CHAPTER LXXVIII
When Dame Fairfield was nearly ready, Juliet, to forward the march, setout with the two children; but had scarcely quitted the house, when thesight of a man, advancing towards the habitation, made her plant herselfbehind a tree, to examine him before she ventured to proceed.
She observed that he stopt, every two or three minutes, himself, to takean inquisitive view all around him; frequently bending upon the ground,and appearing to be upon some eager search.
As he approached, she thought that his air was familiar to her; sheregarded him more earnestly as he drew nearer; what, then, was herhorrour to recognize the pilot!
She glided back, instantaneously, to the house, beckoning to thechildren to follow; and, rushing upon Dame Fairfield, and, taking bothher hands, she faintly ejaculated, 'Oh my good dame!--hide, conceal me,I entreat!--I am pursued by a cruel enemy, and lost if you are not myfriend!--Serve, save me, now, and I will be yours to the end of mylife!'
'That I wull!' answered the dame, delighted; 'if you wull but be sokoind as to save my poor husband the sheame of being honged ortransported, I wull go through fire and water to serve you, to thelongest day I have to live upon the feace of God's yearth!'
Then, making the children play without doors, that they might notobserve what passed, she told Juliet to bolt herself into the upperchamber.
In a few minutes, the children, running into the house, called out,'Mam, mam, yonder be dad!'
The dame went forth to meet him; and Juliet spent nearly half an hour inthe most cruel suspense.
Dame Fairfield then came to her; and, by the discourse that ensued, shefound that the pilot was one of the smugglers who brought merchandize toMixon; and heard that he and Fairfield had thus unexpectedly returned,in search of a piece of fine broad French lace, of great value, whichwas missing; and which Fairfield suspected to have dropt from one of hisparcels, while he was making his assortments, by the light of thelanthorn. She had been, she said, helping them to look for it, high andlow; but had stolen away, for an instant, to bring this account; and tobeg Juliet not to be frightened, because though, if Fairfield would goup stairs, she could not hinder him, she would take care that thesmuggler should not follow.
Juliet was now seized with a panic that nearly bereft her of all hope;and Dame Fairfield was so much touched by the sight of her sufferings,that she descended, unbidden, to endeavour to discover some means tofacilitate an escape.
That the pilot should prove to be a smuggler, caused no surprize toJuliet; but that accident should so cruelly be her foe, as to lead herto the spot where he deposited and negociated his merchandize, at thevery period when his affairs brought him thither himself; that sheshould find her chosen retreat her bane; and that, even where she wasunpursued, she should be overtaken; was a stroke of misfortune as severeas it was unexpected.
And, soon after, she found her situation still more terrible than shehad imagined it. Fairfield, presently entering the kitchen, to take somefood, accused his wife, in a loud and angry tone, of having abetted animposter. Mounseer, the smuggler, he said, had not come to these parts,this time, merely for his own private business. He had been offered agreat reward for discovering a young gentlewoman who had run away; andwho turned out to be no other than the very same that she had been sucha ninny as to impose upon Dame Goss, at Salisbury; and who had made offwithout paying for her board and lodging.
The dame warmly declared, that this could not be possible; that it mustbe some other gentlewoman; for that a person who could be so kind to herchildren could not have so black a heart.
Fairfield, with bitter reproaches against her folly, persisted in theaccusation: stating, that, upon Dame Goss's going to the post-office fora letter, it had been refused to her, because of its being directed to aperson advertised in the public news-papers; and Dame Goss had been sentback, with an excuse, to while away the time, till somebody shouldfollow, to confront the gentlewoman with the advertisement. But DameGoss, instead of keeping a sharp watch, had been over-persuaded to go ofan errand; and she had no sooner turned her back, than the gentlewomanmade off. However, they had written to the news-papers that she wassomewhere in those parts; and they could do no more; for there was noright to seize her; for the advertisement only desired to know where shemight be heard of, and found. It had made a rare hue and cry in thetown; and Mounseer, the smuggler, who had come down to Salisbury alongwith another outlandish man, had traced the gentlewoman as far as toRomsey; but could not find out what had become of her afterwards. Theother outlandish man, who was as rich as a Duke, and was to pay thereward, had stopt at Salisbury, for tidings: upon which Mounseer, thesmuggler, thought he might as well come on, and see a bit after his ownbusiness by the way; for it would not lose much time; and he might notget to these parts again for months.
