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diff --git a/9387-0.txt b/9387-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..174755e --- /dev/null +++ b/9387-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2004 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Theresa Marchmont, by Mrs Charles Gore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Theresa Marchmont + +Author: Mrs Charles Gore + +Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9387] +Posting Date: August 10, 2009 +Last Updated: March 15, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THERESA MARCHMONT *** + + + + +Produced by Hanno Fischer + + + + + +THERESA MARCHMONT, + +OR, + +THE MAID OF HONOUR. + +A TALE. + +By Mrs. Charles Gore + + + +“La cour est comme un édifice bâti de marbre; je veux dire qu'elle est +composée d'hommes fort durs, mais fort polis.” _LA BRUYERE._ + + +London, MDCCCXXIV + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + + “Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves + shall never tremble. Hence horrible shadow! + Unreal mockery, hence!”--_MACBETH_ + + +It was a gloomy evening, towards the autumn of the year 1676, and the +driving blasts which swept from the sea upon Greville Cross, a dreary +and exposed mansion on the coast of Lancashire, gave promise of a stormy +night and added to the desolation which at all times pervaded its vast +and comfortless apartments. + +Greville Cross had formerly been a Benedictine Monastery, and had been +bestowed at the Reformation, together with its rights of Forestry upon +Sir Ralph de Greville, the ancestor of its present possessor. Although +that part of the building containing the chapel and refectory had been +long in ruins, the remainder of the gloomy quadrangle was strongly +marked with the characteristics of its monastic origin. It had never +been a favourite residence of the Greville family; who were possessed of +two other magnificent seats, at one of which, Silsea Castle in Kent, +the present Lord Greville constantly resided; and the Cross, usually +so called from a large iron cross which stood in the centre of the +court-yard, and to which thousand romantic legends were attached, had +received few improvements from the modernizing hand of taste. Indeed +as the faults of the edifice were those of solid construction, it would +have been difficult to render it less gloomy or more convenient by any +change that art could affect. Its massive walls and huge oaken beams +would neither permit the enlargement of its narrow windows, nor the +destruction of its maze of useless corridors; and it was therefore +allowed to remain unmolested and unadorned; unless when an occasional +visit from some member of the Greville family demanded an addition to +its rude attempts of splendour and elegance. But it was difficult to +convey the new-fangled luxuries of the capital to this remote spot; +and the tapestry, whose faded hues and mouldering texture betrayed the +influence of the sea air, had not yet given place to richer hangings. The +suite of state apartments was cold and comfortless in the extreme, but +one of the chambers had been recently decorated with more than usual +cost, on the arrival of Lord and Lady Greville, the latter of whom had +never before visited her Northern abode. Its dimensions, which were +somewhat less vast than those of the rest of the suite, rendered it +fitter for modern habits of life; and it had long ensured the preference +of the ladies of the House of Greville, and obtained the name of “the +lady's chamber,” by which it is even to this day distinguished. The +walls were not incumbered by the portraits of those grim ancestors who +frowned in mail, or smiled in fardingale on the walls of the adjacent +galleries. The huge chimney had suffered some inhospitable contraction, +and was surmounted with marble; and huge settees, glittering with +gilding and satin, which in their turn would now be displaced by +the hand of Gillow or Oakley, had dispossessed the tall straight +ebony backed-chairs, which in the olden times must have inflicted martyrdom on +the persons of our weary forefathers. + +The present visit of Lord Greville to the Cross, was supposed to +originate in the dangerous illness of an old and favourite female +servant, who had held undisturbed control over the household since the +death of the first Lady Greville about ten years before. She had been +from her infancy attached to the family service, and having married a +retainer of the house, had been nurse to Lord Greville, whom she still +regarded with something of a maternal affection. Her husband had died +the preceding year; equally lamented by the master whom he served, and +the domestics whom he ruled; and his wife was now daily declining, and +threatening to follow her aged partner to the grave. It was imagined by +the other members of the establishment, that the old lady had written to +her master, with whom she frequently corresponded, to entreat a personal +interview, in order that she might resign her “Stewardship” into his +hands before her final release from all earthly cares and anxieties; and +in consideration of the length and importance of her services, none were +surprised at the readiness with which her request was granted. + +Lord Greville had never visited the North since the death of his first +wife, a young and beautiful woman whom he had tenderly loved, and who +died and was interred at Greville Cross. She left no children, and the +heir, a fine boy in the full bloom of childhood and beauty, who +now accompanied Lord Greville, was the sole offspring of his second +marriage. + +Helen, the present Lady Greville, was by birth a Percy; and although her +predecessor had been celebrated at the Court of Charles, as one of the +most distinguished beauties of her time, there were many who considered +her eclipsed by the lovely and gentle being who now filled her place. +She was considerably younger than her husband; but her attachment to +him, and to her child, as well as her naturally domestic disposition, +prevented the ill effects often resulting from disparity of years. Lord +Greville, whose parents were zealous supporters of the royal cause, had +himself shared the banishment of the second Charles; had fought by his +side in his hour of peril, and shared the revelries of his court in +his after days of prosperity. At an age when the judgement is +rarely matured, unless by an untimely encounter with the dangers and +adversities of the world, such as those disastrous times too often +afforded, he had been employed with signal success in several foreign +missions; and it was universally known that the monarch was ever prompt +publicly to acknowledge the benefit he had on many occasions derived +from the prudent counsels of his adherent, as well as from his valour in +the field. + +But notwithstanding the bond of union subsisting between them, from +the period of his first marriage, which had taken place under the Royal +auspices, Greville had retired to Silsea Castle; and resisting equally +the invitations of his condescending master, and the entreaties of his +former gay companions, he had never again joined the amusements of the +court. Whether this retirement originated in some disgust occasioned by +the licentious habits and insolent companions of Charles, whose +present mode of life was peculiarly unfitted to the purer taste, and +intellectual character of Lord Greville; or, whether it arose solely +from his natural distaste for the parasitical existence of a courtier, +was uncertain; but it was undeniable that he had faithfully followed the +fortunes of the expatriate king, and even supplied his necessities from +his own resources; and had only withdrawn his services when they were no +longer required. + +After the death of Lady Greville, his secluded habits seemed more than +ever confirmed; but when he again became possessed of a bride, whose +youth, beauty, and rank in society, appeared to demand an introduction +to those pleasures which her age had hitherto prevented her from +sharing; it was a matter of no small mortification to Lord and Lady +Percy, to perceive that their son-in-law evinced no disposition to +profit by the Royal favour, or to relinquish the solitude of Silsea, for +the splendours of the Capital. But Helen shared not in their regrets. +She had been educated in retirement; she knew but by report the +licentious, but seductive gaieties of the Court of Charles, and she +had not the slightest wish to increase her knowledge of such dangerous +pleasures. Content with loving, and being beloved by a husband whom she +regarded with profound veneration, her happiness was not disturbed by +a restless search after new enjoyments; and her delighted parents soon +forgot their disappointment in witnessing the contentment of their +child. + +For some years succeeding her marriage, they perceived no change in the +state of her feelings, but at length the anxiety of parental love led +them to form surmises, which renewed their former disapprobation of +the conduct of Greville. During their frequent visits to Silsea, they +observed that his love of study and retirement had deepened almost to +moroseness; that his address, always cold and reserved, was becoming +offensively distant; and that he was subject to fits of abstraction, and +at other times to a peevish discontent, which materially threatened +the happiness of their daughter. They also discovered that Helen, whose +playful humour and gaiety of heart had been their solace and amusement, +even from her infancy, was now pensive and dispirited. By degrees +the bright expression of her countenance had lost all that becoming +joyousness of youth, which had been its great attraction, and though +still + + “Sphered in the stillness of those heaven-blue eyes, + The soul sate beautiful,” + +it was the soul of melancholy beauty. + +Alarmed and unhappy, Lady Percy wearied her daughter with inquiries as +to the cause of this inauspicious change; but in vain. Helen denied that +any alteration had taken place in her feelings; and declared that the +new and serious tone of her character arose naturally from her advance +in life, and from the duties devolving upon her as a wife and mother. + +“Be satisfied, dear madam,” said she, “that I am still a happy and +adoring wife. You well know that my affections were not won by an +outward show of splendour and gay accomplishments, nor by the common +attraction of an idle gallantry. It was on Greville's high reputation +for just and honourable principles, and on his manly and noble nature, +that my love was founded, and these will never change;--and if, at +times, unpleasant circumstances should arise, into which my sex and age +unfit me to inquire to throw a cloud over his features, or a transient +peevishness into his humour, it would ill become me--in short,” + continued she in a trembling voice, and throwing her arms around Lady +Percy's neck, to conceal her tears, “in short, dear Madam, you must +remember that dearly, tenderly, dutifully, as Helen loves her mother, +the wife of Greville can have no complaints to make to the Countess of +Percy*.” + + *[See “The family Legend”] + +But however well the suffering wife might succeed in disguising the +bitterness of wounded affection from her inquiring family, she could +not conceal it from herself. She had devoted herself, in the pride +of youthful beauty, to the most secluded retirement, through romantic +attachment for one who had appeared to return her love with at least +an equal fervour. Her father's house--her own opening and brilliant +prospects--her numerous family connexions and “troops of friends,”--she +had deserted all for him, in her generous confidence in his future +kindness. “His people had become her people, and his God, her God!” She +had fondly expected that his society would atone for every loss, and +compensate every sacrifice; that in the retirements she shared with him, +he would devote some part of his time to the improvement of her mind, +and the development of her character, and that in return for her self +devotion, he would cheerfully grant her his confidence and affection. +But there--“there where she had garnered up her heart,”--she was doomed +to bear the bitterest disappointment. She found herself, on awaking +from her early dream of unqualified mutual affection, treated with +negligence, and at times with unkindness, and though gleams of his +former tenderness would sometimes break through the sullen darkness +of his present disposition, he continually manifested towards both her +child and herself, a discontented and peevish sternness, which wounded +her deeply, and filled her with inquietude. She retained, however, +too deep a veneration for her husband, too strong a sense of his +superiority, to permit her to resent, by the most trifling show of +displeasure, the alteration in his conduct. She forbore to indulge even +in the + + “Silence that chides, and woundings of the eye.” + +Helen's was no common character. Young, gentle, timid as she was, the +texture of her mind was framed of “sterner stuff;” and she nourished an +intensity of wife-like devotion and endurance, which no unkindness could +tire, and a fixedness of resolve, and high sense of moral rectitude, +which no meaner feeling had yet obtained the power to blemish. + +“Let him be as cold and stern as he will,” said she to herself in +her patient affliction, “he is my husband--the husband of my free +choice--and by that I must abide. He may have crosses and sorrows of +which I know not; and is it fitting that I should pry into the secrets +of a mind devoted to pursuits and studies in which I am incapable of +sharing? There was a time when I fondly trusted he would seek to qualify +me for his companion and friend; but the enchantment which sealed my +eyes is over, and I must meet the common fate of woman, distrust and +neglect, as best I may.” + +Anxious to escape the observation of her family, she earnestly requested +Lord Greville's permission to accompany him with her son, when he +suddenly announced his intention of visiting Greville Cross. Her +petition was at first met with a cold negative; but when she ventured to +plead the advice she had received recently from several physicians, +to remove to the sea coast, and reminded him of her frequent +indispositions, and present feebleness of constitution, he looked at her +for a time with astonishment at the circumstance of her thus exhibiting +so unusual an opposition to his will, and afterwards with sincere and +evident distress at the confirmation borne by her faded countenance to +the truth of her representation. + +“Thou art so patient a sufferer,” he replied “that I am somewhat too +prone to forget the weakness of thy frame--but be content--I must be +alone in this long and tedious journey.” + +The tears which rose in her eyes were her only remonstrance, and her +husband stood regarding her for some minutes in silence, but with the +most apparent signs of mental agitation on his countenance. + +“Helen,” said he at length, in a low, earnest tone, “Helen, thou +wert worthy of a better fate than to be linked to the endurance of my +waywardness; but God who sees thine unmurmuring patience, will give +thee strength to meet thy destiny. Thou hast scarcely enough of womanly +weakness in thee to shrink from idle terrors, or I might strive to +appall thee,” he added faintly smiling, “with a description of the +gloom and discomfort of thine unknown northern mansion; but if thou art +willing to bear with its scanty means of accommodation, as well as with +thy husband's variable temper, come with him to the Cross.” + +Helen longed to throw herself into his arms as in happier days, when he +granted her petition, but she had been more than once repulsed from +his bosom, and she therefore contented herself with thanking him +respectfully; and in another week, they became inmates of Greville +Cross. + +The evening whose stormy and endless commencement I have before +described, was the fourth after her arrival in the North; and +notwithstanding the anxiety she had felt for a change of habitation, she +could not disguise from herself that there was an air of desolation, +a general aspect of dreariness about her new abode which justified +the description afforded by her husband. As she crossed the portal, a +sensation of terror ill-defined, but painful and overwhelming, smote +upon her heart, such as we feel in the presence of a secret enemy, +and Lord Greville's increasing uneasiness and abstraction since he had +returned to the mansion of his forefathers, did not tend to enliven +its gloomy precincts. The wind beat wildly against the casement of +the apartment in which they sat, and which although named “the lady's +chamber,” afforded none of those feminine luxuries, which are now to be +found in the most remote parts of England, in the dwellings of the +noble and wealthy. By the side of a huge hearth, where the crackling and +blazing logs imparted the only cheerful sound or sight in the apartment, +in a richly-carved oaken chair emblazoned with the armorial bearings +of his house, sat Lord Greville, lost in silent contemplation. A chased +goblet of wine with which he occasionally moistened his lips, stood on a +table beside him, on which an elegantly-fretted silver lamp was burning; +and while it only emitted sufficient light to render the gloom of the +spacious chamber still more apparent, it threw a strong glare upon his +expressive countenance and noble figure, and rendered conspicuous that +richness of attire which the fashion of those stately days demanded +from “the magnates of the land;” and which we now only admire amid the +mummeries of theatrical pageant, or on the glowing canvas of Vandyck. +His head rested on his hand, and while Lady Greville who was seated on +an opposite couch, was apparently engrossed by the embroidery-frame +over which she leant, his attention was equally occupied by his son, who +stood at her knee, interrupting her progress by twining his little +hands in the slender ringlets which profusely overhung her work, and by +questions which betrayed the unsuspicious sportiveness of his age. + +“Mother,” said the boy, “are we to remain all winter in this ruinous +den? Do you know Margaret says, that some of these northern sea winds +will shake it down over our heads one stormy night; and that she would +as soon lie under the ruins, as be buried alive in its walls. Now I must +own I would rather return to Silsea, and visit my hawks, and Caesar, +and--” + +“Hush! sir, you prate something too wildly; nor do I wish to hear you +repeat Margaret's idle observations.” + +“But mother, I know you long yourself to walk once again in your own +dear sunshiny orangery?” + +“My Hugh,” said Lady Greville without attending to his question, “has +Margaret shewn you the descent to the walk below the cliffs, and have +you brought me the shells you promised to gather?” + +“How? with the spring tide beating the foot of the rocks, and the sea +raging so furiously that the very gulls dared not take their delicious +perch upon the waves. Tomorrow perhaps--” + +“What now, my Hugh, afraid to venture? When I walked on the sands at +noon, there was a bowshot spare.” + +“No! mother, no, not afraid, not afraid to venture a fall, or meet a +sprinkling of sea spray, and good truth I have enough to do with fears +in doors, here in this grim old mansion, without--” + +“Fears?”-- + +“Yes, fears, dear mother,” said the boy, looking archly round at his +attendant, who waited in the back ground, and who vainly sought by signs +to silence her unruly charge. + +“Do you know that the figure of King Herod, cruel Herod, the murderer of +his wife, and the slayer of the innocents, stalks down every night from +the tapestry in my sleeping room and wanders through the galleries at +midnight; and than the cross, where the three Jews were executed a long, +long time ago, in the reign of King John I think; they say that it drops +blood on the morning of the Holy Friday;--and then mother, and this is +really true,” continued the child, changing from his playful manner to +a tone of great earnestness, “there is the figure of a lady in rich +attire, but pale, very pale, who glides through the apartments--yes; +Herbert and Richard and several of the serving men have seen it; and +mistress Alice, poor old soul once was seen to address it, but she would +allow no one to question her on the subject; and they say it was her +doom, and that she must therefore die of her present sickness. Ay: 'twas +in this very room too--the lady's chamber.” + +“Boy,” interrupted Lord Greville sternly, “if thou canst find no +better subject for thy prate, than these unbecoming fooleries, be +silent--Helen! why should you encourage his forwardness, and girlish +love of babbling? Go hence, sirrah! take thyself to rest; and you, +Margaret,” added he, turning angrily to the woman, “remember that from +this hour I hear no more insolent remarks, on any dwelling it may suit +your betters to inhabit, nor of this imp's cowardly apprehensions.” + +Margaret led her young charge from the room; who, however sad his heart +at being thus abruptly dismissed, walked proud and erect with all the +welling consciousness of wounded pride. Helen followed him to the door +with her eyes; and when they fell again upon her work, they were too dim +with tears to distinguish the colours of the flowers she was weaving. +Lord Greville had again relapsed into silent musing; and as she +occasionally stole a glance towards him, she perceived traces of a +severe mental struggle on his countenance; the muscles of his fine +throat worked convulsively, his lips quivered, yet still he spoke not. +At length his eyes closed, and he seemed as if seeking to lose his own +reflections in sleep. + +“I will try the spell which drove the evil spirit from the mind of the +King of Israel,” thought the sad and terrified wife; “music hath often +power to soothe the darkness of the soul;” and she tuned her lute, +and brought forth the softest of its tones. At length her charm was +successful; Lord Greville slept; and while she watched with all the +intense anxiety of alarmed affection, the unquiet slumbers which +distorted one of the finest countenances that sculptor or painter ever +conceived, she affected to occupy herself with her instrument lest he +should awake, and be displeased to find her attention fixed on himself. + +With the sweetest notes of a “voice ever soft and low, an excelling +thing in woman,” she murmured the following song, which was recorded in +her family to have been composed by her elder brother, on parting from +a lady to whom he was attached, previous to embarkment on the expedition +in which he fell, and to which it alludes: + + + Parte la nave + Spiegan le vele + Vento crudele + Mi fa partir. + Addio Teresa, + Teresa, addio! + Piacendo a Dio + Ti rivedrò. + Non pianger bella, + Non pianger, No!-- + Chè al mio ritorno + Ti sposerò. + + Il Capitano + Mi chiama a bordo; + Io faccio il sordo + Per non partir! + Addio Teresa, + Teresa, Addio! + Piacendo a Dio + Ti rivedrò. + Non pianger bella, + Non pianger, No!-- + Chè al mio ritorno + Ti sposerò. + + Vado a levante + Vado a ponente + Se trovo gente + Ti scriverò. + Addio Teresa, + Teresa, Addio; + Piacendo a Dio + Ti rivedrò. + Non pianger bella, + Non pianger, No!-- + Chè al mio ritorno + Ti sposerò. + +Helen had reached the concluding cadence of her soft and melancholy +song, when raising her eyes from the strings to her still sleeping +husband, she beheld with panic-struck and breathless amazement, a +female figure, standing opposite resting her hand on the back of his +chair--silent, and motionless, and with fixed and glassy eyes gazing +mournfully on herself. She saw--yes!