Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 55: what you’re looking at

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mee we rn er i 42 ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. corresponding hue. Whatsoever was gaudy and | blushing glow of health. Her eyes were large and inconsistent with good taste in the arrangements | of a beautiful blue,—the lashes being of a rich of those rooms, as seen by daylight, was now | brown—which, as well as the brows, were conse- merged in the one absorbing air of brilliant mag- | quently many, many shades darker than the hair. nificence which made its due impression on the | Her lips were of a vivid vermilion: the teeth mind. I had expected to behold amongst the | were like pearls. Her profile was slightly aquiline, guests a number of that same upstart or parvenu | but yet not prominently chiselled. class to which the Parkses themselves belonged; There was no arching of the neck: it was a but I was agreeably disappointed. Elegantly | straight alabaster column, on which the head sat dressed ladies and fashionable gentlemen, belong- | with dignity, rather than with a graceful bending ing to the higher sphere, were present A first | of its snowy pillar. Still there was no deficiency glance however showed me that there was a consi-| of elegance in the general effect: it was a derable number of foreigners amongst the male | statuesque carriage of the head, neck, and bust, guests: but I learnt in the course of the evening | which had something queenly in it. The bust that these were attachés and secretaries belonging | itself was superb,—its grand contours being re- to the different Embassies to the British Court. | vealed by the low ball-dress of richest Honiton I was surprised therefore to find that Mr. and | lace. She was tall; and her entire symmetry was Mrs. Parks possessed so fashionable a range of | adjusted to a blending of the proportions of the acquaintances. I had yet to learn that money is | Hebe and the Sylph. in itself an immense power,—a talisman—a load-| Such, at the first glance, was the appearance of stone—a magnet of irresistible attraction,—that | Lady Lilla Essendine. Methought she was proud, many a parvenu is visited for the sake of his |—proud of her rank and beauty, and perhaps her splendid suppers and choice wines, while he | wealth,—until she spoke to Mrs. Parks, who has- egotistically fancies that the motive is friend- | tened forward to receive her. Then nothing could ship towards himself—or, again, that those whose | exceed the gracious affability with which her lady- necessities and extravagancies place them at the | ship addressed the lawyer’s wite: so that my first mercy of the money-lender, are compelled to show | impression being suddenly dispelled, I felt the the same deference to his invitations as they | next moment that I already liked her. Mrs. would display to the “royal commands” of the | Parks introduced me; and Lady Lilla Essendine sovereign. was as cordial and amiable to myself as she had The rooms speedily filled; and Mrs. Parks had | shown herself towards her hostess. Mr. Parks whispered in my ear no idle boast when she gave | now came forward, and gave his arm to her lady- me to understand that she expected at least a hun- | ship to conduct her to a seat, dred and twenty or thirty guests. She retained! The danc‘ng immediately afterwards commenced; me near her all the earlier part of the evening; | and Mrs. Parks introduced Count Della Monti, tho and I was grateful, because I had no lady com- | Sardizian ‘Secretary of Legation, to me as a part- panion to be my chaperon. I knew that St. Clair | ner. Just before the quadrille was finished, I was to be present: I had seen him every day | perceived Captain St. Clair enter the room. His since the adventures recorded in the preceding | left arm was still in a sling:—indeed, I should chapter : he had told me that Mr. Parks called! observe that the impression remained upon my upon him at his club, and that Mrs. Parks had! mind that he had been much more seriously sent him an invitation. He had said nothing more | wounded than he was willing to admit. He to me on the one subject which I was so anxious to | was, as usual, elegantly dressed; and on his en- avoid: ié was only in the presence of the Nor-| trance he was immediately surrounded by half-a- mans he had seen me—and his demeanour had | dozen noblemen and gentlemen who did not happen been that of courteous and friendly respect. to be dancing, and who evidently regarded St. Clair I was sitting with Mrs. Parks at the extremity | as the male star of the evening. of the principal saloon, near the door—and she was| Lady Lilla Essendine was dancing opposite to just observing that it was time for the dancing | me, her partner being a young English Baronet, to commence—when the footman announced in | whose name I have forgotten. The moment after the usual loud tone, “ Lady Lilla Essendine.” I had seen St. Clair enter, I averted my eyes; and I was immediately struck by a name—or rather | my looks happened to fall upon Lady Lilla. I was a combination of names, which seemed to me as | suddenly startled: indeed, for an instant I was so pretty as they were singular—when I was still | struck that if-I had cried out it would have been more deeply impressed by the appearance of the | no wonder; for the expression of her countenance lady herself. She was not more than one or two | actually affrighted me. Pale though she naturally and twenty, and surpassingly beautiful. She was | was, as I have already said, she was now ghastly. a blonde of the most perfect description. Her! And yet the very next instant methought it wasa light hair can only be depicted as flaxen mingled | mere delusion on my part: for when, after having with pale amber, but with that rich gloss upon it | shudderingly withdrawn my regards, I looked which generally belongs only to the auburn hue. | towards her again, she was smilingly making It was of remarkable luxuriance: but never upon | some observation to her partner. I could a whiter neck or shoulders did clustering curls or | scarcely believe the evidence of my own senses; rolling tresses fall. Her complexion was abso-| for I thought to myself that if I had really lutely dazzling. Hypevrcriticism might have pro-| beheld upon her countenance that expression nounced her to be too fair, because not even on her |—so painfully, so fearfully indicative of some cheeks was there the delicate relief of a roseate | awful inward torture, either mental or physical — tinge. And yet she was not of a sickly nor insipid | wondrous must be the power which she ex- whiteness: the skin had an animation and a polish | ercised over her own feelings to be enabled so which almost supplied the place, so to speak, of the | speedily to regain her self-possession. But there ES | CORNICE OOOKS.COM