The silence that ensued, gave Juliet an afflicting presentiment that shehad lost, by this history, her friend and advocate: and accordingly,when, upon her husband's returning to his search, the dame re-mountedthe stairs, her air was so changed, that Juliet, again clasping herhands, cried, 'Oh! Dame Fairfield!--Kind, good Dame Fairfield! judge menot till you know me better! Aid me still, my good dame, in pity, incharity aid me!--for, believe me, I am innocent!'
'Why then so I wull!' cried the dame, resuming her looks of mild goodwill; 'I wull believe you! And I'll holp you too, for sure: for now yoube under my own poor roof, 'twould be like unto a false heart to giveyou up to your enemies. Besoides, I do think in my conscience you wullpay every one his own, when you've got wherewithal. And it be but hardto expect it before. And I do say, that a person that could be so koindto my little Jacky and Jenny, in their need, must have a good heart ofher own; and would no' wrong no yearthly creature, unless a could no'holp it.'
She then promised to watch the moment of the smuggler's turning round tothe garden-side of the house, to assist her flight; and, once a fewyards distant, all would be safe; for her change of clothes from whatshe had worn at Salisbury, would secure her from any body'srecollection.
This, in a few minutes, was performed; and, without daring to see thechildren, who would have cried at her departure, Juliet took a hastyleave, silent but full of gratitude, of the good dame; into whose bosom,as her hand refused it, she slipt a guinea for the little ones; and,having received full directions, set forward, by the shortest cut, tothe nearest high road.
She reached it unannoyed, but breathless; and seated herself upon a bankby its side; not to hesitate which way to turn; the right and the leftwere alike unknown to her, and alike liable to danger; but to recoverrespiration, and force to proceed.
She could now form no plan, save to hasten to some other part of thecountry; certain that here she was sought all around; and conscious thatthe disguise of her habiliment, if not already betrayed, must shortly,from a thousand accidents, prove nugatory.
In her ignorance what course the pilot might take, upon quitting thecottage of Fairfield, she determined upon seeking, immediately, somedecent lodging for the rest of the day; hoping thus, should he pursuethe same route, to escape being overtaken.
She had soon the satisfaction to come to a small habitation, a littleout of the high road, where she was accommodated, by a man and his wife,with a room that precisely answered her purpose: and here she spent thenight.
Thankful in obtaining any sort of tranquillity, she would fain haveremained longer; but she durst not continue in the neighbourhood ofFairfield; and, the following morning, she re-commenced her wanderings.
She asked the way to Salisbury, though merely that she might take anopposite direction. She ventured not to raise her eyes from the earth,nor to cast even a glance at any one whom she passed. She held herhandkerchief to her face at the sound of every carriage; and trembled atthe approach of every horseman. Her steps were quick and eager; thoughnot more precipitate to fly from those by whom she was followed, thanfearful of being observed by those whom she met.
In a short time, the sight of several hostlers, helpers, and postilions
,before a large house, which appeared to be a capital inn, made her crossthe way. She wished to turn wholly from the high road; but lowbrick-walls had now, on either side, taken place of hedges, and shesearched in vain for an opening. Her earnestness to press onward, joinedto her fear of looking up, made her soon follow, unconsciously, anordinary man, till she was so close behind him, as suddenly to perceive,by his now well known coat, that he was the pilot! A scream struggled toescape her, in the surprize of her affright; but she stifled it, and,turning short back, speeded her retrograde way with all her force.
She had reason, however, to fear that her uncontrollable first emotionhad caught his notice, for she heard footsteps following. Hopeless ofsaving herself, if watched or suspected, by flight; as she knew thatthere was no turning for at least half a mile; she darted precipitatelyinto the inn; which seemed alone to offer her even a shadow of anychance of concealment. She rushed past ostlers, helpers, postilions, andwaiters; seized the hand of the first female that she met; and hastilybegged to be shewn to a room.
The chambermaid, astonished at such a request from a person no betterequipped, pertly asked what she meant.
Juliet, whose apprehensive eyes roved everywhere, now saw the pilot atthe door.
She held the maid by the arm, and, in a voice scarcely audible,entreated to be taken any where that she might be alone; and had thepresence of mind to hint at a recompence.
This instantly prevailed. The maid said, 'Well, come along!' and led herto a small apartment up stairs.
Juliet put a shilling into her hand, and was then left to herself.
In an agony of suffering that disordered her whole frame, What a life,she cried, is this that I lead! How tremendous, and how degrading! Is itpossible that even what I fly can be more dreadful?
This question restored her fortitude. Ah yes! ah yes! she cried, allpassing evil is preferable to such a termination!
