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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole
+(#1 in our series by Horace Walpole)
+
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+Title: The Castle of Otranto
+
+Author: Horace Walpole
+
+Release Date: October, 1996  [EBook #696]
+[This file was first posted on October 22, 1996]
+[Most recently updated: September 8, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO ***
+
+
+
+
+Credit
+
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1901 Cassell and Company edition by David
+Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
+
+
+
+
+THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
+
+
+
+The following work was found in the library of an ancient Catholic
+family in the north of England.  It was printed at Naples, in the
+black letter, in the year 1529.  How much sooner it was written
+does not appear.  The principal incidents are such as were believed
+in the darkest ages of Christianity; but the language and conduct
+have nothing that savours of barbarism.  The style is the purest
+Italian.
+
+If the story was written near the time when it is supposed to have
+happened, it must have been between 1095, the era of the first
+Crusade, and 1243, the date of the last, or not long afterwards.
+There is no other circumstance in the work that can lead us to
+guess at the period in which the scene is laid:  the names of the
+actors are evidently fictitious, and probably disguised on purpose:
+yet the Spanish names of the domestics seem to indicate that this
+work was not composed until the establishment of the Arragonian
+Kings in Naples had made Spanish appellations familiar in that
+country.  The beauty of the diction, and the zeal of the author
+(moderated, however, by singular judgment) concur to make me think
+that the date of the composition was little antecedent to that of
+the impression.  Letters were then in their most flourishing state
+in Italy, and contributed to dispel the empire of superstition, at
+that time so forcibly attacked by the reformers.  It is not
+unlikely that an artful priest might endeavour to turn their own
+arms on the innovators, and might avail himself of his abilities as
+an author to confirm the populace in their ancient errors and
+superstitions.  If this was his view, he has certainly acted with
+signal address.  Such a work as the following would enslave a
+hundred vulgar minds beyond half the books of controversy that have
+been written from the days of Luther to the present hour.
+
+This solution of the author's motives is, however, offered as a
+mere conjecture.  Whatever his views were, or whatever effects the
+execution of them might have, his work can only be laid before the
+public at present as a matter of entertainment.  Even as such, some
+apology for it is necessary.  Miracles, visions, necromancy,
+dreams, and other preternatural events, are exploded now even from
+romances.  That was not the case when our author wrote; much less
+when the story itself is supposed to have happened.  Belief in
+every kind of prodigy was so established in those dark ages, that
+an author would not be faithful to the manners of the times, who
+should omit all mention of them.  He is not bound to believe them
+himself, but he must represent his actors as believing them.
+
+If this air of the miraculous is excused, the reader will find
+nothing else unworthy of his perusal.  Allow the possibility of the
+facts, and all the actors comport themselves as persons would do in
+their situation.  There is no bombast, no similes, flowers,
+digressions, or unnecessary descriptions.  Everything tends
+directly to the catastrophe.  Never is the reader's attention
+relaxed.  The rules of the drama are almost observed throughout the
+conduct of the piece.  The characters are well drawn, and still
+better maintained.  Terror, the author's principal engine, prevents
+the story from ever languishing; and it is so often contrasted by
+pity, that the mind is kept up in a constant vicissitude of
+interesting passions.
+
+Some persons may perhaps think the characters of the domestics too
+little serious for the general cast of the story; but besides their
+opposition to the principal personages, the art of the author is
+very observable in his conduct of the subalterns.  They discover
+many passages essential to the story, which could not be well
+brought to light but by their naivete and simplicity.  In
+particular, the womanish terror and foibles of Bianca, in the last
+chapter, conduce essentially towards advancing the catastrophe.
+
+It is natural for a translator to be prejudiced in favour of his
+adopted work.  More impartial readers may not be so much struck
+with the beauties of this piece as I was.  Yet I am not blind to my
+author's defects.  I could wish he had grounded his plan on a more
+useful moral than this:  that "the sins of fathers are visited on
+their children to the third and fourth generation."  I doubt
+whether, in his time, any more than at present, ambition curbed its
+appetite of dominion from the dread of so remote a punishment.  And
+yet this moral is weakened by that less direct insinuation, that
+even such anathema may be diverted by devotion to St. Nicholas.
+Here the interest of the Monk plainly gets the better of the
+judgment of the author.  However, with all its faults, I have no
+doubt but the English reader will be pleased with a sight of this
+performance.  The piety that reigns throughout, the lessons of
+virtue that are inculcated, and the rigid purity of the sentiments,
+exempt this work from the censure to which romances are but too
+liable.  Should it meet with the success I hope for, I may be
+encouraged to reprint the original Italian, though it will tend to
+depreciate my own labour.  Our language falls far short of the
+charms of the Italian, both for variety and harmony.  The latter is
+peculiarly excellent for simple narrative.  It is difficult in
+English to relate without falling too low or rising too high; a
+fault obviously occasioned by the little care taken to speak pure
+language in common conversation.  Every Italian or Frenchman of any
+rank piques himself on speaking his own tongue correctly and with
+choice.  I cannot flatter myself with having done justice to my
+author in this respect:  his style is as elegant as his conduct of
+the passions is masterly.  It is a pity that he did not apply his
+talents to what they were evidently proper for--the theatre.
+
+I will detain the reader no longer, but to make one short remark.
+Though the machinery is invention, and the names of the actors
+imaginary, I cannot but believe that the groundwork of the story is
+founded on truth.  The scene is undoubtedly laid in some real
+castle.  The author seems frequently, without design, to describe
+particular parts.  "The chamber," says he, "on the right hand;"
+"the door on the left hand;" "the distance from the chapel to
+Conrad's apartment:" these and other passages are strong
+presumptions that the author had some certain building in his eye.
+Curious persons, who have leisure to employ in such researches, may
+possibly discover in the Italian writers the foundation on which
+our author has built.  If a catastrophe, at all resembling that
+which he describes, is believed to have given rise to this work, it
+will contribute to interest the reader, and will make the "Castle
+of Otranto" a still more moving story.
+
+
+
+SONNET TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY MARY COKE.
+
+
+
+The gentle maid, whose hapless tale
+These melancholy pages speak;
+Say, gracious lady, shall she fail
+To draw the tear adown thy cheek?
+
+No; never was thy pitying breast
+Insensible to human woes;
+Tender, tho' firm, it melts distrest
+For weaknesses it never knows.
+
+Oh! guard the marvels I relate
+Of fell ambition scourg'd by fate,
+From reason's peevish blame.
+Blest with thy smile, my dauntless sail
+I dare expand to Fancy's gale,
+For sure thy smiles are Fame.
+
+H. W.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+
+Manfred, Prince of Otranto, had one son and one daughter:  the
+latter, a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda.
+Conrad, the son, was three years younger, a homely youth, sickly,
+and of no promising disposition; yet he was the darling of his
+father, who never showed any symptoms of affection to Matilda.
+Manfred had contracted a marriage for his son with the Marquis of
+Vicenza's daughter, Isabella; and she had already been delivered by
+her guardians into the hands of Manfred, that he might celebrate
+the wedding as soon as Conrad's infirm state of health would
+permit.
+
+Manfred's impatience for this ceremonial was remarked by his family
+and neighbours.  The former, indeed, apprehending the severity of
+their Prince's disposition, did not dare to utter their surmises on
+this precipitation.  Hippolita, his wife, an amiable lady, did
+sometimes venture to represent the danger of marrying their only
+son so early, considering his great youth, and greater infirmities;
+but she never received any other answer than reflections on her own
+sterility, who had given him but one heir.  His tenants and
+subjects were less cautious in their discourses.  They attributed
+this hasty wedding to the Prince's dread of seeing accomplished an
+ancient prophecy, which was said to have pronounced that the castle
+and lordship of Otranto "should pass from the present family,
+whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it."
+It was difficult to make any sense of this prophecy; and still less
+easy to conceive what it had to do with the marriage in question.
+Yet these mysteries, or contradictions, did not make the populace
+adhere the less to their opinion.
+
+Young Conrad's birthday was fixed for his espousals.  The company
+was assembled in the chapel of the Castle, and everything ready for
+beginning the divine office, when Conrad himself was missing.
+Manfred, impatient of the least delay, and who had not observed his
+son retire, despatched one of his attendants to summon the young
+Prince.  The servant, who had not stayed long enough to have
+crossed the court to Conrad's apartment, came running back
+breathless, in a frantic manner, his eyes staring, and foaming at
+the month.  He said nothing, but pointed to the court.
