Rosa Lambert — page 248: what you’re looking at

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

It was about half-past eight when the coach en- tered the town of Woolwich; and we alighted at the office where it put up,—Miss Fanshawe in- forming me that her home was only in the next street, and observing that if the portmanteau were left at the office, her father would send some one to fetch it; for that I was welcome to pass the night at their house, if I thought fit. I thanked her most cordially for the invitation that was given with a sympathizing warmth ; and as we proceeded together to our destination, I tremblingly inquired whether she thought that I should find my bro- ther alive ? “T sincerely hope so, dear madam,” she re- sponded: “but I dare not prophesy too much nor too confidently. My father sent for a doctor for the poor young man; and I am bound to inform you that the doctor said the case was hopeless, but that he might linger for several hours yet.” ‘You have not told me,” I observed, “how it was that my unfortunate brother found himself beneath your hospitable roof? And as you said that Mr. Fanshawe is a clerk in the dock- yard és | «“ Ah, ma’am!” interrupted the young woman, “if it were known that my father harboured him, he would lose his situation. But my father is a very kind-hearted man; and he has run the risk from purely Christian motives. My mother too has done all she could for your poor brother But here we are.” Thus speaking, Miss Fanshawe knocked at the door of a small but respectable-looking house, so far as I could judge of its exterior in the darkness of the evening; for the lamps in the street where the house was situated, were dim, few, and far between. The door was immediately opened by a good-looking, neatly dressed woman, about forty years of age, who at once said as she beheld her daughter and me, “Oh, 1am so glad Mrs. Beau- mont has come!” “ He still lives then?” I asked, in the hushed voice which was in keeping with the solemn and painful feelings which filled my soul. “Yes, ma’am—the poor young gentleman lives,”’ responded Mrs. Fanshawe; “ and that is all I can say. Will you walk into the parlour and compose yourself first? Perhaps you will take a little re- freshment after your journey ?P” ‘Nothing, I thank you,’ was my hasty but gratetully uttered answer. “Let me be at once conducted to my poor brother 1” “This way, ma’am, if you please,” said Mrs. Fanshawe: and with a candle in her hand, she led me up the narrow but neatly carpeted staircase. “Softly, madam !” she observed, as we reached the landing, and as she noiselessly opened the door of aback room: “for Mr. Lambert was sleeping a minute or two ago.” I passed in,—Mrs, Fanshawe standing aside to make way for me; and she did not follow. I found myself in a small but comfortably furnished chamber,—a candle was burning on a little round table in the centre. There was a firein the grate: the curtains were closed around the bed; and as the occupant of that couch moved not on my en- trance, IT concluded that he was still sleeping. Gently did I approach the bed,—my heart however paipitating with painful excitement: for I expected to behold the pale wan countenance of the perish- 237 ing Cyril. I drew aside the curtain: there was a sudden movement on the part of the occupant of the couch—all in an instant his arms were thrown around my neck—and I found myself in the em- brace of the Marquis of Belmore! So terrible was the revulsion of feeling which I experienced—such a horrible shock did this dis- covery give me—so stupendous did the wickedness of the diabolic stratagem smite me as being, that my senses abandoned me. When I came back to consciousness, I was lying in the arms of the mis- creant; and as he strained me in his embrace, he said, “ Beautiful Rose, I have won the wager !” Oh! would to heaven that the strength which now inspired me, had animated me but a little while back, at the moment when his arms were first flung around my neck. With rage and fury in my soul, I dashed my clenched fists violently in his countenance as I sprang from his embrace. ** Miscreant !’”’ I exclaimed; “if there be law in England, you shall be punished for this, although at the same time I proclaim my own degradation and disgrace !” “Silly girl that you are!” said the Marquis, mockingly, “when I can prove that you came of your own accord to meet me here.” “ Liar— coward — devil!’ were the words that hissed forth from my quivering lips: but now again did such a revulsion of feeling take place within me—such a sudden reaction from the frightful state of fury and rage in which I had wakened up from the deep swoon into which I had fallen—that I tottered towards a chair and sank upon if. Consciousness did not again forsake me: but my brain whirled—there was frenzy in my thouchts. “To be sure,” were the words that I presently caught, as they came from the lips of the Marquis of Belmore; “you must see it all in a moment, Now you know that you are in a house of very genteel accommodation, where the business is con- ducted in a quiet and respectable way, and where the urbane manners of Mother Fanshawe, together with the modest looks and artless air of her daughter —who, by the bye, is in reality as amorous a young creature as one could wish to know—give an additional gloss to the whole con- cern. Why, my dear Rose, if you went to a magistrate, you would be laughed at. Miss Fan- shawe, with her unsophisticated way of telling a tale, would carry conviction to even the shrewdest and keenest justice-of-the-peace that ever sat upon the bench. And what would she sayP Why, that as a messenger of love from the Marquis of Belmore, she called upon Mrs. Beaumont, and told her that all requisite steps were taken to enable her to keép a previously promised appoint- ment with the Marquis of Belmore aforesaid. And then, my sweet Rose, if you did force me to enter upon my defence, I should say with all the cool impudence in the world and I am rather an adept in this sort of thing that because we fell out as to the pecuniary recompense which you were to receive for your favours, you turned round upon me and raised all the hubbub.” I sat aghast and petrified as I listened to this speech. I saw indeed that the whole plan was pre-arranged with a diabolical ingenuity and a fiendish foresight that rendered me utterly power- less in respect to the infliction of condign punish- COMME XO | ROSA LAMBERT. SS (E®)