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[-290-]
CHAPTER XCV.
THE FORGER AND THE ADULTERESS.
IT was evening; and Lady Cecilia Harborough was seated alone in the
drawing-room of the house which she and her husband occupied in Tavistock
Square.
A cheerful fire blazed in the grate: the lamp upon the table
diffused a soft and mellow lustre through the apartment.
Lady Cecilia's manner was pensive: a deep shade of melancholy
overspread her countenance; and at times her lips quivered, and her bosom heaved
convulsively.
She was evidently attempting to struggle with feelings of a
very painful nature.
"Slighted - neglected - perhaps despised!" she at
length murmured. "Oh! what an indignity! To have yielded myself up entirely
to that man - and now to be cast aside in this manner! For months past have I
observed that his conduct grew more and more cool towards me ;- his visits
became less frequent ;- he made appointments with me and did not keep them;- he
remonstrated with me for what he called my extravagances, when I asked him for
money! Ah! how I endeavoured to close my eyes to the truth :- I forced myself to
put faith in his excuses for absence - I compelled myself to be satisfied with
his apologies for not keeping his engagements. Fool that I have been! Had I
reproached - wept - stormed - and quarelled, as other women would have done, he
would yet be my slave : but I was too pliant - too easy - too docile - and he
has ended by contemning me! I wanted spirit - I was deficient in courage - I
practised no artifice. I should have refused him my favours when he was most
impassioned; I should have tantalised him - acted with caprice - set a high
value upon the pleasures which he enjoyed in my arms. Oh! it is cruel - cruel! I
have been the pensioned-harlot of that man! He commanded the use of my person as
he would that of the lowest prostitute in the street. I was too cheap - too
willing - too ready to meet him half way in the dalliance of love! I caught a
fine bird - and by leaving his cage open, have allowed him an opportunity to fly
away! The indignity is insufferable! For weeks I had not asked him for a
shilling - for weeks I had not spoken to him on the subject of money. And now -
to-day - when I require a hundred guineas for urgent matters, to be refused! to
be denied that paltry sum! Oh! it is monstrous! And not to come himself to
explain,- but to send a cool note, expressing a regret that the numerous demands
he has had upon him lately render it impossible for him to comply with my
request! A worn-out excuse - a wretched apology! And for him, too, who
absolutely rolls in riches! I never could have believed it. Even now it appears
a dream! Ah! the ungrateful monster! It is true that he has supplied me at times
in the most generous manner, - that he redeemed my jewels for me a second time,
some months ago, when Rupert played me that vile trick by plundering me during
my absence ;- but, alas! the jewels have returned to their old place - and who
is to redeem them now?"
Lady Cecilia paused, and compressed her lips together.
She felt herself slighted - perhaps for some rival :
and whose sufferings are more acute than those of a neglected woman who
experiences mental pangs more poignant?
Lady Cecilia felt herself degraded. She now comprehended that
she had been made the instrument of a heartless libertine's pleasures; and that
he coolly thrust her aside when literally satiated with her charms.
This was a most debasing conviction - debasing beyond all
others, for a patrician lady!
Never did she seem so little in her own estimation: she felt
polluted;- she saw that she had sold [-291-] herself
for gold: she remembered how willingly, how easily she surrendered herself on
the first occasion of her criminality ; and she despised herself, because she
felt that Greenwood despised her also!
She had no virtue - but she had pride.
The highest bidder might enjoy her. person, so voluptuous was
she by nature - so ready also was she to make any sacrifice to obtain the means
of gratifying her extravagance.
Love with her was not a refinement - it was a sensuality.
Still she had her pride - her woman's pride; for even the
most degraded courtesan has that; and it, was her pride that was
now so deeply wounded.
She knew not what course to pursue.
Should she endeavour to bring Greenwood back to her arms?
Or should she be revenged?
If she resolved upon the former, what wiles was she to adopt
- what artifices to employ?
If she decided upon the latter, what point in her neglectful
lover was vulnerable - what weapon could she use?
A woman does not like to choose the alternative of vengeance,
because such a proceeding implies the absence of all hope and of all power of
recalling the faithless one.
And yet what was Lady Cecilia to do? That refusal of the
money which she had requested, appeared expressive of Mr Greenwood's
determination to break of the connexion.
In that case nothing remained to her but vengeance.
Such were her thoughts.
Her reverie was interrupted by the sudden entrance of her
husband Sir Rupert Harborough. His face was flushed with drinking - for he had
dined, with his friend Chichester, at a tavern; and his cares had forced him to
apply with even more than usual liberality to the bottle.
He threw himself into a chair opposite to bit wife, and said,
"Well, Cecilia, I have got very bad news to tell you."
"Indeed, Sir Rupert?" she said, in a tone which
signified that she also had her annoyances, and would rather not be troubled
with his.
