The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 376: what you’re looking at

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

i THE MYSTERIES OF THH COURT. “{a Afflicted at the idea of parting from you s0 goon.” Juliana gazed very hard at her sister to see if the looks of the latter corroborated this assertion ; and the Marchioness murmured, “ Yes, dearest Julians, believe me—Oh, believe me! it well nigh breaks my heart to separate from you thus.” “My husband,” Juliana went on to observe, “regrets that excessive fatigue should have so ab- solutely p ted him as to prevent him doing the honours of the breakfast-table:”—but as she thus delivered herself of the excuse with which she had been charged, it struck her that the very apo- logy itself was insufficient to account for the absence of the Count from his proper place when hospitality was to be shown to those who had be- come connected with him by marriage: for she now thought that he might have borne up at least another hour against his sense of weariness, how- ever excessive it thight be. * Now, dearest Constance,” said the Marquis, “hasten and get ready to depart. The carriage is doubtless repaired by this time; and we must pursue our journey towards Paris without delay.” “But, Ah!” ejaculated Juliana, as a sudden recollection struck her: “you are without funds— you were plundered of them. Doubtless the Count has ample resources with him: I will procure you a supply——” Constance hurried from the room: but ere the door closed behind her, Juliana’s ear caught a half- smothered convulsing sob; while the Marquis, ex- pressing his thanks for the proposal she had just made, went on to observe, “It is not to avail ourselves of your kindness: for at the first large town which we reach, any banker there will my draft upon Paris.” * Now, tell me, Etienne,” said Juliana, looki earnestly in her brother-in-law’s countenance; “3s there anything weighing upon my sister’s mind, and weighing upon your’s alsoP But Ah! me- thinks I understand,” she ejaculated, with a sudden access of bitterness in her tone, as a thought emote her brain. ‘ You know my husband to be a man of the highest honour and the strictest probity— you know likewise that in becoming his wife, I must have deceived him in to my own antecedents: you have recognised in him a friend of former times—and you feel shocked that he should have been thus deceived | on do not deny it! I now com it all! yay sister— she trembles lest the Count should discover my past frailties, and that he should wreak upon me a terrible Spenish vengeance. Tell mo, is it not 80 9 * Juliana,” responded Villebell addressing her in a solemn tone, “it is peinfal—mew painful thus to refer to the past. I no longer upon it. But one word more ere we separate. If, Juliana, you should ever require the succour or the consolation of friends, rest assured that you will not apply in vain to your sister or myself. Unfortunately your husband is indeed “ Ah!—and his estates are all confiscated ?” jaculated Juliana. “I have feared so for some time past: but through kindness he has forborne from revealing the sad, sad truth !” “‘ Believe me, Juliana,” continued the Marguis, gravely and earnestly, “ your husband is proscribed you to dwell. 875 beyond aJl hope of ever having the ban lifted from off his head. Every time that he crosses the Pyrenean frontier he risks his life———I am com- pelted to speak plainly—he incurs the chance of ing shot summarily, or dragged ignominiously u to the scaffold’s platform ” ™ “Good heavens!” cried Juliana, clasping her hands in despair: “are his persecutors 60 ran- corousP But,” she ejaculated, catching at the slightest gleam of hope, “may not a change of “ No change of Ministry can benefit him,’’ re- sponded Villebellé. “It ib my duty, painful though it be, to assure you that he is proscribed beyond redemption. He has solemnly promised me, dur- ing the few minutes we ere now conversed together, that he will remain altogether in France. If you, wish to preserve your husband to yourself, you will add the weight of your influence to induce him to keep this pledge. I understand he has brought ample funds away with him from Catalonia on this occasion——~—” ‘Doubtless from a friendly source P”’ ejaculated Juliana inquiringly. “Yes: from a source where reimbursement never will be demanded,” responded Villebelle. “ But let him leave this neighbourhood. While on the Pyrenean frontier, there will ever be oa temptation to induce him to cross it. Urge him, Juliana, to remove farther into the interior of France : tell him that for the sake of his life you yourself voluntarily and cheerfully renounce every hope of accompanying him into Spain; and per- suade him to turn his attention to some pursuit by which he may earn his livelihood in this country. Do you promise me to follow this advice F do you P yourself to make sacrifices for the eake of him who has become your husband ?” “Is his position, then, really so hopeless?” in- quired Julians, with a sickening sensation at the heart, as all her fine dreams of enacting the feudal peeress in-a castellated mansion on a Catalan do- main, seemed to dissipate like the mists of morn- ing when the gun is up. “It is hopeless!”’ answered Villebelle. ‘‘Pain- ful——nay, even more—torturing to me though it is, to be thus compelled to speak such truths, every one of which must penetrate like a dagger into your heart, it is nevertheless my duty es your brother-in-law, and for your sister’s sake, to thus openly. Now, fail not, Juliana, to follow the counsel which I so earnestly and so disinterestedly “J will, Etienne,” she answered—but it was almost in a dying tone: for though now utterly relieved from her first apprehensions that she had married an impostor, she yet had the frightful conviction forced upon her that her husband was @ proscribed outlaw, and a pauper dependent upon the bounties of friendship. At this moment the Marchioness of Villebelle returned to the room; and the Marquis hastened to aay to her, “Constance dearest, I have told Juliana all that it was between you and me that I should tell her. She has faithfully pledged herself to follow my advice; and I there- fore conjure you to ‘control your own feelings as much as possible, so that the perting moments need not be unnecessarily embittered.” Constance did her best to obey her beloved (COL (C DOO CS (COL