Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 190 — page 66: what you’re looking at

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

——— ate OR TO é * ~_ — yi PR ino —— -" 7 = _ - ape mae Patrick again obeyed. “Here, Laporte,” said Buckingham, “here are the @nly tokens which I have received trom her—this silver daaket and these two letters. You will restore them to her majesty; and, tor the last memorial ’’—he looked around him for some precious object—“ you will join with them ’’—— ‘He still strove to find some gift; but his eyes, dimmed by death, encountered nothing but the knife which had fallen from Felton’s hand, with the crimson blood still reeling on its blade. “And you will join with them this knife,” said the duke, pressing Laporte’s hand. He was still able to place the satin bag in the casket, and to drop the knife upon it, as he made a sign to La- porte, that he could no ones speak. Then, in a last convulsion, against which was no longer able to contend, he glided from the sofa to the floor. Patrick ut a loud bef Buckingham endeavo to smile once more, but death arrested the thought, which remained engraven on his forehead and lips like a last farewell of love. At this moment the duke’s surgeon arrived, com- pp bewildered, He had already repaired on board € py Bs ship, from whence he had been so hastil summoned. He approached the duke, took his hand, which he held for a moment in his own, and then let it | fall again. : - “Tt is all in vain,”’ said he—“ he is dead [” “Dead! dead !’’ exclaimed Patrick. At this cry the whole crowd re-entered the apartment, and there was nothing to be seen but consternation and As soon as Lordde Winter knew that Buckingham had expired, he ran to Felton, whom the soldiers still guarded on the terrace. “Wretch!” said he to the young man, who, since Buckingham’s death, had recovered that tranquility | aud coolness which were never more to abandon hin _ “ wtetch! what have you done?’ “‘I have avenged myself !”’ he replied. “Yourself !’’ cried the baron: ‘‘say, rather, that you have been the instrument of that cursed woman; but I swear to you, that it shall be her last crime.’’ | “I do not know what you mean,” replied Felton calmly, ‘‘and lam quiteignorant of what woman you are ng, my lord. have killed the Duke of Buckingham, because he twice refused to make me a Winter looked, in his astonishment, at the men who were binding Felton, and knew not what to think of sueh insensibility. , One single idea, however, still left a cloud upon Fel- ton’s brow. Atevery step that he beard, the simple te doce thought he recognized the step and yoice of her ship, who had come to throw herself into his arms, and to accuse herself, and perish with him. Suddenly he started. His glance was fixed upon a sya overlooked. With theeagle eye of a sailor, he ad discovered there, where another could only see a speck upon the ocean, the sail of a sloop, which was ‘bearing on towards the shores of France. He grew pale, pressed his hand upon his heart, which was break- ing, and at once comprehended the whole extent of the treachery. “ Grant me one last favor ?”’ said he to the baron. “What is it !"’ demanded the latter. “ What is the hour ?” The baron drew out his watch. minutes to nine,” said he. “Tt wants ten heard the cannon which announced the fatal event, she had ordered the anchor to be weighed. The boat was now visible, under a blue sky at a great distance from te shore. THE THREE GUARDSMEN, remained at Boulogne a sufficient time to put into the post a letter written in these terms: ‘To his Eminence the Lord Cardinal Richelieu, at hts camp vefore La Rochelle.” “My lord, your eminence may be assured that his tones the Duke of Buckingham wilt not set out for r “ Lady de “tee ‘Boulogne, August 25th—Evening, “ P.§.—According to your eminence’s desire, I am pro- ceeding to the Carmelite convent, at Bethune, where I shall await your orders.” In fact, her ladyship began her journey on the same evening. Night overtook her, and she stopped and slept at a tavern on the road; at five o'clock the next morning, she resumed her journey, and in three hours reached Bethune. She inquired her way to the convent of the Carmelites, and immediately entered it. The ab- bess came to meet her, and when her ladyship showed the cardinal’s order, a chamber was immediately pre- pared for her, and breakfast served. The scenes of the past had all faded from this woman’s sight, and with her eyes fixed upon the future, she only saw the high fortune which was reserved for her by that cardinal whom she had so happily served, without his name being at all compromi by the bloody deed. The ever-changing passions with consumed her, gave to her life the appearance of the clouds which ascend into the sky, reflecting sometimes the azure tint, sometimes the lurid, sometimes the blackness of the storm, yet leaving no traces but those of devastations and of death. After her breakfast, the abbess came to pay her a visit. There are but few amusements in the cloister, and the good superior was in haste to make acquaintance with her new boarder. Her ladyship wished to please the abbess, and this was @ very easy task for &@ woman so truly superior ; she endeavored to be amiable, and became charming : so that her entertainer was seduced by her varied con- versation, as well as by the graces which appeared in all her person, young woman is innocent ?” said the abbess. “The cardinal does not merely punish crimes,”’ re- plied her ladyship: ‘ there are certain virtues which he isits more severely than sins." ‘“ You will allow me, madam, to express my surprise,” |. said the abbess, ‘‘At what?’ asked her ladyship with apparent sim- plicity. “ At the language which you hold.” “And what do you find astonishing in that lan- guage !’’ demanded her ladyship, with a smile. * You are the cardinal’s trie here ; and yet’’—— “And yet I speak ill of him,” replied her ladyship finishing the abbess’s thought. “ At least, you do not speak much good of him."’ “It is because I am not his friend, but his victim,” said her ladyship, sighing. “And yet that letter, by which he has recommended you to me’’—— “Is an order to me to keep myself in a sort of prison, from which he will remove me by some of his satel- lites.” “ But why did ae not escape?” “Where shouldI go? Do you believe that there is a spot upon the earth which the cardinal cannot reach, if he pleases to take the trouble to stretch out his hand? If I were aman,it might, per chance, be por- sible; but being a woman—what would you have a woman do? This young boarder of yours—has she atternpted to escape ?’’ “No, truly: but her case is different. I fancy that she is kept in France by some love affair.’’ “Then,” said her ladyship, with a sigh, “if she loves, she is not altogether unhappy.” **So,” said the abbess, lookitig with increasing inter- est at her ladyship, “it is another poor persecuted crea- ture that I see ?’’ ‘“* Alas! yes,’’ said her ladyship. The abbess looked at her ladyship for an instant with some inquietude, asif anew thought was just arising , Since he has sent you “You would be induced, then, to believe that this \ly loved that Gomnip of the court which so rarely eR ¢eaptain at your request. Ibaye punished him for his | iustice— nothing morel”’ | also the chronicle of scandals concerning those lords | cious, that she is sure to please you.” | was familiar, and touched lightly on the amours of the | Se pe and Buckingham—talking, herself, a t point in the sea, which the terrace where he stood com- | The abbess, who was of a noble family, more especial- | in her mind. | “You are not an enemy of’our most holy faith?”’ said reaches the extremities of the kingdom, and which has, | she, stammering. especially, so much difficulty in passing through the| “J,” cried her ladyship, “I a protestant! Oh, no! walls of a convent, on the threshold of which all worldly I call the God who now hears us to witness that I am, sounds should cease. indeed, a zealous catholic.”’ Her lady~hip, however. was well versed in all the in- “Then, madam,” replied the abbess, smiling, “ be of trigues of the aristocracy, in the midst of which she had | good heart; the house in which yon are shall not be a constantly lived for five or six years; she therefore set very severe prison to you, and we will do all we can to about amusing the good abbess with an account of all! gotten your captivity. Moreover, you shall see that the worldly practices of the French court, mixed up | young woman who is, no doubt, persecuted on account with the excessive devotions of the king. She gave her of some court intrigue: she is 80 amiable, and so gra- and ladies of the court, with whose names the abbess “ What is her name?” ‘She has been recommended to me, under the name of Kitty, by a person of the highest rank. I have not endeavored to find out her other name.”’ “Kitty!” exclaimed her ladyship, sare you quite reat deal, at she might thus induce the abbess to talk a little. | Put the abbess contented herself with listening, and smiling, without replying. Nevertheless, as her lady- ship perceived that these sort of stories amused her greatly, she continued them; only she diverted the conversation upon the cardinal. On this point, how- ever, she was slightly embarrassed, as she knew not whether the abbess was royalist or cardinalist. She therefore kept prudently betwixt the two. The abbess, on her part, maintained a still more prudent reserve, | contenting herself with making a profound inclination | of the head as often as the traveler mentioned the car- dinal’s name. Her ladyship soon began to think that she should to steer. Wishing to ascertain how far the discretion sure?” “ Yes, madam"; at least so she calls herself. Do you suppose you know her ?”’ Her ladyship smiled as the idea suggested itself to her that this female might possibly be her former at- tendant: Witk her Gsddllections of the young woman, there was associated a sentiment of anger, and a desire for revenge, which somewhat disturbed the serenity of | her ladyship’s features ; but they soon resumed that expression of calmness and benevolence which this woman with a hundred faces had for the time adopted. ‘‘ But when may I see this young lady, for whom I Her ladyship, then, had anticipated the time of her | find this conyent very tiresome. She resolved, there- | already feel 80 great a sympathy ?”’ demanded her lady- departure by an hour anda half. As ‘soon as she | fore, to risk something, in order to know what course | Ship. * This evening,’’ replied the abbess; “ nay, even dur- of the abbess would extend, she began to speak unfa- | ing the day. But as you say you have been traveling vorably, at first, by hints, and then most circumstan- | for four days, and arose this morning at five o'clock, tially, of the cardinal; relating the amours of that | you must now be in want of rest: lie down, therefore, “It was God's will!” said Felton, with the resignation | Minister with Madame d’Aiguillon, Marion de Lorme, of a fanatic, but still unable to tear his eyes from that bark, on board of which he doubtless believed that he could distinguish the fair vision of her for whom he was about to sacrifice his life. De Winter followed his glances, scrutinized his emo- tions, and comprehended all that had occurred. “Be punished alone, first, wretch!’ said his lordship to Felton, who allowed himself to be dragged away, with his eyes still turned towards the sea: “but I swear to you, by the memory of my brother, whom I #0 truly loved, that your accomplice is not saved.” Felton held down his head without nttering a word. As for de Winter, he hustily descended the stairs, and betook himself to the harbor. CHAPTER LVI. THE CARMELITE CONVENT OF BETHUNE. Great criminals are endowed with a kind of pre- destination which enables them to surmount every _obstacle, and to escape every danger, until the moment which a wearied providence has fixed on for the ship- wreck of their unhallowed fortunes. Thus was it with her ladyship. She passed between the cruisers of two nations, and landed at Boulogne without accident. When she disembarked at Rortsmouth, her ladyship had been an Englishwoman, driven from Rochelle by the perseention of France. When she came on shore at Boulogne, after a voyage of two days, she represented herself as a Frenchwoman, whom the English annoyed at Portsmouth, on account of the hatred which they entertained against France. Her ladyship had, moreover, the best of passport— beaut aided by the liberality with which she svat- tered her pistoles. Freed from the customary formali- ties, by the affable smile and gallant manners of an old governor of the port, who kissed her hands, she only SS essnenesnnastiensa and some other women of gallantry. The abbess listened more attentively, gradually became more animated, and smiled. “Good,” thought her ladyship, “she begins to relish my conversation. If she is a cardinalist, she is, at any rate, no very fanatical one."’ She then dwelt upon the persecution which the car- dinal exercised against his enemies. ‘The abbess merely crossed herself, without approving or blaming. This confirmed her ladyship in the belief that the good superior was more of a royalist than a cardinalist ; so she continued her remarks, becoming more and more severe. “Tam very ignorant on all such matters,’’ said the abbess at last; ‘ but remote as we are from the court, secluded as we find ourselves from intercourse with the world, we have most melancholy proofs of the truth of what you have been just relating, and one of our boarders has suffered bitterly from the vengeance and persecutions of the cardinal,’’ “One of your boarders ?”’ said her ladyship. “Oh! poor creature—how I pity her !’”’ \ “ And you are right, for she is much to be pitied. Im- prisonument, threats, ill-treatment—all these she has endured, But, after all,"’ continued the abbess, “the cardinal had perhaps plausible reasons for acting thus ; and, although she has the aspect of an angel, we must not always Sudee of es by their looks.”’ “Good |!" said her ladyship to herself: “ who knows— I may perhaps make some discovery here. I am just in the humor for it.” *i She then set herself to communicate to her coun- tenance an expression of the most perfect candor. “Alas |’’ said she, ‘‘I know that: they tell us that we must not trust to physiognomies. But what can we trust to, if not to the most beautiful of the Lord’s works? As for me, I shall probably be deceived throughout whole life, for I always confide in that person whose face inspires me with sympathy,” — and sleep ; and we will awake you at dinner-time.”’ Although her ladyship could have very well dis- pensed with sleep, supported as she was by the excite- ment which a new adventure kindled in her heart, so eager after intrigues, she nevertheless accepted the offer of the abbess. During the previous twelve or fourteen days, she had experienced so many different emotions, that, if her iron constitution was still able to endure fatigue, her mind required some repose, She therefore took leave of the abbess,and laid down in peace, comforted by the ideas of vengeance to which ~ the name of Kitty had so naturally led her. She re- membered the alrnost unlimited promise which the cardinal had made to her, if she should succeed in her enterprise. She had succeeded: and she might, there- fore, avenge herself on d’Artagnan. On thing alone alarmed her ladyship, and that was, the recollection of her husband, the Count de la Fere, whom she believed to be dead, or, at least expatriated, and whom she now found in Athos, the dearest friend of d’Artignan. But, if he was d@’Artignan’s friend, he must have assisted him in all those plots, by the aid of which the queen had thwarted the designs of his eminence; if he was d’Artignan’s friend, he must pe the cardinal’s enemy, and she should undoubtedly be able to envelope him in that vengeance, in the folds of which she hoped to stifle the young musketeer, All these hopes formed agreeable thoughts to her ladyship, and lulled by them, she soonslept. She was awoke by asoft voice, Which sounded at the foot of her bed. On opening her eyes, she saw the abbess, ac. companied by ® young woman with fair hair, and a delicate complexion, who fixed on her a look full of kindly curiosity. The countenance of this young woman was entirely unknown to her. As they ex- changed the usual courtesies, they examined each other with scrupulous attention. Both were very beautiful, yet quite unlike each other in their kinds of beauty; and her ladyship smiled on observing that she had herself much more of a high-bred air and aris- tocratic manners, It is true that the dress of a nevice, (E@) (E| O}(O 0)