Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 140: what you’re looking at

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ELLEN PERCY ; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. a a 127 “Why do you ask?” he demanded: and in tho | eager anxiety with which he spoke, he forgot to | at me, as if he had something to say but hesitated to say it. He resumed his walk: he"paused and assume the bland and dulcet voice in which he had | looked at me again; and then he said, “Tell me previously addressed me: so that back to my mind | what has awakened those suspicions which led to came the suspicion, aluiost amounting to a convic- tion that he was really the individual who had visited my grandfather at Leeds, and Mrs. Parks subsequently in London. He saw that I gazed upon him in a peculiar manner, and that I had started when he spoke in his natural tone. He seemed confused; and re- suming his feigned voice, he hastened to say, “ Tell me, Miss Perey—why do you question me relative to a certificate P” “There is no necessity to keep any secrets from you,’ I replied. ‘You know that I am intimate with Mr. Norman’s daughter—for I scarcely know whether to call her Miss Norman still, or Lady Frederick Ravenscliffe—and it is precisely on ac- count of this terrible doubt, that I have under- taken the present journey with the determination of having it set at rest. Juliet is a virtuous, a well-principled, and a high-minded young lady. For the sake of the love which she bears Lord Frederick, she consented to a private marriage, and will continue to keep that marriage secret so long as circumstances may render such silence ex- pedient for the young nobleman’s interests. But she wishes to have the certitude that she is indeed a wedded wife: and this is all the more necessary, inasmuch as she is in a way to become a mother.” “You now speak as if you had no doubt that she is a wedded wife,” said Mr. Croft; “and yet but a few moments back you intimated your un- certainty upon the subject.” * 1 confess, sir,’ was my answer, “ that I have the most cruel misgivings, which it is for you to clear up. I thought that you were the incumbent of Embledon—whereas I find that you are not. You yourself told me that you lived at the par- sonage—you yourself gave me to understand that if was in the neighbouring church where your duties were performed; and all this, Mr. Croft, turns out to be utterly false!” He became pale as death, and flung upon me so peculiar a look that I was half-frightened: for it seemed as if there were rage in that look, but blended with the expression of some other feeling that I could not understand. “Then you have been to the parsonage?” he said: “you have seen my namesake there P—and perhaps you have told him the object of your visit to this village P” “No, Mr. Croft—I told him nothing of my pur- poses,” I answered: “I gave him no expianations. But, Oh! I perceive that my worst misgivings are confirmed! Your looks and your words prove it ! —and Juliet has been the victim of some trea- chery! Tell me, Mr. Croft—are you really that which you represented yourself to be P—are you a clergyman? You donot reply! Oh, your silence now sets every doubt at rest, and gives a horrible confirmation to the worst fears that have been en- tertained! Juliet, I repeat, has been made the victim of a villanous perfidy! But her parents will now know all ;—and rest assured that punish- ment will overtake you!” Mr. Croft rose from his seat, evidently labouring under the most powerful emotions. He paced to and froin the room: then he stopped and looked this present journey of your’s to Embledon P” “ A certificate was displayed to Juliet, purport. ing to have been written by you. Accident enabled me to declare at once that it was not your hand. writing a “And that accident ?” ejaculated Mr. Croft quickly, and evidently smitten with amazement. ** How could you possibly know my handwriting P” I saw no harm in explaining that circumstance ; and I moreover felt that every fresh thing I said was calculated to elicit from Mr. Croft’s lips some- thing that it behoved me to know. I there. fore toll him how I had picked up Mr. Parks’s pocket-book, and had seen therein the note which he had written acknowledging the receipt of a pecuniary remittance. ** And let me add, Mr. Croft,” I said, “ that the conviction is again strong in my mind that you and I met not for the first time on the evening when youso wickedly assumed a sacred character to which you evidently are not entitled.” He again paced the room; and though I felt that I ought at once to take my departure, yet still was I retained there by some strong feeling of curiosity which I can scarcely however describe, but which exercised a complete sway over me. * And you will return to London,” he said, again suddenly stopping short, “and you will tell your friend Juliet and her parents ? “Yes, everything!” I exclaimed, rising from my seat. “Oh! how could you have been so wicked as to practise such a dreadful deception? And that young ncbleman-——-Oh! to think that he should have thus ruined for ever the peace of mind of her whom he professed to love! Mr. Croft, a crime has been committed which calls for all the ven- geance which the law can wreak unless indeed Lord Frederick will now repair by a real marriage the terrific injury he has inflicted by a false one.” * You see, Ellen,” said Mr. Croft, now address- ing me by my Christian name in a way as if he were familiarly accustomed so to do—and I started visibly at the circumstance,—* you see, Ellen,” he continued, not appearing to notice that I thus started, “I have not as yet admitted the truth of your accusations : neither have [I denied it. I will do the former now. Yes—it is true that I con- sented to become the agent of Lord Frederick’s villany: I admit it! But I was completely in his power Ah, if you knew all !” “ Tell me—tell me,” I exclaimed, “ why did you visit my grandfather at Leeds. You cannot deny that it was you! You have been speaking in your natural voico—and I have recognised it! There is some strange mystery hanging around you, Mr. Croft; and I feel that this mystery is associated with myself. Did you not allude to me in that brief note which you sent the other day to Mr. Parks? How can you be interested in the success of my career? If I be really a stranger to you But, no! I am not!” “ Now listen to me, Ellen,” said Mr. Croft, lean- ing forward with both his hands upon the table, and gazing upon me so fixedly that for a moment I averted my looks: but when I again turned CORNICLOO <S (COIN