Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 304: what you’re looking at

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ELLEN PERCY; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. 291 allude to the little packet of drugs which Dame Betty had sent me at Petersfield. I found Lady Kelvedon in the boudoir; and though in external appearance she was but little changed, yet her spirits were evidently better than when I was last there—and she gave me the assur- ance that she felt as if the treatment of the old gipsy-woman was beginning to do her good. This was only the fourth day of her taking her medi- cine, and therefore when I heard her thus speak so cheeringly, I felt certain it could not be with- out the evidence of her own sensations. Now, therefore, that I was in possession of the drug on which Dame Betty had so especially counted and which was to make sure doubly sure, I felt com- pletely at ease in reference to Hermione’s case. The packet contained a scrap of paper on which instructions were written for the mode of using the drug: no time was accordingly lost in follow- ing the prescription—and Hermione smiled with a real gaiety as she spoke of “ the old gipsy-woman’s elixir of life.” ‘ The various presents which I had brought from Petersfield, but which were supposed to have been obtained in London, were spread out upon the ‘sofa; and when Lord Kelvedon presently entered the boudoir and beheld these things, he reiterated the expression of his gratitude for all the trouble I had taken. | “It is you—and you alone, my dear Miss Percy,” he exclaimed, “ who have wrought a bene- ficial change in Hermione! Ido not know how it is,” he went on to observe, more slowly; “ but I have recently entertained fears that you are too much secluded :’—and he now addressed himself direct to his wife; —‘ perhaps you have not jenough gaiety—I have kept you too much out of society—I have been selfish! You per- ceive < “No—do not blame yourself, my dear hus- band !” exclaimed Lady Kelvedon; “for I can ‘assure you that you have no cause, I have ex- ‘perienced a perfect distaste for all society Me “ But now that feeling is passing away,” inter- jected the nobleman; “and perhaps Miss Percy will agree with me in thinking that your mind ought to be aroused ?” ' “ITdothink so, most decidedly!” I said, recol- lecting that Hermione entertained the greatest friendship for Aline, and knowing likewise that nothing would delight Mrs. Gower more than to pay a visit to Lady Kelvedon, “I am very glad your lordship has mentioned the subject, to which I should have certainly taken the liberty of allud- ing ” “Do what you like in the matter, Miss Percy !” exclaimed his lordship: “every arrangement you may make will be sure to please me. Fill the Hall with guests, if you think fit! And now I Shall leave you both together, that you may dis- course on the subject and settle your proceed- ings.” The old nobleman accordingly withdrew ; and Hermione said to me, “‘ Here indeed is a change, my dear Ellen! If only a fortnight back I had thrown out the slightest hint indicative of a de- sire to have Aline or any one else to stay with me, there would have been objections Indeed, as you already know, it was only your name which in this sense found favour with my husband. Ah! by the bye, I received a letter this very morning from a friend of mine with whom you are well ac- quainted. I mean the Countess of Belgrave.” “Oh, yes!” L exclaimed: “I know her lady- ship well.” **She mentioned your name in her letter,” re- sumed Lady Kelvedon, “and speaks in the most affectionate terms of you. You knew her, I think, when she was still Lady Cecilia Urban ?” “Yes,” I responded. “I have known her more than two years—and she has only been married a year.” “Now, if I chose to avail myself of his lordship’s permission,” continued Lady Kelvedon, “ here isan opportunity for having a most agreeable guest, who is as intimate with you as she is with me, Her husband, the Earl of Belgrave, has gone on a visit of two or three weeks to a near relation of his own who lives in Paris: but Cecilia did not feel in- clined to undertake the journey at this season of the year.” “ By all means,” I said, “invite the Countess of Belgrave to stay a few days here, if you experience the inclination. And Aline?” “TI will write to them both,” answered Lady Kelvedon. “Not to-day!—but to-morrow. To- day I must have the full enjoyment of your society, which shall not be broken in upon even for the purpose of penning these two notes of in- vitation.” I was rejoiced at the idea of Hermione receiving guests: for the circumstance indicated a favour- able change in the state of her mind—and there- fore the depressing influence of the poison which for weeks had been administered to her, was evie dently falling off. But perhaps the poison itself was being no longer administered at all, and there- fore Dame Betty’s medicine was proving all the more effective, its power being condensed in the process of working a cure, and none of that power being as it were intercepted for a mere antidotal purpose. In the course of the afternoon the London morning papers were delivered at Kelvedon Hall; and everything which Lady Lilla Hssendine pre- dicted in reference to the proceedings connected with Edwin St. Clair at the Old Bailey was ful- filled to the very letter. In the absence of the one material witness for the prosecution—namely, the old gipsy woman—his acquittal! had been at once pronounced, and the judge assured him that he left the Court without the slightest stain upon his character. But upon this subject I need not now dwell at any greater length, because I shall have yet much to say relative to Edwin St. Clair in future chapters of my narrative. I seized an opportunity, within an hour or two after my arrival at the Hall, to walk out for a few minutes into the grounds: and I examined the stone vase to see if by any chance the letter which I had written in a feigned hand and deposited there, should be still in that place. No letter was in the vase:—but though it had disappeared, I was still uncertain as to what had been its fate— whether if had been consigned to the post, or whether i¢ had been destroyed by the wretches connected with the murderous plot which I was now so successfully engaged in frustrating. Lady Kelvedon fulfilled her promise by descend- ing that day to the dining-room; and on the fol- CORNICLOOOLK (EO)