+
+The company were struck with terror and amazement.  The Princess
+Hippolita, without knowing what was the matter, but anxious for her
+son, swooned away.  Manfred, less apprehensive than enraged at the
+procrastination of the nuptials, and at the folly of his domestic,
+asked imperiously what was the matter?  The fellow made no answer,
+but continued pointing towards the courtyard; and at last, after
+repeated questions put to him, cried out, "Oh! the helmet! the
+helmet!"
+
+In the meantime, some of the company had run into the court, from
+whence was heard a confused noise of shrieks, horror, and surprise.
+Manfred, who began to be alarmed at not seeing his son, went
+himself to get information of what occasioned this strange
+confusion.  Matilda remained endeavouring to assist her mother, and
+Isabella stayed for the same purpose, and to avoid showing any
+impatience for the bridegroom, for whom, in truth, she had
+conceived little affection.
+
+The first thing that struck Manfred's eyes was a group of his
+servants endeavouring to raise something that appeared to him a
+mountain of sable plumes.  He gazed without believing his sight.
+
+"What are ye doing?" cried Manfred, wrathfully; "where is my son?"
+
+A volley of voices replied, "Oh! my Lord! the Prince! the Prince!
+the helmet! the helmet!"
+
+Shocked with these lamentable sounds, and dreading he knew not
+what, he advanced hastily,--but what a sight for a father's eyes!--
+he beheld his child dashed to pieces, and almost buried under an
+enormous helmet, an hundred times more large than any casque ever
+made for human being, and shaded with a proportionable quantity of
+black feathers.
+
+The horror of the spectacle, the ignorance of all around how this
+misfortune had happened, and above all, the tremendous phenomenon
+before him, took away the Prince's speech.  Yet his silence lasted
+longer than even grief could occasion.  He fixed his eyes on what
+he wished in vain to believe a vision; and seemed less attentive to
+his loss, than buried in meditation on the stupendous object that
+had occasioned it.  He touched, he examined the fatal casque; nor
+could even the bleeding mangled remains of the young Prince divert
+the eyes of Manfred from the portent before him.
+
+All who had known his partial fondness for young Conrad, were as
+much surprised at their Prince's insensibility, as thunderstruck
+themselves at the miracle of the helmet.  They conveyed the
+disfigured corpse into the hall, without receiving the least
+direction from Manfred.  As little was he attentive to the ladies
+who remained in the chapel.  On the contrary, without mentioning
+the unhappy princesses, his wife and daughter, the first sounds
+that dropped from Manfred's lips were, "Take care of the Lady
+Isabella."
+
+The domestics, without observing the singularity of this direction,
+were guided by their affection to their mistress, to consider it as
+peculiarly addressed to her situation, and flew to her assistance.
+They conveyed her to her chamber more dead than alive, and
+indifferent to all the strange circumstances she heard, except the
+death of her son.
+
+Matilda, who doted on her mother, smothered her own grief and
+amazement, and thought of nothing but assisting and comforting her
+afflicted parent.  Isabella, who had been treated by Hippolita like
+a daughter, and who returned that tenderness with equal duty and
+affection, was scarce less assiduous about the Princess; at the
+same time endeavouring to partake and lessen the weight of sorrow
+which she saw Matilda strove to suppress, for whom she had
+conceived the warmest sympathy of friendship.  Yet her own
+situation could not help finding its place in her thoughts.  She
+felt no concern for the death of young Conrad, except
+commiseration; and she was not sorry to be delivered from a
+marriage which had promised her little felicity, either from her
+destined bridegroom, or from the severe temper of Manfred, who,
+though he had distinguished her by great indulgence, had imprinted
+her mind with terror, from his causeless rigour to such amiable
+princesses as Hippolita and Matilda.
+
+While the ladies were conveying the wretched mother to her bed,
+Manfred remained in the court, gazing on the ominous casque, and
+regardless of the crowd which the strangeness of the event had now
+assembled around him.  The few words he articulated, tended solely
+to inquiries, whether any man knew from whence it could have come?
+Nobody could give him the least information.  However, as it seemed
+to be the sole object of his curiosity, it soon became so to the
+rest of the spectators, whose conjectures were as absurd and
+improbable, as the catastrophe itself was unprecedented.  In the
+midst of their senseless guesses, a young peasant, whom rumour had
+drawn thither from a neighbouring village, observed that the
+miraculous helmet was exactly like that on the figure in black
+marble of Alfonso the Good, one of their former princes, in the
+church of St. Nicholas.
+
+"Villain!  What sayest thou?" cried Manfred, starting from his
+trance in a tempest of rage, and seizing the young man by the
+collar; "how darest thou utter such treason?  Thy life shall pay
+for it."
+
+The spectators, who as little comprehended the cause of the
+Prince's fury as all the rest they had seen, were at a loss to
+unravel this new circumstance.  The young peasant himself was still
+more astonished, not conceiving how he had offended the Prince.
+Yet recollecting himself, with a mixture of grace and humility, he
+disengaged himself from Manfred's grip, and then with an obeisance,
+which discovered more jealousy of innocence than dismay, he asked,
+with respect, of what he was guilty?  Manfred, more enraged at the
+vigour, however decently exerted, with which the young man had
+shaken off his hold, than appeased by his submission, ordered his
+attendants to seize him, and, if he had not been withheld by his
+friends whom he had invited to the nuptials, would have poignarded
+the peasant in their arms.
+
+During this altercation, some of the vulgar spectators had run to
+the great church, which stood near the castle, and came back open-
+mouthed, declaring that the helmet was missing from Alfonso's
+statue.  Manfred, at this news, grew perfectly frantic; and, as if
+he sought a subject on which to vent the tempest within him, he
+rushed again on the young peasant, crying -
+
+"Villain! Monster! Sorcerer! 'tis thou hast done this! 'tis thou
+hast slain my son!"
+
+The mob, who wanted some object within the scope of their
+capacities, on whom they might discharge their bewildered
+reasoning, caught the words from the mouth of their lord, and re-
+echoed -
+
+"Ay, ay; 'tis he, 'tis he:  he has stolen the helmet from good
+Alfonso's tomb, and dashed out the brains of our young Prince with
+it," never reflecting how enormous the disproportion was between
+the marble helmet that had been in the church, and that of steel
+before their eyes; nor how impossible it was for a youth seemingly
+not twenty, to wield a piece of armour of so prodigious a weight
+
+The folly of these ejaculations brought Manfred to himself:  yet
+whether provoked at the peasant having observed the resemblance
+between the two helmets, and thereby led to the farther discovery
+of the absence of that in the church, or wishing to bury any such
+rumour under so impertinent a supposition, he gravely pronounced
+that the young man was certainly a necromancer, and that till the
+Church could take cognisance of the affair, he would have the
+Magician, whom they had thus detected, kept prisoner under the
+helmet itself, which he ordered his attendants to raise, and place
+the young man under it; declaring he should be kept there without
+food, with which his own infernal art might furnish him.
+
+It was in vain for the youth to represent against this preposterous
+sentence:  in vain did Manfred's friends endeavour to divert him
+from this savage and ill-grounded resolution.  The generality were
+charmed with their lord's decision, which, to their apprehensions,
+carried great appearance of justice, as the Magician was to be
+punished by the very instrument with which he had offended:  nor
+were they struck with the least compunction at the probability of
+the youth being starved, for they firmly believed that, by his
+diabolic skill, he could easily supply himself with nutriment.
+
+Manfred thus saw his commands even cheerfully obeyed; and
+appointing a guard with strict orders to prevent any food being
+conveyed to the prisoner, he dismissed his friends and attendants,
+and retired to his own chamber, after locking the gates of the
+castle, in which he suffered none but his domestics to remain.
+
+In the meantime, the care and zeal of the young Ladies had brought
+the Princess Hippolita to herself, who amidst the transports of her
+own sorrow frequently demanded news of her lord, would have
+dismissed her attendants to watch over him, and at last enjoined
+Matilda to leave her, and visit and comfort her father.  Matilda,
+who wanted no affectionate duty to Manfred, though she trembled at
+his austerity, obeyed the orders of Hippolita, whom she tenderly
+recommended to Isabella; and inquiring of the domestics for her
+father, was informed that he was retired to his chamber, and had
+commanded that nobody should have admittance to him.  Concluding
+that he was immersed in sorrow for the death of her brother, and
+fearing to renew his tears by the sight of his sole remaining
+child, she hesitated whether she should break in upon his
+affliction; yet solicitude for him, backed by the commands of her
+mother, encouraged her to venture disobeying the orders he had
+given; a fault she had never been guilty of before.
+
+The gentle timidity of her nature made her pause for some minutes
+at his door.  She heard him traverse his chamber backwards, and
+forwards with disordered steps; a mood which increased her
+apprehensions.  She was, however, just going to beg admittance,
+when Manfred suddenly opened the door; and as it was now twilight,
+concurring with the disorder of his mind, he did not distinguish
+the person, but asked angrily, who it was?  Matilda replied,
+trembling -
+
+"My dearest father, it is I, your daughter."
