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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Clarimonde, by Théophile Gautier
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Clarimonde
+
+Author: Théophile Gautier
+
+Translator: Lafcadio Hearn
+
+Release Date: September 18, 2007 [EBook #22661]
+Last Updated: October 1, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLARIMONDE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+CLARIMONDE
+
+By Théophile Gautier
+
+Translated By Lafcadio Hearn
+
+1908
+
+
+Brother, you ask me if I have ever loved. Yes. My story is a strange and
+terrible one; and though I am sixty-six years of age, I scarcely dare
+even now to disturb the ashes of that memory. To you I can refuse
+nothing; but I should not relate such a tale to any less experienced
+mind. So strange were the circumstances of my story, that I can scarcely
+believe myself to have ever actually been a party to them. For more
+than three years I remained the victim of a most singular and diabolical
+illusion. Poor country priest though I was, I led every night in a
+dream--would to God it had been all a dream!--a most worldly life, a
+damning life, a life of Sardanapalus. One single look too freely cast
+upon a woman well-nigh caused me to lose my soul; but finally by the
+grace of God and the assistance of my patron saint, I succeeded in
+casting out the evil spirit that possessed me. My daily life was long
+interwoven with a nocturnal life of a totally different character. By
+day I was a priest of the Lord, occupied with prayer and sacred things;
+by night, from the instant that I closed my eyes I became a young
+nobleman, a fine connoisseur in women, dogs, and horses; gambling,
+drinking, and blaspheming; and when I awoke at early daybreak, it seemed
+to me, on the other hand, that I had been sleeping, and had only dreamed
+that I was a priest. Of this somnambulistic life there now remains to me
+only the recollection of certain scenes and words which I cannot banish
+from my memory; but although I never actually left the walls of my
+presbytery, one would think to hear me speak that I were a man who,
+weary of all worldly pleasures, had become a religious, seeking to end a
+tempestuous life in the service of God, rather than a humble seminarist
+who has grown old in this obscure curacy, situated in the depths of the
+woods and even isolated from the life of the century.
+
+Yes, I have loved as none in the world ever loved--with an insensate
+and furious passion--so violent that I am astonished it did not cause my
+heart to burst asunder. Ah, what nights--what nights!
+
+From my earliest childhood I had felt a vocation to the priesthood, so
+that all my studies were directed with that idea in view. Up to the
+age of twenty-four my life had been only a prolonged novitiate. Having
+completed my course of theology I successively received all the minor
+orders, and my superiors judged me worthy, despite my youth, to pass the
+last awful degree. My ordination was fixed for Easter week.
+
+I had never gone into the world. My world was confined by the walls of
+the college and the seminary. I knew in a vague sort of a way that there
+was something called Woman, but I never permitted my thoughts to dwell
+on such a subject, and I lived in a state of perfect innocence. Twice
+a year only I saw my infirm and aged mother, and in those visits were
+comprised my sole relations with the outer world.
+
+I regretted nothing; I felt not the least hesitation at taking the last
+irrevocable step; I was filled with joy and impatience. Never did a
+betrothed lover count the slow hours with more feverish ardour; I slept
+only to dream that I was saying mass; I believed there could be nothing
+in the world more delightful than to be a priest; I would have refused
+to be a king or a poet in preference. My ambition could conceive of no
+loftier aim.
+
+I tell you this in order to show you that what happened to me could
+not have happened in the natural order of things, and to enable you to
+understand that I was the victim of an inexplicable fascination.
+
+At last the great day came. I walked to the church with a step so light
+that I fancied myself sustained in air, or that I had wings upon my
+shoulders. I believed myself an angel, and wondered at the sombre and
+thoughtful faces of my companions, for there were several of us. I
+had passed all the night in prayer, and was in a condition wellnigh
+bordering on ecstasy. The bishop, a venerable old man, seemed to me God
+the Father leaning over His Eternity, and I beheld Heaven through the
+vault of the temple.
+
+You well know the details of that ceremony--the benediction, the
+communion under both forms, the anointing of the palms of the hands with
+the Oil of Catechumens, and then the holy sacrifice offered in concert
+with the bishop.
+
+Ah, truly spake Job when he declared that the imprudent man is one who
+hath not made a covenant with his eyes! I accidentally lifted my head,
+which until then I had kept down, and beheld before me, so close that
+it seemed that I could have touched her--although she was actually a
+considerable distance from me and on the further side of the sanctuary
+railing--a young woman of extraordinary beauty, and attired with royal
+magnificence. It seemed as though scales had suddenly fallen from my
+eyes. I felt like a blind man who unexpectedly recovers his sight. The
+bishop, so radiantly glorious but an instant before, suddenly vanished
+away, the tapers paled upon their golden candlesticks like stars in the
+dawn, and a vast darkness seemed to fill the whole church. The charming
+creature appeared in bright relief against the background of that
+darkness, like some angelic revelation. She seemed herself radiant, and
+radiating light rather than receiving it.
+
+I lowered my eyelids, firmly resolved not to again open them, that
+I might not be influenced by external objects, for distraction had
+gradually taken possession of me until I hardly knew what I was doing.
+
+In another minute, nevertheless, I reopened my eyes, for through my
+eyelashes I still beheld her, all sparkling with prismatic colours, and
+surrounded with such a penumbra as one beholds in gazing at the sun.
+
+Oh, how beautiful she was! The greatest painters, who followed ideal
+beauty into heaven itself, and thence brought back to earth the true
+portrait of the Madonna, never in their delineations even approached
+that wildly beautiful reality which I saw before me. Neither the verses
+of the poet nor the palette of the artist could convey any conception
+of her. She was rather tall, with a form and bearing of a goddess. Her
+hair, of a soft blonde hue, was parted in the midst and flowed back over
+her temples in two rivers of rippling gold; she seemed a diademed
+queen. Her forehead, bluish-white in its transparency, extended its calm
+breadth above the arches of her eyebrows, which by a strange singularity
+were almost black, and admirably relieved the effect of sea-green eyes
+of unsustainable vivacity and brilliancy. What eyes! With a single flash
+they could have decided a man’s destiny. They had a life, a limpidity,
+an ardour, a humid light which I have never seen in human eyes; they
+shot forth rays like arrows, which I could distinctly _see_ enter my
+heart. I know not if the fire which illumined them came from heaven or
+from hell, but assuredly it came from one or the other. That woman was
+either an angel or a demon, perhaps both. Assuredly she never sprang
+from the flank of Eve, our common mother. Teeth of the most lustrous
+pearl gleamed in her ruddy smile, and at every inflection of her lips
+little dimples appeared in the satiny rose of her adorable cheeks. There
+was a delicacy and pride in the regal outline of her nostrils bespeaking
+noble blood. Agate gleams played over the smooth lustrous skin of her
+half-bare shoulders, and strings of great blonde pearls--almost equal
+to her neck in beauty of colour--descended upon her bosom. From time
+to time she elevated her head with the undulating grace of a startled
+serpent or peacock, thereby imparting a quivering motion to the high
+lace ruff which surrounded it like a silver trellis-work.
+
+She wore a robe of orange-red velvet, and from her wide ermine-lined
+sleeves there peeped forth patrician hands of infinite delicacy, and so
+ideally transparent that, like the fingers of Aurora, they permitted the
+light to shine through them.
+
+All these details I can recollect at this moment as plainly as though
+they were of yesterday, for notwithstanding I was greatly troubled at
+the time, nothing escaped me; the faintest touch of shading, the little
+dark speck at the point of the chin, the imperceptible down at the
+corners of the lips, the velvety floss upon the brow, the quivering
+shadows of the eyelashes upon the cheeks--I could notice everything with
+astonishing lucidity of perception.
+
+And gazing I felt opening within me gates that had until then remained
+closed; vents long obstructed became all clear, permitting glimpses of
+unfamiliar perspectives within; life suddenly made itself visible to me
+under a totally novel aspect. I felt as though I had just been born into
+a new world and a new order of things. A frightful anguish commenced to
+torture-my heart as with red-hot pincers. Every successive minute seemed
+to me at once but a second and yet a century. Meanwhile the ceremony was
+proceeding, and I shortly found myself transported far from that world
+of which my newly born desires were furiously besieging the entrance.