--distinctly saw, as described by +little Hugh, “a Lady in rich attire, but pale, very pale;” and in the +stillness and gloom of the apartment and the hour, + + “'Twas frightful there to see + A lady richly clad as she, + Beautiful exceedingly.” + +The paleness of that pensive face did not lessen its loveliness, and the +hair which hung in bright curls on her shoulders and gorgeous apparel, +was white and glossy as silver. Helen gazed for a moment spell-bound; +for she beheld in that countenance without the possibility of doubt, the +resemblance of the deceased Lady Greville, whose portrait, in a similar +dress, hung in the picture gallery at Silsea Castle. She shuddered; for +the eyes of the spectre remained steadfastly fixed upon her; and its +lips moved as if about to address her--“Mother of God--protect me!” + exclaimed Helen convulsively, and she fell insensible on the floor. + + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + + “Sorrow seems pleased to dwell with so much sweetness; + And now and then a melancholy smile + Breaks loose like lightning on a winter's night + And shows a moment's day.”--_DRYDEN_ + + +On the succeeding morning, when Lady Greville recovered sufficiently +from a succession of fainting fits to collect her remembrances of the +dreadful cause of her illness, she eagerly demanded of her attendants +in what manner, and by whom, she had been placed in her usual +sleeping-room. They replied, that Lord Greville had conveyed her there +insensible in his arms; and had summoned them in great agitation to her +assistance. He had since frequently sent to inquire after her health, +and had expressed great delight when the last message, announcing her +recovery, had reached him. But he came not himself to watch over her; +and though the shock she had received, had brought on an alarming degree +of fever, which confined her for several days to her room, he never +visited her chamber. Helen was the more surprised and pained by this +neglect, as she knew he made frequent visits to the sick bed of old +Alice, and she wept secretly and bitterly over this fresh proof of his +alienated love. + + +During the tedious hours of illness, the mental sufferings of the +neglected wife far exceeded those of her corporal frame. She could +reflect but on one subject--one idea, one pervading horrible idea had +taken possession of her soul. She felt that through every person to whom +she might impart her tale would listen with incredibility, and mockery, +that the truth of that awful visitation could not be questioned by her +own better judgment. She considered herself one + + “To whom the world unknown + In all its shadowy shapes is shown.” + +She shuddered over the remembrance of the past, she trembled from +apprehension of the future. The approach of night was beginning to +be terrible to her feelings; the very air appeared, to her disordered +imagination, instinct with being; low whisperings seemed to approach her +ears; and if the female attendant whom she had stationed by her bedside +disappeared for a moment, she instantly fancied she saw the noble figure +approach, that pale soft countenance once more gazing upon her, and +those cold lips about to address her; and in an agony of approaching +insanity, she prayed aloud to the God of all Grace, for deliverance +from the torture that assailed her. Her prayers were heard; for as +her constitution recovered from the shocks it had sustained, her mind +gradually returned to its wonted serenity; the impression of the event +became less vivid, and in less than a week she was enabled to resume her +accustomed habits. + +Her return was more warmly greeted by Lord Greville than she had +expected. There was something of “long syne,” in his manner of welcoming +her to her sitting apartment, which rejoiced her warm and affectionate +heart. She did not, however, approach it without trembling; for it was +the lady's chamber. Her feelings were fortunately too much occupied by +the unusual kindness displayed by Lord Greville, and as she silently and +gratefully pressed the hand which led her to her seat, she was thankful +that he made no inquiries into the particular cause of her illness. She +knew that he treated all supernatural terrors with especial contempt, +and considered them as fit subjects for the discussion of the low-minded +and ignorant. She had formerly heard him reason soundly, and express +himself strongly, on the subject, and her own scepticism on the +possibility of spectral visitation, was principally owing to the +arguments she had heard from his lips. Frequently had he praised her in +former times, for her composure of mind in peril, and for her unfeminine +superiority to all ideal terrors; and she did not now dare provoke +his surprise and contempt by a revocation of her principles, or by a +relation of the mysterious event which had befallen her. + +As soon as he left her, she descended into the court enclosed by the +quadrangle of the mansion; and as long as daylight lasted she continued +to walk there, in order to avoid the solitude of her own dreaded +apartment. As she traversed the pavement with hurried steps, she gazed +on the huge iron cross, and no longer regarded with indifference the +terrific legends attached to it. But at length the closing evening, +accompanied by tempestuous winds, compelled her to retire to the house. + +Once more she found herself installed for the evening in the abhorred +chamber. All was as before--her husband was seated opposite to her in +the same chair, by the same lamp-light--the ticking of the time-piece +was again painfully audible from the wearisome stillness of the +apartment; and her own trembling hands were again lingering over the +embroidery-frame from which she dared not lift her eyes. Her heart beat +painfully, her breath became oppressed, and she ventured to steal a look +at her husband, who to her surprise was regarding her with an air +of affectionate interest. Relieved for a moment, she returned to her +occupation; but her former terrors soon overcame her. She would have +given worlds to escape from that room, from that dwelling, and wandered +she cared not how, she knew not wither, so she might be rescued from the +sight of that awful figure, from the sound of that dreaded voice. + +The conflict in her mind became at length too strong for endurance; +and suddenly flinging down her work, she threw herself at her husband's +feet, and burying her face in his knees she sobbed aloud; “save me from +myself--save me, save me from _her_!” He raised her gently, and folded +her in his arms. “Save thee from whom, my beloved Helen?” + +“Greville, believe me or not as thou wilt, but as the Almighty hears and +judges me, I have beheld the apparition of thy wife. I saw her freely, +distinctly, standing beside thee even where thou sittest; clearly +visible as the form of a living being; and she would have spoken, and +doubtless revealed some dreadful secret, had not the weakness of my +nature refused to support me. Oh! Greville, take me from this room--take +me from this house--I am not able to bear the horrible imaginings +which have filled my mind since that awful hour. My very brain is +maddened--oh! Greville, take me hence.” + +Even in the agony of her fear, Helen started with delighted surprise to +feel the tears of her husband falling on her hand. Yes! he,--the stern +Greville, the estranged husband, moved by the deep distress manifested +in the appearance of his wife, acknowledged his sympathy by the first +tears shed in her presence. + +“This is a mere phantasm of the brain,” said he at length, attempting to +regain his composure; “the coinage of a lively imagination which loves +to deceive itself by--but no,” continued he, observing her incredulous +and agonized expression of countenance, “no, my Helen, I will not longer +rack thy generous mind by these sufferings, however bitter the truth may +be to utter or to hear. Helen! it was no vision--no idle dream,--Helen, +it was a living form, a breathing curse to thee and me! Thou who hast +accused me of insensibility to thy charms, and to thine endearing +affection, judge of the strength of my love by the labyrinth of sin into +which it hath betrayed me. Helen, my wife still lives, and I am not thy +lawful husband.” + +It was many hours before the unfortunate Lady Greville sufficiently +recovered her composure to understand and feel the full extent of the +fatal intelligence she had received, and the immediate bearing it must +have upon her happiness, her rights, and those of her child. As by +degrees the full measure of her misery unfolded to her comprehension, +she fell into no paroxysm of angry grief; she vented her despair in no +revilings against the guilty Greville. Sorrowfully indeed, but calmly, +she requested to be made acquainted with the whole extent of her +miserable destiny. + +“Let me know the worst,” said she, “I have been long, too long deceived, +and the only mercy you can now bestow upon me is an unreserved and +unqualified confidence.” + +But Lord Greville could not trust himself to make so painful a +communication in words, and after passing the night in writing, he +delivered to her the following relation:-- + + +LORD GREVILLE'S HISTORY + +“I need not dwell upon the occurrences of my childhood, I need +not relate the events which rendered my youth equally eventful and +distinguished. My early life was passed so entirely in the immediate +service of my sovereign, and in participation of the troubles and +dangers which disastrous times and a rebellious people heaped upon his +head, that the tenor of my life has been as public as his own. + +“Yet Helen, forgive me for saying that I cannot even now, in this my +day of humiliation, but glory in the happy fortune which crowned with +success my efforts in the royal cause, both in the field and in the +cabinet, and won for me at once the affection of my king, and the +approbation of my fellow-countrymen, when I remember that to these +flattering testimonies I owe not only the friendship of your father, but +the first affections of his child. How frequently have you owned to me, +in our early days of joy and love, that long before we met, my public +reputation had excited the strongest interest in your mind--those days, +those happy days, when I was rich alike in the warmest devotion of +popular favour, and the approval of--but I must not permit myself to +indulge in fond retrospections; I must steel my heart, and calmly and +coldly relate the progress of my misery and guilt, and of its present +remorse and punishment. + +“You have heard that soon after the restoration of Charles Stuart to the +throne of his ancestors, I was sent on a mission of great public +moment to the Hague, where I remained for nearly two years, and having +succeeded in the object of government, I returned home shortly after the +union of the king with the princess of Portugal. I was warmly received +by his majesty, and presented by him to the young queen, as one whom +he regarded equally as an affectionate friend, and as one of the most +faithful servants of the crown. Thus introduced to her notice, it is not +wonderful that my homage was most graciously received, and that I was +frequently invited to renew it by admission into the evening circle at +Whitehall. The very night after my arrival in London, I was called upon +to assist at a masque given on the anniversary of the royal nuptials, +at which their majesties alone, and their immediate attendants, were +unmasqued. The latter, indeed, were habited in character; but among +the splendidly-attired group of the maids of honour, I was surprised at +perceiving one, in a costume of deep mourning. Her extreme beauty and +the grace of her demeanour excited an immediate interest in her favour; +and her sable suit only served to render yet more brilliant, the +exquisite fairness and purity of her complexion. + +“It was not so much the regular cast of her features as their sweet and +pensive expression which produced so strong an effect on the feelings. +At the moment I was first struck by her appearance, I happened to be +conversing with His Majesty who was making the tour of the apartment, +graciously leaning on my arm; and my attention was so completely +captivated by her surpassing loveliness, that the king could not fail +to perceive my absence of mind. 