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Title: Theresa Marchmont

Author: Mrs Charles Gore

Release Date: November, 2005  [EBook #9387]
[This file was first posted on September 28, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THERESA MARCHMONT ***




E-text prepared by Dr. 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 wept 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 traces 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 tangled luxuries of the
capital to this remote spot; and the tapestry, whose faded hues and
moulding texture betrayed the influence of the sea air, had not yet
given plan to richer hangings. The suite of state apartments as
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 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 "steward-ship" 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.




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