Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 190 — page 61: what you’re looking at

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

7 — lg — ee - — . ) trust m “4 ‘Bunt, then,’’ exclaimed the young officer, ‘‘ speak— oh, speak!"’ ‘““What, to confide my shame to you!" exclaimed the lady, with the blush of modesty upon her face; ‘* for, often the crime of one is the shame of another. To confide my crime to you, a man, and I a woman! Oh!" she continued, mo estly placing her hand before her eyes, ‘‘ Oh! never, never could I dare!” **T’o me, as to a brother !"’ exclaimed Felton. The lady regarded him for a long time with an expres- sion which Felton took for doubt, but which was, nevertheless, only observation and a desire to fascinate A suppliant in his turn, Felton clasped his hands. **Well then!’’ exclaimed the lady, ‘‘I will dare to brother.”’ At this momeut the step of Lord de Winter was heard. But the dreaded brother-in-law was not contented, this | time, merely to pass the door, as he had done the even- ing hefore: he stopped, and, after exchanging two words with the sentinel, he opened the door and entered. Whilst these two words were passing, Felton had rapidly moved from the lady's side, and when Lord de Winter appeared, he was at some paces distance from the prisoner. e baron entered slowly, and cast a searching glance from the prisoner to the young officer. “You have been a long time, John,” said he. ‘‘Has this woman related her crimes to you? If so I can comprehend the duration of the interview.”’ Felton started; and her ladyship felt that she was lost if she did not come to the assistance of the discon- certed puritan. “Ah! you feared that yer prisoner had escaped you!"*saidshe. ‘* Well! ask your goaler what the favor was that I but now solicited of him.”’ ‘** And were you asking a favor?” said the baron, sus- piciously. ‘* Yes, my lord,’ replied the young man, much con- fused. ‘** And what favor? de Winter. ‘* A knife—which she would return to me, through the wicket, an instant after she had received it,’’ replied Felton. “Ts there any one, then, concealed here, whose throat this gracious person wishes to cut?’’ inquired Lord de Winter, ina tone of mockery and contempt. ‘Yes, I am here!”’ replied her ladyship. “T gave you your choice between America and Tyburn,’’ replied Lord de Winter: *“* choose Tyburn, my lady: the rope is, believe me, surer than the knife.” Felton grew pale, and made one step forward; for he Come, let us hear,”’ added Lord remembered that, when he came in, thelady held acord | at last taken the messurement of powers hitherto | inating bim too loudly to permit his ton in her hand. ‘‘ You are right,”’ said she, ‘‘ and Thad already thonght | efit.’ Then she added in a lower voice: ** I will think ef it again.” Felton shuddered even tothe very marrow of his bones. Lord de Winter probably observed it, for he said— ** John, friend, distrust yourself. [I have reposed my confidence in you: be _ watchful; I have warned you. Besides, be of good cheer my boy: in three days we shall get rid of this creature, and where I send her, she can never again injure any one.” ‘You hear him!" cried her ladyship, with a burst of indignation, which the baron thought was addressed 2 but which Felton comprehended was for my Felton held down his head and mused. The baron took the officer by the arm, ge | head over his shonider, so as not to lose sight o lady while he was in the room, ‘Come, come,” reasoned the prisoner, when the door was shut, ‘I and not so far advanced as I believe my- self to be. De Winter has changed his customary stu- pidity into unparalleled prudence. Thisis the desire of vengence; and thus does that desire form a man! Asto Felton, he wavers. Ah! he is not a man of resolution like that cursed d’Artagnan.”’ Nevertheless, her ladyship remained in anxious ex- pectation, She thoughtthat the day would nvt pass away without her seeing Felton again. At last, in about an hour after the scene we have just narrated, she heard some hom tapi at the door, and soon afterwards it was opened, and she recognized Felton. The young man came hastily into the room, leaving the door open behind him, and making a sign to her ladyship to be silent. His countenance was fearfully excited. ‘“What do you want?” she said. ‘*Listen!’’ replied Felton, in a slow voice.—‘*I have ust dismissed the sentinel, that I may remain here without any one knowing that I sm come, and speak to you without any one overhearing what I say. The baron has just related to me a terrible tale.” The lady assumed her smile of a resigned victim, and shook her head. " . “ Kither you are a demon,” continued Felton, * or the baron—my benefactor, My more than father—is a monster, I have known ycu for four days—I have loved him ten years: therefore I may well hesitate be- tween youtwo. Be notalarmed at what I say: I want io be convinced, This night, after midnight, I will come to you, and you must convince me.”’ ‘No, Felton— no, my brother,” said she, “the sacri- fice is Pat ane and I see what it will cost you. No, I am lost—do not destroy yourself with me. My death will be far more a than my life, and the silence of the dead body will convince you better than the liv- ing risoner’s words.”’ ‘ Be silent, madam," said Felton, ‘‘ and do not speak tome thus. 1am come that you may promise me upon your honor—that you may swear to me by that whichis most sacred to you—that you will not make any attempt upon your life.’ | will not promise,” said her ladyship; “for no one his the THE THREE GUARDSMEN. —— - —- we + + Se respects an oath more than I do; and if I promise I must keep my word.” ‘* Well,” said Felton, “ bind yourself only till I have seen you once again. If, after we have met, you still persist, you shall then be free, and I myself will then provide you with the weapon yea have asked for.” ‘* So be it!"’ said her ladysh wait.” ‘* Swear it.” “T swear it by our God. Are you satisiled?"’ “Well,” said Felton, * this night."’ ee 61 eee ee —ti— — -— ~~ ee le muring forth, in the intricacies of her tho the name ef Felton, the sole gleam of light which visited her, in the depths of that hell into which she had fallen: and like a serpent coiling and uncoiling its rings, to satisfy itself of its own strength, she, by anticipation Her ladyship then concentrated all her though mur- u c p; “for your sake I will | enveloped Felton in the countless foldsof her own inventive imagination. Yet time rolled on. The hours, one after the other, appeared to arouse the clock as he passed, and every stroke vibrated in the prisoner's heart. At nine And he rushed out of the apartment, shut the door | o’clock, Lord de Winter paid his customary visit; looked again, and waited outside with the soldier's half-pike | at the windows and bars, sounded the floorin in his hand, as if he was mounting guard. The soldier having returned, Felton gave him back his weapon. her ladyship saw the young man cross himself with de- lirious fervor, and hurry along the corridor in a trans- | port of delight. As for herself she returned to her seat with a smile of savage scorn upon her lips, and she blasphemously re- yveated the fearful name of that God by whom she had ust sworn, without ever having learned to know him. ‘*My God!” saidshe. ‘ Fanatical fool!—My God, is myself; and he who will assist in my revenge!" CHAPTER LIV. THE FIFTH DAY OF IMPRISONMENT. Her ladyship had, however, achieved a half-triumph, and the success she had obtained renewed her strength. There was no difliculty in vanquishing, as she had hitherto done, men ready to be led astray, whom the education of a gallant court swiftly drew into her snares. Her ladyship was beautiful enongh to fascinate the senses, and skillful enough to prevail over all the obstacles of mind. But, on this occasion, she had to strive against an untutored nature, concentrated by austerity. \iteligion and penitence had made of Felton a man impenetrable to all ordinary seductions.— Schemes so vast, projects so tumultuous, were floating in that fervid brain, ‘for love—the sentiment that feeds iteelf on leis- ure, and thrives and fattens qn corruption. Her ladyship had made a breach by her false virtue, in the opinion of a man prejudiced against her, —EE and, by her beauty, in the heart and senses of a} very unlucky in By this experiment upon pure and candid man. ae lg that nature and re- |the most rebellion ‘ligion could submit to unknown even to herself. Often, however, during despaired of fate, and of herself. We know that she did not invoke the aid of God: she trusted in the genius of evil—that boundless sovereignty which rules over the details of human life, an the evening, } Then, through the wicket, which she had mH gots | him. | ; j and the walls; and examined the chimney and the doors; yet, during this long and minute investigation, not | one word was uttered either by her ladyship or by ‘* Come, come,” said the baron, as he left the room, * you will not escape to-night.”’ At ten o'cloc . Felton came to relieve the sentinel at the door. Her ladyship now recognized his step as a mistress recognizes that of a lover, and yet she both hated and despised this weak fanatic. It was not the appointed time, so Felton did not enter the room, Two hours after, just at the stroke of twelve, the sen- tinel was relieved. And now the time had come, and, from this moment, her ladyship expected with impatience. s The new sentinel began to walk along the corri- or. In ten minutes Felton came. ened. ‘* Observe,’ said the young man to the sentinel; ‘‘on no account whatever are you to leave this door; for you know that a soldier was punished for leaving his post fora moment last night, although it was I who kept guard during his short absence.”’ | ** Yes, I know it,”’ said the soldier. ‘*T advise you, therefore, to adopt the strictest vigil- ance, For my part, I am going in to inspect the room again, and to observe this woman, who has, I fear, con- ceived some violent designs against herself. My orders “There is the Her ladyship list- there was no room } are to watch her closely.”’ ‘*Good!’