Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 341: what you’re looking at

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

I IT SPE ST a SI SS St i cf se Ss: a unavoidably absent from town. He assured me | called upon his lordship, and informed him that I that he should be fully prepared against your re- | was an agent employed by you to recover as much as I possibly could of the proceeds of the cheque from Melissa Harrison’s accomplice. I added that the sum I then brought, in addition to the smaller amount which he had previously received, was all that he could hope to regain. He said very quietly that he knew he must pay for his folly; turn for the performance of that act of justice which is due to you. He and I then entered into some little calculations. Your grandfather be- queathed to you the sum of thirty thousand | pounds; and he has been dead seven years. Dering those seven years your fortune has re- mained alienated from you: it was first used by | and then he asked me the name of Melissa’s ac- the infamous Mrs. Parks—and then, at her de- | Pomp ee in the fraud. That name I positively cease, by her not less iniquitous son. Mr. Parks | refused to give up: but I assured him that the in- offered at our last interview to add the accumula: | dividual had repented of his iniquity and was no tions of interest to the gross amount. I did not longer i in any way associated with Melisssa Har- choose to reject on your behalf the proposition ; | rison, I then perceived a sudden gleam of satis- because I reflected that if he were sincere in his | faction appear upon the countenance of the Mar- promises of reimbursing anything at all, he would | quis: but without any further comment, I coldly disgorge his plunder to the utmost extent, espe- | took my leave. That satisfied look which my cially as it was himself who started the subject of | words had occasioned him, was quickly explained ; interest—or rather revived it, I should say—for I | for at the very instant I was issuing from the believe that it was originally mentioned by myself | house, an elegant carriage drove up to the door— on the occasion when you and I called together at | and Melissa Harrison, splendidly apparelled, at his house.” once alighted.” “ Yes—I remember that it was so,” I observed. * Ah! I suspected that this would be the case,” “Mr. Parks proposes,” continued my father, | I said, shocked at the new instance of Melissa’s “to reckon the interest at three per cent. ; and I | profligacy, although I was not unprepared to hear acceded to the terms. Now, the interest of the | of it. ‘The unhappy girl! she has now launched gross sum for a year, at three per cent., is 900/.: | herself completely on the ocean of immorality and multiply this by 7, that being the number of | wickedness—and she will come to a bad end!” years during which the property has been kept| My father took his leave of me; and I pre- from you; and we get an amount of 6,300/. The | pared to go out and pay a few visits. I could not entire total which Mr. Parks has to pay is there- | on this occasion take Mary Glentworth with me, fore 36,3001.” inasmuch as the calls I had to make involved mat- But do you really think, my dear father,” I | ters of a private character. First of all I repaired inquired, my heart beating suspensefully, for the | to the Marquis of Campanella’s mansion, where I sum was & magnificent one,—“ do you really think | informed Beatrice of the discovery which I had that Mr. Parks purposes to act honourably at | made in respect to her husband—namely, that he length P” had secluded himself in the little cottage near “T have already told you, my dear girl,” re-| Dover. I then called upon Lady Cecilia Urban sponded my sire, “that we must patiently iva at Knightsbridge. She was already acquainted the issue—not with a hope too sanguine, because | with Lord Frederick Ravenscliffe’s marriage with that would only render disappointment all the | Juliet Norman,—a paragraph to that effect haying more bitter—nor yet with complete mistrust, be- | gone the round of the newspapers. cause there is nothing, so far as I can judge,in} ‘TI am now no longer at a loss,” said Lady the lawyer’s conduct, to warrant such a sentiment. | Cecilia, “ to conjecture who it was that Lord Fre- I have been watching him during your absence: I | derick 80 grossly imposed upon by means of a have seen nothing suspicious in his proceedings: | mock marriage, as you informed me at the mas- they appear to me to have been precisely those | querade at Ardleigh House. You said then it was which a professional man in large practice might | a friend of your’s—Juliet has been your friend— be supposed to pursue. But to-morrow at three | and this strange marriage taking place so sud: o’clock we shall know the result!” denly There was a brief pause, during which I could “Yes, my dear Lady Cecilia,” I interjected, “I not help thinking to myself that [ should be very | knew very well that when you came to put all agreeably surprised if Mr. Parks did indeed fulfil | circumstances together, you could scarcel7 fail to his pledge and pay such an immense sum. But | arrive at the right conclusion. But I will not in- then, on the other hand, he was reputed tobe very | sult you by asking if vou have kept the secret rich ; and it might better suit his purpose to part | which you have thus fathomed P” with even half his fortune than to incur all the “Oh, I would not for worlds betray it!” ex risks of exposure, arrest, trial, and condemnation, | claimed the young lady. ‘‘ When some time back for the fraud which he had perpetrated. © you gave me a partial insight into it, it was for “You received my letter, Ellen,” said my {a purpose most important to myself; and I can father, “in which I hastily penned you a couple} never be ungrateful. We have lately had more of lines, to the effect that Lord Frederick Ravens- | than one strange marriage in the fashionable cliffe’s cheque had been duly honoured, and that I | world,” continued Lady Cecilia, resuming a gay had placed the amount in the hands of the Mar-| conversational tone. ‘There was that of Captain quis of Tynedale ?” St. Clair with the handsome gipsy Ah! have “Yes—I received the note; and I showed it to | you seen this morning’s paper?” she suddenly ex- Lord Frederick. What did you say to the Mar- | claimed. quis?” IT inquired. “TI had not time to do more than just glance “I followed the instructions which you gave | hastily over it,’ I rejoined. “Does it contain 328 ELLEN PERC¥) OR, THR MEMO(RS OF AN ACTRESS. consequence of the death of a relative you were | me ere you left London,” replied my father. “I i] ————— oe Gomicbooksreom