She now composed her spirits, and, while deliberating how she might makea friend of the maid, to aid her escape, perceived, from the window, thepilot, in a stable-yard, examining a horse, for which he seemed to bebartering.
This determined her to attempt to regain the cottage which she had lastquitted, and thence to try some opposite route.
Swiftly she descended the stairs; a general bustle from some new arrivalenabled her to pass unnoticed; but a chaise was at the door, and she wasforced to make way for a gentleman, who had just quitted it, to enterthe house. Unavoidably, by this movement, she saw the gentleman also;the colour instantly forsook her cheeks and lips; her feet tottered, andshe fell.
She was immediately surrounded by waiters; but the gentleman, who,observing only her dress, concluded her to belong to the house, walkedon into the kitchen, and asked, in broken English, for the landlord orlandlady.
Juliet, whose fall had been the effect of a sudden deprivation ofstrength, from an abrupt sensation of horrour, had not fainted. Sheheard, therefore, what passed, and was easily helped to rise; and,shaded by her packet, which, even in her first terrour, she hadinstinctively held to her face, she made a motion to walk into the air.One of the men, good naturedly, placed her a chair without doors; shesat upon it thankfully, and almost as quickly recovered as she had losther force, by a reviving idea, that, even yet, thus situated, she mightmake her escape.
She had just risen with this view, when the voice of the pilot, who wascoming round the house, from the stable-yard, forced her hastily tore-enter the passage; but not before she heard him enquire, whether aFrench gentleman were arrived in that chaise?
Again, now, she glided on towards the stairs; hearing, as she passed,the answer made by the French gentleman himself: '_Oui, oui, me voici.Quelles sont les nouvelles?_'[1]
[Footnote 1: 'Yes, yes; here I am. What's your news?']
The voices of both proved each to be advancing to the passage, to meetthe other. Juliet was no longer sensible of bodily weakness; norscarcely of bodily existence. She seemed to herself a mere compositionof terrour. She flew up the stairs, meaning to regain her littlechamber; but, mistaking her way, found herself in a gallery, leading tothe best apartments. Glad, however, rather than sorry, in the hope shemight here be less liable to be sought, she opened the first door; and,entering a large room, locked and bolted herself in, with such extremeprecipitance, that already she had sunk upon her knees, in ferventprayer, before a shadow, which caught her eyes, made her look round;when she perceived, at a distant window, a gentleman who was writing.
In the deepest consternation, she arose, hurrying to find the key;which, in her perturbation, she had taken out, and let drop she knew notwhere.
While earnestly searching it, the gentleman, mildly, yet in a tone ofsome surprize, enquired what she wanted.
Startled at the sound of his voice, she looked up, and saw Harleigh.
Her conflicting emotions now exceeded all that she had hithertoexperienced. To seem to follow, even to his room, the man whom she hadadjured, as he valued her preservation, to quit and avoid her; joinedsensations of shame so poignant, to those of horrour and anguish, withwhich she was already overwhelmed, that, almost, she wished her lasthour to arrive; that, while finishing her wretchedness, she might clearher integrity and honour.
Harleigh, to whom her dress, as he had not caught a view of her face,proved a complete disguise of her person, concluded her to be some lightnymph of the inn, and suffered her to search for the key, without evenrepeating his question: but when, upon her finding it, he observed thather shaking hand could not, for some time, fix it in the lock, he wasstruck with something in her general form that urged him to rise, andoffer his assistance.
Still more her hand shook, but she opened the door, and, withoutanswering, and with a head carefully averted, eagerly quitted the room;shutting herself out, with trembling precipitation.
Harleigh hesitated whether to follow; but it was only for a moment: thenext, a shriek of agony reached his ears, and, hastily rushing forth, hesaw the female who had just quitted him, standing in an attitude ofdespair; her face bowed down upon her hands; while an ill-looking man,whom he presently recollected for the pilot, grinning in triumph, andwith arms wide extended, to prevent her passing, loudly called out,'_Citoyen! Citoyen! venez voir! c'est Elle! Je la tien!_'[2]
[Footnote 2: 'Tis she, citizen! come and see! I have her safe!']
Harleigh would have remonstrated against this rude detention; but he hadno sooner begun speaking, than Juliet, finding that she could notadvance, retreated; and had just put her hand upon the lock of a door,higher up in the gallery; when another man, dressed with disgustingnegligence, and of a hideous countenance, yet wearing an air offerocious authority; advancing by large strides, roughly seized her arm,with one hand, while, with the other, he rudely lifted up her bonnet, toexamine her face.
