Ashcliffe Hall: A tale of the last centuryHolt, Emily Sarah
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Ashcliffe Hall: A tale of the last century
Holt, Emily Sarah
England -- Social life and customs -- 18th century -- Fiction; Historical fiction; Religious fiction
Two months afterwards came a letter to Squire Passmore, bearing
neither date nor signature. Though Edward's hand was unknown to her,
Celia claimed the precious paper at once.
"DEAR SISTER,--Last night I landed at Corunna. I shall be safe for
the present, and the Lord is ever with me. Thank better than I could
all who helped me. You will know from whom this comes. Love to both
of you. God keep you!"
Celia carried the paper to Patient, whom she guessed to be included
with herself in the "both of you."
"Thank you, Madam!" said Patient, when she had read it. "'Tis a
comfort to hear that he is in safety. Yet I cannot forget that the
Lord hath showed unto me that he shall die in the flower of his age."
The 5th of June 1721, was Celia's thirtieth birth-day. She was
seated at work in the parlor with Madam Passmore and Lucy, when a
ring at the great bell summoned Robert to the front door, and was
followed by his announcement of "Mr. Colville." Celia looked up in
surprise to see if Philip's friend had sought her out. No; this was
certainly not her pantheist adversary. He was a smaller and slighter
man, with a much pleasanter expression of face than his namesake, yet
with the same pale blue eyes and flaxen hair, and some resemblance in
the features.
"Mrs. Ingram?" he asked, a little doubtfully, with a smile and a low
bow. "Mrs. Celia Ingram?"
Celia rose to receive him, wondering all the time who he was and what
he wanted with her.
"That is my name, Sir," she said, a little timidly. "I once knew a
Mr. Colville in Paris"--
"Who was my brother," said the visitor, in explanation. "It was
Arthur Colville whom you met in Paris. I am David Colville. I have
been commissioned to give something into your hands, and none
other's, the signification of which I believe you know. I received
it at Barcelona on the 18th of January last."
And he drew a pocket-book from his breast-pocket, out of which he
took and held forward to Celia something which brought a pang to her
heart and a cry of pain to her lips. It was the Ingram heirloom,
Lady Griselda's ruby ring, which was to be the signal to Edward
Ingram's sister that he had entered into his rest.
"When was this?" she faltered at last.
"At Barcelona, on the 18th of January," David Colville repeated. "I
had met him, for I also was journeying in Spain, three weeks before.
I saw the end was near, and I stayed with him and tended him till he
died."
"Where is he buried?"
"The Spaniards allow no burial to heretics, Madam--not more than they
allow to a horse or a dog. He lies in a quiet meadow near the inn at
Barcelona. I took care of that."
"Thank you!" murmured Celia; "but no burial-service--O Edward!"
The soft answer from David Colville almost startled her--"'Thy
brother shall rise again.'"[9]
"Yes, I know," she said. "And you, Mr. Colville--you do not share
your brother's philosophical views?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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