+Nevertheless I answered ‘Yes’ when I wished to say ‘No,’ though all
+within me protested against the violence done to my soul by my tongue.
+Some occult power seemed to force the words from my throat against my
+will. Thus it is, perhaps, that so many young girls walk to the altar
+firmly resolved to refuse in a startling manner the husband imposed
+upon them, and that yet not one ever fulfils her intention. Thus it is,
+doubtless, that so many poor novices take the veil, though they have
+resolved to tear it into shreds at the moment when called upon to utter
+the vows. One dares not thus cause so great a scandal to all present,
+nor deceive the expectation of so many people. All those eyes, all those
+wills seem to weigh down upon you like a cope of lead, and, moreover,
+measures have been so well taken, everything has been so thoroughly
+arranged beforehand and after a fashion so evidently irrevocable, that
+the will yields to the weight of circumstances and utterly breaks down.
+
+As the ceremony proceeded the features of the fair unknown changed their
+expression. Her look had at first been one of caressing tenderness;
+it changed to an air of disdain and of mortification, as though at not
+having been able to make itself understood.
+
+With an effort of will sufficient to have uprooted a mountain, I strove
+to cry out that I would not be a priest, but I could not speak; my
+tongue seemed nailed to my palate, and I found it impossible to express
+my will by the least syllable of negation. Though fully awake, I felt
+like one under the influence of a nightmare, who vainly strives to
+shriek out the one word upon which life depends.
+
+She seemed conscious of the martyrdom I was undergoing, and, as though
+to encourage me, she gave me a look replete with divinest promise. Her
+eyes were a poem; their every glance was a song.
+
+She said to me:
+
+‘If thou wilt be mine, I shall make thee happier than God Himself in His
+paradise. The angels themselves will be jealous of thee. Tear off that
+funeral shroud in which thou art about to wrap thyself. I am Beauty, I
+am Youth, I am Life. Come to me! Together we shall be Love. Can Jehovah
+offer thee aught in exchange? Our lives will flow on like a dream, in
+one eternal kiss.
+
+‘Fling forth the wine of that chalice, and thou art free. I will conduct
+thee to the Unknown Isles. Thou shalt sleep in my bosom upon a bed of
+massy gold under a silver pavilion, for I love thee and would take thee
+away from thy God, before whom so many noble hearts pour forth floods of
+love which never reach even the steps of His throne!’
+
+These words seemed to float to my ears in a rhythm of infinite
+sweetness, for her look was actually sonorous, and the utterances of her
+eyes were reechoed in the depths of my heart as though living lips had
+breathed them into my life. I felt myself willing to renounce God,
+and yet my tongue mechanically fulfilled all the formalities of
+the ceremony. The fair one gave me another look, so beseeching, so
+despairing that keen blades seemed to pierce my heart, and I felt my
+bosom transfixed by more swords than those of Our Lady of Sorrows.
+
+All was consummated; I had become a priest.
+
+Never was deeper anguish painted on human face than upon hers. The
+maiden who beholds her affianced lover suddenly fall dead at her side,
+the mother bending over the empty cradle of her child, Eve seated at
+the threshold of the gate of Paradise, the miser who finds a stone
+substituted for his stolen treasure, the poet who accidentally permits
+the only manuscript of his finest work to fall into the fire, could not
+wear a look so despairing, so inconsolable. All the blood had abandoned
+her charming face, leaving it whiter than marble; her beautiful arms
+hung lifelessly on either side of her body as though their muscles
+had suddenly relaxed, and she sought the support of a pillar, for her
+yielding limbs almost betrayed her. As for myself, I staggered toward
+the door of the church, livid as death, my forehead bathed with a sweat
+bloodier than that of Calvary; I felt as though I were being strangled;
+the vault seemed to have flattened down upon my shoulders, and it seemed
+to me that my head alone sustained the whole weight of the dome.
+
+As I was about to cross the threshold a hand suddenly caught mine--a
+woman’s hand! I had never till then touched the hand of any woman.
+It was cold as a serpent’s skin, and yet its impress remained upon my
+wrist, burnt there as though branded by a glowing iron. It was she.
+‘Unhappy man! Unhappy man! What hast thou done?’ she exclaimed in a low
+voice, and immediately disappeared in the crowd.
+
+The aged bishop passed by. He cast a severe and scrutinising look upon
+me. My face presented the wildest aspect imaginable: I blushed and
+turned pale alternately; dazzling lights flashed before my eyes. A
+companion took pity on me. He seized my arm and led me out. I could
+not possibly have found my way back to the seminary unassisted. At the
+corner of a street, while the young priest’s attention was momentarily
+turned in another direction, a negro page, fantastically garbed,
+approached me, and without pausing on his way slipped into my hand
+a little pocket-book with gold-embroidered corners, at the same time
+giving me a sign to hide it. I concealed it in my sleeve, and there kept
+it until I found myself alone in my cell. Then I opened the clasp. There
+were only two leaves within, bearing the words, ‘Clarimonde. At the
+Concini Palace.’ So little acquainted was I at that time with the things
+of this world that I had never heard of Clarimonde, celebrated as she
+was, and I had no idea as to where the Concini Palace was situated. I
+hazarded a thousand conjectures, each more extravagant than the last;
+but, in truth, I cared little whether she were a great lady or a
+courtesan, so that I could but see her once more.
+
+My love, although the growth of a single hour, had taken imperishable
+root. I did not even dream of attempting to tear it up, so fully was I
+convinced such a thing would be impossible. That woman had completely
+taken possession of me. One look from her had sufficed to change my very
+nature. She had breathed her will into my life, and I no longer lived
+in myself, but in her and for her. I gave myself up to a thousand
+extravagancies. I kissed the place upon my hand which she had touched,
+and I repeated her name over and over again for hours in succession. I
+only needed to close my eyes in order to see her distinctly as though
+she were actually present; and I reiterated to myself the words she had
+uttered in my ear at the church porch: ‘Unhappy man! Unhappy man! What
+hast thou done?’ I comprehended at last the full horror of my situation,
+and the funereal and awful restraints of the state into which I had just
+entered became clearly revealed to me. To be a priest!--that is, to be
+chaste, to never love, to observe no distinction of sex or age, to turn
+from the sight of all beauty, to put out one’s own eyes, to hide for
+ever crouching in the chill shadows of some church or cloister, to visit
+none but the dying, to watch by unknown corpses, and ever bear about
+with one the black soutane as a garb of mourning for oneself, so that
+your very dress might serve as a pall for your coffin.
+
+And I felt life rising within me like a subterranean lake, expanding
+and overflowing; my blood leaped fiercely through my arteries; my
+long-restrained youth suddenly burst into active being, like the aloe
+which blooms but once in a hundred years, and then bursts into blossom
+with a clap of thunder.
+
+What could I do in order to see Clarimonde once more? I had no pretext
+to offer for desiring to leave the seminary, not knowing any person in
+the city. I would not even be able to remain there but a short time,
+and was only waiting my assignment to the curacy which I must thereafter
+occupy. I tried to remove the bars of the window; but it was at a
+fearful height from the ground, and I found that as I had no ladder it
+would be useless to think of escaping thus. And, furthermore, I could
+descend thence only by night in any event, and afterward how should I be
+able to find my way through the inextricable labyrinth of streets?
+All these difficulties, which to many would have appeared altogether
+insignificant, were gigantic to me, a poor seminarist who had fallen in
+love only the day before for the first time, without experience, without
+money, without attire.
+
+‘Ah!’ cried I to myself in my blindness, ‘were I not a priest I could
+have seen her every day; I might have been her lover, her spouse.