'How now, Charles, how now,' said he +kindly, 'twenty-four hours in the capital, and beauty-struck already? +which among our simple English maidens hath the merit of thus gaining +the approval of thy travelled eyes?--what Venus hath bribed the purer +taste of our new Paris? Ha! let me see--Lady Joscelyn? Lady--No! by +heaven,' said he following my looks, 'it is as I could wish, Theresa +Marchmont herself. How, man--knowest thou not the daughter of our old +comrade, who fell at my side in the unfortunate affair at Worcester?' + +“The king took on an early opportunity of making my admiration known +to Her Majesty; and of requesting her permission for my introduction to +Miss Marchmont; who, although born of a family distinguished only by +its loyalty to the house of Stuart, having been recommended to the royal +attention from the loss of her only surviving parent in its cause, had +sufficiently won the good will of the monarch, by her beauty and elegant +accomplishments, to obtain a distinguished post about the person of the +new Queen. + +“From this period, admitted as I was into the domestic circle of the +Royal household, I had frequent opportunities afforded me of improving +my acquaintance with Theresa; whose gentle and interesting manners more +than completed the conquest which her beauty had begun. Helen, I had +visited many foreign courts, and had been familiarized with the reigning +beauties of our own, at that time eminently distinguished by the +brilliancy of female beauty, but never in any station of life did +I behold a being so lovely in the expressive sadness of her fine +countenance, so graceful in every movement of her person. But this was +not all. Theresa possessed beyond other women that retiring modesty +of demeanour, that unsullied purity of look and speech, which made her +sufficiently remarkable in the midst of a licentious court, and among +companions whose levity at least equalled their loveliness. On making +more particular inquiries respecting her family connexions, I found that +they were strictly respectable, but of the middle class of life; and +that she had passed the period intervening between the death of her +father, General Marchmont, and her appointment at court, in the family +of an aged relative in the county of Devon, by whom indeed she had been +principally educated. It was at the dying instigation of this, her last +surviving friend and protector, that her destitute situation had been +represented to the king by the Lady Wriothesly, to whose good offices +she was indebted for her present honourable station. Being however, as +it were, friendless as well as dowerless, and backed in my suit by the +powerful assistance of the king's approbation, I did not anticipate much +opposition to my pretensions to the hand of Miss Marchmont, which +had now become the object of my dearest ambition. I knew myself to be +naturally formed for domestic life; and while the disastrous position +of public affairs had obliged me to waste the days of my early youth +in camps or courts, and in exile from my own hereditary possessions, +I resolved to pass the evening of my life in the repose of a happy and +well-ordered home in my native country. + +“To the vitiated taste of the gallants of the court, many of whom might +have proved powerful rivals, had they been so inclined, marriage had +no attractions. The acknowledged distaste of Charles for a matrimonial +life, and his avowed infidelities, sanctioned the disdain of his +dissolute companions for all the more holy and endearing ties of +existence. I had therefore little to fear from competition; indeed among +the maids of honour of the Queen, whose situation threw them into +hourly scenes of revelry and dissipation, Theresa Marchmont, who was +universally acknowledged to be the loveliest of the train, excited less +than any those attentions of idle gallantry, which however, sought and +prized by her livelier companions, are offensive to true modesty. I +attributed this flattering distinction to the respect ensured by the +extreme _reténue_ and propriety of her manners, but I have had reason +since to ascribe the reserve of the courtiers to a less commendable +motive. On occasion of a masqued festival given by Her Majesty on her +birth-day at Kew, the king, in distributing the characters, allotted +to Miss Marchmont that of Diana. 'Your Majesty' said the Duchess of +Grafton, 'has judiciously assigned the part of the frigid goddess, to +the only statue of snow visible among us. _Mademoiselle se renchérit sur +son petit air de province, si glacial et si arrangé_,' continued +she, turning to the Comt de Gramont. 'Madam,' said the king, bowing +respectfully to Theresa, with all that captivating grace of address for +which he was distinguished, 'if every frozen statue were as lovely and +attractive as this, I should forget to wish for their animation; and +become myself a votary of the + +“'Queen and huntress, chaste and fair!' + +“'Ay,' whispered the Duke of Buckingham, 'even at the perilous risk of +being termed Charles, king and Lunatic.' + +“This sobriquet of Diana had passed into a proverb; and such was +Theresa's character for coldness and reserve, that I attributed to her +temper of mind, the evident indifference with which she received my +attentions. Meeting her as I did, either in public assemblies, or in +the antechamber of the Queen among the other ladies in waiting, I had +no opportunity of making myself more particularly acquainted with her +sentiments and character. When I addressed her in the evening circle, +although she readily entered into conversation on general subjects, +and displayed powers of mind of no common order, yet, if I attempted +to introduce any topic, which might lead to a discussion of our mutual +situation, she relapsed into silence. At times her countenance became so +pensive, so touchingly sorrowful, that I could not help suspecting she +nourished some secret and hidden cause of grief; and once on hinting +this opinion to the king, who frequently in our familiar intercourse +rallied me on my passion for Theresa, and questioned me as to the +progress of my suit, he told me that Miss Marchmont's dejection was +generally attributed to her regret, for the loss of Lady Wriothesly, the +kind patroness who had first recommended her to his protection, and by +whose death, immediately before my return from Holland, she had lost her +only surviving friend. 'It remains to be proved,' added he, 'whether her +lingering affection for the memory of an old woman will yield readily to +her dawning attachment for her future husband.' + +“Another suspicion sometimes crossed my mind, but in so uncertain a +form, that I could scarcely myself resolve the nature of the evil I +apprehended. I observed that Theresa constantly and anxiously watched +the eye of the king, whenever she formed a part of the royal suite; and +if she perceived his attention fixed on herself, or if he chanced to +approach the spot where she stood, she would turn abruptly to me, and +enter into conversation with an air of _empressement_, as though to +confirm his opinion of our mutual good understanding. Upon one occasion +as I passed through the gallery leading to the Queen's apartments, I +found His Majesty standing in the embrasure of a window, in earnest +conversation with Miss Marchmont. They did not at first perceive me; and +I had leisure to observe that Theresa was agitated even to tears. She +turned round at the sound of approaching footsteps, but betrayed no +distress at my surprising her in this unusual situation. In reply +to some observation of the King's, she answered with a respectful +inclination, 'Sir, I will not forget;' and left the gallery; while +Charles, gaily taking my arm, led me into the adjoining saloon, and +informed me that he had been pleading my cause with my fair tormentor, +as he was pleased to term her. + +“'The worst torment I can be called to endure, Sire,' said I haughtily, +'is longer suspense; and I must earnestly request your Majesty's +gracious intercession of Miss Marchmont's early reply to my application +for the honour of her hand. Should it be refused, I must further entreat +your Majesty's permission to resign the post I so unworthily hold, in +order that I may be enabled to pass some years on the continent.' + +“Charles appeared both startled and displeased by the firm tone of +resolution I had assumed. 'Were I inclined for idle altercation,' +answered he coldly, 'I might argue something for the dignity of the +fair sex, who have ever claimed their prescriptive right of holding us +lingering in their chains; and Lord Greville would do well to remember +that his services are too important to his country to be held on the +caprices of a silly girl's affected coyness. But be it so--since you +are so petulant a lover, be prepared when you join her Majesty's circle +to-night, to expect Miss Marchmont's answer.' + +“It happened that there was a splendid fête given at the palace that +evening in honour of the arrival of a French ambassador. When I entered +the ball-room I caught the eye of the king, who was standing apart, with +his hand resting negligently on the shoulder of the Duke of Buckingham, +and indulging in an immoderate gaiety apparently caused by some +'foolborn jest,' of the favourite's; in which, I know not why, I +immediately suspected myself to be concerned. On perceiving my arrival +however, Charles forsook his station, and approaching me with the +graceful ease which rendered him at all times the most finished +gentlemen of his court, he took me affectionately by the hand, and +congratulating me on my good fortune, he led me to Theresa who was +seated behind her companions. Occupied as I was with my own happiness, +and with the necessity of immediately expressing my gratitude both to +Theresa and the King, I could not avoid being struck by the dreadful +paleness of her agitated countenance which contrasted frightfully +with her brilliant attire; for I now saw her for the first time out of +mourning for Lady Wriothesly. When I entreated her to confirm by words +the happy tidings I had learned from his Majesty, who had again returned +to the enlivening society of his noble buffoon, she spoke with an +unfaltering voice, but in a tone of such deep dejection, and with a +fixed look of such sorrowful resolution that I could scarcely refrain, +even in that splendid assemblage, from throwing myself at her feet, and +imploring her to tell me whether her consent had not been obtained by an +undue exertion of the royal authority. But there was always in Theresa +an apparent dread of every cause of emotion and excitement, which +made me feel that a wilful disturbance of her calm serenity would be +sacrilege. + +“During the short period intervening between her consent and our +marriage, which by the command of the king, was unnecessarily and even +indecorously hastened, these doubts, these fears, constantly recurred to +my mind whenever I found myself in the presence of Theresa, but during +my absence I listened to nothing but the flattering insinuations of my +own heart, and I succeeded in persuading myself that her coldness arose +solely from maidenly reserve, and from the annoyance of being too +much the object of public attention. I remembered the sweetness of her +manner, when one day in reply to some fond anticipation of my future +happiness, she assured me, although she could not promise me at once +that ardour of affection which my present enthusiasm seemed to require, +that if a grateful and submissive wife could satisfy my wishes, I should +be possessed of her entire devotion. But although thus reassured, I +could scarcely divest myself of apprehension, and on the morning of our +nuptials, which took place in the Royal Chapel, in presence of the whole +court, her countenance wore a look of such deadly, such fixed despair, +that the joy even of that happy moment when I was about to receive the +hand of the woman I adored, before the altar of God, was completely +obliterated. + +“She had been adorned by the hand of the Queen, by whom she was fondly +beloved, with all the splendour and elegance which could enrich her +lovely figure; and in the foldings of her bridal veil, her countenance +assumed a cast of such angelic beauty, that even Charles, as he +presented me with her hand, paused for a moment in delighted emotion +to gaze upon her. But even thus late as it was, and embarrassed by the +royal presence, I was so pained by her tears that I could keep silence +no longer. 