Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 212: what you’re looking at

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

—_ = ee ee ee ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. — 199 eee ee —— - - looking sullen: but William Glentworth wads a, happen to her, she would prove a mother to the good young man, and vowed that his cousins | expected babe. Jane was contined of a daughter, should never want a home so long as he by his | which she christened Mary in honour of her industry could give them one. At length Mary, | sister.” the elder sister, obtained the situation of a nur- “Ah!” T exclaimed; “then the Mary Glent- sery-governess with a wealthy family dwelling in| worth who is now beneath this roof, bears her own the country, a couple of hundred miles from Lon- | proper name?” don. It was heartbreaking for the sisters to “ Yes—you are right,” rejoined Mr. Singleton. separate; but it was necessary. Not long after | “The babe to whom I am alluding, has grown up Mary, the elder sister, obtained a situation, Aunt | into your friend Mary Glentworth! But let me Glentworth died; and so soon as a decent interval | resume the thread of my narrative. Not long had elapsed, Jane Latimer, the younger of the | after the birth of the little Mary, hor mother died, two sisters, became the wife of William Glent- | The infant’s aunt, Mary Latimer, at once ful- worth. Mary obtained a temporary leave of ab- | filled the promise she had made to her deceased sence from the family in the country in order to| sister, and resolved to become a mother to that be present at the wedding; and it was with the | child. Now, I have already told you, that Mary most unfeigned sincerity she wished her sister all| Latimer was pregnant by her paramour Lord - possible happiness,—not merely on account of the| Dalrymple; and it was only a month after her love which subsisted between them, but likewise | sister’s confinement and death, that she herself because poor Mary herself was drinking deeply of | was taken in labour. She was delivered of a dead the gall of unhappiness! The situation she had | infant ; and thus she was all the better enabled to accepted was scarcely tolerable, Tyrannized over | become a mother to the little Mary her niece. A by her master and mistress—teased and worried | couple of years elapsed before Lord Dalrymple by the children—and scorned by the domestics, | returned to England: the little Mary was pre- she was in that false position in which young | sented to him as his own daughter, and he enter- women of her class invariably find themselves.| tained not the slightest suspicion that it was Therefore, after her sister’s wedding, she returned | otherwise. In the meanwhile, Mary Latimer had into the country, only to find her situation less en- | adopted the name of Glentworth, so that she durable than ever. Can it be wondered if she; might avoid bringing disrepute upon her own soon began to listen with some degree of attention | family name—and also perhaps because this name to the overtures which were made to her by a/| fitted with the one in which the little Mary had nobleman who occasionally visited at the mansion | been christened. Lord Dalrymple in due time where she was? This nobleman was then called | became Duke of Ardleigh,—the Duke who is now Lord Dalrymple, belonging to the ducal family of | beneath this roof! Do you require to be informed Ardleigh. To be brief, Mary Latimer fled with | why the secret respecting Mary’s parentage was him—placed herself under his protection—became | so religiously kept by her whom she looked upon his mistress. A few weeks afterwards William | as a mother ?” Glentworth was killed by an accident, leaving his “ No,’ I answered; “those reasons are intel- widow totally unprovided for and in a way to be- | ligible enough. The unfortunate lady received an come a mother. Mary Latimer, being amply sup- | income from the Duke of Ardleigh, who supposed plied with money by her protector, failed not to| that Mary was his own child; and moreover Mrs, furnish pecuniary aid to her unfortunate sister.| Glentworth—as I suppose we musé continue to Mary likewise became pregnant; and Lord Dal-| call her—cherished a hope that the Duke would rymple seemed to be delighted at the idea of such | continue his paternal succour so long as Mary paternity, though he was already married and had | should live. But if those reasons be intelligible a son. The political party to which Lord Dal-! enough, I am on the other hand at « loss to com- rymple belonged, suddenly coming into power, his | prehend for what purpose Mrs. Glentworth should lordship was appointed to one of the minor em- . bassies on the Continent; and he was compelled to set off with the least possible delay. He took an affectionate leaye of his mistress Mary Lati- mer, with whom he left an ample supply of money; and he departed to the capital of the petty Italian State to which he was accredited. I must now observe that ever since the marriage of Jane, the two sisters had corresponded only i letter——they had not met; for Mary was ashamed to look her sister in the face. Yet when she found that this younger sister refused not the pecuniary gifts which she forwarded, she took courage, and at length ventured to call upon her. The meeting was an affectionate one; and Jane uttered not a syllable of reproach against Mary for her fall from virtue. On the contrary, she sympathized with her, and seemed to think that it was scarcely possible she could have done Otherwise. Jane was very sickly—her health was failing—and she apprehended the time of her accouchement, Mary endeavoured to reassure and console her, and promised that if anything should have left a narrative behind her —— “Her objects are explained,” answered Mr, Singleton, “at the close of the narrative itself, She knew not what destiny might be in store for her daughter: she knew not whether circumstances might not some day or another arrive which would render it desirable for the girl to become acquainted with all her past history. There might be the scruples of some eligible suitor to satisfy—to prove to him that she was not born in shame, but that she was the offspring of a lawful wedlock. And then, too, Miss Percy-—does it not strike you that Mrs. Glentworth may havo thoroughly compre. hended all the most intricate depths of her adopted daughter’s character ?” “True !? I exclaimed; “and she may have been inspired by the presentiment that the day would sooner or later come when Mary would learn suffi- cient to make her wish to learn more; and that if in the first instance she should acquire the belief that she was illegitimate, she would be crushed with a sense of shame, from the abyss of which sho would be alterwards lifted by the subsequent discovery Gomichboo em lt tt tt i iE } | (E©)