+Instead of being wrapped in this dismal shroud of mine I would have had
+garments of silk and velvet, golden chains, a sword, and fair plumes
+like other handsome young cavaliers. My hair, instead of being
+dishonoured by the tonsure, would flow down upon my neck in waving
+curls; I would have a fine waxed moustache; I would be a gallant.’ But
+one hour passed before an altar, a few hastily articulated words, had
+for ever cut me off from the number of the living, and I had myself
+sealed down the stone of my own tomb; I had with my own hand bolted the
+gate of my prison! I went to the window. The sky was beautifully blue;
+the trees had donned their spring robes; nature seemed to be making
+parade of an ironical joy. The _Place_ was filled with people, some
+going, others coming; young beaux and young beauties were sauntering in
+couples toward the groves and gardens; merry youths passed by, cheerily
+trolling refrains of drinking-songs--it was all a picture of vivacity,
+life, animation, gaiety, which formed a bitter contrast with my mourning
+and my solitude. On the steps of the gate sat a young mother playing
+with her child. She kissed its little rosy mouth still impearled with
+drops of milk, and performed, in order to amuse it, a thousand divine
+little puerilities such as only mothers know how to invent. The father
+standing at a little distance smiled gently upon the charming group, and
+with folded arms seemed to hug his joy to his heart. I could not endure
+that spectacle. I closed the window with violence, and flung myself on
+my bed, my heart filled with frightful hate and jealousy, and gnawed my
+fingers and my bedcovers like a tiger that has passed ten days without
+food.
+
+I know not how long I remained in this condition, but at last, while
+writhing on the bed in a fit of spasmodic fury, I suddenly perceived
+the Abbé Sérapion, who was standing erect in the centre of the room,
+watching me attentively. Filled with shame of myself, I let my head fall
+upon my breast and covered my face with my hands.
+
+‘Romuald, my friend, something very extraordinary is transpiring within
+you,’ observed Sérapion, after a few moments’ silence; ‘your conduct is
+altogether inexplicable. You--always so quiet, so pious, so gentle--you
+to rage in your cell like a wild beast! Take heed, brother--do not
+listen to the suggestions of the devil The Evil Spirit, furious that you
+have consecrated yourself for ever to the Lord, is prowling around you
+like a ravening wolf and making a last effort to obtain possession of
+you. Instead of allowing yourself to be conquered, my dear Romuald,
+make to yourself a cuirass of prayers, a buckler of mortifications, and
+combat the enemy like a valiant man; you will then assuredly overcome
+him. Virtue must be proved by temptation, and gold comes forth purer
+from the hands of the assayer. Fear not. Never allow yourself to become
+discouraged. The most watchful and steadfast souls are at moments liable
+to such temptation. Pray, fast, meditate, and the Evil Spirit will
+depart from you.’
+
+The words of the Abbé Sérapion restored me to myself, and I became a
+little more calm. ‘I came,’ he continued, ‘to tell you that you have
+been appointed to the curacy of C------. The priest who had charge of
+it has just died, and Monseigneur the Bishop has ordered me to have you
+installed there at once. Be ready, therefore, to start to-morrow.’
+I responded with an inclination of the head, and the Abbé retired. I
+opened my missal and commenced reading some prayers, but the letters
+became confused and blurred under my eyes, the thread of the ideas
+entangled itself hopelessly in my brain, and the volume at last fell
+from my hands without my being aware of it.
+
+To leave to-morrow without having been able to see her again, to add yet
+another barrier to the many already interposed between us, to lose
+for ever all hope of being able to meet her, except, indeed, through a
+miracle! Even to write to her, alas! would be impossible, for by whom
+could I dispatch my letter? With my sacred character of priest, to whom
+could I dare unbosom myself, in whom could I confide? I became a prey to
+the bitterest anxiety.
+
+Then suddenly recurred to me the words of the Abbé Sérapion regarding
+the artifices of the devil; and the strange character of the adventure,
+the supernatural beauty of Clarimonde, the phosphoric light of her eyes,
+the burning imprint of her hand, the agony into which she had thrown
+me, the sudden change wrought within me when all my piety vanished in a
+single instant--these and other things clearly testified to the work
+of the Evil One, and perhaps that satiny hand was but the glove which
+concealed his claws. Filled with terror at these fancies, I again picked
+up the missal which had slipped from my knees and fallen upon the floor,
+and once more gave myself up to prayer.
+
+Next morning Sérapion came to take me away. Two mules freighted with
+our miserable valises awaited us at the gate. He mounted one, and I the
+other as well as I knew how.
+
+As we passed along the streets of the city, I gazed attentively at all
+the windows and balconies in the hope of seeing Clarimonde, but it was
+yet early in the morning, and the city had hardly opened its eyes. Mine
+sought to penetrate the blinds and window-curtains of all the palaces
+before which we were passing. Sérapion doubtless attributed this
+curiosity to my admiration of the architecture, for he slackened the
+pace of his animal in order to give me time to look around me. At last
+we passed the city gates and commenced to mount the hill beyond. When
+we arrived at its summit I turned to take a last look at the place where
+Clarimonde dwelt. The shadow of a great cloud hung over all the city;
+the contrasting colours of its blue and red roofs were lost in the
+uniform half-tint, through which here and there floated upward, like
+white flakes of foam, the smoke of freshly kindled fires. By a
+singular optical effect one edifice, which surpassed in height all the
+neighbouring buildings that were still dimly veiled by the vapours,
+towered up, fair and lustrous with the gilding of a solitary beam of
+sunlight--although actually more than a league away it seemed
+quite near. The smallest details of its architecture were plainly
+distinguishable--the turrets, the platforms, the window-casements, and
+even the swallow-tailed weather-vanes.
+
+‘What is that palace I see over there, all lighted up by the sun?’ I
+asked Sérapion. He shaded his eyes with his hand, and having looked in
+the direction indicated, replied: ‘It is the ancient palace which the
+Prince Concini has given to the courtesan Clarimonde. Awful things are
+done there!’
+
+At that instant, I know not yet whether it was a reality or an illusion,
+I fancied I saw gliding along the terrace a shapely white figure,
+which gleamed for a moment in passing and as quickly vanished. It was
+Clarimonde.
+
+Oh, did she know that at that very hour, all feverish and restless--from
+the height of the rugged road which separated me from her, and which,
+alas! I could never more descend--I was directing my eyes upon the
+palace where she dwelt, and which a mocking beam of sunlight seemed to
+bring nigh to me, as though inviting me to enter therein as its lord?
+Undoubtedly she must have known it, for her soul was too sympathetically
+united with mine not to have felt its least emotional thrill, and that
+subtle sympathy it must have been which prompted her to climb--although
+clad only in her nightdress--to the summit of the terrace, amid the icy
+dews of the morning.
+
+The shadow gained the palace, and the scene became to the eye only
+a motionless ocean of roofs and gables, amid which one mountainous
+undulation was distinctly visible. Sérapion urged his mule forward, my
+own at once followed at the same gait, and a sharp angle in the road at
+last hid the city of S------ for ever from my eyes, as I was destined
+never to return thither. At the close of a weary three-days’ journey
+through dismal country fields, we caught sight of the cock upon the
+steeple of the church which I was to take charge of, peeping above
+the trees, and after having followed some winding roads fringed with
+thatched cottages and little gardens, we found ourselves in front of the
+façade, which certainly possessed few features of magnificence. A porch
+ornamented with some mouldings, and two or three pillars rudely hewn
+from sandstone; a tiled roof with counterforts of the same sandstone as
+the pillars--that was all. To the left lay the cemetery, overgrown with
+high weeds, and having a great iron cross rising up in its centre; to
+the right stood the presbytery under the shadow of the church. It was a
+house of the most extreme simplicity and frigid cleanliness. We entered
+the enclosure. A few chickens were picking up some oats scattered upon
+the ground; accustomed, seemingly, to the black habit of ecclesiastics,
+they showed no fear of our presence and scarcely troubled themselves to
+get out of our way. A hoarse, wheezy barking fell upon our ears, and we
+saw an aged dog running toward us.
+
+It was my predecessor’s dog. He had dull bleared eyes, grizzled hair,
+and every mark of the greatest age to which a dog can possibly attain.
+I patted him gently, and he proceeded at once to march along beside me
+with an air of satisfaction unspeakable. A very old woman, who had been
+the housekeeper of the former curé, also came to meet us, and after
+having invited me into a little back parlour, asked whether I intended
+to retain her. I replied that I would take care of her, and the dog, and
+the chickens, and all the furniture her master had bequeathed her at
+his death. At this she became fairly transported with joy, and the
+Abbé Sérapion at once paid her the price which she asked for her little
+property.
