scene of devastation. I sped to join her—and quickly crossed the threshold of the doorway, from which the door itself had been burnt down. The outer walls were standing—some of the partition walls like- wise: but the greater portion of the floors and roof were consumed or had fallen in. Nearly every window was burnt out: and I could not help shedding tears at this first glance at the wreck and skeleton of a dwelling which a few hours back was so elegant and perfect in all its appointments, I may here observe that Lady Lilla’s furniture was insured to its full value: the house was a hired one, and likewise insured; so that in a pecuniary sense her ladyship had no reason to apprehend any loss. I entered amongst the ruins, and speedily dis- covered Lilla. She was standing in the midst of a ground-floor apartment which had served as the dining-room, and precisely above which her own chamber had been situated. She was motionless as a statue, gazing upward through a vast aper- ture in what had been the ceiling of the dining- room and consequently the floor of the beds chamber. She did not immediately become aware of my presence ; and I mechanically looked up in the same direction towards which her own eyes were raised. I could scarcely repress an ejacula- tion when all in a moment the mystery of that little room which had joined her own chamber was revealed. For the door had been burnt out - of its setting ; the-floor in the immediate vicinage existed no longer ; and a large portion of the wall of the inner room itself had fallen, Hyerything (COU ElNOOLK com