Rosa Lambert — page 351: what you’re looking at

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3 a oo ow a Ne te pt ee TS OE Ee Et ts asa wm me wee se ee eee SL TT OG A FOC Me cee — a 340 ROSA LAMBERT. mm re me re nation which I now entertained in respect to my late paramour, would effectually prevent any cor- respondence between us for the future. On our arrival at Albion House, which was situated a little way out of Newport, L was astonished at the size of the edifice: but upon entering, was infi- | It appeared from Alvanly’s explanations in this nitely more amazed at the magnificence and letter, that Sir Ralph had discovered his intrigue splendour which 1 there beheld. It appeared to | with Lady Horton a few months after that lu- be an oriental palace such as we read of in eastern | dicrous scene at the Pavilion, in which I had tales. Some of the apartments contained the most | borne a part, and that her ladyship had since been interesting curiosities from India, China, and other | living altogether under Mr, Alvanly’s protection, parts of Asia: lacqueys in sumptuous liveries | He further informed me that Sir Ralph was suing lounged about in the spacious hall: there was a | for a divorce, and that when it should be obtained stud of beautiful horses: the coach-house con-|he (Mr, Alvanly) intended to marry Lady tained vehicles of several descriptions ; and, in a} Horton. word, every feature of the establishment denoted I showed this letter to Sir James Thornley, ex- the enormous wealth of its proprietor. And at | pressing to him how I had been previously in- . the head of this establishment he placed me,— | debted to Mr. Alvanly in two separate sums, the } bidding me take his own name as if I Were his | aggregate of which was eight hundred pounds ; | wife, should [ think fit—or any other that I chose | and the old nabob exclaimed, “ Well, by this letter to adopt—as it was quite indifferent to him, and he | it would appear that your friend is rather straitened cared nothing for the opinion of the world. Asa) for money. As I do not choose you to remain | matter of course { did not choose to call myself | under an obligation to any one of that sort, you Lady Thornley, unless [ could keep such a title for | shall soon get out of his debt. Keep those two life: I therefore resumed my proper name of Miss | hundred pounds he has now sent you: it is a Lambert —and the nabob was perfectly con- | thousand you owe him altogether; and I will go tented. | and procure a cheque from my bankers on their That very same afternoon he sent off his con- | London agents for thisamount. Write your letter fidential servant to Cowes to liquidate the debts! to Mr. Alvanly—and by the time it is finished I that still remained unpaid, and of which I fur- | shall be back.” nished him a list. On the following day he bade It was done according to Sir James Thornley’s me take the carriage and pay a visit to the best | instructions; and if I have entered so much into milliners’ and jewellers’ shops, in order to pur- | detail with regard to all these money matters, it is chase whatsoever I required,—at the same time | simply to show the reader how profusely lavish my placing a cheque in my hands, and telling me that | new protector was towards me. It may therefore he should feel offended if 1 did not expend every | be supposed that [ was now altogether happy: shilling of it ere [returned to dinner. This cheque | but my position had its drawbacks. I soon found was for a thousand pounds; and I could not help | that Sir James Thornley was obstinate and self- thinking that if the nabob’s liberality were a proof | willed, and that if he were in the slightest degree of his infatuation, I must have indeed obtained a | thwarted, he would prove irritable and passionate. very powerful hold upon him. My first visit was | Nor was he always sorry for such displays of tem- to Mr. Simmons, the goldsmith to whom I had a| per when the storm had passed: on the contrary, few weeks back disposed of my jewels; and most | he appeared to think that it was impossible he cringing was his civility when on alighting from | could be wrong, and that he was even merciful in the nabob’s carriage, I entered his shop. I in-|so soon suffering himself to be pacified. He was quired if he had disposed of any of the jewels | of a restless disposition; and not being fond of which he had purchased of me; and he replied in | reading, found some difficulty in disposing of his the negative. I expressed my anxiety to become} time. He always wished to be walking or driving _ repossessed of them: he produced them accord- | aoout: but he seldom rode on horseback, as violent ingly; and asked five hundred pounds for the | exercise did not agree with him; for he had brought whole,—bidding me observe that he was merely a | back from India that evil which is generally con- gainer of fifty pounds by the transaction, and} comitant with the wealth amassed by nabobs— that he was thus moderate in his views in order | namely, a liver-complaint. He was much addicted that he might secure my custom for the future. I | to the pleasures of the table—sometimes drinking paid the money but gave him no promise on the | to excess, and then becoming so contradictory, subject ; and re-entering the carriage, drove away | cross, and irritable, that it was difficult indeed for to another jeweller’s, where in a few minutes I ex- | a woman of my spirit to avoid frequent quarrelling.. pended a couple of hundred pounds: for I was | However, as there are few roses without thorns, I resolved that Mr. Simmons should never receive | could not expect my position to be one of un- another shilling of my money, as it was entirely | alloyed prosperity; and for the possession of every from the information he had given his brother at | luxury I had to pay certain penalties—namely, the Cowes that my arrest was to be attributed. I | endurance of Sir James Thornley’s unfortunate | visited milliners’ and other shops, expending nearly | temper. the whole of the money ere I returned to Albion} One day, about the expiration of a month after | SLouse. : my installation at Albion House, Sir James said to The following day’s post brought me a letter | me, ‘“ We shall have a visitor in the course of the from Mr. Alvanly, redirected from the sponging- | afternoon, who is going to spend a week with us, house, and enclosing me bank-notes to the amount | He was an old friend of mine in India; and ib is of two hundred pounds. ‘The letter expressed the | quite by accident that I fell in with him a few deepest regret that Mr, Alvanly was unable to | months ago when I happened to be in London.” — ee remit me as much as his inclination ‘prompted : but he informed me that he had recently had five thousand pounds to pay in the shape of damagos, besides another thousand for costs, as the result of an action brought against him by Sir Ralph Horton, (eae ee ee *. , . 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