+
+As soon as my installation was over, the Abbé Sérapion returned to the
+seminary. I was, therefore, left alone, with no one but myself to look
+to for aid or counsel. The thought of Clarimonde again began to haunt
+me, and in spite of all my endeavours to banish it, I always found it
+present in my meditations. One evening, while promenading in my little
+garden along the walks bordered with box-plants, I fancied that I saw
+through the elm-trees the figure of a woman, who followed my every
+movement, and that I beheld two sea-green eyes gleaming through the
+foliage; but it was only an illusion, and on going round to the other
+side of the garden, I could find nothing except a footprint on the
+sanded walk--a footprint so small that it seemed to have been made
+by the foot of a child. The garden was enclosed by very high walls. I
+searched every nook and corner of it, but could discover no one there.
+I have never succeeded in fully accounting for this circumstance, which,
+after all, was nothing compared with the strange things which happened
+to me afterward.
+
+For a whole year I lived thus, filling all the duties of my calling
+with the most scrupulous exactitude, praying and fasting, exhorting and
+lending ghostly aid to the sick, and bestowing alms even to the extent
+of frequently depriving myself of the very necessaries of life. But I
+felt a great aridness within me, and the sources of grace seemed closed
+against me. I never found that happiness which should spring from the
+fulfilment of a holy mission; my thoughts were far away, and the words
+of Clarimonde were ever upon my lips like an involuntary refrain. Oh,
+brother, meditate well on this! Through having but once lifted my eyes
+to look upon a woman, through one fault apparently so venial, I have for
+years remained a victim to the most miserable agonies, and the happiness
+of my life has been destroyed for ever.
+
+I will not longer dwell upon those defeats, or on those inward victories
+invariably followed by yet more terrible falls, but will at once proceed
+to the facts of my story. One night my door-bell was long and violently
+rung. The aged housekeeper arose and opened to the stranger, and the
+figure of a man, whose complexion was deeply bronzed, and who was richly
+clad in a foreign costume, with a poniard at his girdle, appeared under
+the rays of Barbara’s lantern. Her first impulse was one of terror, but
+the stranger reassured her, and stated that he desired to see me at once
+on matters relating to my holy calling. Barbara invited him upstairs,
+where I was on the point of retiring. The stranger told me that his
+mistress, a very noble lady, was lying at the point of death, and
+desired to see a priest. I replied that I was prepared to follow him,
+took with me the sacred articles necessary for extreme unction, and
+descended in all haste. Two horses black as the night itself stood
+without the gate, pawing the ground with impatience, and veiling their
+chests with long streams of smoky vapour exhaled from their nostrils. He
+held the stirrup and aided me to mount upon one; then, merely laying his
+hand upon the pommel of the saddle, he vaulted on the other, pressed
+the animal’s sides with his knees, and loosened rein. The horse bounded
+forward with the velocity of an arrow. Mine, of which the stranger held
+the bridle, also started off at a swift gallop, keeping up with his
+companion. We devoured the road. The ground flowed backward beneath us
+in a long streaked line of pale gray, and the black silhouettes of
+the trees seemed fleeing by us on either side like an army in rout. We
+passed through a forest so profoundly gloomy that I felt my flesh creep
+in the chill darkness with superstitious fear. The showers of bright
+sparks which flew from the stony road under the ironshod feet of our
+horses remained glowing in our wake like a fiery trail; and had any one
+at that hour of the night beheld us both--my guide and myself--he must
+have taken us for two spectres riding upon nightmares. Witch-fires ever
+and anon flitted across the road before us, and the night-birds
+shrieked fearsomely in the depth of the woods beyond, where we beheld
+at intervals glow the phosphorescent eyes of wild cats. The manes of the
+horses became more and more dishevelled, the sweat streamed over their
+flanks, and their breath came through their nostrils hard and fast. But
+when he found them slacking pace, the guide reanimated them by uttering
+a strange, gutteral, unearthly cry, and the gallop recommenced with
+fury. At last the whirlwind race ceased; a huge black mass pierced
+through with many bright points of light suddenly rose before us, the
+hoofs of our horses echoed louder upon a strong wooden drawbridge, and
+we rode under a great vaulted archway which darkly yawned between two
+enormous towers. Some great excitement evidently reigned in the castle.
+Servants with torches were crossing the courtyard in every direction,
+and above lights were ascending and descending from landing to landing.
+I obtained a confused glimpse of vast masses of architecture--columns,
+arcades, flights of steps, stairways--a royal voluptuousness and elfin
+magnificence of construction worthy of fairyland. A negro page--the
+same who had before brought me the tablet from Clarimonde, and whom
+I instantly recognised--approached to aid me in dismounting, and the
+major-domo, attired in black velvet with a gold chain about his neck,
+advanced to meet me, supporting himself upon an ivory cane. Large tears
+were falling from his eyes and streaming over his cheeks and white
+beard. ‘Too late!’ he cried, sorrowfully shaking his venerable head.
+‘Too late, sir priest! But if you have not been able to save the soul,
+come at least to watch by the poor body.’
+
+He took my arm and conducted me to the death-chamber. I wept not less
+bitterly than he, for I had learned that the dead one was none other
+than that Clarimonde whom I had so deeply and so wildly loved. A
+_prie-dieu_ stood at the foot of the bed; a bluish flame flickering in a
+bronze patern filled all the room with a wan, deceptive light, here
+and there bringing out in the darkness at intervals some projection
+of furniture or cornice. In a chiselled urn upon the table there was a
+faded white rose, whose leaves--excepting one that still held--had all
+fallen, like odorous tears, to the foot of the vase. A broken black
+mask, a fan, and disguises of every variety, which were lying on the
+armchairs, bore witness that death had entered suddenly and unannounced
+into that sumptuous dwelling. Without daring to cast my eyes upon the
+bed, I knelt down and commenced to repeat the Psalms for the Dead, with
+exceeding fervour, thanking God that He had placed the tomb between
+me and the memory of this woman, so that I might thereafter be able to
+utter her name in my prayers as a name for ever sanctified by death.
+But my fervour gradually weakened, and I fell insensibly into a reverie.
+That chamber bore no semblance to a chamber of death. In lieu of the
+fetid and cadaverous odours which I had been accustomed to breathe
+during such funereal vigils, a languorous vapour of Oriental perfume--I
+know not what amorous odour of woman--softly floated through the tepid
+air. That pale light seemed rather a twilight gloom contrived for
+voluptuous pleasure, than a substitute for the yellow-flickering
+watch-tapers which shine by the side of corpses. I thought upon the
+strange destiny which enabled me to meet Clarimonde again at the very
+moment when she was lost to me for ever, and a sigh of regretful anguish
+escaped from my breast. Then it seemed to me that some one behind me
+had also sighed, and I turned round to look. It was only an echo. But in
+that moment my eyes fell upon the bed of death which they had till then
+avoided. The red damask curtains, decorated with large flowers worked in
+embroidery and looped up with gold bullion, permitted me to behold the
+fair dead, lying at full length, with hands joined upon her bosom. She
+was covered with a linen wrapping of dazzling whiteness, which formed
+a strong contrast with the gloomy purple of the hangings, and was of so
+fine a texture that it concealed nothing of her body’s charming form,
+and allowed the eye to follow those beautiful outlines--undulating like
+the neck of a swan--which even death had not robbed of their supple
+grace. She seemed an alabaster statue executed by some skilful sculptor
+to place upon the tomb of a queen, or rather, perhaps, like a slumbering
+maiden over whom the silent snow had woven a spotless veil.
+
+I could no longer maintain my constrained attitude of prayer. The air
+of the alcove intoxicated me, that febrile perfume of half-faded roses
+penetrated my very brain, and I commenced to pace restlessly up and down
+the chamber, pausing at each turn before the bier to contemplate the
+graceful corpse lying beneath the transparency of its shroud. Wild
+fancies came thronging to my brain. I thought to myself that she might
+not, perhaps, be really dead; that she might only have feigned death for
+the purpose of bringing me to her castle, and then declaring her love.
+At one time I even thought I saw her foot move under the whiteness of
+the coverings, and slightly disarrange the long straight folds of the
+winding-sheet.
