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 extravagance, 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
quarrelled, 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 tantalized 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 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
courtezan 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 off 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 his 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 even 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 been well supplied with funds--you have redeemed
your diamonds twice--you have satisfied many of our 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--"
"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.