The Seamstress; or, The White Slave of England — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

86 THE SEAMSTRESS. and dismay, lifted the young girl in her arms, an elderly lady produced a smelling-bottle, which speedily operated as a restorative. Clementine then conducted the wretched Virginia home to her lodging, where she consigned the poor maiden to the care of the landlady, while she herself hastened back to Grosvenor Square. _ No words have the power to convey an idea of the sorrow to which the seamstress was now a prey. Her first—her earliest—her fondest affec- tions were suddenly blighted at a moment when they were expanding joyously and confidently in the sunshine of hope: her heart received the blow at the instant it was cherishing all those fervid aspirations and warming with all those holy fires which belong to a virgin’s first and purest love. She was struck with the consternation of an awful calamity: a blank despair for a short time sealed the fountains of her eyes and closed the portals of her lips;—and then, as she gradually emerged from this ominous stupor, the full tide of her poignant anguish swelled forth in torrents of ttars and piteous lamentations. All the castle-building in which her fancy had been indulging"for weeks past, had suddenly fallen in and overwhelmed her with its ruins. She had accepted the guidance of a fairy hand, and was led for a short time through delicious meads, and pleasing gardens, and along the banks of silver streams,—but only to be plunged with a cruel abruptness into a black and Inideous gulf that yawned beyond the elysian scene. And now, therefore, she blamed herself for having yielded to a delusion which left so appalling a reality behind. She bitterly, bitterly repented the blind confi- dence which she had reposed in her lover, whose treachery she could not doubt for a moment: she reproached herself for being the wilful authoress of evils which she never could have foreseen ;—and in fine, her soul was tortured not only with the excruciating reality of grief, but likewise with the ordeal of self-vituperation through which she made it pass. Vainly did the good people with whom she lodged endeavour to console her. They cer- tainly succeeded so far as to induce her to mode- rate the outward violence of her grief: but her heart only swelled with an anguish that was all the more excruciating because thus restrained and pent up. Nevertheless, the circumstance of exercising that amount of volition which was ne- cessary to subdue the outpourings of her sorrow, brought the poor girl’s mind into a condition for looking her calamity with steadfast earnestness in the face: and gently dismissing the worthy couple who endeavoured to solace her, she sate down in her chamber to meditate alone upon the course which she would now pursue. The reader who understands the lofty principles, exceeding delicacy, and genuine pride which formed the character and guarded the innocence of the young maiden, will be fully prepared to behold her enacting an independent part and adopting a con- sistent line of behaviour. So soon, therefore, as she had succeeded in reasoning herself into a state of comparative tranquillity, she rose from her seat and began to arrange all her little property in a peculiar manner. Carefully separating everything which she had at any time purchased with her own money, from those articles which she had procured with the money presented to her by her lover, she made a packet of the former to take away with her. And while thus employed, how frequently did she find the scalding tears raining down her cheeks and her bosom palpitating vio- lently with the sobs that half suffocated her! But it was when she remoyed the wedding-dress from the bed and placed it in a trunk along with every other article of raiment, even to the veriest trifle, such as a collar, a riband, or a pair of gloves, that had been purchased by her lover’s money,—it was then that her anguish burst forth again, with a renewed poignancy: for as she closed the lid of that trunk which contained the bridal vesture, it seemed to the poor girl as if she had just buried all her hopes of happiness in a marble sepulchre. Sinking upon a seat, the poor orphan remained for some minutes a prey to the most excruciating affliction. And there was nothing selfish in her erief: it was as genuine, as sincere, and as pure as her love was chaste, artless, and etherial. Not for a moment did she deplore the loss of that social position, that independence, and that pecuniary comfort which the late prospect of marriage had seemed to assure her: no—one idea was dominant ~ in her mind—one thought was the source of her erief,—and this was the treachery (or rather, the supposed treachery) of him whom she had loved so fervently and so well! It was about nine o’clock in the evening of that memorable day, when Virginia Mordaunt com- pleted all her preparation for departure. She had laid aside the very garb which she had worn in the morning,—laid it aside, because it was purchased with his money; and she had resumed a faded frock, a well-worn shawl, and a shabby. straw- bonnet—all of which articles she had fancied, a few hours back, that she should never require again! And now, too, all her little necessaries were contained in a small bundle: and the com- forts which she had latterly gathered around her —the neat furniture—the changes of raiment—the few books upon the shelf—the trifling ornaments — on the mantel,—all, all of these did she purpose to leave behind her, because she felt that they were no longer her own! She even sate down for a few moments to recall to mind, if possible, how much money she had of her own on that day when her lover presented her with the bank-note ; and having succeeded in re- collecting that her purse contained but two or three shillings at the time, she resolved to take no more away with her now. she accordingly depo- sited in the trunk some four or five sovereigns which remained in her possession: then, locking the box, and taking out the key, she prepared to depart from the lodging where her heart had known such joyous hope and such deep despair. But she had somewhat over-rated her own moral powers when she fancied that she had com- posed herself sufficiently to enable her to take this step without any farther outburst of grief. The farewell glance which she threw around her as she hurried to the door of that chamber, was all in a moment darkened by a film that came over her eyes ;—and with a sickening sensation at the heart, she tottered towards a chair on which she flung herself helplessly. Across her brow did she slowly draw her hand, to steady her brain which appeared to be reeling, and to arrest her senses which seemed to be abandoning her: then ‘the film gradually dissolyed—but her vision_was nine nia oe a cet ade nnn » COMM book