'_C'est bien!_' he cried, with a look of exultation, that gave to hishorrible features an air of infernal joy; '_viens, citoyenne, viens;suis moi_.'[3]
[Footnote 3: ''Tis well! come, citizen, come along! follow me.']
Harleigh, who, when the bonnet was raised, saw, what as yet he hadfeared to surmize,--that it was Juliet; sprang forward, exclaiming,'Daring ruffian! quit your hold!'
'_Ose tu nier mes droits?_' cried the man, addressing Juliet; whose armhe still griped;--_'Dis!--parles!--l'ose tu?_'[4]
[Footnote 4: 'Darest thou deny my rights?--say!--speak! darest thou?']
Juliet was mute; but Harleigh saw that she was sinking, and bent towardsher to save her fall; what, then, was his astonishment, to perceive thatit was voluntary! and that she cast herself at the feet of herassailant!
Thunderstruck, he held back.
The man, with an expression of diabolical delight at this posture, casthis eyes now upon her, now upon her appalled defendant; and then, inFrench, gave orders to the pilot, to see four fresh horses put to thechaise: and, in a tone of somewhat abated rage, bid Juliet arise, andaccompany him down stairs.
'Ah, no!--ah, spare--ah, leave me yet!--' in broken accents, and inFrench, cried
the still prostrate Juliet.
The man, who was large made, tall, and strong, seized, then, both herarms, with a motion that indicated his intention to drag her along.
A piercing shriek forced its way from her at his touch: but she arose,and made no appeal, no remonstrance.
'_Si tu peus le conduire toute seule,_' said the man, sneeringly,'_soit! Mais vas en avant! Je ne le perdrai plus de vu._'[5]
[Footnote 5: 'If you can walk alone, well and good; but go on first. Ishall lose sight of you no more.']
Juliet again hid her face, but stood still.
The man roughly gave her a push; seeming to enjoy, with a coarse laugh,the pleasure of driving her on before him.
Harleigh, who saw that her face was convulsed with horrour, fiercelyplanted himself in the midst of the passage, vehemently exclaiming,'Infernal monster! by what right do you act?'
'_De quel droit me le demandez vous?_'[6] cried the man; who appearedperfectly to understand English.
[Footnote 6: 'By what right do you enquire?']
'By the rights of humanity!' replied Harleigh; 'and you shall answer meby the rights of justice! One claim alone can annul my interference. Areyou her father?'
_'Non!_' he answered, with a laugh of scorn; '_mais il y a d'autresdroits!_'[7]
[Footnote 7: 'No; but there are other rights!']
'There are none!' cried Harleigh, 'to which you can pretend; none!'
'_Comment cela? n'est-ce pas ma femme? Ne suis-je pas son mari?_'[8]
[Footnote 8: 'How so? Is she not my wife? Am I not her husband?']
'No!' cried Harleigh, 'no!' with the fury of a man seized with suddendelirium; 'I deny it!--'tis false! and neither you nor all the fiends ofhell shall make me believe it!'
Juliet again fell prostrate; but, though her form turned towards herassailant, her eyes, and supplicating hands, that begged forbearance,were lifted up, in speechless agony, to Harleigh.
Repressed by this look and action, though only to be overpowered by theblackest surmizes, Harleigh again stood suspended.
Finding the people of the inn were now filling the staircase, to seewhat was the matter, the foreigner, in tolerable English, told them allto be gone, for he was only recovering an eloped wife. Then, addressingJuliet, 'If you dare assert,' he said, 'that you are not my wife, yourperjury may cost you dear! If you have not that hardiness, hold yourtongue and welcome. Who else will dare dispute my claims?'
'I will!' cried Harleigh, furiously. 'Walk this way, Sir, and give me anaccount of yourself! I will defend that lady from your inhuman grasp, tothe last drop of my blood!'
'Ah, no! ah, no!' Juliet now faintly uttered; but the man, interruptingher, said, 'Dare you assert, I demand, that you are not my wife? Speak!Dare you?'
Again she bowed down her face upon her hands,--her face that seemedbloodless with despair; but she was mute.
'I put you to the test;' continued the man, striding to the end of thegallery, and opening the last door: 'Go into that chamber!'
She shrieked aloud with agony uncontrollable; and Harleigh, with anemotion irrepressible, cast his arms around her, exclaiming, 'Placeyourself under my protection! and no violence, no power upon earth shalltear you away!'
