Rosa Lambert — page 106: what you’re looking at

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

ee ill ce ee ee a ee ne ee ee ee ne ee rs ee Ra ee eee ee _———————ee supplanted me in his affections; and when he ROSA LAMBERT. 95 . 4 7 ° . engaged in such dangerous pursuits in the metro- spoke of vengeance, I entered with fiendish delight | polis at the time. He had frequented gambling. into his views. He fanned the flame which ke had thus excited, with all that consummate artifice of language in which he’ is so proficient: he made | recourse to more perilous ventures. me believe that if he had not seen you in Cheshire, he should never have abandoned me. All the worst passions and feelings of human nature were terribly aroused and accumulated within me. Such passions and such feelings render their victim an easy instrument in the hands of a de- signing person. Horace Rockingham ;—and now commences that portion of my narrative which regards yourself and your brother.” Caroline Seymour paused, and fixed upon me a look which eloquently asked me whether she should proceed—or whether I had heard enough. “Continue,” I said. “I have promised to for- Such I became in the hands of | tables, and by a run of good luck obtained suffi- cient to keep up appearances without having Horace Rockingham was disappointed; but his restless disposition, panting for bitter vengeance against you, would not permit him to give up his designs. How could you be humiliated? This was now the question. One evening Horace was at the Opera. T and your brother were likewise there: you and Mr. Alvanly were also there. Horace, from a dis- tance, perceived how you shrank back in your box when you caught sight of your brother; and he said to himself, ‘Ah! she recoils from the idea, lost and degraded as she is, to encounter her bro- ther’s looks! He came round to you, and breathed his vindictive threats im your ears. As you issued forth from the Opera, you were insulted give all the past so far as you are concerned; and| by some low woman: she had been paid by I will keep my word.” “But you must suffer me,” exclaimed Caroline Seymour, “ to travel rapidly over the remainder of my history. I could not possibly linger upon the details !”’ “Tell it in your own way,” I answered; “so that you make me acquainted with everything.” “Nothing shall be concealed,” rejoined Caroline. «You understand, from what I have said, that I regarded you as a rival. I hated you: I readily and greedily entered into Horace Rockingham’s schemes of vengeance. Your brother Cyril had just arrived from the Continent. One of his acquaintances happened te be known to Rocking- ham ; and thus the latter acquired an insight into your brother’s pursuits. Through him, was Horace resolved to wreak at least a portion of his ven- geance upon you. He set a watch upon Cyril, and found that he had taken a lodging in Bond Street. Then that fiend-like youth instructed me in the part which I was to enact. IL went the very next day, and hired lodgings in the same house. I threw myself in Cyril’s way: everything pro- gressed as was both desired and anticipated—l became your brother’s mistress. Do you ask whether I loved him? No—TI hated him, for the simple reason that he was your brother! My heart was unnaturally warped—my feelings were fiendishly perverted, by the inculeations of Horace Rockingham’s insidious eloquence. It was sup- posed that your brother Cyril was connected with forgers e “ Forgers !”’ I ejaculated, starting with affright. “Oh! listen—and do not interrupt me,’ said Caroline; “or I shall take your words as re- proaches—I shall be unable to proceed.” “Go on, go on,” Isaid. “Not another word will I speak until you have finished.” _ “Yes,” continued Caroline, “ Horace Rocking- ham had learnt that Cyril had been upon the Continent with some of his evil companions, for the purpose of passing off forged Bank of England notes amongst the money-changers there; and that he intended to pursue a similar course in London. I was to watch him—to worm myself into his confidence—to discover his secrets—so that information might be given to the authorities, and a fearful blow might be struck at your feelings by the plunging of your brothcr into a felon’s gaol. It did not however appear that Cyril was really | . a a Rockingham thus to crown you with humiliation before your protector and the assembled lacqueys. On the following morning, he sent me, in an ens velope, a note which I was to lay upon the breakfast- table, and represent to Cyril that it had been left by some slatternly woman-servant. The note was a scrawl, the better to disguise Horace Rock- in¢gham’s hand, in case you or Cyril might happen to be acquainted with it; and it was simply to in- form your brother where you were living. He called upon you mn “Oh, the wickedness—the fiend-like malignity of Horace Rockingham !” T exclaimed, unable for the moment to control my feelings, and forgetful of my promise not to interrupt Miss Seymour again. “Ah!” she exclaimed, “I see that I must bring my narrative to a speedy conclusion. Horace Rockingham remained implacable towards you; and I continued in the same spirit. Cyril never suspected what was going on: he had not the slightest idea that I was acquainted with Horace, or that I frequently met him to receive his satanic inspirations. Satanic indeed! He made me write anonymous letters to Mr. Alvanly, in the hope of causing that gentleman to abandon you abruptly. Just at that time, after a very brief connexion, your brother Cyril one day aban- doned me. I believe that he attributed to jea- lousy the almost incessant watch I kept over his actions: it grew irksome and intolerable—he fled, leaving me penniless. I again became the mis- tress of Horace: but the means he allowed me were scanty—and he hinted that his father had grown parsimonious and niggard in providing him with funds. While affecting love, he only kept me, in the hope of making me the instrument of his vengeance. forget the day I first saw you. I was walking in the Park—it was not long after your connexion with Captain Fortescue commenced vi “You did not, then, see me that night at’ the Opera P” I interjectingly observed. “No—it was not till afterwards that I knew you had been there, and that Horace had spoken to you. I did not know you then by sight—only by name: it was in the Park, as I was about to explain, that I first beheld you. I was roaming there by myself, gazing with envious and jealous eyes upon the brillant company which swept past (©) JOO (E Ah, Miss Lambert! never shall L (E(@)