Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 265: what you’re looking at

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

252 bining to establish in my soul the conviction that it was Agatha who was walking with her lover in the adjacent pathway. And then, as if it were decreed that this bewilderment on my part should be only momentary, I heard the man speak the name of Agatha; and I said to myself, “ Yes—he is addressing her by that name! It is she; and after all, my original suspicions «were not er- roneous ; for she is the fiend in female shape who has administered the poison to her mistress!” “What will I do ?” said the man, when I again . caught the sound of his voice: “ why communi- cate without delay to Mr. Collingwood, to be sure ! What would you have me do?” The female voice said something: and here again I felt more than ever convinced that it was the tone of Agatha which I heard, “ No proof of anything P” ejaculated the man, “Why, if Miss Percy knows so much as it seems she must from what master told you and me, all her suspicions must be excited What? Ah! the oath! Well, but it will not do to leave matters in any sort of doubt. Master must be informed—and then he can do as he likes.”’ The female voice spoke; and I just caught the words, “ write’—“ post” —“ messenger.” “Oh, the post will do!” replied the man: “there’s no money for special messengers. And now, like a good girl, go and scribble me this letter. Ab, what a cursed thing it is that a chap of my sagacity can neither read nor write !—and yet here I am employed in the most delicate mat- ters!” The female voice again interposed something. “To be sure, my love!” pursued the man: “you shall continue to be my little secretary as well as my pretty little wife when all this business is settled. My secretary you are already—and as good as my wife too, for that matter, barring the parson’s blessing and the marriage lines—which shall all be right enough before 4 Here a “hush! hush!” was distinctly wafted to | my ear; and then followed the sounds of more kissing. For two or three minutes the conversa- tion that ensued was too indistinct for me to hear more than a few syllables, because the couple were again retiring farther along the walk: but I did two or three times catch the names of “ Agathe,” and once that of “ Matilda: but I felt convinced that the former name was applied in tender ejacu- lation to the young female by her companion. “ And now go and write this letter to master,” ‘ were the words I next heard spoken, as the couple again drew near the spot where I was concealed. “‘The same address as last time, mind! How long shall you be? But stop! I shan’t be able to wait—and it’s dangerous too for me to risk being seen hanging about the premises when everybody supposes I have gone abroad with master. And then too there’s my horse down under the hedge at the end of the field P There was now a rustling of the wind amongst the evergreens, and I therefore lost the reply which his female companion gave him, and which I should otherwise on this occasion have certainly caught, for they came nearer than they had pre- viously done to my place of concealment before they turned to retrace their way. “Well, let me see—it’s now about six o’clock,” paid the man; “and I may possibly come back in ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS, about an hour. But we won’t risk another meeting to-night. Depend upon it this Miss Percy will have eyes for everything! I tell you what you can do. Go and write the letter at once—and then you can watch your opportunity to steal out of the house, and slip it into the stone vase—— you know, dearest the same one where you used to leave flowers for me as a sign when we could meet? But you know all about it!—so go like a good girl! Ah! while I think of it, just lay a stone on the top of the letter so that it shan’t blow away; and if you put it into the vase pre- sently, I can come back for it at my leisure. I'll however take good care it shall be in the post be- fore the morning at Petersfield.” A few more words were exchanged—but these I could not catch; and then the lovers separated. The man passed out of the premises by that garden- gate which I was about to seek ere I hid myself amongst the evergreens; and I most sincerely hoped that he would not by any accident be led to enter the shrubbery where I had no doubt that by this time Dame Betty was concealed. As for the man’s female companion, she flitted along the gravel-walk ata rapid rate; and though she passed very close to the spot where I was concealed, I could not obtain a sufficient view of her to convince myself that i¢ was really Agatha—though indeed I had scarcely any doubt in my mind upon the point. When all was still, and I had allowed as I thought a sufficient time for the departure of the man, as well as for the entrance of the young woman into the mansion, I stole towards the garden-gate. I opened it, and plunged my looks into the obscurity which lay beyond. I could dis- cern no human form; but I proceeded slowly and cautiously towards the shrubbery; and when the vase at the south-western corner of the grass-plat was reached, I said in a low tone, “ Dame Betty, are you there P” There was a rustling amongst the trees; and the gipsy crone speedily came forth. “Ts everything right ?” she asked, “Yes,” I responded ; for I did not choose to say a syllable, at least for the present, in reference to the track upon which I had got towards the complete discovery of the agents employed by Collingwood in his detestable plot. ‘Comealong! her ladyship awaits you! Do you still think it probable, on reflection, that I shall be compelled to accompany you to London P” ““T cannot possibly answer that question until I shall have seen her ladyship. As for me, my dear, you know it is absolutely necessary that I should speed to London: for the trial of that villain Sé. Clair takes piace to-morrow.” “ My promise shall be kept,” I replied. “If I go with you, | shall leave in the postchaise, and take you up where we met last night. If I do not go with you, I shall pretend to dismiss the post- chaise, and I will privately tell the postilion that you are to be his passenger and that he will find you at the spot to which I have just alluded.” “No possible arrangements can be better, Miss Percy,” answered the dame; ‘‘and they are pre- cisely those which I foresaw you would make. So, you see, your young head is as wise as my old one.” I led Dame Betty into the back garden—I un- ER CORMICELO@CL<