? murmured her ladyship. austere puritan telling a lie.” The soldier smiled. ‘* Plague take it, lieutenant,’’ said he, “‘you are not vetting such a commission.” elton blushed. Under any other circumstances he would have rebuked the soldier, who indulged himself ier consideration, she had | in such a joke; but his own conscience was now crim- eto speak. “If I call,” said he, ‘come in; and also, if any one had she! comes, call me.” ‘** Yes, sir,’ said the soldier. Felton entered the room. Her Jadyship arose. ** You are come,”’ said she. **T promised to come,” replied Feiton, ‘‘and I am by which, as in the Arabian fable, a pomegranate | come.” seed suffices to build up again a ruined world. Her ladyship, being quite ready to receive Felton, was at cage to ready for the next day. She only two days remained for her; that were the warrant once signed by Buckingham would sign it the more freely, as it bore a false name, and he could not recognize the real woman whom it concerned—this warrant once signed, we say, the baron would immediately send her on board; and she knew, also, that women condemned to transportation, use, in their seductions arms much less a than those pretended virtuous women, whose sauty is illumined by the sun of fashion, whose wit is vaunted by the voice of the world, and whom an aris- tocratic beam gilds with its enchanted light. To bea woman condemned to a wretched and disgraceful pun- ishment is no impediment to beauty, but is an insur- mountable obstacle to power. Like all persons of real genius, her ladyship well knew what accorded with her nature and her means. Poverty disgusted her—sub- eee deprived her of two-thirds o . ler ladyship was only a queen amongst queens: the enjoyment of satisfied pride was essential to her sway. To command beings of an inferior nature, was to her rather a humiliation than a pleasure. She should most assuredly return from her banish- | her greatness. | ‘* You promised me something else, also," said she. ““ What then, oh, my God!” said the young man, who, make her batteries | in spite of all his self-command, felt his knees tremble, well knew that | and his brow grow damp. Pp ‘* You promised to brifg me a knife, and to leave it Buckingham — and | with me after our interview.” **Do not speak of that, madam,” said Felton: “there isno situation however terrible it may be, that can au- thorize one of God's creatures to destroy himself. I have reflected that I never ought to render myself guilty of such a crime.” ‘“‘Ah, you have reflected!’ said the prisoner, again seati erself in her chair, with a disdainful smile. “And I, also, have reflected!”’ * About what?” “That I had nothing to say to a man who did not keep his word.”’ **Oh, my God!’ murmured Felton. . You may leave the room,’ said her ladyship, ‘*I shal) not 8 : ‘Here is the knife,” safd Felton, taking from his ket the weapon, which he had, according to his prom- ise, brought, although he hesitated to entrust it to his prisoner. ** Let me look at it,’’ said the lady. ‘* For what purpose?”’ said Felton. ‘*Upon my honor, I will return it immediately. You ment: of that she had not the slightest doubt; but how | may lay it on the table, and stand between it and me.”’ long would that banishment continue’ and ambitious nature, like that of her ladyship, the days which are not spent in self-elevation are unlucky ones. What then can we call the days of bitter descent? To lose one, two, three years, that is, an actual eterni- ty; toreturn, perhaps, after the death or the disgrace of the cardinal; to return when d’Artagnan and his friends, happy and successful, had received from the | had been To an active | | queen the recompense that they so richly merited by | their services to her—these were the _ desolating | glance. thoughts which a woman like her ladyship was altogether unable to endure. Besides, the storm which raged in her breast was increasiing in its vio- lence, and she would have burst her prison walls if her body could have enjoyed, for a single instant, the same proportions as her soul, And then, in the midst of all this, she was goaded by the remembrance of the cardinal. What would be thonght, what would be said, of her silence by that car- dinal, so distrustful, so anxious, and so suspicious—that cardinal, who was not only her sole yf erty her sole stay, her sole protector, for the present, but, also, the pertipel instrument of her future fortune and ee he knew him well: she knew that, on her return after a fruitless expedition, she would in vain talk of herim- eng ep he would in vain exaggerate her suffer- ngs. The cardinal would anawer, with the mock calmness of the skeptic, strong at once in power an in genius:— * You should not have allowed yourself to be un- ' trapped.” Felton gave the weapon to her ladyship, who ex- amined it attentively, and tried its point upon the end of her finger. ‘‘ Very well,” said she, returning the knife to the young officer; ‘‘it is a serviceable weapon: you are a faithful friend, Felton.” Felton took the knife, and laid it upon the table, as agreed with the prisoner. Her ladysihip’s eyes followed him, with a satisfied ** Now,” said she, “listen to me.”’ The meagan was unnecessary; for the young man before her, waiting for her words, that he might feast upon them. ‘* Felton,” said her ladyship, with amelancholy solem- nity—‘‘ Felton, if your sister, the daughter of your father, should say to you—‘Whilst still young, and un- fortunately beautiful, I was decoyed into a snare, but I resisted: temptations and assaults were multiplied around me, but I resisted: the religion that I serve, and the God whom I adore, were blasp ’ use J called that God and that religion to my aid, and I resist- ed: then, outrages were heaped upon me, as they could not sacrifice my soul, they determiued for ever to defile we: ag at last—’”’ er ladyship stopped, and a bitter smile was visible on her lips. ot last—"’ said Fenton, ‘‘and what they do at ‘At last, they resolved one night to pardlyze that resistance which they could not overcome; one night GoM (E] OOKO)