THE LADY'S-MAID.
In the meantime Mr. Frank Curtis had met the buxom Charlotte, according
to appointment, in Conduit Street.
The youthful lady's-maid, who had not numbered quite nineteen years, but
who concealed a warm temperament and a disposition ripe for wanton
mischief, beneath a staid and serious demeanour, when in the presence of
her mistress or of those in whose eyes it was prudent to be looked upon
as "a very prudent and steady young woman,"—the youthful lady's-maid, we
say, walked quietly along the street, and pretended not to notice Mr.
Curtis, who was leaning against a lamp-post, smoking a cigar.
But the light of the lamp fell upon her pretty countenance; and he,
having immediately recognised her, stretched out his hand and caught her
by the shawl, saying, "Well, Miss—do you mean to pretend you didn't see
me?"
"Lor'! you there now!" exclaimed Charlotte, affecting to be quite
surprised at this encounter.
"Just as if you thought I shouldn't come!" cried Frank, laughing. "But
take my arm, my dear; and though this very arm has often supported
duchesses—and marchionesses—and even on one occasion the young and
beautiful queen of the Red-Skin Indians,—yet I don't know that it was
ever more agreeably pressed than by your pretty little fingers."
"How fine you do talk!" said Charlotte, by no means displeased with the
compliment. "But where are you going?"
"Oh! I'll show you, my dear," returned Frank, as he led her along. "And
now tell me—has anything happened in respect to you know what?"
"Yes—a great deal," answered Charlotte. "But here I am walking with a
gentleman whose very name I don't even know! Isn't it odd?"
"Very, my dear. I will, however, soon satisfy you on that head. My name
is _Mr. Curtis_ to the world—but _Frank_ to you; and some day or another
I hope to be Baron Dumplington. But what was it that you had to tell
me?"
"Something about Miss Mordaunt," replied the girl, who firmly believed
the Dumplington story and entertained a proportionate amount of respect
towards the young gentleman who was heir to so honourable and
distinguished a title.
"Come—out with it, my dear," exclaimed Frank. "Business first, and love
afterwards—as my dear lamented friend the Prince of Cochin-China used to
say when we were intimate together in Paris, before he hung himself for
love in his garters."
"Did he, though?" cried the lady's-maid. "How shocking!"
"Shocking enough, my dear. But pray tell me what you have to say about
Miss Mordaunt."
"Why, sir," resumed Charlotte, "this evening when I was dressing her for
dinner, she began to sound me about how I liked my place in Lady
Hatfield's service, and whether I should be glad to better myself. So,
keeping in mind what you had told me to do, I seemed to fall in to all
she asked me, and gave her to understand that I shouldn't object to
better myself. Then she began to simper and smile, and at last let out
plump that she was going to run away with a gentleman—but she didn't say
who—to-morrow night."
"That gentleman, my dear, is an uncle of mine," said Curtis.
"I'll be bound, then, it's the same Sir Christopher Blunt——"
"The very same, my dear. But go on: you speak almost as well as I did
when I was in Parliament—or as my uncle the Earl of Dumplington."
"Do I, though? Well," continued Charlotte, "and so Miss Mordaunt told me
how she couldn't think of travelling alone with the gentleman, and that
she must have a lady's-maid——"
"And you agreed to go with her?" cried Frank.
"I did," answered Charlotte; "and we settled and arranged every thing
quite comfortable."
"Did she tell you where she is to meet my uncle to-morrow night?"
inquired Frank.
"No: but she told me to mind and be ready to leave in the evening at
about seven o'clock," returned Charlotte.
"Well—fortunately I _do_ know where they are to meet—and that's close by
the turnpike at Islington Green," said Frank. "She's to go up in a
hackney-coach, and be there punctual at eight o'clock; and the old chap
is to have the post-chaise and four in readiness. Doesn't he already
fancy himself tearing along the great north road, as if the devil was
after him! And so nice too did he arrange his plans with his Julia, that
there's to be a supper prepared for them at St. Alban's—and off again!
Egad! he's settled it pleasant enough: but I'll be even with him!"
"What do you intend to do?" asked Charlotte.
