The Seamstress; or, The White Slave of England — page 62: what you’re looking at

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

/ | THE SEAMSTRESS. 55 tion of our readers to the morning on which we CHAPTER XVI. find Mademoiselle Clementine watching betimes by the couch of her invalid mistress, The Duchess of Belmont was sleeping: and there- Ir was about six o’clock in the morning, on the | fore it was not necessary that Clementine should day that followed the incidents just related; and: have risen thus early from the sofa whereon she Mademoiselle Clementine, the French lady’s-maid, | Was in the habit of passing the night while in at. was watching by the bed-side of the Duchess of | tendance upon the wounded lady. But she had Belmont. The heavy drapery was drawn over the | risen because the Duchess had given utterance to a windows—a fire blazed in the grate—and wax- | few words in the uneasy dream which was evidently candles were burning upon the mantel: for, as the | disturbing her; and although the French abigail reader will remember, it was in the depth of the | had not been able to catch the sense and meaning winter season when darkness still hangs over the | of those words, yet she saw that the power of speech hemisphere at that hour. was reviving on the part of her mistress. Anxious, Clementine was clad in a warm wrapper; and | therefore, to be the first to catch whatever might a Parisian cap set off her dark hair and her in- | intelligibly fall from the lips of the Duchess, Cle- teresting countenance, which had all the vivacity mentine had risen noiselessly from the sofa: then, and archness of expression peculiar to the French | 88 her Grace appeared to relapse into an easier femme-de-chambre. Even when alone or unob- | slumber, and silence once more set its seal upon served, there was a certain coquettish air about | her mouth, the lady’s-maid leisurely and quietly ad- Mademoiselle Clementine which formed a part of : justed her toilet to that elegant morning negligée her very nature;—and so accustomed was she to | Which we have already described. enhance her personal attractions by the elegant | But scarcely had Clementive performed her ablu- neatness and tasteful gentility of her attire, that tions, arranged her hair, and put on the elegant cap she was not to be deterred from the observance of _ and the tasteful wrapper, when the Duchess turned this habit by even the cares and duties associated uneasily in her couch once more ;—and the name of with the sick-room. Julius Lavenham fell murmuringly from her lips, Ten days had now elapsed siuce the dreadful | Those were the first words which she had articu- event that had consigned the brilliant Duchess of , lated with an intelligible clearness ;—and, noiseless Belmont to the couch which she still occupied as an | as a ghost, did Clementine place herself by the side invalid, and by the side of which Clementine was of the couch. With suspended breath she leant over now watching. She had progressed from a con- | her mistress, ready to eatch whatever else might dition of alarming peril to one of comparative | drop from that tongue which now appeared to have safety, in a manner that had exceeded the most recovered the faculty of giving verbal expression to sanguine expectations of her medical attendants: the thoughts that were uppermost in the mind of but although consciousness hed returned, the powers | the sleeping lady. of distinct and intelligible articulation had hitherto | As the light fell upon the countenance of the remained suspended. | Duchess, it appeared that her cheeks were slightly Relative to this point the Duke of Belmont had flushed: but at first Clementine thought that this exhibited an anxiety which had more and more | wus only the oscillating flames of the fire playing piqued the characteristic curiosity of Mademoiselle reflectively upon the features of her mistress. A Clementine. Sometimes he would sit for hours longer and close contemplation however proved that together by the side of the couch, gazing upon the | it was indeed the fiush of vital colouring which now pale features of the invalid;—and, as she fully re- | tinged those cheeks hitherto so pale;—and the cognized him, mysteriously significant and strangely | deepening uneasiness which marked the noble lady’s expressive were the looks which they were wont to | slumber, showed that in her visions she was a prey fasten upon each other. Without appearing to ob- | tathoughts of no pleasurable nature. serve them, Clementine had narrowly watched this But, hark! she speaks again! A few words, conduct on their part;—and she was sufficiently | falling low and murmuringly from the lips that skilled in the reading of the human countenance | move sligitly to give them articulation, are caught to be enabled to notice that while the looks of the | by the ear of the attentive Clementine. Then a deep Duchess were usually fraught with an air of plain- | silence pervades the room, broken only by the irre- tive appeal or earnest entreaty, those of the Duke | gular and agitated breathing of the Duchess: for were filled with a melancholy that was sombre and | Clementine hcrself is breathless with listening sus- yet forgiving. pense. In a few minutes her Grace speaks again: THE FRENCH FEMME-DE-CHAMBRE. Clementine was not present when his Grace | louder and more strongly articulated are the sylla- visited the Duchess on the first occasion after the | bles which now escape her tongue. Then all is return of consciousness. But she had listened at | silence once more. But, heavens! what a secret have the door; and she had caught the murmuring of | these last words made known to Clementine! the long whispers which the Duke was evidently | Amazed, bewildered, and horrified, she staggers back breathing in the ears of his wife. A few moans | a few paces and sinks into the arm-chair by the side and an occasional sob had indicated the disturbed | of the couch. There seems to be a droning hum in feelings which filled the bosom of the Duchess;— | her ears—a vague ringing in her brain—a tingling and Clementine thought within herself that there | in all her veins—a thrilling throughout her limbs, must be secrets of deep and even fearful interest | She sees the whole adventure of the conservatory in between the ducal couple. | a new and most unexpected light: its aspect is alto- Having paused for a moment to glance at these | gether changed;—the entire mystery is cleared up circumstances, we may now resume the thread of |—and she is astounded and overwhelmed by the our story, in its proper course, and recal the atten- | elucidation, — ee CORNICE OOOKS (SO)