+
+And then I asked myself: ‘Is this indeed Clarimonde? What proof have I
+that it is she? Might not that black page have passed into the service
+of some other lady? Surely, I must be going mad to torture and afflict
+myself thus!’ But my heart answered with a fierce throbbing: ‘It is she;
+it is she indeed!’ I approached the bed again, and fixed my eyes with
+redoubled attention upon the object of my incertitude. Ah, must I
+confess it? That exquisite perfection of bodily form, although purified
+and made sacred by the shadow of death, affected me more voluptuously
+than it should have done; and that repose so closely resembled slumber
+that one might well have mistaken it for such. I forgot that I had come
+there to perform a funeral ceremony; I fancied myself a young bridegroom
+entering the chamber of the bride, who all modestly hides her fair face,
+and through coyness seeks to keep herself wholly veiled. Heartbroken
+with grief, yet wild with hope, shuddering at once with fear and
+pleasure, I bent over her and grasped the corner of the sheet. I lifted
+it back, holding my breath all the while through fear of waking her. My
+arteries throbbed with such violence that I felt them hiss through my
+temples, and the sweat poured from my forehead in streams, as though I
+had lifted a mighty slab of marble. There, indeed, lay Clarimonde, even
+as I had seen her at the church on the day of my ordination. She was not
+less charming than then. With her, death seemed but a last coquetry. The
+pallor of her cheeks, the less brilliant carnation of her lips, her long
+eyelashes lowered and relieving their dark fringe against that white
+skin, lent her an unspeakably seductive aspect of melancholy chastity
+and mental suffering; her long loose hair, still intertwined with some
+little blue flowers, made a shining pillow for her head, and veiled the
+nudity of her shoulders with its thick ringlets; her beautiful hands,
+purer, more diaphanous, than the Host, were crossed on her bosom in an
+attitude of pious rest and silent prayer, which served to counteract all
+that might have proven otherwise too alluring--even after death--in the
+exquisite roundness and ivory polish of her bare arms from which the
+pearl bracelets had not yet been removed. I remained long in mute
+contemplation, and the more I gazed, the less could I persuade myself
+that life had really abandoned that beautiful body for ever. I do not
+know whether it was an illusion or a reflection of the lamplight, but it
+seemed to me that the blood was again commencing to circulate under that
+lifeless pallor, although she remained all motionless. I laid my hand
+lightly on her arm; it was cold, but not colder than her hand on the
+day when it touched mine at the portals of the church. I resumed my
+position, bending my face above her, and bathing her cheek with the warm
+dew of my tears. Ah, what bitter feelings of despair and helplessness,
+what agonies unutterable did I endure in that long watch! Vainly did I
+wish that I could have gathered all my life into one mass that I might
+give it all to her, and breathe into her chill remains the flame which
+devoured me. The night advanced, and feeling the moment of eternal
+separation approach, I could not deny myself the last sad sweet pleasure
+of imprinting a kiss upon the dead lips of her who had been my only
+love.... Oh, miracle! A faint breath mingled itself with my breath, and
+the mouth of Clarimonde responded to the passionate pressure of mine.
+Her eyes unclosed, and lighted up with something of their former
+brilliancy; she uttered a long sigh, and uncrossing her arms, passed
+them around my neck with a look of ineffable delight. ‘Ah, it is thou,
+Romuald!’ she murmured in a voice languishingly sweet as the last
+vibrations of a harp. ‘What ailed thee, dearest? I waited so long for
+thee that I am dead; but we are now betrothed: I can see thee and visit
+thee. Adieu, Romuald, adieu! I love thee. That is all I wished to
+tell thee, and I give thee back the life which thy kiss for a moment
+recalled. We shall soon meet again.’
+
+Her head fell back, but her arms yet encircled me, as though to retain
+me still. A furious whirlwind suddenly burst in the window, and entered
+the chamber. The last remaining leaf of the white rose for a moment
+palpitated at the extremity of the stalk like a butterfly’s wing, then
+it detached itself and flew forth through the open casement, bearing
+with it the soul of Clarimonde. The lamp was extinguished, and I fell
+insensible upon the bosom of the beautiful dead.
+
+When I came to myself again I was lying on the bed in my little room at
+the presbytery, and the old dog of the former curé was licking my
+hand, which had been hanging down outside of the covers. Barbara, all
+trembling with age and anxiety, was busying herself about the room,
+opening and shutting drawers, and emptying powders into glasses. On
+seeing me open my eyes, the old woman uttered a cry of joy, the dog
+yelped and wagged his tail, but I was still so weak that I could not
+speak a single word or make the slightest motion. Afterward I learned
+that I had lain thus for three days, giving no evidence of life beyond
+the faintest respiration. Those three days do not reckon in my life, nor
+could I ever imagine whither my spirit had departed during those three
+days; I have no recollection of aught relating to them. Barbara told me
+that the same coppery-complexioned man who came to seek me on the night
+of my departure from the presbytery had brought me back the next morning
+in a close litter, and departed immediately afterward. When I became
+able to collect my scattered thoughts, I reviewed within my mind all the
+circumstances of that fateful night. At first I thought I had been the
+victim of some magical illusion, but ere long the recollection of other
+circumstances, real and palpable in themselves, came to forbid that
+supposition. I could not believe that I had been dreaming, since Barbara
+as well as myself had seen the strange man with his two black horses,
+and described with exactness every detail of his figure and apparel.
+Nevertheless it appeared that none knew of any castle in the
+neighbourhood answering to the description of that in which I had again
+found Clarimonde.
+
+One morning I found the Abbé Sérapion in my room. Barbara had advised
+him that I was ill, and he had come with all speed to see me. Although
+this haste on his part testified to an affectionate interest in me, yet
+his visit did not cause me the pleasure which it should have done. The
+Abbé Sérapion had something penetrating and inquisitorial in his
+gaze which made me feel very ill at ease. His presence filled me with
+embarrassment and a sense of guilt. At the first glance he divined my
+interior trouble, and I hated him for his clairvoyance.
+
+While he inquired after my health in hypocritically honeyed accents,
+he constantly kept his two great yellow lion-eyes fixed upon me, and
+plunged his look into my soul like a sounding-lead. Then he asked me
+how I directed my parish, if I was happy in it, how I passed the leisure
+hours allowed me in the intervals of pastoral duty, whether I had
+become acquainted with many of the inhabitants of the place, what was my
+favourite reading, and a thousand other such questions. I answered these
+inquiries as briefly as possible, and he, without ever waiting for
+my answers, passed rapidly from one subject of query to another. That
+conversation had evidently no connection with what he actually wished to
+say. At last, without any premonition, but as though repeating a piece
+of news which he had recalled on the instant, and feared might otherwise
+be forgotten subsequently, he suddenly said, in a clear vibrant voice,
+which rang in my ears like the trumpets of the Last Judgment:
+
+‘The great courtesan Clarimonde died a few days ago, at the close of
+an orgie which lasted eight days and eight nights. It was something
+infernally splendid. The abominations of the banquets of Belshazzar and
+Cleopatra were re-enacted there. Good God, what age are we living in?
+The guests were served by swarthy slaves who spoke an unknown tongue,
+and who seemed to me to be veritable demons. The livery of the very
+least among them would have served for the gala-dress of an emperor.
+There have always been very strange stories told of this Clarimonde, and
+all her lovers came to a violent or miserable end. They used to say that
+she was a ghoul, a female vampire; but I believe she was none other than
+Beelzebub himself.’
+
+He ceased to speak, and commenced to regard me more attentively than
+ever, as though to observe the effect of his words on me. I could not
+refrain from starting when I heard him utter the name of Clarimonde, and
+this news of her death, in addition to the pain it caused me by reason
+of its coincidence with the nocturnal scenes I had witnessed, filled
+me with an agony and terror which my face betrayed, despite my utmost
+endeavours to appear composed. Sérapion fixed an anxious and severe
+look upon me, and then observed: ‘My son, I must warn you that you are
+standing with foot raised upon the brink of an abyss; take heed lest you
+fall therein. Satan’s claws are long, and tombs are not always true to
+their trust. The tombstone of Clarimonde should be sealed down with a
+triple seal, for, if report be true, it is not the first time she has
+died. May God watch over you, Romuald!’
+
+And with these words the Abbé walked slowly to the door. I did not see
+him again at that time, for he left for S------ almost immediately.
+
+I became completely restored to health and resumed my accustomed duties.