'Theresa,' I whispered to her as we approached the altar, 'if +this marriage be not the result of your own free will, speak--it is +not yet too late. Heed not these preparations--fear not the King's +displeasure, I will take all upon myself. Speak to me dearest, deal with +me sincerely.--Theresa, are you willing to be mine?' She only replied by +bending her knee upon the gorgeous cushion before her. 'Hush!' said she +in a suppressed tone, 'hush! my lord--let us pray to the Almighty for +support,' and the service instantly began.” + + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + + “Let not the Heavens hear these tell-tale women, + Rail on the Lord's anointed.”--_RICHARD III._ + + +“The month which followed our marriage we passed in the happy retirement +of Silsea; and there for the first time I became acquainted with the +real character of my Theresa. Her beauty had indeed been the glory of +the court, but it was only amid the privacy of domestic life that the +accomplishments of her cultivated mind, and the submissive gentleness +of her disposition became apparent. Timid almost to a fault, I sometimes +doubted whether to attribute her implicit obedience to my wishes, to the +habit of early dependence upon the caprice of those around her, or to +the resignation of a broken spirit. Still she did not appear unhappy. +The wearisome publicity and etiquette of the life she had been hitherto +compelled to lead, was most unsuitable to her taste for retirement; and +she enjoyed equally with myself the calm repose of a quiet home. When +she made it her first request to me that I would take the earliest +opportunity to retire from public life, and by settling on my +patrimonial estate release her from the slavery of a court, all my +former apprehensions vanished; and I began to flatter myself that +the love I had so fondly, so frankly, bestowed, had met with an +equal return. Prompt as we are to seize on every point which yields +confirmation to our secret wishes, and eagerly credulous, where the +entire happiness of our lives is dependent on our wilful self-deception, +is it wonderful that I mistook the calm fortitude of a well-regulated +mind for content, and the gratitude of a warm heart for affection? I +inquired not, I dared not inquire minutely into the past; I shrunk from +any question that might again disturb the serenity of my mind by jealous +fears. 'I will not speak of past storms on so bright a day,' said I +secretly while I gazed upon my gentle Theresa; 'it might break the +spell.' Alas! the spell endured not long; for however unwillingly, we +were now obliged to resume our situation at Whitehall. + +“Our re-appearance at court was marked by the most flattering attentions +on the part of the King and Queen. Several brilliant fêtes were given +by their Majesties on occasion of our marriage; and I began to fear that +the homage which everywhere seemed to await my young and lovely bride, +and the promising career of royal favour which opened to her view, might +weaken her inclination for the retirement we mediated. To me however she +constantly renewed her entreaties for a furtherance of her former wishes +on the subject; in consequence of which I declined the gracious offers +of his Majesty, who was at this time particularly desirous that I should +take a more active part in public measures, and accept a situation in +the new ministry which would formerly have placed the utmost bounds to +my ambition. I was now however only waiting a favourable opportunity, to +retire altogether to the happy fire-side, where I trusted to dream away +the evening of my days in the society of my own family. + +“In this position of our affairs, it chanced that we were both in +attendance on the Queen at Kew; where one evening a chosen few, +distinguished by her Majesty's favour, formed a select circle. The +conversation turned upon music, and the Queen who had been describing +with national partiality the beauty of the hymns sung by the Portuguese +mariners, suddenly addressing me, observed that since she left her +native country she had heard no vocal music which had given her pleasure +except from the lips of Miss Marchmont: 'I cannot' said she kindly +smiling, 'as you may perceive, forget the name of one whose society I +prized so highly; but if 'Lady Greville' will pardon my inadvertence, +and oblige me by singing one of those airs with which she was wont +formerly to charm me to sleep when I suffered either mental or bodily +affliction, I will in turn forgive _you_, my lord, for robbing me of the +attendance of my friend.' + +“Theresa instantly obeyed, and while she hung over her instrument her +attitude was so graceful, that the Queen again observed to me, 'we must +have our Theresa seen by Lely in that costume, and thus occupied she +would make a charming study for his pencil; and I promise myself the +pleasure of possessing it as a lasting memorial of my young friend.' +The portrait to which this observation gave rise, you must have seen +yourself, my Helen, in the gallery at Silsea castle. + +“While I was thus engaged by her Majesty, I observed the Duke of +Buckingham approach my wife with an air of deference bordering on irony; +he appeared to make some unpleasant request which he affected to urge +with an earnestness beyond the rules of gallantry or good breeding, and +which she refused with an appearance of haughtiness I had never before +seen her excise. He than respectfully addressed the Queen, and entreated +her intercession with Lady Greville for a favourite Italian air, one, +he said, which her Majesty had probably never enjoyed the happiness of +hearing--but before the Queen could reply, before I had time to inquire +into the cause of the agony and shame which were mingled in Lady +Greville's looks, she covered her brow with her hands, and exclaimed +with hysteric violence, 'No, never more--never again. Alas! it is too +late.' + +“The queen, herself too deeply skilled in the sorrows of a wounded +heart, appeared warmly to compassionate the distress which had robbed +her favourite of all presence of mind; and rising evidently to divert +the attention of the circle, whose malignant smiles were instantly +repressed, she invited us to follow her into the adjoining gallery, at +that time occupied by Sir Peter Lely for the completion of his exquisite +series of portraits of the beauties of Charles's court. In their own +idle comments and petty jealousies arising from the resemblances before +them, Lady Greville was forgotten. + +“While I was deliberating the following morning, in what manner I could +with delicacy interrogate Theresa on the extraordinary scene I had +witnessed, I was surprised by her sudden but firm declaration that +she could not, _would not_ longer remain in the royal suite, and she +concluded by imploring me on her knees, as I valued her peace of mind, +her health, her salvation, to remove her instantly to Silsea. 'I have +obtained her Majesty's private sanction,' said she, shewing me a billet +in the hand-writing of the queen, 'and it only remains for you publicly +to give in our resignation.' The letter was written in French, and +contained the following words: 'Go, my beloved Theresa--dearly as I +prize your society, I feel that our mutual happiness can only be ensured +by the retirement you so prudently meditate. May it be a consolation +to you to reflect that you must ever be remembered with respect and +gratitude by, 'Your affectionate friend.' + +“The terms of this billet surprised me, and I began to request an +explanation, when Theresa interrupted me by saying hastily, 'Do not +question me, for I cannot at present open my mind to you--but satisfy +yourself that when I linked my fate to yours in the sight of God and +man, your honour and happiness became precious to me as my own; and +may He desert me in my hour of need, if in aught I fail to consult your +reputation and peace of mind. Let me pray of you to leave this place +without delay. I know that you will urge against me the benefit of +avoiding the various surmises which will arise from the apparent +precipitancy of our retreat; but trust to me, my lord, that it is a +necessary measure, and that we have nothing to fear from the opposition +of the king. + +“The pretext we adopted for our hasty retirement from public life was +the delicate state of Lady Greville's health, who was within a few +months of becoming a mother; and having hastily passed through the +necessary ceremonies, we again exchanged the tumults of the capital +for the exquisite enjoyments and freedom of home. As we traversed +the venerable avenue at Silsea, amid the acclamations of my assembled +tenantry, I formed the resolution never again to desert the dwelling of +my ancestors; but having now entered into the bonds of domestic life, +to seek from them alone the future enjoyments of existence. I had in +one respect immediate reason to congratulate myself on the change of +our destiny, for Theresa, whose health had for some months gradually +declined, soon regained her former strength in the quiet of the country. +She occupied herself constantly in some active employment. The interests +of the sick, the poor, and the decrepit, led her frequently to the +village; where I doubt not you have often heard her named with gratitude +and affection; and when she returned to the castle, the self-content of +gratified benevolence spread a glow over her countenance which almost +dispelled the clouds of sorrow still lingering there. All went well with +us, and if I dared not flatter myself with being passionately beloved, I +felt assured that I should in time obtain her entire confidence. + +“I was beginning to look forward with the happy anxiety of affection to +the event of Lady Greville's approaching confinement, when one morning I +was surprised by the arrival of a courier with a letter from the Duke of +Buckingham. I was astonished that he should take the trouble of renewing +a correspondence with me; as a very slight degree of friendship had +originally subsisted between us; and the displeasure publicly testified +by Charles on my hasty removal from his service, had hitherto freed +me from the importunities of my courtier acquaintance. The letter was +apparently one of mere complimentary inquiry after the health of Lady +Greville, to whom there was an enclosure, addressed to Miss Marchmont, +which he begged me to deliver with his respectful services to my +much-esteemed lady. He concluded with announcing some public news of +a nature highly gratifying to every Briton, in the detail of a great +victory obtained by our fleet over the Dutch admiral, De Ruyter. It +was that, my Helen, in which your noble brother fell, a the moment of +obtaining one of the most signal successes hitherto recorded in the +naval annals of our country. You were too young to be conscious of the +public sympathy testified towards this intrepid and unfortunate man, +but I may safely affirm with the crafty Buckingham, that his loss dearly +purchased even the splendid victory he had obtained. 