+
+Manfred, stepping back hastily, cried, "Begone!  I do not want a
+daughter;" and flinging back abruptly, clapped the door against the
+terrified Matilda.
+
+She was too well acquainted with her father's impetuosity to
+venture a second intrusion.  When she had a little recovered the
+shock of so bitter a reception, she wiped away her tears to prevent
+the additional stab that the knowledge of it would give to
+Hippolita, who questioned her in the most anxious terms on the
+health of Manfred, and how he bore his loss.  Matilda assured her
+he was well, and supported his misfortune with manly fortitude.
+
+"But will he not let me see him?" said Hippolita mournfully; "will
+he not permit me to blend my tears with his, and shed a mother's
+sorrows in the bosom of her Lord?  Or do you deceive me, Matilda?
+I know how Manfred doted on his son:  is not the stroke too heavy
+for him? has he not sunk under it?  You do not answer me--alas! I
+dread the worst!--Raise me, my maidens; I will, I will see my Lord.
+Bear me to him instantly:  he is dearer to me even than my
+children."
+
+Matilda made signs to Isabella to prevent Hippolita's rising; and
+both those lovely young women were using their gentle violence to
+stop and calm the Princess, when a servant, on the part of Manfred,
+arrived and told Isabella that his Lord demanded to speak with her.
+
+"With me!" cried Isabella.
+
+"Go," said Hippolita, relieved by a message from her Lord:
+"Manfred cannot support the sight of his own family.  He thinks you
+less disordered than we are, and dreads the shock of my grief.
+Console him, dear Isabella, and tell him I will smother my own
+anguish rather than add to his."
+
+As it was now evening the servant who conducted Isabella bore a
+torch before her.  When they came to Manfred, who was walking
+impatiently about the gallery, he started, and said hastily -
+
+"Take away that light, and begone."
+
+Then shutting the door impetuously, he flung himself upon a bench
+against the wall, and bade Isabella sit by him.  She obeyed
+trembling.
+
+"I sent for you, Lady," said he--and then stopped under great
+appearance of confusion.
+
+"My Lord!"
+
+"Yes, I sent for you on a matter of great moment," resumed he.
+"Dry your tears, young Lady--you have lost your bridegroom.  Yes,
+cruel fate! and I have lost the hopes of my race!  But Conrad was
+not worthy of your beauty."
+
+"How, my Lord!" said Isabella; "sure you do not suspect me of not
+feeling the concern I ought:  my duty and affection would have
+always--"
+
+"Think no more of him," interrupted Manfred; "he was a sickly, puny
+child, and Heaven has perhaps taken him away, that I might not
+trust the honours of my house on so frail a foundation.  The line
+of Manfred calls for numerous supports.  My foolish fondness for
+that boy blinded the eyes of my prudence--but it is better as it
+is.  I hope, in a few years, to have reason to rejoice at the death
+of Conrad."
+
+Words cannot paint the astonishment of Isabella.  At first she
+apprehended that grief had disordered Manfred's understanding.  Her
+next thought suggested that this strange discourse was designed to
+ensnare her:  she feared that Manfred had perceived her
+indifference for his son:  and in consequence of that idea she
+replied -
+
+"Good my Lord, do not doubt my tenderness:  my heart would have
+accompanied my hand.  Conrad would have engrossed all my care; and
+wherever fate shall dispose of me, I shall always cherish his
+memory, and regard your Highness and the virtuous Hippolita as my
+parents."
+
+"Curse on Hippolita!" cried Manfred.  "Forget her from this moment,
+as I do.  In short, Lady, you have missed a husband undeserving of
+your charms:  they shall now be better disposed of.  Instead of a
+sickly boy, you shall have a husband in the prime of his age, who
+will know how to value your beauties, and who may expect a numerous
+offspring."
+
+"Alas, my Lord!" said Isabella, "my mind is too sadly engrossed by
+the recent catastrophe in your family to think of another marriage.
+If ever my father returns, and it shall be his pleasure, I shall
+obey, as I did when I consented to give my hand to your son:  but
+until his return, permit me to remain under your hospitable roof,
+and employ the melancholy hours in assuaging yours, Hippolita's,
+and the fair Matilda's affliction."
+
+"I desired you once before," said Manfred angrily, "not to name
+that woman:  from this hour she must be a stranger to you, as she
+must be to me.  In short, Isabella, since I cannot give you my son,
+I offer you myself."
+
+"Heavens!" cried Isabella, waking from her delusion, "what do I
+hear?  You! my Lord!  You!  My father-in-law! the father of Conrad!
+the husband of the virtuous and tender Hippolita!"
+
+"I tell you," said Manfred imperiously, "Hippolita is no longer my
+wife; I divorce her from this hour.  Too long has she cursed me by
+her unfruitfulness.  My fate depends on having sons, and this night
+I trust will give a new date to my hopes."
+
+At those words he seized the cold hand of Isabella, who was half
+dead with fright and horror.  She shrieked, and started from him,
+Manfred rose to pursue her, when the moon, which was now up, and
+gleamed in at the opposite casement, presented to his sight the
+plumes of the fatal helmet, which rose to the height of the
+windows, waving backwards and forwards in a tempestuous manner, and
+accompanied with a hollow and rustling sound.  Isabella, who
+gathered courage from her situation, and who dreaded nothing so
+much as Manfred's pursuit of his declaration, cried -
+
+"Look, my Lord! see, Heaven itself declares against your impious
+intentions!"
+
+"Heaven nor Hell shall impede my designs," said Manfred, advancing
+again to seize the Princess.
+
+At that instant the portrait of his grandfather, which hung over
+the bench where they had been sitting, uttered a deep sigh, and
+heaved its breast.
+
+Isabella, whose back was turned to the picture, saw not the motion,
+nor knew whence the sound came, but started, and said -
+
+"Hark, my Lord!  What sound was that?" and at the same time made
+towards the door.
+
+Manfred, distracted between the flight of Isabella, who had now
+reached the stairs, and yet unable to keep his eyes from the
+picture, which began to move, had, however, advanced some steps
+after her, still looking backwards on the portrait, when he saw it
+quit its panel, and descend on the floor with a grave and
+melancholy air.
+
+"Do I dream?" cried Manfred, returning; "or are the devils
+themselves in league against me?  Speak, internal spectre!  Or, if
+thou art my grandsire, why dost thou too conspire against thy
+wretched descendant, who too dearly pays for--"  Ere he could
+finish the sentence, the vision sighed again, and made a sign to
+Manfred to follow him.
+
+"Lead on!" cried Manfred; "I will follow thee to the gulf of
+perdition."
+
+The spectre marched sedately, but dejected, to the end of the
+gallery, and turned into a chamber on the right hand.  Manfred
+accompanied him at a little distance, full of anxiety and horror,
+but resolved.  As he would have entered the chamber, the door was
+clapped to with violence by an invisible hand.  The Prince,
+collecting courage from this delay, would have forcibly burst open
+the door with his foot, but found that it resisted his utmost
+efforts.
+
+"Since Hell will not satisfy my curiosity," said Manfred, "I will
+use the human means in my power for preserving my race; Isabella
+shall not escape me."
+
+The lady, whose resolution had given way to terror the moment she
+had quitted Manfred, continued her flight to the bottom of the
+principal staircase.  There she stopped, not knowing whither to
+direct her steps, nor how to escape from the impetuosity of the
+Prince.  The gates of the castle, she knew, were locked, and guards
+placed in the court.  Should she, as her heart prompted her, go and
+prepare Hippolita for the cruel destiny that awaited her, she did
+not doubt but Manfred would seek her there, and that his violence
+would incite him to double the injury he meditated, without leaving
+room for them to avoid the impetuosity of his passions.  Delay
+might give him time to reflect on the horrid measures he had
+conceived, or produce some circumstance in her favour, if she
+could--for that night, at least--avoid his odious purpose.  Yet
+where conceal herself?  How avoid the pursuit he would infallibly
+make throughout the castle?
+
+As these thoughts passed rapidly through her mind, she recollected
+a subterraneous passage which led from the vaults of the castle to
+the church of St. Nicholas.  Could she reach the altar before she
+was overtaken, she knew even Manfred's violence would not dare to
+profane the sacredness of the place; and she determined, if no
+other means of deliverance offered, to shut herself up for ever
+among the holy virgins whose convent was contiguous to the
+cathedral.  In this resolution, she seized a lamp that burned at
+the foot of the staircase, and hurried towards the secret passage.
