The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 393: what you’re looking at

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

self towards him with aversion and contempt. | | as2 avimated me in dealing’with the petty tyrants of the family which I had so recently left, inspired me now with courage to meet my misfortunes. At first I thought of writing at onoe to Sir John Marston, tolling him how I was situated and requesting his pecuniary assistance. Bat when I reflected on the independent manner in which I had left him, my soul recoiled from the idea of such self-humiliation. The only course open to me appeared to be that of ob- taining a situation as a governess; and this I thou zat would not be so very difficult, as there were many English residents in Havre, as well as re- spectable French tradesmen, who knew that I had been a year with Sir John Marston’s family. I ac- cordingly set about instituting immediate inquiries. The robbery of the diligence was of course gene- rally known in Havre; and it being likewise known that I was one of the victims, my position excited soinc degree of sympathy. An English lady, named Knight, who had recently been left a widow, and had several children, was staying at Havre at the time; and she offered to receive me as &@ governess. She frankly told me that she was not very well off, and that she could not afford to give mea handsome salary: but my circumstances did not permit me to be over particular—and I therefore accepted her ptoposition. She was a woman of about forty: her eldest son, whose christian name was James, was just ono-and-twenty ; and she had four other chil- dron—two boys and two girls, whose ages ranged from ten to eighteen. She was a good-natured THE MYSTERIES OF THE COUR? these circumstances was it that we arrived at Barce- Iona. I do not pause to say anything particular relative to the children entrusted to my , as I remained eo short a time with Mrs. Knight: but I now come to the incident which caused me to leave her abruptly. On arriving at Barcelona, we took up our quarters at an hotel preparatory to the hiring of suitable apartments during the period that it would be requisite for Mrs. Knight to remain in that city. The very day after our arrival, and at about eight o’clock in the evening, Mrs. Knight discovered that some articles of jewellery had been abstracted from her trunk. This announcement was made in the presence of her son James; and he immediately turned towards me, asking with a malignant look ‘what I was doing in his mother’s chamber about an hour back?’ Instantaneously understanding the nature of the aspersion he in- tended to throw upon me, my indignation burst forth in no measured tefms: for it was totally'false that I had been to his mother’s room at all. Le vowed that I had; and insisted that my boxes should be searched. This I at once assented to: where- upon Mrs. Knight, who, poor weak - minded woman, had begun to frow suspicious concern- ing me, led the way to my chamber, fvl- lowed by her son and myself. On our way thither, the thought—the terrible thought, flashed to my mind that if James Knight were villain enough to accuse me thus wrongfully, he was alep sufficiently treacherous and malicuant to have placed person — somewhat weak-minded — and entirely’) the jewels in my box in order to ruin me. I beheld under the empiro of her son James, who, I must obsorve, was a handsome young man. Her husband had been dead about eight months: he was a mer- chant—but had left his circumstances in a less fl. urishing conilition than had been expected from his mode of life. He had some little property at Burceluna in Spain: and it required the widow’s pre- sence there for her to take possession of it. She had arrived from Euyland on her way thither; and as I found, more frou. compassion in respect to myself than because her views were sufficiently settled to enable her to cnzage a governess at the time, she roceived me into her family. In a few weeks we set off by the diligence towards the Spanish frontier. I evon found that James Knight had taken it into his head to make a conquest of me, if possible—and notin an honvuurable way. When unperceived by his mother, he besieyed me with attentions; and even m her presence he sometimes looked and spoke in a manner that it was impossible to misunderstand. On these occasions I saw that she reproved him with a glance, for which however ho cared but littlo. She was however soon satisfied that he received no emoouragument from me: for I gave him to under- stand as plainly as I could that his attentions were most disagreeable. But he persevered in them: and on one occasion it became necessary for me to resent his impertinence with a sound box on the ears, which I hesitated not to bestow. He was of an evil disposition —treacherous, malignant, and spiteful to a degree; and finding that so far from making any tender impression on me, I treated him in this manner, he menaced me with his looks. For those however I cared but little; and deported my- He grew sullen and morose; and I saw full well that ata glance all the danger of my position; and in the swift brief moments that were passing, I revolved m my mind the two alternatives that lay before me —either to dare the accusation boldly on- the one hand,—or to fly from it precipitately on the other. Though perfectly innocent, as God is my judge, yet I chose the latter alternative: for I could not en- dure the thought of being plunged into a prison. [ therefore determined to escape. We entered my chamber; and in order to throw the treacherous young man entirely off his ruard with respect to my intention, I affected not to entertain the slightest suspicion that the jewels would really be found in my box. I was thus enabled, when he was busily engaged in turning out all the things, to enatch up & bonnet and shaw! and glide from the room. the door upon Mrs. Knight and her son, I slipped on the bonnet and shawl—reached the staircase— descended it rapidly—and issued forth from the hotel. It was now dusk; and I sped precipitately along the street—gained the postern—paseed the fortifications without hindrance—and was econ on the wide open plain stretching towards the Catalo- nian Hills. I proceeded onward with bat Little relaxation of speed for nearly two hours,—when [ was compelled to sit down and rest. It was now a beautiful moonlit night; and I could see to a caon- siderable distance. Three or four habitations were discernible amidst the syivan scenery which formed a large portion of the landscape: but I dared not seek shelter at any of these, for fear that if informa- tion had been given to the Barcelonese police, the entire neighbourhood might be scoured by those officers and I should be arrested. I therefore re- solved to walk onward throughout tho whole nizht, and thus place as great a distance as possible bo had concaived a bitter hatred against me, Under | between myself and the city which I had loft. o em > NOOK