'What news from the +court,' said Theresa, as I entered the apartment in which she sat. + +“'At once good and bad,' I replied. 'We have obtained a brilliant +victory over De Ruyter; but alas! it has cost us the lives of several of +our most distinguished officers.' + +“She started from her seat, and wildly approaching me, whispered in a +tone of suppressed agony, 'Tell me--tell me truly--_is he dead_?' + +“'Of whom do you speak?' + +“'Of _him_--of my beloved--my bethrothed--of Percy, my own Percy,--' +said she with frantic violence. + +“Helen--even then, heart-struck as I was, I could not but pity the +unfortunate being whose very apprehensions were thus agonizing. I dared +not answer her--I dared not summon assistance, lest she should betray +herself to others as she had done to her husband; for she had lost all +self-command. I attempted to pacify her by an indefinite reply to her +inquiries, but in vain. 'Do not deceive me,' said she, 'Greville, you +were ever good and generous; tell me did he know all, did he curse me, +did he seek his death? + +“It occurred to me that the letter which I held in my hand might be +from--from her dead lover; and with a sensation of loathing, I gave it +to her. She tore it open, and a lock of hair dropped from the envelope. +I found afterwards that it contained a few words of farewell, dictated +by Percy in his dying moments; and this sufficiently accounted for the +state of mind into which its perusal plunged the unhappy Theresa. Before +night she was a raving maniac, and in this state she was delivered of a +dead infant. + +“Need I describe my own feelings? need I tell you of the bitter +disappointment of my heart in finding myself thus cruelly deceived? I +had ventured all my hopes of earthly happiness on Theresa's affection; +and one evil hour had seen the wreck of all! The eventful moment to +which I had looked forward as that which was to confirm the blessings I +held by the most sacred of ties, had brought with it misery and despair; +for I was childless, and could scarcely still acknowledge myself a +husband, till I knew how far I had been betrayed. Yet when I looked upon +the ill-starred and suffering being before me, my angry feelings became +appeased, and the words of reviling and bitterness expired upon my lips. + +“Amid the ravings of her delirium the unfortunate Theresa alternately +called upon Percy and myself, to defend her against the arts of her +enemies, to save her from the King. 'They seek my dishonour,' she would +say with the most touching expression, 'and alas! I am fatherless!' +From the vehemence of her indignation whenever she mentioned the name +of Charles, I became at length persuaded that some painful mystery +connected with my marriage remained to be unfolded; and the papers which +her estrangement of mind necessarily threw into my hands, soon made me +acquainted with her eventful history. Such was the compassion with which +it inspired me for the innocent and injured Theresa, that I have sat by +her bedside, and wept for very pity to hear her address her Percy--her +lost and beloved Percy, and at other times call down the vengeance of +heaven upon the king, for his licentious and cruel tyranny. + +“It was during her residence on the coast of Devonshire that she formed +an acquaintance with Lord Hugh Percy, whose ship was stationed at a +neighbouring port. They became strongly attached to each other; and with +the buoyant incautiousness of youth, had already plighted their faith +before it occurred to either, that her want of birth and fortune would +render her unacceptable to his parents knowing, which he did, that they +entered very different views for his future establishment in life, he +dared not at present even make them acquainted with his engagement; and +it was therefore mutually agreed between them that she should accept the +proffered services of Lady Wriothesly for an introduction to the royal +notice, and that he in the mean while, should seek in his profession the +means of their future subsistence. Secure in their mutual good faith, +they parted, and it was on this occasion that he had given her a song, +which in her insanity she was constantly repeating. The refrain, 'Addio +Teresa, Teresa Addio,' I remembered to have heard murmured by the Duke +of Buckingham with a very significant expression, on the night when the +agitation of Lady Greville had made itself so painfully apparent in the +circle of the Queen. + +“You will believe with what indignation, with what disgust, I discovered +that shortly after her appointment at court, she had been persecuted +with the licentious addresses of the king. It was nothing new to me that +Charles, in the selfish indulgence of his passions, overlooked every +barrier of honour and decency, but that the unprotected innocence of the +daughter of an old and faithful servant, whose very life-blood had been +poured forth in his defence, should not have been a safeguard in his +eyes, was indeed incredible and revolting. But it was this orphan +helplessness, this afflicting destitution which marked her for his prey. + +“Encompassed by the toils of the spoiler, and friendless as she was, the +unhappy Theresa knew not to whom to apply for succour or counsel; and +in this painful exigence, she could only trust to her own discretion +and purity of intention to shield her from the advances from which she +shrunk with horror. Irritated by the opposition he encountered, and +astonished by that dignity of virtue, which, 'severe in youthful +beauty,' had power to awe even a monarch in the consciousness of guilt, +the king by the most ungenerous private scrutiny of her correspondence, +made himself acquainted with her attachment to Lord Hugh; and while she +was eagerly looking for the arrival of the ship which contained her +only protector, the authority of His Majesty prolonged its station in a +distant and unhealthy climate, where her letters did not reach him, and +whence his aid could avail her nothing. + +“In this dilemma, when the death of Lady Wriothesly had deprived her of +even the semblance of a friend, I was first presented to Miss Marchmont. +The motive of the king in encouraging my attachment I can hardly guess, +unless the thought to fix her at court by her marriage, where some +future change of sentiment might throw her into his power; or possibly +he hoped to make my addresses the means of separating her from the real +object of her attachment, without contemplating a farther result, and +thus the same wanton selfishness which rendered him regardless of every +tie of moral feeling towards Theresa, led him to prepare a life of +misery and dishonour for his early friend and faithful adherent. + +“Agitated by a daily and hourly exposure to the importunities of +Charles; insulted by the suspicions which the insinuations of +Buckingham had excited in the minds of her companions; +friendless--Helpless--hopeless--dreading that she might be betrayed by +her ignorance of the world into some unforeseen evil, and knowing that +even in the event of Percy's return, her engagement with him must long +remain unfulfilled, the unhappy girl naturally looked upon her union +with me as the only deliverance from the assailing misfortunes; and in +an hour of desperation she gave me her hand. That her strongest efforts +of mind had been exerted, from the moment of her marriage, to banish all +remembrance of her former lover I firmly believe. The letter acquainting +him with the breach of faith which her miserable destiny seemed to +render inevitable, had never reached him, and happily, alas! how happily +for him, his last earthly thoughts were permitted to rest on Theresa, as +his beloved and affianced wife. I am persuaded that had he returned +in safety to his native country, she would have avoided his society as +studiously as she did that of the king; and that had she been spared the +blow which deprived her of reason, her dutiful regard, and in time her +devoted affection, would have been mine as firmly, as through the vows +which gave them to my hopes and been untainted by any former passion. +As it was, we were both victims. I, to her misfortunes--she through the +brutality of the king. + +“It appeared to me that on our return to court after our ill-fated +union, the king had for some time refrained from his former insulting +importunities; and had merely distressed Lady Greville by indulging in +a mockery of respectful deference, which exposed her to the ridicule +of those around her who could not fail to observe his change of manner. +Perceiving by my unconstrained expressions of grateful acknowledgment +for his furtherance of my marriage with Theresa that she had kept +his secret, and incapable of appreciating that purity of mind, which +rendered such an avowal difficult, even to her husband; and that +prudence which foresaw the evils resulting to both from such a +disclosure, he drew false inferences from her discretion, and gradually +resumed his former levities. Nor was this the only evil with which she +had now to contend. Some malicious enemy had profited by her absences to +poison the mind of the queen, with jealous suspicions of her favourite, +and to inspire her with belief, that Miss Marchmont's propriety +of demeanour in public, had only been a successful mask of private +indiscretion; and that Charles had not been an unsuccessful lover. + +“Unwilling to confide to me the difficulties by which she was assailed, +unable alone to steer among the rocks that impeded her course, Theresa +at length adopted the bold measure of confiding her whole tale to her +royal mistress; whose knowledge of the king's infidelities was already +too accurate to admit of an increase of affliction from this new proof; +and on receiving a letter from the avowed friend of her husband--the +grateful patron of her dead father--the august Father of his people, +containing the most insolent declarations of passion, she vindicated +her innocence by placing it in the hands of the Queen; at the same time +entreating permission that her further services might be dispersed +with. Her Majesty's reply, equally gratifying and affectionate, you have +already seen; and it was in savage and unmanly revenge towards Theresa, +for the frankness and decision of her conduct, that the king had +directed his favorite to enclose me that letter whose sudden perusal +had wrought the destruction of my unhappy wife. You will easily conceive +that the terms of my answer to the Duke of Buckingham were those of +unmeasured indignation--yet he, the parasite, the ready instrument of +royal vice, and the malignant associate of Charles in his last act of +premeditated cruelty, suffered the accusations of the injured husband to +pass unnoticed and unrepelled; and I am persuaded that nothing but the +dread of exposure prevented me from feeling the full abuse of the +power of the crown by the master I had served with so much fidelity +and affection. I have never since that period held direct or indirect +communication with a court where the basest treachery had been my only +reward. + +“For many months the paroxysms of Lady Greville's distemper were so +violent as to require the strictest confinement; and the medical man +who attended her assured me that when this state of irritation should +subside, she would either be restored entirely to the full exercise of +her mental faculties, or be plunged into a state of apathy, of tranquil +but confirmed dejection, from which, although it might not affect her +bodily health, she would never recover. How anxiously did I watch for +this crisis of her disorder! and yet at times I scarcely wished her +to awake to a keener sense of her afflictions; for being incapable of +recognising my person in my frequent visits to her chamber, I have +heard her address me in her wanderings for pardon and pity. 