+
+The lower part of the castle was hollowed into several intricate
+cloisters; and it was not easy for one under so much anxiety to
+find the door that opened into the cavern.  An awful silence
+reigned throughout those subterraneous regions, except now and then
+some blasts of wind that shook the doors she had passed, and which,
+grating on the rusty hinges, were re-echoed through that long
+labyrinth of darkness.  Every murmur struck her with new terror;
+yet more she dreaded to hear the wrathful voice of Manfred urging
+his domestics to pursue her.
+
+She trod as softly as impatience would give her leave, yet
+frequently stopped and listened to hear if she was followed.  In
+one of those moments she thought she heard a sigh.  She shuddered,
+and recoiled a few paces.  In a moment she thought she heard the
+step of some person.  Her blood curdled; she concluded it was
+Manfred.  Every suggestion that horror could inspire rushed into
+her mind.  She condemned her rash flight, which had thus exposed
+her to his rage in a place where her cries were not likely to draw
+anybody to her assistance.  Yet the sound seemed not to come from
+behind.  If Manfred knew where she was, he must have followed her.
+She was still in one of the cloisters, and the steps she had heard
+were too distinct to proceed from the way she had come.  Cheered
+with this reflection, and hoping to find a friend in whoever was
+not the Prince, she was going to advance, when a door that stood
+ajar, at some distance to the left, was opened gently:  but ere her
+lamp, which she held up, could discover who opened it, the person
+retreated precipitately on seeing the light.
+
+Isabella, whom every incident was sufficient to dismay, hesitated
+whether she should proceed.  Her dread of Manfred soon outweighed
+every other terror.  The very circumstance of the person avoiding
+her gave her a sort of courage.  It could only be, she thought,
+some domestic belonging to the castle.  Her gentleness had never
+raised her an enemy, and conscious innocence made her hope that,
+unless sent by the Prince's order to seek her, his servants would
+rather assist than prevent her flight.  Fortifying herself with
+these reflections, and believing by what she could observe that she
+was near the mouth of the subterraneous cavern, she approached the
+door that had been opened; but a sudden gust of wind that met her
+at the door extinguished her lamp, and left her in total darkness.
+
+Words cannot paint the horror of the Princess's situation.  Alone
+in so dismal a place, her mind imprinted with all the terrible
+events of the day, hopeless of escaping, expecting every moment the
+arrival of Manfred, and far from tranquil on knowing she was within
+reach of somebody, she knew not whom, who for some cause seemed
+concealed thereabouts; all these thoughts crowded on her distracted
+mind, and she was ready to sink under her apprehensions.  She
+addressed herself to every saint in heaven, and inwardly implored
+their assistance.  For a considerable time she remained in an agony
+of despair.
+
+At last, as softly as was possible, she felt for the door, and
+having found it, entered trembling into the vault from whence she
+had heard the sigh and steps.  It gave her a kind of momentary joy
+to perceive an imperfect ray of clouded moonshine gleam from the
+roof of the vault, which seemed to be fallen in, and from whence
+hung a fragment of earth or building, she could not distinguish
+which, that appeared to have been crushed inwards.  She advanced
+eagerly towards this chasm, when she discerned a human form
+standing close against the wall.
+
+She shrieked, believing it the ghost of her betrothed Conrad.  The
+figure, advancing, said, in a submissive voice -
+
+"Be not alarmed, Lady; I will not injure you."
+
+Isabella, a little encouraged by the words and tone of voice of the
+stranger, and recollecting that this must be the person who had
+opened the door, recovered her spirits enough to reply -
+
+"Sir, whoever you are, take pity on a wretched Princess, standing
+on the brink of destruction.  Assist me to escape from this fatal
+castle, or in a few moments I may be made miserable for ever."
+
+"Alas!" said the stranger, "what can I do to assist you?  I will
+die in your defence; but I am unacquainted with the castle, and
+want--"
+
+"Oh!" said Isabella, hastily interrupting him; "help me but to find
+a trap-door that must be hereabout, and it is the greatest service
+you can do me, for I have not a minute to lose."
+
+Saying a these words, she felt about on the pavement, and directed
+the stranger to search likewise, for a smooth piece of brass
+enclosed in one of the stones.
+
+"That," said she, "is the lock, which opens with a spring, of which
+I know the secret.  If we can find that, I may escape--if not,
+alas! courteous stranger, I fear I shall have involved you in my
+misfortunes:  Manfred will suspect you for the accomplice of my
+flight, and you will fall a victim to his resentment."
+
+"I value not my life," said the stranger, "and it will be some
+comfort to lose it in trying to deliver you from his tyranny."
+
+"Generous youth," said Isabella, "how shall I ever requite--"
+
+As she uttered those words, a ray of moonshine, streaming through a
+cranny of the ruin above, shone directly on the lock they sought.
+
+"Oh! transport!" said Isabella; "here is the trap-door!" and,
+taking out the key, she touched the spring, which, starting aside,
+discovered an iron ring.  "Lift up the door," said the Princess.
+
+The stranger obeyed, and beneath appeared some stone steps
+descending into a vault totally dark.
+
+"We must go down here," said Isabella.  "Follow me; dark and dismal
+as it is, we cannot miss our way; it leads directly to the church
+of St. Nicholas.  But, perhaps," added the Princess modestly, "you
+have no reason to leave the castle, nor have I farther occasion for
+your service; in a few minutes I shall be safe from Manfred's rage-
+-only let me know to whom I am so much obliged."
+
+"I will never quit you," said the stranger eagerly, "until I have
+placed you in safety--nor think me, Princess, more generous than I
+am; though you are my principal care--"
+
+The stranger was interrupted by a sudden noise of voices that
+seemed approaching, and they soon distinguished these words -
+
+"Talk not to me of necromancers; I tell you she must be in the
+castle; I will find her in spite of enchantment."
+
+"Oh, heavens!" cried Isabella; "it is the voice of Manfred!  Make
+haste, or we are ruined! and shut the trap-door after you."
+
+Saying this, she descended the steps precipitately; and as the
+stranger hastened to follow her, he let the door slip out of his
+hands:  it fell, and the spring closed over it.  He tried in vain
+to open it, not having observed Isabella's method of touching the
+spring; nor had he many moments to make an essay.  The noise of the
+falling door had been heard by Manfred, who, directed by the sound,
+hastened thither, attended by his servants with torches.
+
+"It must be Isabella," cried Manfred, before he entered the vault.
+"She is escaping by the subterraneous passage, but she cannot have
+got far."
+
+What was the astonishment of the Prince when, instead of Isabella,
+the light of the torches discovered to him the young peasant whom
+he thought confined under the fatal helmet!
+
+"Traitor!" said Manfred; "how camest thou here?  I thought thee in
+durance above in the court."
+
+"I am no traitor," replied the young man boldly, "nor am I
+answerable for your thoughts."
+
+"Presumptuous villain!" cried Manfred; "dost thou provoke my wrath?
+Tell me, how hast thou escaped from above?  Thou hast corrupted thy
+guards, and their lives shall answer it."
+
+"My poverty," said the peasant calmly, "will disculpate them:
+though the ministers of a tyrant's wrath, to thee they are
+faithful, and but too willing to execute the orders which you
+unjustly imposed upon them."
+
+"Art thou so hardy as to dare my vengeance?" said the Prince; "but
+tortures shall force the truth from thee.  Tell me; I will know thy
+accomplices."
+
+"There was my accomplice!" said the youth, smiling, and pointing to
+the roof.
+
+Manfred ordered the torches to be held up, and perceived that one
+of the cheeks of the enchanted casque had forced its way through
+the pavement of the court, as his servants had let it fall over the
+peasant, and had broken through into the vault, leaving a gap,
+through which the peasant had pressed himself some minutes before
+he was found by Isabella.
+
+"Was that the way by which thou didst descend?" said Manfred.
+
+"It was," said the youth.
+
+"But what noise was that," said Manfred, "which I heard as I
+entered the cloister?"
+
+"A door clapped," said the peasant; "I heard it as well as you."
+
+"What door?" said Manfred hastily.
+
+"I am not acquainted with your castle," said the peasant; "this is
+the first time I ever entered it, and this vault the only part of
+it within which I ever was."
+
+"But I tell thee," said Manfred (wishing to find out if the youth
+had discovered the trap-door), "it was this way I heard the noise.
+My servants heard it too."
+
+"My Lord," interrupted one of them officiously, "to be sure it was
+the trap-door, and he was going to make his escape."
+
+"Peace, blockhead!" said the Prince angrily; "if he was going to
+escape, how should he come on this side?  I will know from his own
+mouth what noise it was I heard.  Tell me truly; thy life depends
+on thy veracity."
