CHAPTER IX. "Inscrutable are the ways of Providence!' "If she be false, O then heaven mocks itself!- NOTHING Occurred to break the calm of Lady de Quincy's peaceful abode, till the day on which Sir Horace Monro was expected to return to Arlington Street. In the morning she received a note from Mr. Cavendish, who was again in London, acquainting her, that in furtherance of the benevolent commission with which she had charged him, he had to introduce to her notice a family in whose misfortunes he thought she would become interested, and requesting that she would call for him in Belgrave Square, that they might, if she judged right, proceed to their relief. The statement of a simple fact, like the above, was always sufficient to ensure Lady de Quincy's acquiescence; and telling Ellen she might be detained till a late hour, she proceeded to Belgrave Square, where she heard that Lord Enersdale was expected to arrive from Swindon to dinner. "How fortunate," observed Lady de Quincy to Mr. Cavendish, as they drove from Lord Horton's door, "that we are able to transact this little business to-day! To-morrow must be devoted to Ellen's interests-God grant that it may lead to the establishment of her happiness! As they were proceeding on their way, along Oxford Street, a sudden stop of the coachman caused Mr. Cavendish to look out, when he beheld a woman dragged from under the horses' feet. She appeared almost insensible from fright-and the man who was supporting her, said that her shoulder was dislocated, and he thought her leg broken. Lady de Quincy followed her into the shop, fortunately a chemist's, into which she had been carried, and as soon as she could give utterance to where she lived, begged Mr. Cavendish to go in quest of a surgeon, and direct him to proceed thither without delay; as she would herself superintend her removal, as soon as it could be effected, in her own carriage. Lady de Quincy, accustomed by long habit to attendance on the sick and infirm, supported the stranger in her arms till they reached a small house in the vicinity of Portman Square. It was with great difficulty that the sufferer was conveyed to her own apartment, which was on the second floor, and when placed on her bed, Lady de Quincy sat down by it, endeavouring to soothe and encourage her by anticipating the surgeon's quick arrival, and the ease she would feel when her shoulder was replaced in its socket, and her leg, which was found to be violently sprained, but not broken, was properly bandaged. The woman spoke English, but with a foreign accent, and no doubt could be entertained of her being a foreigner, as every body in the house called her" Madame." She seemed to pay no attention to Lady de Quincy's soothings or anticipations of speedy relief, but continued talking, or rather muttering to herself in French, about ingratitude-revenge-and a fear of death before it should be accomplished. Mr. Cavendish entered to announce that L--n would be there almost immediately, and Lady de Quincy, drawing him aside, repeated the fearful words she had heard. Her head, confused by the acute pain she was suffering, or from not having before remarked Mr. Cavendish, Madame the surgeon. took him for "Tell me," said she, "if I am likely to die under the operation; for, if so, I must first see a magistrate. I have that to tell which will make even her pride quail. I was going to her, to give her one more chance of repairing her ingratitude to me. But it is too late. Fate has turned me from it-it would have been useless. What should she know-where should she have learnt gratitude ?" Here the wretched woman fell back exhausted. On her recovery, Mr. Cavendish told her that he was not the surgeon, but that he was a clergyman, and exhorted her to relieve her mind by confessing the sin which weighed on it. "Remember," said he, "you are about to undergo, it may be, a hazardous, it must be a painful operation." |