At these words, all the force of her character came again to her aid;and she disengaged herself from him, with a reviving dignity in her air,that shewed a decided resolution to resist his services: but she wasstill utterly silent; and he saw that she was obliged to sustain hertottering frame against the wall, to save herself from again sinkingupon the floor.
The foreigner seemed with difficulty to restrain his rage from some actof brutality; but, after a moment's pause, fixing his hands fiercely inhis sides, he ferociously confronted the shaking Juliet, and said, 'Ihave informed your family of my rights. Lord Denmeath has promised mehis assistance and your portion.'
'Lord Denmeath!' repeated the astonished Harleigh.
'He has promised me, also,' the foreigner, without heeding him,continued, 'the support of your half-brother, Lord Melbury,--'
'Lord Melbury!' again exclaimed Harleigh; with an expression that spokea sudden delight, thrilling, in defiance of agony, through his burningveins.
'Who, he assures me, is a young man of honour, who will never abet awife in eloping from her husband. I shall take you, therefore, at first,and at once, to Lord Denmeath, who will only pay your portion to yourown signature. Go, therefore, quietly into that room, till the chaise isready, and I promise that I won't follow you: though, if you resist, Ishall assert my rights by force.'
He held the door open. She wrung her hands with agonizing horrour. Hetook hold of her shoulder; she shrunk from his touch; but, in shrinking,involuntarily entered the room. He would have pushed her on; butHarleigh, who now looked wild with the violence of contending emotions;with rage, astonishment, grief, and despair; furiously caught him by thearm, calling out, 'Hold, villain, hold!--Speak, Madam, speak! Utter buta syllable!--Deign only to turn towards me!--Pronounce but with youreyes that he has no legal claim, and I will instantly secure yourliberty,--even from myself!--even from all mankind!--Speak!--turn!--lookbut a moment this way!--One word! one single word!--'
She clapped her hands upon her forehead, in an action of despair; butthe word was not spoken,--not a syllable was uttered! A look, however,escaped her, expressive of a soul in torture, yet supplicating hisretreat. She then stepped further into the room, and the foreigner shutand double-locked the door.
Triumphantly brandishing the key, as he eyed, sidelong, the now passiveHarleigh, he went into the adjoining apartment; where, seating himselfin the middle of the room, he left the door wide open, to watch allegress and regress in the passage.
Harleigh now appeared to be lost! The violence of his agitation, whilehe concluded her to be wrongfully claimed, was transformed into theblackest and most indignant despondence, at her unresisting, howeverwretched acquiescence, to commands thus brutal; emanating from anauthority of which, however evidently it was deplored, she attempted notto controvert the legality. The dreadful mystery, more direful than ithad been depicted, even by the most cruel of his apprehensions, was nowrevealed: she is married! he internally cried; married to the vilest ofwretches, whom she flies and abhors,--yet she is married! indisputablymarried! and can never, never,--even in my wishes, now, be mine!
A sudden sensation, kindred even to hatred, took possession of hisfeelings. Altered she appeared to him, and delusive. She had always,indeed, discouraged his hopes, always forbidden his expectations; yetshe must have seen that they subsisted, and were cherished; and couldnot but have been conscious, that a single word, bitter, but essentiallyjust, might have demolished, have annihilated them in a moment.
He dragged himself back to his apartment, and resolutely shut his door;gloomily bent to nourish every unfavourable impression, that mightsicken regret by resentment. But no indignation could curb his grief ather loss; nor his horrour at her situation: and the look that hadcompelled his retreat; the look that so expressively had concentratedand conveyed her so often reiterated sentence, of 'leave, or you destroyme!' seemed rivetted to his very brain, so as to take despotic andexclusive hold of all his faculties.
In a few minutes, the sound of a carriage almost mechanically drew himto the window. He saw there an empty chaise and four horses. It wassurely to convey her away!--and with the man whom she loathed,--and fromone who, so often! had awakened in her symptoms the most impressive ofthe most flattering sensibility!--
The transitory calm of smothered, but not crushed emotions, was nowsucceeded by a storm of the most violent and tragic passions. To loseher for ever, yet irresistibly to believe himself beloved!--to see hernearly lifeless with misery, yet to feel that to demand a conference, orthe smallest explanation, or even a parting word, might expose her tothe jealousy of a brute, who seemed capable of enjoying, rather thandeprecating, any opportunity to treat her ill; to be convinced that shemust be the victim of a forced marriage; yet to feel every sentiment ofhonour, and if of honour of
happiness! rise to oppose all violation of arite, that, once performed, must be held sacred:--thoughts, reflections,ideas thus dreadful, and sensations thus excruciating, almost deprivedhim of reason, and he cast himself upon the ground in wild agony.