+
+"My veracity is dearer to me than my life," said the peasant; "nor
+would I purchase the one by forfeiting the other."
+
+"Indeed, young philosopher!" said Manfred contemptuously; "tell me,
+then, what was the noise I heard?"
+
+"Ask me what I can answer," said he, "and put me to death instantly
+if I tell you a lie."
+
+Manfred, growing impatient at the steady valour and indifference of
+the youth, cried -
+
+"Well, then, thou man of truth, answer!  Was it the fall of the
+trap-door that I heard?"
+
+"It was," said the youth.
+
+"It was!" said the Prince; "and how didst thou come to know there
+was a trap-door here?"
+
+"I saw the plate of brass by a gleam of moonshine," replied he.
+
+"But what told thee it was a lock?" said Manfred.  "How didst thou
+discover the secret of opening it?"
+
+"Providence, that delivered me from the helmet, was able to direct
+me to the spring of a lock," said he.
+
+"Providence should have gone a little farther, and have placed thee
+out of the reach of my resentment," said Manfred.  "When Providence
+had taught thee to open the lock, it abandoned thee for a fool, who
+did not know how to make use of its favours.  Why didst thou not
+pursue the path pointed out for thy escape?  Why didst thou shut
+the trap-door before thou hadst descended the steps?"
+
+"I might ask you, my Lord," said the peasant, "how I, totally
+unacquainted with your castle, was to know that those steps led to
+any outlet? but I scorn to evade your questions.  Wherever those
+steps lead to, perhaps I should have explored the way--I could not
+be in a worse situation than I was.  But the truth is, I let the
+trap-door fall:  your immediate arrival followed.  I had given the
+alarm--what imported it to me whether I was seized a minute sooner
+or a minute later?"
+
+"Thou art a resolute villain for thy years," said Manfred; "yet on
+reflection I suspect thou dost but trifle with me.  Thou hast not
+yet told me how thou didst open the lock."
+
+"That I will show you, my Lord," said the peasant; and, taking up a
+fragment of stone that had fallen from above, he laid himself on
+the trap-door, and began to beat on the piece of brass that covered
+it, meaning to gain time for the escape of the Princess.  This
+presence of mind, joined to the frankness of the youth, staggered
+Manfred.  He even felt a disposition towards pardoning one who had
+been guilty of no crime.  Manfred was not one of those savage
+tyrants who wanton in cruelty unprovoked.  The circumstances of his
+fortune had given an asperity to his temper, which was naturally
+humane; and his virtues were always ready to operate, when his
+passions did not obscure his reason.
+
+While the Prince was in this suspense, a confused noise of voices
+echoed through the distant vaults.  As the sound approached, he
+distinguished the clamours of some of his domestics, whom he had
+dispersed through the castle in search of Isabella, calling out -
+
+"Where is my Lord? where is the Prince?"
+
+"Here I am," said Manfred, as they came nearer; "have you found the
+Princess?"
+
+The first that arrived, replied, "Oh, my Lord!  I am glad we have
+found you."
+
+"Found me!" said Manfred; "have you found the Princess?"
+
+"We thought we had, my Lord," said the fellow, looking terrified,
+"but--"
+
+"But, what?" cried the Prince; "has she escaped?"
+
+"Jaquez and I, my Lord--"
+
+"Yes, I and Diego," interrupted the second, who came up in still
+greater consternation.
+
+"Speak one of you at a time," said Manfred; "I ask you, where is
+the Princess?"
+
+"We do not know," said they both together; "but we are frightened
+out of our wits."
+
+"So I think, blockheads," said Manfred; "what is it has scared you
+thus?"
+
+"Oh! my Lord," said Jaquez, "Diego has seen such a sight! your
+Highness would not believe our eyes."
+
+"What new absurdity is this?" cried Manfred; "give me a direct
+answer, or, by Heaven--"
+
+"Why, my Lord, if it please your Highness to hear me," said the
+poor fellow, "Diego and I--"
+
+"Yes, I and Jaquez--" cried his comrade.
+
+"Did not I forbid you to speak both at a time?" said the Prince:
+"you, Jaquez, answer; for the other fool seems more distracted than
+thou art; what is the matter?"
+
+"My gracious Lord," said Jaquez, "if it please your Highness to
+hear me; Diego and I, according to your Highness's orders, went to
+search for the young Lady; but being comprehensive that we might
+meet the ghost of my young Lord, your Highness's son, God rest his
+soul, as he has not received Christian burial--"
+
+"Sot!" cried Manfred in a rage; "is it only a ghost, then, that
+thou hast seen?"
+
+"Oh! worse! worse! my Lord," cried Diego:  "I had rather have seen
+ten whole ghosts."
+
+"Grant me patience!" said Manfred; "these blockheads distract me.
+Out of my sight, Diego! and thou, Jaquez, tell me in one word, art
+thou sober? art thou raving? thou wast wont to have some sense:
+has the other sot frightened himself and thee too?  Speak; what is
+it he fancies he has seen?"
+
+"Why, my Lord," replied Jaquez, trembling, "I was going to tell
+your Highness, that since the calamitous misfortune of my young
+Lord, God rest his precious soul! not one of us your Highness's
+faithful servants--indeed we are, my Lord, though poor men--I say,
+not one of us has dared to set a foot about the castle, but two
+together:  so Diego and I, thinking that my young Lady might be in
+the great gallery, went up there to look for her, and tell her your
+Highness wanted something to impart to her."
+
+"O blundering fools!" cried Manfred; "and in the meantime, she has
+made her escape, because you were afraid of goblins!--Why, thou
+knave! she left me in the gallery; I came from thence myself."
+
+"For all that, she may be there still for aught I know," said
+Jaquez; "but the devil shall have me before I seek her there again-
+-poor Diego!  I do not believe he will ever recover it."
+
+"Recover what?" said Manfred; "am I never to learn what it is has
+terrified these rascals?--but I lose my time; follow me, slave; I
+will see if she is in the gallery."
+
+"For Heaven's sake, my dear, good Lord," cried Jaquez, "do not go
+to the gallery.  Satan himself I believe is in the chamber next to
+the gallery."
+
+Manfred, who hitherto had treated the terror of his servants as an
+idle panic, was struck at this new circumstance.  He recollected
+the apparition of the portrait, and the sudden closing of the door
+at the end of the gallery.  His voice faltered, and he asked with
+disorder -
+
+"What is in the great chamber?"
+
+"My Lord," said Jaquez, "when Diego and I came into the gallery, he
+went first, for he said he had more courage than I.  So when we
+came into the gallery we found nobody.  We looked under every bench
+and stool; and still we found nobody."
+
+"Were all the pictures in their places?" said Manfred.
+
+"Yes, my Lord," answered Jaquez; "but we did not think of looking
+behind them."
+
+"Well, well!" said Manfred; "proceed."
+
+"When we came to the door of the great chamber," continued Jaquez,
+"we found it shut."
+
+"And could not you open it?" said Manfred.
+
+"Oh! yes, my Lord; would to Heaven we had not!" replied he--"nay,
+it was not I neither; it was Diego:  he was grown foolhardy, and
+would go on, though I advised him not--if ever I open a door that
+is shut again--"
+
+"Trifle not," said Manfred, shuddering, "but tell me what you saw
+in the great chamber on opening the door."
+
+"I! my Lord!" said Jaquez; "I was behind Diego; but I heard the
+noise."
+
+"Jaquez," said Manfred, in a solemn tone of voice; "tell me, I
+adjure thee by the souls of my ancestors, what was it thou sawest?
+what was it thou heardest?"
+
+"It was Diego saw it, my Lord, it was not I," replied Jaquez; "I
+only heard the noise.  Diego had no sooner opened the door, than he
+cried out, and ran back.  I ran back too, and said, 'Is it the
+ghost?'  'The ghost! no, no,' said Diego, and his hair stood on
+end--'it is a giant, I believe; he is all clad in armour, for I saw
+his foot and part of his leg, and they are as large as the helmet
+below in the court.'  As he said these words, my Lord, we heard a
+violent motion and the rattling of armour, as if the giant was
+rising, for Diego has told me since that he believes the giant was
+lying down, for the foot and leg were stretched at length on the
+floor.  Before we could get to the end of the gallery, we heard the
+door of the great chamber clap behind us, but we did not dare turn
+back to see if the giant was following us--yet, now I think on it,
+we must have heard him if he had pursued us--but for Heaven's sake,
+good my Lord, send for the chaplain, and have the castle exorcised,
+for, for certain, it is enchanted."
+
+"Ay, pray do, my Lord," cried all the servants at once, "or we must
+leave your Highness's service."
+
+"Peace, dotards!" said Manfred, "and follow me; I will know what
+all this means."