"I have, on my honour! " cried the baronet.
"In fact, Cecilia, I must find a thousand pounds to-morrow by twelve
o'clock."
Lady Cecilia only laughed ironically.
"You make merry, madam, at my misfortunes," said
Sir Rupert; "but I can assure you that the present is no laughing
matter."
"And I unfortunately have no more diamonds and jewellery
for you to rob me of," returned the lady.
"No, Cecilia - but you are my wife; and the disgrace
that falls upon your husband would redound on yourself."
"Oh! if you be afraid of rusticating in the Queen's
Bench prison for a season, I would advise you to make yourself easy on that
head; because —"
"Because what, Cecilia?"
"Because I can assure all your friends and acquaintances
that you are merely passing the winter in Paris."
"Ridiculous!" cried the baronet impatiently.
"Not so ridiculous as you imagine," returned Lady
Cecilia. " You are accustomed, you know, to leave home for weeks and months
together."
"Lady Cecilia, this is no time for either ill-feeling or
sarcasm. If we have no love for one another, at least let us sit down and
converse calmly upon the urgency of our present situation."
"Our situation? " ejaculated Cecilia.
"Yes - ours," repeated the baronet emphatically. " In
one word, Cecilia, can you possibly raise a thousand pounds?"
To a person who had not the means of obtaining oven the tenth
part of that sum, and who had herself been disappointed that very evening in her
endeavour to procure a hundred guineas, the question put by the baronet
appeared in so ridiculous a light, that - in spite of her own annoyances - Lady
Cecilia threw herself back in her chair, and burst into a loud and hearty laugh.
Sir Rupert rose and paced the room in an agitated manner; for
he was totally at a loss what course to pursue. His only hope was in his wife;
and yet he knew not how to break the fatal news to her.
"My God! Cecilia," he exclaimed, after a pause, during which he
resumed his seat, "you will drive me mad!"
"You have become very sensitive of late, Sir Rupert;
and yet I was not aware that you were so weak-minded as to tremble upon the
verge of insanity. Certainly your conduct has never led me to suppose that you
were over sane."
"My dear Cecilia, cease this raillery, in the name of every
thing sacred," cried the baronet. " I tell you that ruin hangs over me
- ruin
of the most fearful nature - ruin in which your own name, as that of my wife, will
be compromised —"
"Then tell me at once what you dread, and I will tell
you whether I can assist you; for I know perfectly well that you require me to
do something."
"Do not ask me what it is, Cecilia; but say - can you
procure from any quarter - from any quarter, mind - a thousand
pounds?"
"Absurd! Sir Rupert," answered the lady. "I have no
means of helping myself at this moment - much less of providing so large a sum to
supply your extravagance. This is a debt of honour, I presume - a debt contracted at the gambling table."
"No - it is far more serious than that, Cecilia; and you
must exert yourself. If I do not have that amount by twelve to-morrow, the
consequences will be most fatal. I know you can borrow the money for me - you have
resources, no matter where or how - I ask no questions - I do not wish to pry into
your secrets —"
"You are really very considerate, Sir Rupert. You do not wish
to pry into my secrets: but you would not hesitate to pry into my drawers and
boxes, if you thought there was any thing in them worth taking."
And as she uttered these words, a smile of superb contempt
curled her vermilion lips.
Sir Rupert was maddened by this behaviour on the part of his
wife; and with difficulty could he restrain his feelings of rage and hatred.
"Madam," he exclaimed, " I ask you to throw aside your
raillery, and converse with me - for once - in a serious manner.''
"I am willing to do so, Sir Rupert," answered Cecilia; "
but you really appear to be joking me yourself. You speak in enigmas about the
ruin that hangs over you and will involve me,- you refuse to entrust me with
more of your secret than is necessary to serve as a preface for your demand ;-
and that demand is a thousand pounds! A thousand pounds are required in a few
hours of a person who has no diamonds to pledge - no friends to apply to —"
"Stay, Cecilia," cried the baronet. "You cannot be
without friends. For a year past you have beau well supplied with funds - you have
redeemed your diamonds twice - you have satisfied many of on
[-292-] creditors - the servants' wages and the rent have been
regularly paid —"
"And all this has been done without the contribution of one
shilling on the part of my husband towards the household expenses," added Lady
Cecilia.
" I am glad you have mentioned that point," exclaimed Sir
Rupert: " it proves that you have friends - that perhaps your father and
mother assist you in private,- in a word, that you have some resources. Now what
those resources may be, I do not ask you: all I require is assistance - now -
within a few hours-before twelve to-morrow."
"Even if I could raise the sum you require," said Cecilia,
"I would not think of giving it to you without knowing for what
destination it was intended."
"And can you procure the sum, if I reveal to you - if I tell you
—"
"I promise nothing," interrupted Lady Cecilia drily.
