Rosa Lambert — page 78: what you’re looking at

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

ROSA LAMBERT. ears: one of the domestics opened the door—and Captain Fortescue was announced. I rose to re- ceive him: I endeavoured to look calm and col- lected, as if I suspected nothing—much less that he meant anything beyond the ordinary courtesies of a visit;—and that very effort to banish con- fusion rendered me all the more confused. For- gotten at the instant was his amour with Mrs. Harborough: forgotten was everything but the sudden thrill of pleasure which the pressure of his hand and the masculine melody of his voice sent through my entire frame. My hand must have trembled in his own—he must have seen my con- fusion too—he must have imagined that he was not altogether indifferent to me; for he retained the hand—he pressed it—I did not withdraw it— and he raised it to his lips. Then, with that un- accountable access of caprice which often-times seizes upon the heart which nevertheless truly and fondly loves, I snatched away my hand, and re- sumed my seat upon the sofa,—indicating a chair for Captain Fortescue. “Miss Lambert,” he said, “you have done me the honour to receive me; and perhaps i had better begin by asking whether you really mani- fested your displeasure by returning negative re- sponses to the repeated messages I took the liberty ef sending within the last fortmeght 4 “One only of those messages reached me, Cap- tain Fortescue,’ I interrupted him; “and that was on the day after the burglary. Perhaps,” I added, tremblingly and hesitatingly, “I have not shown myself sufficiently grateful for your kind succour on that occasion I mean that I ought to have expressed my thanks personally i “No matter, Miss Lambert,” he exclaimed, “since I have at length the pleasure of being admitted once more to your presence. My mes- sages have been intercepted—that is clear enough; and answers have been invented which you your- self never sent. Of course I understand how this is. But Miss Lambert,” he went on to observe, with a deprecating look, “you surely will not con- tinue displeased if in an hour of folly—in one of those moods when a man abandons himself to the temptation of the moment-—-I condescended to a passing amour with a woman who has no earthly claim to any serious or permanent attention on my part.’ “ Captain Fortescue,’ I responded, with blush- ing cheeks, “it is not for me to pass an opinion upon your actions.” “Ah! but you were displeased, Miss Lambert— I am convinced you were!” he ejaculated: “and that displeasure—strange as the assertion may seem—filled me with happiness. Yes—-I was happy when I found that you were displeased, inasmuch as from that moment I was inspired with a hope which I dared not cherish before !” “Captain Fortescue,’ I murmured, still blush- ing deeply, and feeling myself trembling from head to foot—for I saw that the moment of avowal was approaching,—“ this is a topic which = “ Cannot be avoided, beautiful creature that you are! No—it is a topic which I must pursue until you give me my final response.. Rose — dearest Rose, I love you Oh! you know that I love you!’—and he threw himself at my feet. Oh, the happiness of that moment!—Oh, the ecstacy of those feelings which welled up like a 67 blessed fountain from the very depths of my heart ! It was a pure and chaste love which I experienced for that man: I felt that it was so—a love without the slightest taint of gross passion—a love which my soul was enabled to experience, polluted though my body had become. “Yes—I love you, dearest Rose,” murmured Reginald, in that low melting voice which, full of a masculine music, sinks down into the profundi- ties of the heart and awakes the echoes of every tenderly responsive chord that vibrates there,— “TL love you, beautiful creature, that you are! I adore you—I have worshipped your image from the very first instant that I saw you! Oh, how I have envied that man,’—thus alluding to Alvanly, “the possession of such a treasure! And it was in jealousy—in a sort of mad recklessness—in the hope, perhaps, of bringing about an opportunity’ | for an avowal—that I surrendered myself to that amour the coarseness and unsentimentality of which I now utterly loathe! Dearest, sweetest Rose, do you accept the love which now on my knees I proffer you?” He took my hand—he pressed it to his lips: I did not withdraw it—my heart had no caprice vitiating its ecstatic pleasure at this moment. I experienced a full deep sense of joy such as I had never known before. As, under the influence of those feelings, I bent forward to him,—gazing upon his handsome countenance—looking down into the depths of his dark eyes to read the love of which his lips had spoken,—his arm was gently passed round my neck—our lips met—and they lingered in one long delicious kiss. At that instant the door was thrown open; and Mr. Alvanly appeared upon the threshold. A haif- stifled shriek burst from my lips: but never shall I forget the calm and collected manner in which Reginald Fortescue rose up from his knees, and instantaneously assuming so manly a demeanour that it turned my sudden terror of Alvanly into admiration for himself,—he said, “Sir, it would be ridiculous to deny one single syllable of anything which I have been uttering to this lady, and of all of which perhaps you have been a listener. No more need now be said: any friend of yout’s, siz, will know where to find me.” I did not look towards Gustavus : my eyes re- mained fixed upon Reginald Fortescue, in whom I beheld a champion as well as alover. But when those words, so fearfully significant, fell upon my ears, I started up, exclaiming, “ No! for heaven’s sake let not lives be perilled on my account!” ** Rose—dearest Rose,” hastily whispered Regt- nald, “tranquillize yourself—leave these things to us—it is inevitable—but you are well worth the risk of a thousand lives, if I possessed them !”’—then gently replacing me on the sofa, he advanced to- wards Alvanly, observing, “Perhaps, sir, under circumstances, we had both better withdraw and leave Miss Lambert alone.” “ Certainly, Captain Fortescue—that is the only course,” answered Gustavus: and without bestow- ing upon mea single word of reproach and up- braiding—but with a generous forbearance which smote me with remorse for my conduct towards him—he quitted the room, followed by Captain Fortescue. A faintness came over me: I felt as if I had been guilty of some tremendous crime which sud- ; | (C <S (E(0) (EO) JOO