Agnes Vol. 2 — page 166: what you’re looking at

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

AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASUE®. he fancied i¢ was better under the circumstances to avoid incurring the imputation of selfishly look. ing after his own interesta. In respect to his con- duct a quarter of an hour back in the presence of Father #aleonara, he declared that it was only for the purpose of preventing Lucrezia from irre- deemably compromising herself; and the explana- tion seemed as a matter of course so natural that did not for a moment suspect how in this ynétance also he had been studying to make his ‘wn interests assort with the probable flow of «venta. But now there was a .wild and passionate out- buréof grief, and lamentation, and entreaty on Lucrezia’s part. What was she to do? what would Ramorino advise? tu what extent could he protect her ? Should she remain there ? or should she return to her own manasivn, barricade the doors, and defy the officera of justice with the 159 a countenance whereon all the tortures of a doomed one were depicted, that she implored her husband to save her, or to counsel her how she might save herself if he were no longer able to assist hor! Ramorino knew not how to’ reply to the pas- sionate queries she had put to him: or rather we ought to say that he had a negative answer for every one of them, and was completely bewil- dered how to suggest anything in their place. She must not leave his house, because she was watvhed. She must not return to her own home, because such a step would only be precipitating her arrest. She must not go thither and barricade the doors, becauso the officials of the Minister of the Interior would break duwn the portala for the purpose of capturing her; or the bailiffs of the ‘Treasury would du the same for the purpose of levying the seizure. As for amorino himself, his own power had suddenly appeared to come to an end: the warrants of levy and seizure P Were there no | man at whose beck and word the whole springs of means of averting the sterm P or had the thunder- the Tuscan police could be put in motion, was now cloud gathered so completely and descended sv low paralysed by a combination of circumstances which above their heads that it must speedily burst P| | he could scarcely have foreseen and against which All these questions were hurriedly put in al- | he could not struggle. All was bewilderment, agita- inost as many seconds only as it has taken us | ton, contusion, ana uncertainty on the part of minutes to record them. And not only hur- | those two beings who had ouly been married a few riedly put were those questiuns, but frantically | hours. Good heavens! what a honeymoon was. and with feverish anxiety—with all the agony of | succeeding that bridal! It was now close upon poignant suspenso—with a tightening at the heart, | one o’cluck in the murning; and all idea of retir- a suffocation at the throat, and tire in the brain! | ing to rest was out of the question. With a And how looked Lucrezia now P?—was she the! palatial residence of ber owo in that fair cily of Same exquisitely beautiful woman as ever? No!» Fiorence—with a villa in the loveliest part of Arnu’s —grief and agony of mind had already in the ; delightful valley—with a chateau in the country— space of a few hours dune much to mar her! and with the right to call her husband’s own re- natural loveliness. ier face was haggard—bher | sidence Avr home, Lucrezia nevertheless fey as af features had veritably the careworn appearance | there were no place where sho might lay ber bead ! of whole years stamped upun them! Lier eyes — Qh, how slie wrung her bands! how she anathema- seewed sunken and hollow; ber lipa were asby | tised the day on “whieh she had purchased that white; aod the half-expused bosum, which was | pieture ot Lucrezia Borgia which had appeared to wont to swell with the glow of love’s transports, | act as av evil genius that she was inetalling be- was now palpitating wih the volcanic bell that; neath her roof! Ob, and how she likewise cursed raged beneath. She could scarcely realize the the hour when sho had fallen in with Ciprina; for horror of her position: she could scarcely faucy | | it seemed as if her intimacy with that young lady that it was otherwise than a hideous dream. Yet, _ had likewiso tended by a variety of means tu bring her mind was in a terrible state of activity at the her ill-luck of every description ! time: she remembered a thousand things which |= Now, from the moment that her husband re- were ovly more or less remotely connected with her | joined her after Ins last interview with Father degradation and her appalling danger. She re- Falconara, until that when he was presently sum- collected, fur instance, how, scarcely a year back, she had smilingly and contidently assured Ciprina how utterly impossible it was that she could evor imitate the criwes of ber prototype in beauty, Lucrezia Borgia; and yet there she was, steeped to the lips in iniquity, and hovering upon the pre- cipice into which her own tremendous guilt, like a huge phantom from pandemonium, seemed ready to plunge her! Nor less did the wretched woman think bow she, su lately the courted and admired | ~—rhe, the object of so much adoration,—she, who was renowned alike for her beauty and her wealth, —she, who even in these modern times might have inspired a whole legion of gallant suitors with the chivalrous devotion of past ages,—yes, how she, the once brilbant Lucrezia, bad now fallen so very, very low! Jt was enough to make her dash her head against a wall or seize a weapon for the purpose of committing suicide—or even drop @iown and give up the ghost beneath the weight of such intolerabie calamities! Aud there- fore it was in @ voice of renaing anguish, and with moned away again, vnly a quarter of an hour elapsed; and yet during that quarter of ao hour every anguish and aguny which the mind and the soul could know, were endured by the wretched Lucrezia! We have heard of :he hair of afflicted persons turniog grey in a single night; it was a marvel that in the quarter of an hour of which we are speaking, the snows of a sudden old age were | not shed upon the golden auburn hair of Luoresia. (As for Kamorino, he would have saved her if he could. He would have saved her—even though he now knew her to be beggared, because he felt that i¢ was better to remove her, if possible, frou a scene where, if she remained, destruction and . shame wore her inevitable portion! And though he had endeavoured to take precautions to prevens any of that shame from redounding upon himself, yet he could not possibly feel confident that the attempt would be ultimately crowned with succes... In a word, there were moments when the Ministey of Police—hitherto so culdly calm, so emotioniess and su phiegmatie in all his proceedings—felt as if GOHMGoOO o) SS ceo