+
+"We! my Lord!" cried they with one voice; "we would not go up to
+the gallery for your Highness's revenue."  The young peasant, who
+had stood silent, now spoke.
+
+"Will your Highness," said he, "permit me to try this adventure?
+My life is of consequence to nobody; I fear no bad angel, and have
+offended no good one."
+
+"Your behaviour is above your seeming," said Manfred, viewing him
+with surprise and admiration--"hereafter I will reward your
+bravery--but now," continued he with a sigh, "I am so
+circumstanced, that I dare trust no eyes but my own.  However, I
+give you leave to accompany me."
+
+Manfred, when he first followed Isabella from the gallery, had gone
+directly to the apartment of his wife, concluding the Princess had
+retired thither.  Hippolita, who knew his step, rose with anxious
+fondness to meet her Lord, whom she had not seen since the death of
+their son.  She would have flown in a transport mixed of joy and
+grief to his bosom, but he pushed her rudely off, and said -
+
+"Where is Isabella?"
+
+"Isabella! my Lord!" said the astonished Hippolita.
+
+"Yes, Isabella," cried Manfred imperiously; "I want Isabella."
+
+"My Lord," replied Matilda, who perceived how much his behaviour
+had shocked her mother, "she has not been with us since your
+Highness summoned her to your apartment."
+
+"Tell me where she is," said the Prince; "I do not want to know
+where she has been."
+
+"My good Lord," says Hippolita, "your daughter tells you the truth:
+Isabella left us by your command, and has not returned since;--but,
+my good Lord, compose yourself:  retire to your rest:  this dismal
+day has disordered you.  Isabella shall wait your orders in the
+morning."
+
+"What, then, you know where she is!" cried Manfred.  "Tell me
+directly, for I will not lose an instant--and you, woman," speaking
+to his wife, "order your chaplain to attend me forthwith."
+
+"Isabella," said Hippolita calmly, "is retired, I suppose, to her
+chamber:  she is not accustomed to watch at this late hour.
+Gracious my Lord," continued she, "let me know what has disturbed
+you.  Has Isabella offended you?"
+
+"Trouble me not with questions," said Manfred, "but tell me where
+she is."
+
+"Matilda shall call her," said the Princess.  "Sit down, my Lord,
+and resume your wonted fortitude."
+
+"What, art thou jealous of Isabella?" replied he, "that you wish to
+be present at our interview!"
+
+"Good heavens! my Lord," said Hippolita, "what is it your Highness
+means?"
+
+"Thou wilt know ere many minutes are passed," said the cruel
+Prince.  "Send your chaplain to me, and wait my pleasure here."
+
+At these words he flung out of the room in search of Isabella,
+leaving the amazed ladies thunderstruck with his words and frantic
+deportment, and lost in vain conjectures on what he was meditating.
+
+Manfred was now returning from the vault, attended by the peasant
+and a few of his servants whom he had obliged to accompany him.  He
+ascended the staircase without stopping till he arrived at the
+gallery, at the door of which he met Hippolita and her chaplain.
+When Diego had been dismissed by Manfred, he had gone directly to
+the Princess's apartment with the alarm of what he had seen.  That
+excellent Lady, who no more than Manfred doubted of the reality of
+the vision, yet affected to treat it as a delirium of the servant.
+Willing, however, to save her Lord from any additional shock, and
+prepared by a series of griefs not to tremble at any accession to
+it, she determined to make herself the first sacrifice, if fate had
+marked the present hour for their destruction.  Dismissing the
+reluctant Matilda to her rest, who in vain sued for leave to
+accompany her mother, and attended only by her chaplain, Hippolita
+had visited the gallery and great chamber; and now with more
+serenity of soul than she had felt for many hours, she met her
+Lord, and assured him that the vision of the gigantic leg and foot
+was all a fable; and no doubt an impression made by fear, and the
+dark and dismal hour of the night, on the minds of his servants.
+She and the chaplain had examined the chamber, and found everything
+in the usual order.
+
+Manfred, though persuaded, like his wife, that the vision had been
+no work of fancy, recovered a little from the tempest of mind into
+which so many strange events had thrown him.  Ashamed, too, of his
+inhuman treatment of a Princess who returned every injury with new
+marks of tenderness and duty, he felt returning love forcing itself
+into his eyes; but not less ashamed of feeling remorse towards one
+against whom he was inwardly meditating a yet more bitter outrage,
+he curbed the yearnings of his heart, and did not dare to lean even
+towards pity.  The next transition of his soul was to exquisite
+villainy.
+
+Presuming on the unshaken submission of Hippolita, he flattered
+himself that she would not only acquiesce with patience to a
+divorce, but would obey, if it was his pleasure, in endeavouring to
+persuade Isabella to give him her hand--but ere he could indulge
+his horrid hope, he reflected that Isabella was not to be found.
+Coming to himself, he gave orders that every avenue to the castle
+should be strictly guarded, and charged his domestics on pain of
+their lives to suffer nobody to pass out.  The young peasant, to
+whom he spoke favourably, he ordered to remain in a small chamber
+on the stairs, in which there was a pallet-bed, and the key of
+which he took away himself, telling the youth he would talk with
+him in the morning.  Then dismissing his attendants, and bestowing
+a sullen kind of half-nod on Hippolita, he retired to his own
+chamber.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+
+Matilda, who by Hippolita's order had retired to her apartment, was
+ill-disposed to take any rest.  The shocking fate of her brother
+had deeply affected her.  She was surprised at not seeing Isabella;
+but the strange words which had fallen from her father, and his
+obscure menace to the Princess his wife, accompanied by the most
+furious behaviour, had filled her gentle mind with terror and
+alarm.  She waited anxiously for the return of Bianca, a young
+damsel that attended her, whom she had sent to learn what was
+become of Isabella.  Bianca soon appeared, and informed her
+mistress of what she had gathered from the servants, that Isabella
+was nowhere to be found.  She related the adventure of the young
+peasant who had been discovered in the vault, though with many
+simple additions from the incoherent accounts of the domestics; and
+she dwelt principally on the gigantic leg and foot which had been
+seen in the gallery-chamber.  This last circumstance had terrified
+Bianca so much, that she was rejoiced when Matilda told her that
+she would not go to rest, but would watch till the Princess should
+rise.
+
+The young Princess wearied herself in conjectures on the flight of
+Isabella, and on the threats of Manfred to her mother.  "But what
+business could he have so urgent with the chaplain?" said Matilda,
+"Does he intend to have my brother's body interred privately in the
+chapel?"
+
+"Oh, Madam!" said Bianca, "now I guess.  As you are become his
+heiress, he is impatient to have you married:  he has always been
+raving for more sons; I warrant he is now impatient for grandsons.
+As sure as I live, Madam, I shall see you a bride at last.--Good
+madam, you won't cast off your faithful Bianca:  you won't put
+Donna Rosara over me now you are a great Princess."
+
+"My poor Bianca," said Matilda, "how fast your thoughts amble!  I a
+great princess!  What hast thou seen in Manfred's behaviour since
+my brother's death that bespeaks any increase of tenderness to me?
+No, Bianca; his heart was ever a stranger to me--but he is my
+father, and I must not complain.  Nay, if Heaven shuts my father's
+heart against me, it overpays my little merit in the tenderness of
+my mother--O that dear mother! yes, Bianca, 'tis there I feel the
+rugged temper of Manfred.  I can support his harshness to me with
+patience; but it wounds my soul when I am witness to his causeless
+severity towards her."
+
+"Oh! Madam," said Bianca, "all men use their wives so, when they
+are weary of them."
+
+"And yet you congratulated me but now," said Matilda, "when you
+fancied my father intended to dispose of me!"
+
+"I would have you a great Lady," replied Bianca, "come what will.
+I do not wish to see you moped in a convent, as you would be if you
+had your will, and if my Lady, your mother, who knows that a bad
+husband is better than no husband at all, did not hinder you.--
+Bless me! what noise is that!  St. Nicholas forgive me!  I was but
+in jest."
+
+"It is the wind," said Matilda, "whistling through the battlements
+in the tower above:  you have heard it a thousand times."
+
+"Nay," said Bianca, "there was no harm neither in what I said:  it
+is no sin to talk of matrimony--and so, Madam, as I was saying, if
+my Lord Manfred should offer you a handsome young Prince for a
+bridegroom, you would drop him a curtsey, and tell him you would
+rather take the veil?"