'Forgive me, +Greville, forgive me,' she would say. 'Remember how forlorn a wretch I +shall become, when thou too, like the rest, shalt abandon and persecute +me. Am I not thy wedded wife, and as faithful as I am miserable! am I +not the mother of thy child? and yet I know not;--for I seek my poor +infant, and they will not, will not, give it to me--tell me,' she +whispered with a ghastly smile, 'have they buried it in the raging sea +with him whom I must not name?' + +“The decisive moment arrived; and Lady Greville's insanity was, in +the opinion of her physicians and attendants, confirmed for life. She +relapsed into that state of composed but decided aberration of mind, in +which she still remains. I soon observed that my presence alone appeared +to retain the power of irritating her feelings; and she seemed to shrink +instinctively from every person with whom she had been in habits of +intercourse previous to her misfortune. I therefore consigned this +helpless sufferer to the charge of the nurse of my own infancy, Alice +Wishart; whom, from her constant residence at the Cross, Lady Greville +had never seen. + +“This trustworthy woman, and her husband, who was also an hereditary +retainer of our house, willingly devoted themselves to the melancholy +service required; and hateful as Silsea had now become to my feelings, +I broke up in part my establishment and became a restless and unhappy +wanderer, seeking, in vain, oblivion of the past, or hope for the +future. Would to God I had possessed sufficient fortitude to remain +chained to the isolation of my miserable home! for then had we never +met; and thou, my Helen, wouldst have escaped this hour of shame and +sorrow.” + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + + “Courteous Lord--one word-- +Sir, you and I have lov'd--but that's not it-- + Sir, you and I must part.”--_ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA_ + + +“Hitherto I have had to dwell in my recitation on the vices and +frailties of my brothers of the dust, and to describe myself as an +innocent sufferer; but I now approach a period of my life, from the +mention of which I shrink with well-grounded apprehensions. Yet judge +me with candour; remember the strength of the temptation through which I +erred; and divesting yourself, if possible, of the recollection of your +own injuries, moderate your resentment against an unfortunate being, who +for many long years of his existence has not enjoyed one easy hour. + +“It was nearly three years after the period to which I have alluded that +an accident of which I need not remind you, my beloved Helen, introduced +me to the acquaintance of your family. You may remember the backwardness +with which I first received their approaches; the very name of Percy had +become ominously painful to me, and yet it inspired me with a strange +and undefinable interest. A spell appeared to attract me towards you, +and in spite of my first resolution to the contrary, in spite of +the melancholy reserve that still dwelt upon my mind, I became an +acquaintance, and at length the favoured inmate and friend, of your +father. Could I imagine the dangers that lurked beneath his roof? could +I believe that while I thus once more indulged in the social converse +to which I had been long a stranger, I should gain the affections of +his child? The playful girl towards whom my age enabled me to assume +an almost parental authority, while I exercised, in turn, the parts +of playmate and preceptor, beloved as she was in all the charms of +her dawning beauty, and artless naiveté, inspired me with no deeper +sentiment; not even when I saw her gradually expand into the maturer +pride of womanhood, and acquire that feminine gentleness, that dignified +simplicity of character, which had attracted me in Theresa Marchmont. +Early in our intercourse, I had acquainted Lord Percy that the +confinement of a beloved wife in a state of mental derangement, was the +unhappy cause of my dejection and wandering habits of life; and I was +rejoiced to perceive that his own seclusion from the world had prevented +him from hearing my history related by others. He was also ignorant +of the name and connexions of the lady to whom he knew his beloved and +lamented son to have been attached; little indeed did he suspect his own +share in producing my domestic calamity. + +“The disparity of our years, and their knowledge of my own previous +marriage, prevented them from regarding with suspicion the partiality +displayed by their Helen for my society, and the influence which I had +unconsciously acquired over her feelings. For a length of time I was +myself equally blind, and the moment I ventured to fear the dangers +of the attachment she was beginning to form. I took the resolution of +tearing myself altogether from her society, and without the delay of an +hour, I returned to Silsea. + +“But what a scene did I select to reconcile me to the loss of the +cheerful society I had abandoned! My deserted home seemed haunted by +the shadows of the past, and tenanted only by remembrances of former +affliction. In my hour of loneliness and sorrow, I had no kind friend +to whom to turn for consolation; and for the first time the sterile and +gloomy waste over which my future path of life was appointed, filled me +with emotions of terror and regret. My very existence appeared blighted +through the treachery of others; and all those holy ties which enrich +the evening of our days with treasures far clearer than awaited us +even into the morning of youth, appeared withheld from me, and me only. +Helen, it was then, in that moment of disappointment and bitterness, +that the remembrance of thy loveliness, and the suspicion of thine +affection conspired to from that fatal passion which has been the bane +of thy happiness, and the origin of my guilt. + +“Avoiding as I scrupulously did the range of apartments inhabited by the +unfortunate Lady Greville, several years had passed since I had beheld +her; and sometimes when I had been bewildered in the reveries of my own +desolate heart, began to doubt her very existence. Yet this unseen +being who appeared to occupy no place in the scale of human nature, this +unconscious creature who now dwelt in my remembrance like the unreal +mockery of a dream, presented an insuperable obstacle to my happiness. I +saw my inheritance destined to be wrenched from me + + “'By an unlineal hand + No son of mine succeedingly,' + +“and I felt myself doomed to resign every enjoyment and every hope for +the sake of one to whom the sacrifice availed nothing; one, too, who had +permitted me to fold her to my heart in the full confidence of undivided +affection, while her own was occupied by a passion whose violence had +deprived me of my child, and herself of intellect and health. + +“Such were the arguments by which I strove to blind myself to my rising +passion for another, and to smother the self-reproaches which assailed +me when I first conceived the fatal project of imposing upon the world +by the supposed death of my wife, and of seeking your hand in marriage. +How often did the better feelings of my nature recoil from such an act +of villainy--how often was my project abandoned, how often resumed at +the alternate bidding of passion and of virtue! I will not repeat the +idle sophistry which served to complete my wilful blindness; nor dare +I degrade myself in your eyes by a confession of the tissue of +contemptible fraud and hypocrisy into which I was necessarily betrayed +by the execution of my dark designs. Oh! Helen--this heart of mine was +once honest, once good and true as thine own; but now there crawls not +on this earth a wretch whose lying lips have uttered falsehoods more +villainous than mine! and honour, the characteristic of the ancient +house I have disgraced, the best attribute of the high calling I have +polluted, is now a watchword of dismay to my ear. + +“In Alice Wishart and her husband I found ready instruments for the +completion of my purpose; and indeed the difficulties which awaited +me were even fewer than I had first anticipated. The ravings of Lady +Greville, and her distracted addresses to the name of her lover had +inspired her attendants with a believe of her guiltiness, which in the +beginning of her illness I had vainly attempted to combat. It was not +therefore to be expected that these faithful adherents of my family, +who loved me with an almost parental devotion, and whose regret for +the extinction of the name of Greville was the ruling passion of their +breasts, should consider her an object worthy the sacrifice of my +entire happiness. The few scruples they exhibited were those rather of +expediency than of conscience were easily overcome. By their own desire +they removed to Greville Cross for the more ready furtherance of our +guilty plan; under pretence that the health of the unfortunate Theresa +required change of air. On their arrival they found it easy to impress +the servants of the establishment with a belief of her precarious state, +and the nature of her malady afforded them a plausible pretext for +secluding her from their observation and attendance. Accustomed to +receive from Alice a daily account of her declining condition, the +announcement of her death excited no surprise. In a few weeks after her +journey, a fictitious funeral completed our system of deception. + +“The moment when, according to our concerted plan, the death and +interment of Lady Greville were formally announced to me, I repented +of the detestable scheme which had been successfully executed. My soul +revolted from the part of 'excellent dissembling' I had yet to act; +and refused to sloop to a public exhibition of feigned affliction. I +shuddered, too, when I contemplated the shame which awaited me, should +some future event, yet hidden in the lap of time, reveal to the world +the secret villainy of the man who had borne himself so proudly among +his fellows. Yet even these regrets, even the apprehension of fresh +difficulties in the concealment of my crime, were insufficient to deter +me from the prosecution of my original intention; and blinded by the +intemperance of misguided affection, heedless of the shame and misery +into which I was about to plunge the woman I adored, I sought and +obtained your hand. + +“Helen, from that moment I have not known one happy hour, and the first +punishment dealt upon my sin was an incapability to enjoy that affection +for which I have forfeited all claim to mercy, here and hereafter. The +remembrance of Theresa, not in her present state of self-abstraction, +but captivating as when she first received my vows before God, to 'love +and honour her, in sickness and in health,' haunted me through every +scene of domestic endearment, and pursued me even to the hearth whose +household deities I had blasphemed. I trembled when I heard my Helen +addressed as Lady Greville, when I saw her usurping the rights, and +occupying the place of one, who now appeared a nameless 'link between +the living and the dead.' I could not gaze upon the woman whose +affections had been so partially, so disinterestedly bestowed upon me, +and whose existence I had in return polluted by a pretended marriage.