Page:The house of Cecil.djvu/158

 134 THE CECILS

to a worthy but elderly invalid, Viscount Scuda- more, her great beauty inflamed the ardour of Thomas (afterwards Lord) Coningsby, to whose importunities she at last yielded. 1 The guilty pair were surprised by Mrs. Coningsby, from whose fury they fled on horseback the lady in the scantiest attire. As soon as he discovered their flight, Lord Scudamore, " full of pity for his wife's youth and frailty, resolved to tear her from that infamy she was pursuing," and sent his servants in all directions in pursuit of the fugitives. They were soon tracked to an inn some thirty miles distant, whereupon Coningsby pre- cipitately mounted his horse and fled, leaving Frances to her fate. Disgusted at his cowardice, and now full of remorse, the unfortunate lady returned to her husband, who " received her with tears of tenderness and commiseration," and proceeded to bring an action against Coningsby " for invading his property." The villain, how- ever, " did not scruple at all to sacrifice her fame to his own security," and had the effrontery to plead that the lady ran away with him. This cowardly behaviour, we are told, " so far ruined his credit with the ladies, that he was forced to be regular, and confine his caresses to his wife. The meanest woman would not be brought to trust him for fear he should betray her, and report as before, that she had seduced him." He was a

1 The story is told at great length in Mrs. Manley's New Atlantis, II. 217 240, and, if the details are more picturesque than accurate, the main outline is true to fact.

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