Curtis did not immediately reply; but, after a few moments'
consideration, he abruptly exclaimed, "Can you trust any female friend
of yours in this business?"
"Well—I don't know—unless it is my own sister Alice, which is a very
nice girl, and will do any thing I tell her," was the reply.
"The very thing!" ejaculated Frank. "Is she out at service?"
"No—she's at home with mother," answered Charlotte.
"And will she just consent to take a short ride in a post-chaise and
four along with you, if I give her a five-pound note?" demanded Frank.
"To be sure she will," returned Charlotte, who, with the quickness of
female perception, began to comprehend Mr. Curtis's design.
"Then I'll tell you how we must contrive it," said Frank. "It's of the
greatest consequence to me, my dear, to prevent this marriage: and if I
can only expose my stupid old uncle, I shall fairly laugh him out of it.
Now, don't you think you could manage to pass yourself off as his Julia,
and get your sister to play the part of yourself, as far as St. Alban's?
and I would be there with three or four friends of mine—all jolly
dogs—ready to receive Sir Christopher and you girls. You might cover
your face well with a thick veil; and as he will be sure to hurry you
into the post-chaise the moment you get down from the hackney-coach just
beyond the turnpike on the Green, you needn't speak a word. Then you can
pretend to be so overcome with fear and anxiety——"
"Oh! leave all that to me!" exclaimed Charlotte, who relished the joke
amazingly. "But what shall I do about my place at Lady Hatfield's?"
"Deuce take your place, my dear!" cried Frank. "I'll secure beautiful
lodgings for you in some nice, quiet, retired street at the West End,
and you shall be as happy as the day's long. We'll have such fun
together—and I'll take you to plays and all kinds of amusements. Lord
bless you! I think no more of a cool thousand or two than I should of
blowing out a chap's brains if he was to insult you."
"Oh! dear me, don't talk so horrid!" exclaimed Charlotte, laughing. "And
you really will do all you say—if I help you in this business?"
"Yes—and much more," returned Frank. "And now the only thing to manage,
is to prevent Miss Mordaunt keeping the appointment by herself. Oh! I
have it!" he exclaimed, after a minute's reflection. "I can imitate my
uncle's handwriting to a _t_. He writes just as if he had a skewer
instead of a pen—and so do I, for that matter. So I'll just tip Miss
Julia a note to-morrow afternoon about four, as if it came from Sir
Christopher; and I'll tell her in it that the elopement must be
postponed until the next night. Egad! this is a stroke of policy that
beats hollow any thing my cousin the Duke of Dumplington ever did."
"I thought he was your uncle, sir?" remarked Charlotte.
"I meant my uncle, love," replied Frank: "but it's all the same. The
Marquis of Dumplington is my relation—and that's enough. And now, my
sweet creature, that we have settled all this business—suppose we
adjourn to a nice quiet place that I know——"
"But I must see my sister to-night and tell her all that there is to be
done," interrupted Charlotte.
The fact is that the pretty lady's-maid had kept the appointment given
her by Frank Curtis, with the full intention of abandoning her person to
him; for she was alike wanton in her passions and mercenary in her
disposition; and the five guineas which he had given her in the morning
had stimulated her with the desire of making farther inroads upon his
purse. Nay—she had even hoped that he would fulfil the sort of promise
he had given her at their previous interview, and, in plain terms,
establish her as his mistress in a comfortable manner. But the intrigue
just concocted for the purpose of defeating the matrimonial design of
Miss Mordaunt and Sir Christopher Blunt, had engendered new ideas in the
breast of the lady's-maid; and she resolved that her intimacy with Mr.
Curtis should progress no farther for the present.
The young man, who at this moment cared much more for the success of his
scheme against his uncle than for the attractions of Miss Charlotte
Styles, willingly allowed her to repair at once to the abode of her
mother for the purpose of tutoring Alice how to play the part which that
younger sister was to enact in the great drama planned by Mr. Curtis.
Charlotte accordingly separated from Frank, with a promise to write to
him if any thing should go wrong; but with an understanding, on the
other hand, that her silence was to be construed by him into a proof
that all was progressing favourably to his views.