+
+"Thank Heaven!  I am in no such danger," said Matilda:  "you know
+how many proposals for me he has rejected--"
+
+"And you thank him, like a dutiful daughter, do you, Madam?  But
+come, Madam; suppose, to-morrow morning, he was to send for you to
+the great council chamber, and there you should find at his elbow a
+lovely young Prince, with large black eyes, a smooth white
+forehead, and manly curling locks like jet; in short, Madam, a
+young hero resembling the picture of the good Alfonso in the
+gallery, which you sit and gaze at for hours together--"
+
+"Do not speak lightly of that picture," interrupted Matilda
+sighing; "I know the adoration with which I look at that picture is
+uncommon--but I am not in love with a coloured panel.  The
+character of that virtuous Prince, the veneration with which my
+mother has inspired me for his memory, the orisons which, I know
+not why, she has enjoined me to pour forth at his tomb, all have
+concurred to persuade me that somehow or other my destiny is linked
+with something relating to him."
+
+"Lord, Madam! how should that be?" said Bianca; "I have always
+heard that your family was in no way related to his:  and I am sure
+I cannot conceive why my Lady, the Princess, sends you in a cold
+morning or a damp evening to pray at his tomb:  he is no saint by
+the almanack.  If you must pray, why does she not bid you address
+yourself to our great St. Nicholas?  I am sure he is the saint I
+pray to for a husband."
+
+"Perhaps my mind would be less affected," said Matilda, "if my
+mother would explain her reasons to me:  but it is the mystery she
+observes, that inspires me with this--I know not what to call it.
+As she never acts from caprice, I am sure there is some fatal
+secret at bottom--nay, I know there is:  in her agony of grief for
+my brother's death she dropped some words that intimated as much."
+
+"Oh! dear Madam," cried Bianca, "what were they?"
+
+"No," said Matilda, "if a parent lets fall a word, and wishes it
+recalled, it is not for a child to utter it."
+
+"What! was she sorry for what she had said?" asked Bianca; "I am
+sure, Madam, you may trust me--"
+
+"With my own little secrets when I have any, I may," said Matilda;
+"but never with my mother's:  a child ought to have no ears or eyes
+but as a parent directs."
+
+"Well! to be sure, Madam, you were born to be a saint," said
+Bianca, "and there is no resisting one's vocation:  you will end in
+a convent at last.  But there is my Lady Isabella would not be so
+reserved to me:  she will let me talk to her of young men:  and
+when a handsome cavalier has come to the castle, she has owned to
+me that she wished your brother Conrad resembled him."
+
+"Bianca," said the Princess, "I do not allow you to mention my
+friend disrespectfully.  Isabella is of a cheerful disposition, but
+her soul is pure as virtue itself.  She knows your idle babbling
+humour, and perhaps has now and then encouraged it, to divert
+melancholy, and enliven the solitude in which my father keeps us--"
+
+"Blessed Mary!" said Bianca, starting, "there it is again!  Dear
+Madam, do you hear nothing? this castle is certainly haunted!"
+
+"Peace!" said Matilda, "and listen!  I did think I heard a voice--
+but it must be fancy:  your terrors, I suppose, have infected me."
+
+"Indeed! indeed!  Madam," said Bianca, half-weeping with agony, "I
+am sure I heard a voice."
+
+"Does anybody lie in the chamber beneath?" said the Princess.
+
+"Nobody has dared to lie there," answered Bianca, "since the great
+astrologer, that was your brother's tutor, drowned himself.  For
+certain, Madam, his ghost and the young Prince's are now met in the
+chamber below--for Heaven's sake let us fly to your mother's
+apartment!"
+
+"I charge you not to stir," said Matilda.  "If they are spirits in
+pain, we may ease their sufferings by questioning them.  They can
+mean no hurt to us, for we have not injured them--and if they
+should, shall we be more safe in one chamber than in another?
+Reach me my beads; we will say a prayer, and then speak to them."
+
+"Oh! dear Lady, I would not speak to a ghost for the world!" cried
+Bianca.  As she said those words they heard the casement of the
+little chamber below Matilda's open.  They listened attentively,
+and in a few minutes thought they heard a person sing, but could
+not distinguish the words.
+
+"This can be no evil spirit," said the Princess, in a low voice;
+"it is undoubtedly one of the family--open the window, and we shall
+know the voice."
+
+"I dare not, indeed, Madam," said Bianca.
+
+"Thou art a very fool," said Matilda, opening the window gently
+herself.  The noise the Princess made was, however, heard by the
+person beneath, who stopped; and they concluded had heard the
+casement open.
+
+"Is anybody below?" said the Princess; "if there is, speak."
+
+"Yes," said an unknown voice.
+
+"Who is it?" said Matilda.
+
+"A stranger," replied the voice.
+
+"What stranger?" said she; "and how didst thou come there at this
+unusual hour, when all the gates of the castle are locked?"
+
+"I am not here willingly," answered the voice.  "But pardon me,
+Lady, if I have disturbed your rest; I knew not that I was
+overheard.  Sleep had forsaken me; I left a restless couch, and
+came to waste the irksome hours with gazing on the fair approach of
+morning, impatient to be dismissed from this castle."
+
+"Thy words and accents," said Matilda, "are of melancholy cast; if
+thou art unhappy, I pity thee.  If poverty afflicts thee, let me
+know it; I will mention thee to the Princess, whose beneficent soul
+ever melts for the distressed, and she will relieve thee."
+
+"I am indeed unhappy," said the stranger; "and I know not what
+wealth is.  But I do not complain of the lot which Heaven has cast
+for me; I am young and healthy, and am not ashamed of owing my
+support to myself--yet think me not proud, or that I disdain your
+generous offers.  I will remember you in my orisons, and will pray
+for blessings on your gracious self and your noble mistress--if I
+sigh, Lady, it is for others, not for myself."
+
+"Now I have it, Madam," said Bianca, whispering the Princess; "this
+is certainly the young peasant; and, by my conscience, he is in
+love--Well! this is a charming adventure!--do, Madam, let us sift
+him.  He does not know you, but takes you for one of my Lady
+Hippolita's women."
+
+"Art thou not ashamed, Bianca!" said the Princess.   "What right
+have we to pry into the secrets of this young man's heart?  He
+seems virtuous and frank, and tells us he is unhappy.  Are those
+circumstances that authorise us to make a property of him?  How are
+we entitled to his confidence?"
+
+"Lord, Madam! how little you know of love!" replied Bianca; "why,
+lovers have no pleasure equal to talking of their mistress."
+
+"And would you have ME become a peasant's confidante?" said the
+Princess.
+
+"Well, then, let me talk to him," said Bianca; "though I have the
+honour of being your Highness's maid of honour, I was not always so
+great.  Besides, if love levels ranks, it raises them too; I have a
+respect for any young man in love."
+
+"Peace, simpleton!" said the Princess.  "Though he said he was
+unhappy, it does not follow that he must be in love.  Think of all
+that has happened to-day, and tell me if there are no misfortunes
+but what love causes.--Stranger," resumed the Princess, "if thy
+misfortunes have not been occasioned by thy own fault, and are
+within the compass of the Princess Hippolita's power to redress, I
+will take upon me to answer that she will be thy protectress.  When
+thou art dismissed from this castle, repair to holy father Jerome,
+at the convent adjoining to the church of St. Nicholas, and make
+thy story known to him, as far as thou thinkest meet.  He will not
+fail to inform the Princess, who is the mother of all that want her
+assistance.  Farewell; it is not seemly for me to hold farther
+converse with a man at this unwonted hour."
+
+"May the saints guard thee, gracious Lady!" replied the peasant;
+"but oh! if a poor and worthless stranger might presume to beg a
+minute's audience farther; am I so happy? the casement is not shut;
+might I venture to ask--"
+
+"Speak quickly," said Matilda; "the morning dawns apace:  should
+the labourers come into the fields and perceive us--What wouldst
+thou ask?"
+
+"I know not how, I know not if I dare," said the Young stranger,
+faltering; "yet the humanity with which you have spoken to me
+emboldens--Lady! dare I trust you?"
+
+"Heavens!" said Matilda, "what dost thou mean?  With what wouldst
+thou trust me?  Speak boldly, if thy secret is fit to be entrusted
+to a virtuous breast."
+
+"I would ask," said the peasant, recollecting himself, "whether
+what I have heard from the domestics is true, that the Princess is
+missing from the castle?"
+
+"What imports it to thee to know?" replied Matilda.  "Thy first
+words bespoke a prudent and becoming gravity.  Dost thou come
+hither to pry into the secrets of Manfred?  Adieu.  I have been
+mistaken in thee."  Saying these words she shut the casement
+hastily, without giving the young man time to reply.
+
+"I had acted more wisely," said the Princess to Bianca, with some
+sharpness, "if I had let thee converse with this peasant; his
+inquisitiveness seems of a piece with thy own."