--I +could not behold of my boy, the descendant of two of the noblest houses +in Britain, yet upon whom the stain of illegitimacy might hereafter +rest, without feelings of self-accusation which filled the cup of life +with the waters of bitterness. Alas! its very springs were poisoned--and +Helen, however strong, however just thine indignation against thy +betrayer, believe, oh! believe that even in this life I have endured +no trifling measure of punishment for my deep offences against thee and +thine! + +“But such is the frailty of human nature that it was upon these very +victims I suffered the effects of my remorse and mental agony to all. +The ill-suppressed violence of my temper, irritated by the dangers of +my situation, has already caused you many a sorrowful moment; and the +increase of gloom you must have lately perceived, has originated in the +fresh difficulties arising to me from the death of the husband of Alice; +and the dread of her own approaching dissolution. From these causes +my present visit to this dreary abode was determined, and to them I +am indebted for the premature disclosure which has made her life as +wretched as my own. The sickness of her surviving attendant has latterly +allowed more liberty to the unhappy Theresa than her condition renders +safe either to her or me. I could not on my arrival here collect +sufficient resolution to look upon her; and to adopt those measures +of security which the weakness of Alice has left disregarded. To this +infirmity of purpose on my part must be ascribed the dreadful shock +you sustained by the sudden appearance of the unfortunate maniac, who I +conclude was attracted to your apartment by the long-forgotten sound +of music. On that fatal evening your fall awoke me from my sleep; and +I then perceived my Helen lying insensible on the floor; and +Theresa--yes--the altered and to me terrible figure of Theresa, bending +over her. For one dreadful moment I believed that you had fallen a +victim to her insanity. + +“And now Helen--my injured, but fondly beloved Helen, now that my tale +of evil is fully disclosed, resolve at once the doom of my future being. +Yet in mercy be prompt in your decision; and whether you determine to +unfold to the whole world the measure of my guilt, or, since nothing can +now extricate us from the web of sin and shame in which we are involved, +to assist in shielding me from a discovery which would be fatal to the +interests of our innocent child, let me briefly hear the result of your +judgment. Of this alone it remains for me to assure you--that I will not +one single hour survive the publication of my dishonour.” + + +For several hours succeeding the perusal of the forgoing history, Lady +Greville remained chained as it were to her seat by the bewildering +perplexities of her mind. The blow, in itself so sudden, so fraught +with mischiefs, involving a thousand interests, and affording no hope +to lessen its infliction, appeared to stupify her faculties. Lost in the +contemplation of evils from which no worldly resource availed to save +herself or her child, indignation, compassion, and despair, by turns +obtained possession of her bosom. Her first impulse, worthy of her +gentle nature, was to rush to the bed-side of her sleeping boy, and +there, on her knees, to implore divine aid to shelter his unoffending +innocence, and grace to enlighten her mind in the choice of her future +destiny. And He, who in dealing the wound of affliction, refuseth not, +to those who seek it, the balm that softens its endurance, imparted to +her soul a fortitude to bear, and a wisdom to extricate herself from the +perils by which she was assailed. The following letter acquainted Lord +Greville with her final determination: + + +“Greville,--I was about, in the inadvertence of my bewildered mind, to +address you once more by the title of husband; but that holy name must +hereafter perish on my lips, and be banished like a withering curse from +my heart. Yet it was that alone which, holding a sacred charter over my +bosom, bound me to the cheerful endurance of many a bitter hour, ere I +knew that through him who bore it, a descendant of the house of +Percy would be banded as an adulteress; and her child as the nameless +offspring of shame. Rich as I was in worldly gifts, my birth, my +character, the fair fortunes which you have blighted, and the parental +care from which you have withdrawn me, alike appeared to shelter me +from the evils which have befallen me--but wo is me! Even these were an +insufficient protection against the craftiness of mine enemy! + +“But reproaches avail me not. Henceforth I will shut up my sorrow and my +complaining within the solitude of my own wounded heart--and thou, 'my +companion, my counsellor, mine own familiar friend,' the beloved of +my early youth, the father of my child, must be from this hour be as +nothing unto me! + +“Hear my decision. Since one who has already trampled upon every tie, +divine and human, at the instigation of his won evil passions, would +scarcely be deterred from further wickedness by any argument of mine, I +dare not tempt the mischief contemplated by your ungovernable feelings +against your life. I will, therefore, solemnly engage to assist you by +every means in my power in the preservation of the secret on which your +very existence appears to depend. As the first measure towards this +object, I will myself undertake that attendance of Lady Greville, which +cannot be otherwise procured without peril of disclosure. Towards this +unfortunate being, my noble brother's betrothed wife, whose interests +have been sacrificed to mine, no sisterly care, no affectionate +watchfulness shall be wanting on my part, to lessen the measure of +her afflictions. I will remain with her at Greville Cross; sharing the +duties of Alice so long as she shall live, and supplying her place when +she shall be no more. I feel that God has doomed my proud spirit to the +humiliation of this trial; and I trust in his goodness that I may have +strength cheerfully and worthily to fulfil my part. From you I have one +condition to exact in return. + +“Henceforward we must meet no more in this world. I can pity you--I +can even forgive you,--but I cannot yet school my heart to that +forgetfulness of the past, that indifference, with which I ought to +regard the husband of another. Greville! we must not meet no more! + +“And since my son will shortly attain an age when seclusion in this +remote spot would be prejudicial to his interests and to the formation +of his character, I pray you to take him from me at once, that I may +have no further sacrifice to contemplate. Let him reside with you +at Silsea, under the tuition of proper instructors--breed him up in +nobleness and truth--and let not his early nurture, and the care with +which I have sought to instil into his mind principles of honour and +virtue, be utterly lost. Let his happiness be the pledge of my dutiful +fulfilment of the task I have undertaken; and may God desert me and him, +when I fail through negligence or hardness of heart. + +“And if at times the stigma of his birth should present itself to +irritate your mind against his helpless innocence, as alas! I +have latterly witnessed, smite him not, Greville, in your guilty +wrath--remember he is come of gentle blood, even on his mother's +side--and ask yourself to _whom_ we owe our degradation, and from whose +quiver the arrow was launched against us? And now farewell--may the +Almighty enlighten and forgive you--and if in this address there appears +a trace of bitterness, do not ascribe it to any uncharitable feelings, +but look back upon the past, and think on what I was--on what I am. +Consider whether ever woman loved or trusted as I have done, or was ever +more cruelly betrayed? Oh! Greville, Greville!--did I not regard you +with an affection too intense for my happiness! did I not confide in you +with a reverence, a veneration unmeet to be lavished on a creature +of clay? But you have broken the fragile idol of my worship before my +eyes--and the after-path of my life is dark with fear and loneliness. +But be it so; my soul was proud of its good gifts--and now that I am +stricken to the dust, its vanity is laid bare to my sight--haply, 'it is +good for me that I have been afflicted.'--Farewell for ever.” + + +The conditions of this letter were mutually and strictly fulfilled; +but the mental struggle sustained by Lord Greville, his humiliation on +witnessing the saintlike self-devotion of Helen Percy, combined with the +necessity which rendered it expedient to accept her proffered sacrifice, +were too much for his frame. In less than a year after his return to +Silsea, he died--a prey to remorse. + +Previous to his decease, in contemplation of the nobleness of mind +which would probably induce the nominal Lady Greville to renounce +his succession, he framed two testamentary acts. By one of these, he +acknowledged the nullity of his second marriage, but bequeathed to Helen +and her child all that the law of the land enabled him to bestow; by the +other he referred to Helen only as his lawful wife, and to her son as +his representative and successor; adding to their legal inheritance +all his unentailed property. Both were enclosed in a letter to Lady +Greville, written on his death-bed, which left it entirely at her own +disposal, _which_ to publish, _which_ to destroy. + +It is not to be supposed that the selection cost her one moment's +hesitation. Having resigned into the hands of the lawful inheritor all +that the strictest probity could require, and much that his admiration +of her magnanimity would have prevailed on her to retain, she retired +peaceably to a mansion in the South bequeathed by Lord Greville to her +son, and occupied herself solely with his education. In the commencement +of the ensuring reign he obtained the royal sanction to use the name +and arms of Percy; and in his grateful affection and the virtuous +distinctions he early attained, his mother met with her reward. + +Theresa, the helpless Theresa, the guardian-ship of whose person had +been bequeathed to Helen, as a mournful legacy, by Lord Greville, was +removed with her from her dreary imprisonment at the Cross, and to the +latest moment of her existence partook of her affectionate and watchful +attention. + +It was a touching sight to behold these two unfortunate beings, linked +together by ties of so painful a nature, and dwelling together In +companionship. The one, richly gifted with youthful loveliness, clad in +a deep mourning habit, and bearing on her countenance an air of +fixed dejection. The other, though far her elder in years, still +beautiful,--with her long silver hair, blanched by sorrow, not by +time, hanging over her shoulders; and wearing, as if in mockery of her +unconscious widowhood, the gaudy and embroidered raiment to which a +glimmering remembrance of happier times appeared to attach her--that +vacant smile and wandering glance of insanity lending at times a +terrible brilliancy to her features. But for the most part her malady +assumed a cast of settled melancholy, and patient as + + “The female dove ere yet her golden couplets are disclosed, + Her silence would sit drooping.” + +Her gentleness and submission would have endeared her to a guardian even +less tenderly interested in her fate than Helen Percy; towards +whom, from her first interview, she had evinced the most gratifying +partiality. “I know you,” she said on beholding her. “You have the look +and voice of Percy; you are a ministering angel whom he has sent +to defend his poor Theresa from the King; now that she is sad and +friendless. You will never abandon me, will you?” continued she, taking +her hand and pressing it to her bosom. + +“Never--never--so help me heaven!” answered the agitated Helen; and that +sacred promise remained unbroken. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Theresa Marchmont, by Mrs Charles Gore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THERESA MARCHMONT *** + +***** This file should be named 9387-0.txt or 9387-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/3/8/9387/ + +Produced by Hanno Fischer + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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