But he was soon roused thence by the gruff voice, well recollected, ofthe pilot, who, from the bottom of the stairs, called out, '_Viens,citoyen! tout est pret._'[9]
[Footnote 9: 'Come, citizen; all is ready.']
With horrour, now, he heard the heavy step of the foreigner again inthe passage; he listened, and the sound reached his ear of the keyfixing--the door unlocking.--Excess of torture then caused a shortsuspension of his faculties, and he heard no more.
Soon, however, reviving, the stillness startled him. He opened his door.No one was in the passage; but he caught a plaintive sound, from theroom in which Juliet was a prisoner: and soon gathered that Julietherself was imploring for leave to travel to Lord Denmeath's alone.
What an aggravation to the sufferings of Harleigh, to learn that she wasthus allied, at the moment that he knew her to be another's! for howeverthe violence of his admiration had conquered every obstacle, he hadalways thought, with reluctance and concern, of the supposed obscurityof her family and connections.
Juliet pleaded in vain. A harsh refusal was followed by the grossestmenace, if she hesitated to accompany him at once.
The pilot, repeating his call, now mounted the stairs; and Harleigh feltcompelled to return to his room; but, looking back in re-entering it, hesaw Juliet forced into the passage; her face not merely pale, butghastly; her eyes nearly starting from her head.
To rescue, to protect her, Harleigh now thought was all that couldrender life desirable; but, while adoring her almost to madness, herespected her situation and her fame, and re-passed into his chamber,unseen by the foreigner.
Yet he could not forbear placing himself so that he might catch a glanceof her as she went by; he held the door, therefore, in his hand, as if,accidentally, at that moment, opening it. She did not turn her head, butassumed an air of resignation, and walked straight on; yet though shedid not meet his eye, she evidently felt it; a pale pink suffusion shotacross her cheeks; taking place of the death-like hue they had exhibitedas she quitted her room; but which, fading away almost in the samemoment, left her again a seeming spectre.
A nervous dimness took from Harleigh even the faculty of observing theforeigner. She loves me! was his thought; she surely loves me! And theidea which, not many minutes sooner, would have chaced from his mindevery feeling but of felicity, now rent his heart with torture, frompainting their mutual unhappiness. It was not a sigh that he stifled,nor a sigh that escaped him; but a groan, a piercing groan, which brokefrom his sorrows, as he heard her tottering step reach the stairs, whileinternally he uttered, She is gone from me for ever!
When he thought she would no longer be in sight, he followed to thefirst landing-place; to catch, once more, even the most distant sound ofher feet: but the passage to and fro of waiters, forced him again tomount to his chamber. There, he hastened to the window, to take a view,a last view! of her loved form; but thence, shuddering, retreated, atsight of the chaise and four; destined to whirl her everlastingly awayfrom him, with a companion so undisguisedly dreaded!--so evidentlyabhorred!
Yet, at the first sound, he returned to the window; whence he perceivedJuliet just arrived upon the threshold; looking like a picture of death,and leaning upon a chambermaid, to whom she clung as to a bosom friend;yet not attempting to resist the foreigner; who, on her other side,dragged her by the arm, in open triumph. But, when she came to thechaise-step, she staggered, her vital powers seemed forsaking her; sheheaved a hard and painful sigh, and, but for the chambermaid, who kneltdown to catch her, had fallen upon the ground.
Harleigh was already half way down the stairs, almost frantic to saveher; before he had sufficient recollection to remind him, that anyeffort on his part might cause her yet grosser insult. He was then againat his window; where he saw a second chambermaid administering burntfeathers, which had already recovered her from the fainting fit; whilethe mistress of the house was presenting her with hartshorn and water.
She refused no assistance; but the foreigner, who was loudly enraged atthe delay, said that he would lift her into the chaise; and bid thepilot get in first, to help the operation.
She now again looked so sick and disordered, that all the women calledupon the foreigner to let her re-enter the house, and take a littlerest, before her journey. Her eyes, turned up to heaven withthankfulness, even at the proposal, encouraged them to grow clamorous intheir demand; but the man, with a scornful sneer, replied that herjourney would be her cure; and told the pilot, who was finishing abottle of wine, to make haste.
The wretched Juliet, resuming her resolution, though with an air ofdespair, faintly pronounced, that she would get into the carriageherself; and, leaning upon the woman, ascended the steps, and dropt uponthe seat of the chaise.