k as pale as ashes, and the
small delicate ear glowing like fire. The sun was far to the westward,
and streaming in across the open space of the square, poured through
the window upon her beautiful form, which, even under the pressure of
deep grief, fell naturally into lines of the most perfect grace.
But the same evening light poured across also, and streamed full upon
the face and form of the Earl of Byerdale, who seemed to have totally
forgotten, in excess of rage, the calm command over himself which he
usually exercised even in moments of the greatest excitement. His lip
was quivering, his brow was contracted, his eye was rolling with
strong passion, his hand was clenched; and at the moment that Laura
and the Duke went round the table from the door towards the side of
the room on which were Lord Sherbrooke and his wife, the Earl was
shaking his clenched hand at his son, accompanying by that gesture of
wrath the most terrible denunciations upon his head.
"Yes, sir, yes!" he exclaimed. "I tell you my curse is upon you! I
divorce myself from your mother's memory! I cast you off, and
abandon you for ever! Think not that I will have pity upon you, when
I see your open-mouthed creditors swallowing you up living, and
dooming you to a prison for life. May an eternal curse fall upon me,
if ever I relieve you with a shilling even to buy you bread! See if
the man in whose house you have sought shelter--see if this Earl of
Sunbury, with whom, doubtless, you have been plotting your father's
destruction--see if this undermining politician, this diplomatic
mole, will give you means to pay your debts, or furnish you with
bread to feed yourself and your pretty companion there! No, sir, no!
Lead forth, to the beggary to which you have brought her, the
beggarly offspring of that runagate Jacobite! Lead her forth, and
with a train of babies at your heels, sing French ballads in the
streets to gain yourself subsistence.--You thought that I had no clue
to your proceedings. I fancied she was your mistress, and that
mattered little, for it is the only thing fitted for the beggarly
exile's daughter. But since she is your wife, look to it to provide
for her yourself!"
He must have heard somebody enter the room, but he turned not the
least in that direction, carried away by the awful whirlwind of his
fury. He was even still going on, without looking round; but it was a
woman's voice, the voice of a gentle, but noble-hearted woman that
stopped him. Lady Laura, the moment she