+The memory of Clarimonde and the words of the old Abbé were constantly
+in my mind; nevertheless no extraordinary event had occurred to verify
+the funereal predictions of Sérapion, and I had commenced to believe
+that his fears and my own terrors were over-exaggerated, when one
+night I had a strange dream. I had hardly fallen asleep when I heard my
+bed-curtains drawn apart, as their rings slided back upon the curtain
+rod with a sharp sound. I rose up quickly upon my elbow, and beheld
+the shadow of a woman standing erect before me. I recognised Clarimonde
+immediately. She bore in her hand a little lamp, shaped like those which
+are placed in tombs, and its light lent her fingers a rosy transparency,
+which extended itself by lessening degrees even to the opaque and milky
+whiteness of her bare arm. Her only garment was the linen winding-sheet
+which had shrouded her when lying upon the bed of death. She sought to
+gather its folds over her bosom as though ashamed of being so scantily
+clad, but her little hand was not equal to the task. She was so white
+that the colour of the drapery blended with that of her flesh under
+the pallid rays of the lamp. Enveloped with this subtle tissue which
+betrayed all the contour of her body, she seemed rather the marble
+statue of some fair antique bather than a woman endowed with life. But
+dead or living, statue or woman, shadow or body, her beauty was still
+the same, only that the green light of her eyes was less brilliant, and
+her mouth, once so warmly crimson, was only tinted with a faint tender
+rosiness, like that of her cheeks. The little blue flowers which I had
+noticed entwined in her hair were withered and dry, and had lost nearly
+all their leaves, but this did not prevent her from being charming--so
+charming that, notwithstanding the strange character of the adventure,
+and the unexplainable manner in which she had entered my room, I felt
+not even for a moment the least fear.
+
+She placed the lamp on the table and seated herself at the foot of my
+bed; then bending toward me, she said, in that voice at once silvery
+clear and yet velvety in its sweet softness, such as I never heard from
+any lips save hers:
+
+‘I have kept thee long in waiting, dear Romuald, and it must have seemed
+to thee that I had forgotten thee. But I come from afar off, very far
+off, and from a land whence no other has ever yet returned. There is
+neither sun nor moon in that land whence I come: all is but space and
+shadow; there is neither road nor pathway: no earth for the foot, no air
+for the wing; and nevertheless behold me here, for Love is stronger than
+Death and must conquer him in the end. Oh what sad faces and fearful
+things I have seen on my way hither! What difficulty my soul, returned
+to earth through the power of will alone, has had in finding its body
+and reinstating itself therein! What terrible efforts I had to make ere
+I could lift the ponderous slab with which they had covered me! See, the
+palms of my poor hands are all bruised! Kiss them, sweet love, that they
+may be healed!’ She laid the cold palms of her hands upon ray mouth, one
+after the other. I kissed them, indeed, many times, and she the while
+watched me with a smile of ineffable affection.
+
+I confess to my shame that I had entirely forgotten the advice of the
+Abbé Sérapion and the sacred office wherewith I had been invested. I had
+fallen without resistance, and at the first assault. I had not even
+made the least effort to repel the tempter. The fresh coolness of
+Clarimonde’s skin penetrated my own, and I felt voluptuous tremors pass
+over my whole body. Poor child! in spite of all I saw afterward, I can
+hardly yet believe she was a demon; at least she had no appearance
+of being such, and never did Satan so skilfully conceal his claws and
+horns. She had drawn her feet up beneath her, and squatted down on the
+edge of the couch in an attitude full of negligent coquetry. From time
+to time she passed her little hand through my hair and twisted it into
+curls, as though trying how a new style of wearing it would become my
+face. I abandoned myself to her hands with the most guilty pleasure,
+while she accompanied her gentle play with the prettiest prattle. The
+most remarkable fact was that I felt no astonishment whatever at so
+extraordinary ah adventure, and as in dreams one finds no difficulty
+in accepting the most fantastic events as simple facts, so all these
+circumstances seemed to me perfectly natural in themselves.
+
+‘I loved thee long ere I saw thee, dear Romuald, and sought thee
+everywhere. Thou wast my dream, and I first saw thee in the church at
+the fatal moment. I said at once, “It is he!” I gave thee a look into
+which I threw all the love I ever had, all the love I now have, all
+the love I shall ever have for thee--a look that would have damned a
+cardinal or brought a king to his knees at my feet in view of all his
+court. Thou remainedst unmoved, preferring thy God to me!
+
+‘Ah, how jealous I am of that God whom thou didst love and still lovest
+more than me!
+
+‘Woe is me, unhappy one that I am! I can never have thy heart all to
+myself, I whom thou didst recall to life with a kiss--dead Clarimonde,
+who for thy sake bursts asunder the gates of the tomb, and comes to
+consecrate to thee a life which she has resumed only to make thee
+happy!’
+
+All her words were accompanied with the most impassioned caresses, which
+bewildered my sense and my reason to such an extent, that I did not fear
+to utter a frightful blasphemy for the sake of consoling her, and to
+declare that I loved her as much as God.
+
+Her eyes rekindled and shone like chrysoprases. ‘In truth?--in very
+truth?--as much as God!’ she cried, flinging her beautiful arms around
+me. ‘Since it is so, thou wilt come with me; thou wilt follow me
+whithersoever I desire. Thou wilt cast away thy ugly black habit. Thou
+shalt be the proudest and most envied of cavaliers; thou shalt be my
+lover! To be the acknowledged lover of Clarimonde, who has refused
+even a Pope! That will be something to feel proud of. Ah, the fair,
+unspeakably happy existence, the beautiful golden life we shall live
+together! And when shall we depart, my fair sir?’
+
+‘To-morrow! To-morrow!’ I cried in my delirium.
+
+‘To-morrow, then, so let it be!’ she answered. ‘In the meanwhile I shall
+have opportunity to change my toilet, for this is a little too light
+and in nowise suited for a voyage. I must also forthwith notify all
+my friends who believe me dead, and mourn for me as deeply as they are
+capable of doing. The money, the dresses, the carriages--all will be
+ready. I shall call for thee at this same hour. Adieu, dear heart!’ And
+she lightly touched my forehead with her lips. The lamp went out, the
+curtains closed again, and all became dark; a leaden, dreamless sleep
+fell on me and held me unconscious until the morning following.
+
+I awoke later than usual, and the recollection of this singular
+adventure troubled me during the whole day. I finally persuaded myself
+that it was a mere vapour of my heated imagination. Nevertheless its
+sensations had been so vivid that it was difficult to persuade myself
+that they were not real, and it was not without some presentiment of
+what was going to happen that I got into bed at last, after having
+prayed God to drive far from me all thoughts of evil, and to protect the
+chastity of my slumber.
+
+I soon fell into a deep sleep, and my dream was continued. The curtains
+again parted, and I beheld Clarimonde, not as on the former occasion,
+pale in her pale winding-sheet, with the violets of death upon her
+cheeks, but gay, sprightly, jaunty, in a superb travelling-dress of
+green velvet, trimmed with gold lace, and looped up on either side to
+allow a glimpse of satin petticoat. Her blond hair escaped in thick
+ringlets from beneath a broad black felt hat, decorated with white
+feathers whimsically twisted into various shapes. In one hand she held a
+little riding-whip terminated by a golden whistle. She tapped me lightly
+with it, and exclaimed: ‘Well, my fine sleeper, is this the way you
+make your preparations? I thought I would find you up and dressed. Arise
+quickly, we have no time to lose.’
+
+I leaped out of bed at once.
+
+‘Come, dress yourself, and let us go,’ she continued, pointing to
+a little package she had brought with her. ‘The horses are becoming
+impatient of delay and champing their bits at the door. We ought to have
+been by this time at least ten leagues distant from here.’
+
+I dressed myself hurriedly, and she handed me the articles of apparel
+herself one by one, bursting into laughter from time to time at my
+awkwardness, as she explained to me the use of a garment when I had made
+a mistake. She hurriedly arranged my hair, and this done, held up
+before me a little pocket-mirror of Venetian crystal, rimmed with silver
+filigree-work, and playfully asked: ‘How dost find thyself now? Wilt
+engage me for thy valet de chambre?’
+
+I was no longer the same person, and I could not even recognise myself.
+I resembled my former self no more than a finished statue resembles
+a block of stone. My old face seemed but a coarse daub of the one
+reflected in the mirror. I was handsome, and my vanity was sensibly
+tickled by the metamorphosis.