"But you will do your best?" persisted the baronet
"I will do nothing without being previously made aware of the
real nature of your difficulties."
"I will then keep you in the dark no longer. The cause
of my embarrassment is a bill of exchange, for a thousand pounds, now lying in
Greenwood's hands, and due to-morrow."
"That is but a simple debt; and, methinks, Sir Rupert,
that your acquaintance with bills is not so slight as to render you an alarmist
respecting the consequences."
"Were it only a simple matter of debt, I should care but
little," said Sir Rupert, still compelled to support the biting raillery of his
wife: "but unfortunately - in an evil hour - I know not what demon prompted me
at the moment —"
"Speak, Sir Rupert - tell me the truth at once," cried Lady
Cecilia, now really alarmed.
"I say that in an evil hour - in a moment of desperation
- in an excess of frenzy - I committed a forgery!"
"A forgery!" repeated Lady Cecilia, turning deadly pale. "
Ah! what a disgrace to the family - what shame for me —"
"I told you that my ruin would redound upon yourself,
Cecilia. But there is more yet for you to hear. The acceptance that I forged —"
"Well?"
"Was that of Lord Tremordyn —"
"My father!"
"And now you know all. Can you assist me?"
"Sir Rupert, I have no means of raising one tenth part
of the sum that you need to cover this infamous transaction."
"And yet you seemed to say that if I told you the nature of my
difficulties —"
"I was curious to learn your secret; and as you appeared
resolved to keep it from me, I thought I would see if there were no means of
wheedling it out of you."
"And you therefore have no hope to give me?" said the
baronet, in a tone of despair.
"None. Where could I raise one thousand pounds? how am I
to obtain such a sum? It is for you either to pacify Mr. Greenwood, or to throw
yourself at my father's feet and confess all."
"Mr. Greenwood is resolute; and you know that your
father would spurn me from his presence. So far from me being able to help
myself, it is for you to help me. Perhaps Mr. Greenwood would listen to your
representations; or else Lord Tremordyn would accord to you what he would never concede to me."
"You cannot suppose that I can have any influence upon
Mr. Greenwood," began Lady Cecilia. " and as for —"
"On the contrary," said Sir Rupert, fixing his eyes in a
significant manner upon his wife's countenance; I have every reason to believe
that your influence over Mr. Greenwood is very great; and I will now thank you
to exercise it in my behalf."
"What do you mean, Sir Rupert?" exclaimed Cecilia, a
deep blush suffusing her face, and her eyes sinking beneath her husband's
expressive look.
"Do not force me to explanations, Cecilia," returned the
baronet. "I know more than you imagine - I have proofs of more than you fancy I could even suspect.
But of that no matter: relieve me from this embarrassment - and I will never
trouble you about your pursuits."
"What would you have me do?" asked the guilty wife, in a
trembling voice.
"Go to Greenwood and settle this business for me," said
the baronet, in an authoritative tone.
"I cannot - I dare not - I have no right to demand such a
favour of him - I should be certain to experience a refusal - I —"
"Lady Cecilia," interrupted the baronet, speaking in a
slow and emphatic manner, "Mr. Greenwood is too gallant a man to refuse a mere
trifle to a lady who has refused nothing to him."
"Sir Rupert - you cannot suppose - you —"
"I mean what I say, madam," added the baronet sternly.
"Mr. Greenwood is your paramour, and you can surely use your influence
with him to save your husband."
"My God! what do I hear?" ejaculated Cecilia.
"What proof have you, Sir Rupert - what testimony - what ground —"
"Every proof - every testimony - every ground," interrupted
the baronet impatiently. " But, again I say, I do not wish to ruin your
reputation, if you will save mine."
"Impossible!" cried Lady Cecilia. " I do not deny that
Mr. Greenwood has accommodated me with an occasional loan - upon interest —"
"Interest indeed! " said the baronet, whose turn
to assume a tone of raillery had now arrived: "interest paid from the bank of my honour!"
"Upon legal and commercial terms has he lent me money,"
continued Lady Cecilia; "and this very evening has he refused to advance me
another shilling!"
"Is
that true, Cecilia?" demanded Sir Rupert.
"Nay - satisfy yourself," said the lady;
and drawing a note from her bosom, she handed it to her husband.
The correspondence that passed between Mr. Greenwood and Lady
Cecilia was always of a laconic and most guarded nature: there was consequently
nothing in the letter now communicated to Sir Rupert Harborough, to confirm his
belief in his wife's criminality. Indeed, the epistle was neither more nor less
than any gentleman might write upon a matter of business to any lady.
"I see that Mr. Greenwood is tired of you,
Cecilia," said
the baronet, throwing the note upon the table, "and that he is anxious to
break off the connexion. Now I will tell you how you must be kind enough to act,"
he continued, in a tone of command. "You must proceed at once to Mr.
