The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 305: what you’re looking at

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294 TIE MISTLRIES _ e to send me a letter, declaring that he insists apon seeing me this evening at nine o’clock——” «+ Ah! dares the Prince make another attempt ?” cried the Earl, his own countenance becoming pale with rage and his lips growing ashy and quivering. * “No, no—'tis not for that exclaimed Eleanor. “The man whose name I cannot mention, has received his pardon through the {intervention of the Prince; and he therefore defies you and per- secutes me.” “But why docs he demand this interview ?” cried the Earl. “Does he not know enough of you to be convinced that you would prefer death, rather than yield again——" “Q God! do not allude to my past frailty, Francis!” exolaimed the Countess wildly. “ You will drive me mad! But pardon this excitement,” she immediately added, in a gentler tone, as she took her husband's hand and pressed it to her lips. “No—the villain does not desecrate the name of leve by addressing me in such terms or with such ahope. But he demands money—and he orders me—yes, orders me—to meet him this night at nine o’clock with five thousand pounds, as the only con- ‘dition on which he swears to leave me unmolested for the future.” * The sum is nothing, Eleanor,” said the noble- | man in a musing tone: “but the man’s oath——” * Is valueless,” added the unfortunate lady, with a bitter emphasis. “ Besides, the excitement is killing me! I cannot live in the constant terror of receiving some new proof of this man’s fiendish villany or heartless extortion. Tho dread of his persecution would poison all the little happiness that remains to me in this life: my thoughts by day and my dreams by night would be filled with images of horror conjured up by the knowledge that there existed in the world one individual who could blast my reputation ina moment. Such an existence would be a perpetual torture—a prolonged oxoruciation — an endless series of maddening avonies. No—no: I cannot endure it, Francis ;— and either——" * Speak, Eleanor,” said the Earl, trembling with apprehension beneath the look of awful gloom and sombre determination which settled itself upon his | wife’s countenance as she suddenly stopped short ‘ia ber observations. “ You wefe saying that either ——” “ Ficher that man or myself must die !” answered ;the Countess, in a deep voice: and there was a furucious glare in her eyes, which showed how terrible were the thoughts that the eruelicst com- bination of circumstances had excited in the mind of a woman naturally so generous-hearted and so animous. “ Holy God! what mean you, Eleanor?” de- manded the Earl, grasping her wrist with convulsive violence and gazing with horrified looks into the depths of those eyes wherein an ominous light was burning. “I mean,” she answered, with the measured ac- cents of despair, “that you must now choose be- tween two appalling alternatives! I mean,” she continued, with the emphasis of stern resolution, “that you have now to make up your mind whether you shall follow to the grave the corpse of a suicide wife—or whether that wife shall live, but with the braud of a murdcress npon her brow |” A Ee ee a ee eRe Rate — Cay TO Gute 9 ~r * ww vam Gama, 86a ene? == Daa Ov ae = Mea eo an: a= * Just heaven! has it come to this, Eleanor ?° exclaimed the nobleman, trembling from head to foot, as if struck with a palsy. “J have told you the alternatives,” she replied, with the awfal coldness of despair. “That villain and myself cannot continue to breathe the same air, So long as he encumbers this world with his pre- sence, he may cross my path at any moment ;—and I repeat that I could not live in the constant ex- citement’of such an apprehension. No—either he or I must perish! A crime will have to be com- mitted by my hand: and {t is for you to decide whether that crime shal! be suicide or murder. To me it isa matter of indifference: for I haye re- solved to escape either from his persecution or else from life I” “Oh! you distress me beyond all measure, my worshipped—my adored—my well-beloved Elea- nor” exclaimed the unhappy Earl, sinking down upon his knees at her feet, and moistening her hands with his tears as he pressed them with frenzied violence to his lips. “ For God's sake, my darling Eleanor, re-consider this dreadful affair! Remember, that if you decide upon ridding your path of that enemy, no subsequent remorse can recall the deed—no after-compunction undo the act! Besides, my love—my angel—my afflicted one, it must not be you who will do this—but I— your husband: and will you make me a mur- derer ?” *No—not for worlds, Francis!” exclaimed the wretched lady, compelling him to rise from his sup- pliant posture and then throwing herself into his arms “Oh! you will re-consider the matter, my be- loved he cried, straining her to his breast and covering her countenance with kisses and with tears. “ Alas{ there is nothing to re-consider—my mind is made up!” she said, gently disengaging herself from her husband’s embrace. “ But I will not per- mit you to perpetrate a crime, Francis—you who have never committed a foul deed in all your life !” “'Yes—when I Jed you as a victim to the altar,” said the Earl, ina low deep tone of indescribable self-reproach. “ Ah! we will not talk of that now, my husband!” exclaimed the Countess. “You must consent to yield to those imperious circumstauces which have environed me as with a wall of adamant,—circum- stances which are rapidly closing in around me, and which will crush me to death unless I clear myself a means of egress by one desperate and decisive blow. Listen to what Ramscy stipulates—or rather, what he commands! He tells me thag to-night at nine o’clock I am to mect him in the open field behind the shrubbery—that I am to bring with me the sum of five thousand pounds ia notes, gold, or other monies equally avai'able—that I must proceed alone to the place of appointment —and that if I refuse to yicld to these conditions, he will publish the history of his amour with mc,— yes, publish everything, and thereby gain by the sale of so extraordinary a narrative a sum cqual to, if not larger than, that amount which he has demanded as the price of his secrecy !” “Te has dared to write all this 2” exclaimed the Earl, still trembling with rage and terror. “ Nay—read for yourself cried the Counteas : and drawing forth a letter from her bosom, she a ———ap oe ElOOO® SS