+
+That elegant apparel, that richly embroidered vest had made of me
+a totally different personage, and I marvelled at the power of
+transformation owned by a few yards of cloth cut after a certain
+pattern. The spirit of my costume penetrated my very skin and within ten
+minutes more I had become something of a coxcomb.
+
+In order to feel more at ease in my new attire, I took several turns
+up and down the room. Clari-monde watched me with an air of maternal
+pleasure, and appeared well satisfied with her work. ‘Come, enough of
+this child’s play! Let us start, Romuald, dear. We have far to go, and
+we may not get there in time.’ She took my hand and led me forth. All
+the doors opened before her at a touch, and we passed by the dog without
+awaking him.
+
+At the gate we found Margheritone waiting, the same swarthy groom who
+had once before been my-escort. He held the bridles of three horses, all
+black like those which bore us to the castle--one for me, one for him,
+one for Clarimonde. Those horses must have been Spanish genets born of
+mares fecundated by a zephyr, for they were fleet as the wind itself,
+and the moon, which had just risen at our departure to light us on the
+way, rolled over the sky like a wheel detached from her own chariot. We
+beheld her on the right leaping from tree to tree, and putting herself
+out of breath in the effort to keep up with us. Soon we came upon
+a level plain where, hard by a clump of trees, a carriage with four
+vigorous horses awaited us. We entered it, and the postillions urged
+their animals into a mad gallop. I had one arm around Clarimonde’s
+waist, and one of her hands clasped in mine; her head leaned upon my
+shoulder, and I felt her bosom, half bare, lightly pressing against
+my arm. I had never known such intense happiness. In that hour I had
+forgotten everything, and I no more remembered having ever been a priest
+than I remembered what I had been doing in my mother’s womb, so great
+was the fascination which the evil spirit exerted upon me. From that
+night my nature seemed in some sort to have become halved, and there
+were two men within me, neither of whom knew the other. At one moment I
+believed myself a priest who dreamed nightly that he was a gentleman, at
+another that I was a gentleman who dreamed he was a priest. I could
+no longer distinguish the dream from the reality, nor could I discover
+where the reality began or where ended the dream. The exquisite
+young lord and libertine railed at the priest, the priest loathed the
+dissolute habits of the young lord. Two spirals entangled and confounded
+the one with the other, yet never touching, would afford a fair
+representation of this bicephalic life which I lived. Despite the
+strange character of my condition, I do not believe that I ever
+inclined, even for a moment, to madness. I always retained with extreme
+vividness all the perceptions of my two lives. Only there was one absurd
+fact which I could not explain to myself--namely, that the consciousness
+of the same individuality existed in two men so opposite in character.
+It was an anomaly for which I could not account--whether I believed
+myself to be the curé of the little village of C------, or _Il Signor
+Romualdo_, the titled lover of Clarimonde.
+
+Be that as it may, I lived, at least I believed that I lived, in Venice.
+I have never been able to discover rightly how much of illusion and how
+much of reality there was in this fantastic adventure. We dwelt in a
+great palace on the Canaleio, filled with frescoes and statues, and
+containing two Titians in the noblest style of the great master, which
+were hung in Clarimonde’s chamber. It was a palace well worthy of a
+king. We had each our gondola, our _barcarolli_ in family livery,
+our music hall, and our special poet. Clarimonde always lived upon a
+magnificent scale; there was something of Cleopatra in her nature. As
+for me, I had the retinue of a prince’s son, and I was regarded with as
+much reverential respect as though I had been of the family of one of
+the twelve Apostles or the four Evangelists of the Most Serene Republic.
+I would not have turned aside to allow even the Doge to pass, and I do
+not believe that since Satan fell from heaven, any creature was ever
+prouder or more insolent than I. I went to the Ridotto, and played with
+a luck which seemed absolutely infernal. I received the best of all
+society--the sons of ruined families, women of the theatre, shrewd
+knaves, parasites, hectoring swashbucklers. But notwithstanding the
+dissipation of such a life, I always remained faithful to Clarimonde.
+I loved her wildly. She would have excited satiety itself, and chained
+inconstancy. To have Clarimonde was to have twenty mistresses; ay,
+to possess all women: so mobile, so varied of aspect, so fresh in new
+charms was she all in herself--a very chameleon of a woman, in sooth.
+She made you commit with her the infidelity you would have committed
+with another, by donning to perfection the character, the attraction,
+the style of beauty of the woman who appeared to please you. She
+returned my love a hundred-fold, and it was in vain that the young
+patricians and even the Ancients of the Council of Ten made her the most
+magnificent proposals. A Foscari even went so far as to offer to espouse
+her. She rejected all his overtures. Of gold she had enough. She wished
+no longer for anything but love--a love youthful, pure, evoked by
+herself, and which should be a first and last passion. I would have been
+perfectly happy but for a cursed nightmare which recurred every night,
+and in which I believed myself to be a poor village curé, practising
+mortification and penance for my excesses during the day. Reassured by
+my constant association with her, I never thought further of the strange
+manner in which I had become acquainted with Clarimonde. But the words
+of the Abbé Sérapion concerning her recurred often to my memory, and
+never ceased to cause me uneasiness.
+
+For some time the health of Clarimonde had not been so good as usual;
+her complexion grew paler day by day. The physicians who were summoned
+could not comprehend the nature of her malady and knew not how to treat
+it. They all prescribed some insignificant remedies, and never called
+a second time. Her paleness, nevertheless, visibly increased, and she
+became colder and colder, until she seemed almost as white and dead as
+upon that memorable night in the unknown castle. I grieved with anguish
+unspeakable to behold her thus slowly perishing; and she, touched by my
+agony, smiled upon me sweetly and sadly with the fateful smile of those
+who feel that they must die.
+
+One morning I was seated at her bedside, and breakfasting from a little
+table placed close at hand, so that I might not be obliged to leave her
+for a single instant. In the act of cutting some fruit I accidentally
+inflicted rather a deep gash on my finger. The blood immediately gushed
+forth in a little purple jet, and a few drops spurted upon Clarimonde.
+Her eyes flashed, her face suddenly assumed an expression of savage and
+ferocious joy such as I had never before observed in her. She leaped out
+of her bed with animal agility--the agility, as it were, of an ape or a
+cat--and sprang upon my wound, which she commenced to suck with an air
+of unutterable pleasure. She swallowed the blood in little mouthfuls,
+slowly and carefully, like a connoisseur tasting a wine from Xeres or
+Syracuse. Gradually her eyelids half closed, and the pupils of her green
+eyes became oblong instead of round. From time to time she paused in
+order to kiss my hand, then she would recommence to press her lips to
+the lips of the wound in order to coax forth a few more ruddy drops.
+When she found that the blood would no longer come, she arose with eyes
+liquid and brilliant, rosier than a May dawn; her face full and fresh,
+her hand warm and moist--in fine, more beautiful than ever, and in the
+most perfect health.
+
+‘I shall not die! I shall not die!’ she cried, clinging to my neck, half
+mad with joy. ‘I can love thee yet for a long time. My life is thine,
+and all that is of me comes from thee. A few drops of thy rich and noble
+blood, more precious and more potent than all the elixirs of the earth,
+have given me back life.’
+
+This scene long haunted my memory, and inspired me with strange
+doubts in regard to Clarimonde; and the same evening, when slumber had
+transported me to my presbytery, I beheld the Abbé Sérapion, graver
+and more anxious of aspect than ever. He gazed attentively at me, and
+sorrowfully exclaimed: ‘Not content with losing your soul, you now
+desire also to lose your body. Wretched young man, into how terrible
+a plight have you fallen!’ The tone in which he uttered these words
+powerfully affected me, but in spite of its vividness even that
+impression was soon dissipated, and a thousand other cares erased it
+from my mind. At last one evening, while looking into a mirror whose
+traitorous position she had not taken into account, I saw Clarimonde in
+the act of emptying a powder into the cup of spiced wine which she had
+long been in the habit of preparing after our repasts. I took the
+cup, feigned to carry it to my lips, and then placed it on the nearest
+article of furniture as though intending to finish it at my leisure.