Greenwood ; you must tell him that I have discovered all - that I have positive
proofs - that since the day when Chichester discovered him with his
arm round your neck in my drawing-room —"
[-293-] "Oh! that villain Chichester!" murmured Lady Cecilia.
"That ever since that day," continued the baronet,
Chichester and myself have watched your proceedings - have seen you, Cecilia,
repair to the appointments agreed upon with your paramour —"
"But this is atrocious!" ejaculated the lady, now
dreadfully excited.
"Nay - do not interrupt me," said Sir Rupert in an imperative
manner. " You must tell Mr. Greenwood that I and my witness have followed
you both to an hotel at Greenwich - that we have been in the next room and have
overheard your conversation - that we have been aware of the moments of your
amorous dalliance —"
"Ah! Sir Rupert - do you want to kill me?" cried Cecilia,
bursting into an agony of tears.
"Nonsense!" ejaculated the baronet : " I only want you to
save me, and I will screen you. Go, then, to Greenwood - tell him all this -
assure
him that I know all - that for months have I been watching you - and that I should obtain
from him damages far more important than the amount of this acceptance, but
that I am willing to compromise the business by the destruction of that document."
"And why could you not have acquainted Mr. Greenwood with all
this when you last saw him?" demanded Lady Cecilia, drying her tears, and
endeavouring to compose herself, now that the worst was known.
"I did not intend to mention my knowledge of your criminality
at all," said Sir Rupert; "and had you consented in the first instance to
use your influence with Greenwood to obtain the money to settle the bill, you
would not have forced me to these revelations."
"Say rather, Sir Rupert Harborough," exclaimed the lady,
"that you would have me obtain for you the means to pay this forged bill;
and when once you were freed from the power of Greenwood, you would have
brought your action against him, and exposed your wife. But as you have failed
in making me - the wife whom you would thus expose - the instrument of procuring
that sum, - and as the danger now stares you in the face, you proclaim your
knowledge of our connexion, and use it as a means to compromise the forgery.''
"Cecilia, you do not think me capable —"
"I think you capable of any thing," interrupted his wife
indignantly; and it was singular to see that adulterous woman - that criminal
wife - that profligate female now putting her husband to the blush, by exposing
his base designs.
"Well - after all," exclaimed Sir Rupert, "recriminations will do no good. Go to
Greenwood - settle the affair - and the past shall be buried in oblivion."
"And what guarantee do you offer to ensure eternal
secresy on your part, provided Mr. Greenwood will give up this forged bill?"
"I will sign any paper he may require," replied the
baronet. " But time presses - it is now nearly ten o'clock - and to-morrow
morning —"
"I will go to Mr. Greenwood," said Lady Cecilia, rising
from her seat: " I will go to him - and endeavour to compromise this affair
to the best of my power."
Sir Rupert rang the bell and ordered wine to be brought up
while Lady Cecilia hastened to her boudoir to attire herself for going out; and
in the mean time a servant was despatched to procure a cab.
The vehicle arrived and Lady Cecilia was already upon the
threshold of the front door of the house, when a servant in a handsome livery ascended the
steps, presented a letter, and said "For Sir Rupert Harborough."
Lady Cecilia received the letter; and the servant who
delivered it. immediately took his departure.
The lady was about to send in the letter by her own domestic
to her husband, when the superscription on the envelope caught her eyes by the
light of the hall-lamp. The writing was in the delicate hand of a female; and,
without a moment's hesitation, Cecilia consigned the epistle to her reticule.
She then stepped into the vehicle, and ordered the driver to
take her to Spring Gardens.
There were two bright lamps fixed in front of the cab; and by
these means was Lady Cecilia enabled to examine the contents of the letter
intended for her husband.
Without the least hesitation she opened the letter, and to
her ineffable surprise discovered that it contained a Bank of England note for
one thousand pounds.
This treasure was accompanied by a letter, the contents of
which were as follows:-
"An individual who once received some kindness at the hands of Sir Rupert Harborough, has learnt by a strange accident that Sir Rupert Harborough has a pressing need of a sum of money to liquidate a debt due to Mr. George Montague Greenwood. The individual alluded to takes leave to place the sum required at Sir Rupert Harborough's disposal."
No name - no date - no address were appended to this mysterious
note. The writing was in a delicate female hand ;- and a servant in a handsome
livery had delivered the letter. These circumstances, combined with the handsome
manner in which the money was tendered, refuted the suspicion that some
female, with whom Sir Rupert was illicitly connected, had thus befriended him.
Lady Cecilia was bewildered the pain of conjecture and doubt
was however absorbed in the pleasurable feelings excited by the possession of so
large a sum of money.
The cab now stopped at Mr. Greenwood's residence.
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