Strange Pages from Family PapersThiselton-Dyer, T. F. (Thomas Firminger)
History
Strange Pages from Family Papers
Thiselton-Dyer, T. F. (Thomas Firminger)
Legends; Superstition
It so happened that Lady Hamilton had a daughter, Christian, who was
noted for her rare beauty and high spirit. But, unfortunately, she was
a girl of strong passion, which, added to her self-will, caused her,
when she had barely arrived at a marriageable age, to engage herself
to one James Nimmo, the son of an Edinburgh merchant. Before many
weeks had elapsed, the young couple were married, and the handsome
young wife was settled in her new home in Edinburgh. Time wore on, the
novelty of marriage died away, and as Mrs. Nimmo dwelt on her
mercantile surroundings, she recognised more and more what an
ill-assorted match she had made, and in her excitable mind, "she
cursed the bond which connected her with a man whose social position
she despised, and whose occupations she scorned." The report, however,
of her uncommon beauty, could not fail to reach the ears of young Lord
Forrester, who on the score of relationship was often attracted to
Mrs. Nimmo's house. At first he was received with coldness, but, by
flattering and appealing to her vanity, he gradually "accomplished the
ruin of this unhappy young woman," and made her the victim of his
licentious and unprincipled designs.
But no long time had elapsed when this shameful intrigue became the
subject of common talk, and public indignation took the side of the
injured woman, when Lord Forrester, after getting tired of her, "was
so cruel and base as to speak of her openly in the most opprobrious
manner," even alluding to her criminal connection with him. In so
doing, however, he had not taken into consideration the violent
character of the woman he had wronged, nor thought he of her jealousy,
wounded pride, and despair. In his haste, also, to rid himself of the
woman who no longer fascinated him, he paid no heed to the passion
that was lurking in her inflamed bosom, nor counted on her _spretae
injuria formae_.
On the other hand, whilst he was forgetting the past in his orgies,
Mrs. Nimmo--whose love for him was turned to the bitterest hate--was
hourly reproaching him, and at last the fatal moment arrived when she
felt bound to proceed to Corstorphine Castle, and confront her
evil-doer. At the time, Lord Forrester was drinking at the village
tavern, and, when the infuriated woman demanded to see him, he was
flushed with claret, and himself in no amiable mood. The altercation,
naturally, "soon became violent, bitter reproaches were uttered on the
one side, and contemptuous sneers on the other." Goaded to frenzy, the
unhappy woman stabbed her paramour to the heart, killing him
instantly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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