+Taking advantage of a moment when the fair one’s back was turned, I
+threw the contents under the table, after which I retired to my chamber
+and went to bed, fully resolved not to sleep, but to watch and discover
+what should come of all this mystery. I did not have to wait long,
+Clarimonde entered in her nightdress, and having removed her apparel,
+crept into bed and lay down beside me. When she felt assured that I
+was asleep, she bared my arm, and drawing a gold pin from her hair,
+commenced to murmur in a low voice:
+
+‘One drop, only one drop! One ruby at the end of my needle.... Since
+thou lovest me yet, I must not die!... Ah, poor love! His beautiful
+blood, so brightly purple, I must drink it. Sleep, my only treasure!
+Sleep, my god, my child! I will do thee no harm; I will only take of thy
+life what I must to keep my own from being for ever extinguished. But
+that I love thee so much, I could well resolve to have other lovers
+whose veins I could drain; but since I have known thee all other men
+have become hateful to me.... Ah, the beautiful arm! How round it is!
+How white it is! How shall I ever dare to prick this pretty blue vein!’
+And while thus murmuring to herself she wept, and I felt her tears
+raining on my arm as she clasped it with her hands. At last she took the
+resolve, slightly punctured me with her pin, and commenced to suck up
+the blood which oozed from the place. Although she swallowed only a few
+drops, the fear of weakening me soon seized her, and she carefully tied
+a little band around my arm, afterward rubbing the wound with an unguent
+which immediately cicatrised it. Further doubts were impossible. The
+Abbé Sérapion was right. Notwithstanding this positive knowledge,
+however, I could not cease to love Clarimonde, and I would gladly of
+my own accord have given her all the blood she required to sustain her
+factitious life. Moreover, I felt but little fear of her. The woman
+seemed to plead with me for the vampire, and what I had already heard
+and seen sufficed to reassure me completely. In those days I had
+plenteous veins, which would not have been so easily exhausted as at
+present; and I would not have thought of bargaining for my blood, drop
+by drop. I would rather have opened myself the veins of my arm and said
+to her: ‘Drink, and may my love infiltrate itself throughout thy body
+together with my blood!’ I carefully avoided ever making the least
+reference to the narcotic drink she had prepared for me, or to the
+incident of the pin, and we lived in the most perfect harmony.
+
+Yet my priestly scruples commenced to torment me more than ever, and
+I was at a loss to imagine what new penance I could invent in order to
+mortify and subdue my flesh. Although these visions were involuntary,
+and though I did not actually participate in anything relating to them,
+I could not dare to touch the body of Christ with hands so impure and a
+mind defiled by such debauches whether real or imaginary. In the effort
+to avoid falling under the influence of these wearisome hallucinations,
+I strove to prevent myself from being overcome by sleep. I held my
+eyelids open with my fingers, and stood for hours together leaning
+upright against the wall, fighting sleep with all my might; but the dust
+of drowsiness invariably gathered upon my eyes at last, and finding all
+resistance useless, I would have to let my arms fall in the extremity
+of despairing weariness, and the current of slumber would again bear
+me away to the perfidious shores. Sérapion addressed me with the most
+vehement exhortations, severely reproaching me for my softness and want
+of fervour. Finally, one day when I was more wretched than usual, he
+said to me: ‘There is but one way by which you can obtain relief from
+this continual torment, and though it is an extreme measure it must be
+made use of; violent diseases require violent remedies. I know where
+Clarimonde is buried. It is necessary that we shall disinter her
+remains, and that you shall behold in how pitiable a state the object of
+your love is. Then you will no longer be tempted to lose your soul for
+the sake of an unclean corpse devoured by worms, and ready to crumble
+into dust. That will assuredly restore you to yourself.’ For my part, I
+was so tired of this double life that I at once consented, desiring to
+ascertain beyond a doubt whether a priest or a gentleman had been the
+victim of delusion. I had become fully resolved either to kill one of
+the two men within me for the benefit of the other, or else to kill
+both, for so terrible an existence could not last long and be endured.
+The Abbé Sérapion provided himself with a mattock, a lever, and a
+lantern, and at midnight we wended our way to the cemetery of ------,
+the location and place of which were perfectly familiar to him. After
+having directed the rays of the dark lantern upon the inscriptions of
+several tombs, we came at last upon a great slab, half concealed by
+huge weeds and devoured by mosses and parasitic plants, whereupon we
+deciphered the opening lines of the epitaph:
+
+     Here lies Clarimonde
+     Who was famed in her life-time
+     As the fairest of women.*
+
+          * Ici gît Clarimonde
+          Qui fut de son vivant
+          La plus belle du monde.
+
+          The broken beauty of the lines is unavoidably
+          lost in the translation.
+
+‘It is here without a doubt,’ muttered Sérapion, and placing his lantern
+on the ground, he forced the point of the lever under the edge of the
+stone and commenced to raise it. The stone yielded, and he proceeded to
+work with the mattock. Darker and more silent than the night itself, I
+stood by and watched him do it, while he, bending over his dismal toil,
+streamed with sweat, panted, and his hard-coming breath seemed to have
+the harsh tone of a death rattle. It was a weird scene, and had any
+persons from without beheld us, they would assuredly have taken us
+rather for profane wretches and shroud-stealers than for priests of God.
+There was something grim and fierce in Sérapion’s zeal which lent him
+the air of a demon rather than of an apostle or an angel, and his great
+aquiline face, with all its stern features, brought out in strong relief
+by the lantern-light, had something fearsome in it which enhanced the
+unpleasant fancy. I felt an icy sweat come out upon my forehead in huge
+beads, and my hair stood up with a hideous fear. Within the depths of my
+own heart I felt that the act of the austere Sérapion was an abominable
+sacrilege; and I could have prayed that a triangle of fire would issue
+from the entrails of the dark clouds, heavily rolling above us,
+to reduce him to cinders. The owls which had been nestling in the
+cypress-trees, startled by the gleam of the lantern, flew against it
+from time to time, striking their dusty wings against its panes, and
+uttering plaintive cries of lamentation; wild foxes yelped in the far
+darkness, and a thousand sinister noises detached themselves from the
+silence. At last Séra-pion’s mattock struck the coffin itself, making
+its planks re-echo with a deep sonorous sound, with that terrible sound
+nothingness utters when stricken. He wrenched apart and tore up the
+lid, and I beheld Clarimonde, pallid as a figure of marble, with hands
+joined; her white winding-sheet made but one fold from her head to her
+feet. A little crimson drop sparkled like a speck of dew at one corner
+of her colourless mouth. Sérapion, at this spectacle, burst into fury:
+‘Ah, thou art here, demon! Impure courtesan! Drinker of blood and gold!
+‘And he flung holy water upon the corpse and the coffin, over which he
+traced the sign of the cross with his sprinkler. Poor Clarimonde had
+no sooner been touched by the blessed spray than her beautiful body
+crumbled into dust, and became only a shapeless and frightful mass of
+cinders and half-calcined bones.
+
+‘Behold your mistress, my Lord Romuald!’ cried the inexorable priest, as
+he pointed to these sad remains. ‘Will you be easily tempted after this
+to promenade on the Lido or at Fusina with your beauty?’ I covered my
+face with my hands, a vast ruin had taken place within me. I returned
+to my presbytery, and the noble Lord Romuald, the lover of Clarimonde,
+separated himself from the poor priest with whom he had kept such
+strange company so long. But once only, the following night, I saw
+Clarimonde. She said to me, as she had said the first time at the
+portals of the church: ‘Unhappy man! Unhappy man! What hast thou done?
+Wherefore have hearkened to that imbecile priest? Wert thou not happy?
+And what harm had I ever done thee that thou shouldst violate my poor
+tomb, and lay bare the miseries of my nothingness? All communication
+between our souls and our bodies is henceforth for ever broken. Adieu!
+Thou wilt yet regret me!’ She vanished in air as smoke, and I never saw
+her more.
+
+Alas! she spoke truly indeed. I have regretted her more than once, and I
+regret her still. My soul’s peace has been very dearly bought. The
+love of God was not too much to replace such a love as hers. And this,
+brother, is the story of my youth. Never gaze upon a woman, and walk
+abroad only with eyes ever fixed upon the ground; for however chaste and
+watchful one may be, the error of a single moment is enough to make one
+lose eternity.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Clarimonde, by Théophile Gautier
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