+
+"It is not fit for me to argue with your Highness," replied Bianca;
+"but perhaps the questions I should have put to him would have been
+more to the purpose than those you have been pleased to ask him."
+
+"Oh! no doubt," said Matilda; "you are a very discreet personage!
+May I know what YOU would have asked him?"
+
+"A bystander often sees more of the game than those that play,"
+answered Bianca.  "Does your Highness think, Madam, that this
+question about my Lady Isabella was the result of mere curiosity?
+No, no, Madam, there is more in it than you great folks are aware
+of.  Lopez told me that all the servants believe this young fellow
+contrived my Lady Isabella's escape; now, pray, Madam, observe you
+and I both know that my Lady Isabella never much fancied the Prince
+your brother.  Well! he is killed just in a critical minute--I
+accuse nobody.  A helmet falls from the moon--so, my Lord, your
+father says; but Lopez and all the servants say that this young
+spark is a magician, and stole it from Alfonso's tomb--"
+
+"Have done with this rhapsody of impertinence," said Matilda.
+
+"Nay, Madam, as you please," cried Bianca; "yet it is very
+particular though, that my Lady Isabella should be missing the very
+same day, and that this young sorcerer should be found at the mouth
+of the trap-door.  I accuse nobody; but if my young Lord came
+honestly by his death--"
+
+"Dare not on thy duty," said Matilda, "to breathe a suspicion on
+the purity of my dear Isabella's fame."
+
+"Purity, or not purity," said Bianca, "gone she is--a stranger is
+found that nobody knows; you question him yourself; he tells you he
+is in love, or unhappy, it is the same thing--nay, he owned he was
+unhappy about others; and is anybody unhappy about another, unless
+they are in love with them? and at the very next word, he asks
+innocently, pour soul! if my Lady Isabella is missing."
+
+"To be sure," said Matilda, "thy observations are not totally
+without foundation--Isabella's flight amazes me.  The curiosity of
+the stranger is very particular; yet Isabella never concealed a
+thought from me."
+
+"So she told you," said Bianca, "to fish out your secrets; but who
+knows, Madam, but this stranger may be some Prince in disguise?
+Do, Madam, let me open the window, and ask him a few questions."
+
+"No," replied Matilda, "I will ask him myself, if he knows aught of
+Isabella; he is not worthy I should converse farther with him."
+She was going to open the casement, when they heard the bell ring
+at the postern-gate of the castle, which is on the right hand of
+the tower, where Matilda lay.  This prevented the Princess from
+renewing the conversation with the stranger.
+
+After continuing silent for some time, "I am persuaded," said she
+to Bianca, "that whatever be the cause of Isabella's flight it had
+no unworthy motive.  If this stranger was accessory to it, she must
+be satisfied with his fidelity and worth.  I observed, did not you,
+Bianca? that his words were tinctured with an uncommon infusion of
+piety.  It was no ruffian's speech; his phrases were becoming a man
+of gentle birth."
+
+"I told you, Madam," said Bianca, "that I was sure he was some
+Prince in disguise."
+
+"Yet," said Matilda, "if he was privy to her escape, how will you
+account for his not accompanying her in her flight? why expose
+himself unnecessarily and rashly to my father's resentment?"
+
+"As for that, Madam," replied she, "if he could get from under the
+helmet, he will find ways of eluding your father's anger.  I do not
+doubt but he has some talisman or other about him."
+
+"You resolve everything into magic," said Matilda; "but a man who
+has any intercourse with infernal spirits, does not dare to make
+use of those tremendous and holy words which he uttered.  Didst
+thou not observe with what fervour he vowed to remember ME to
+heaven in his prayers?  Yes; Isabella was undoubtedly convinced of
+his piety."
+
+"Commend me to the piety of a young fellow and a damsel that
+consult to elope!" said Bianca.  "No, no, Madam, my Lady Isabella
+is of another guess mould than you take her for.  She used indeed
+to sigh and lift up her eyes in your company, because she knows you
+are a saint; but when your back was turned--"
+
+"You wrong her," said Matilda; "Isabella is no hypocrite; she has a
+due sense of devotion, but never affected a call she has not.  On
+the contrary, she always combated my inclination for the cloister;
+and though I own the mystery she has made to me of her flight
+confounds me; though it seems inconsistent with the friendship
+between us; I cannot forget the disinterested warmth with which she
+always opposed my taking the veil.  She wished to see me married,
+though my dower would have been a loss to her and my brother's
+children.  For her sake I will believe well of this young peasant."
+
+"Then you do think there is some liking between them," said Bianca.
+While she was speaking, a servant came hastily into the chamber and
+told the Princess that the Lady Isabella was found.
+
+"Where?" said Matilda.
+
+"She has taken sanctuary in St. Nicholas's church," replied the
+servant; "Father Jerome has brought the news himself; he is below
+with his Highness."
+
+"Where is my mother?" said Matilda.
+
+"She is in her own chamber, Madam, and has asked for you."
+
+Manfred had risen at the first dawn of light, and gone to
+Hippolita's apartment, to inquire if she knew aught of Isabella.
+While he was questioning her, word was brought that Jerome demanded
+to speak with him.  Manfred, little suspecting the cause of the
+Friar's arrival, and knowing he was employed by Hippolita in her
+charities, ordered him to be admitted, intending to leave them
+together, while he pursued his search after Isabella.
+
+"Is your business with me or the Princess?" said Manfred.
+
+"With both," replied the holy man.  "The Lady Isabella--"
+
+"What of her?" interrupted Manfred, eagerly.
+
+"Is at St. Nicholas's altar," replied Jerome.
+
+"That is no business of Hippolita," said Manfred with confusion;
+"let us retire to my chamber, Father, and inform me how she came
+thither."
+
+"No, my Lord," replied the good man, with an air of firmness and
+authority, that daunted even the resolute Manfred, who could not
+help revering the saint-like virtues of Jerome; "my commission is
+to both, and with your Highness's good-liking, in the presence of
+both I shall deliver it; but first, my Lord, I must interrogate the
+Princess, whether she is acquainted with the cause of the Lady
+Isabella's retirement from your castle."
+
+"No, on my soul," said Hippolita; "does Isabella charge me with
+being privy to it?"
+
+"Father," interrupted Manfred, "I pay due reverence to your holy
+profession; but I am sovereign here, and will allow no meddling
+priest to interfere in the affairs of my domestic.  If you have
+aught to say attend me to my chamber; I do not use to let my wife
+be acquainted with the secret affairs of my state; they are not
+within a woman's province."
+
+"My Lord," said the holy man, "I am no intruder into the secrets of
+families.  My office is to promote peace, to heal divisions, to
+preach repentance, and teach mankind to curb their headstrong
+passions.  I forgive your Highness's uncharitable apostrophe; I
+know my duty, and am the minister of a mightier prince than
+Manfred.  Hearken to him who speaks through my organs."
+
+Manfred trembled with rage and shame.  Hippolita's countenance
+declared her astonishment and impatience to know where this would
+end.  Her silence more strongly spoke her observance of Manfred.
+
+"The Lady Isabella," resumed Jerome, "commends herself to both your
+Highnesses; she thanks both for the kindness with which she has
+been treated in your castle:  she deplores the loss of your son,
+and her own misfortune in not becoming the daughter of such wise
+and noble Princes, whom she shall always respect as Parents; she
+prays for uninterrupted union and felicity between you" [Manfred's
+colour changed]:  "but as it is no longer possible for her to be
+allied to you, she entreats your consent to remain in sanctuary,
+till she can learn news of her father, or, by the certainty of his
+death, be at liberty, with the approbation of her guardians, to
+dispose of herself in suitable marriage."
+
+"I shall give no such consent," said the Prince, "but insist on her
+return to the castle without delay:  I am answerable for her person
+to her guardians, and will not brook her being in any hands but my
+own."
+
+"Your Highness will recollect whether that can any longer be
+proper," replied the Friar.
+
+"I want no monitor," said Manfred, colouring; "Isabella's conduct
+leaves room for strange suspicions--and that young villain, who was
+at least the accomplice of her flight, if not the cause of it--"
+
+"The cause!" interrupted Jerome; "was a YOUNG man the cause?"
+
+"This is not to be borne!" cried Manfred.  "Am I to be bearded in
+my own palace by an insolent Monk?  Thou art privy, I guess, to
+their amours."
+
+"I would pray to heaven to clear up your uncharitable surmises,"
+said Jerome, "if your Highness were not satisfied in your
+conscience how unjustly you accuse me.  I do pray to heaven to
+pardon that uncharitableness:  and I implore your Highness to leave
+the Princess at peace in that holy place, where she is not liable
+to be disturbed by such vain and worldly fantasies as discourses of
+love from any man."
+
+"Cant not to me," said Manfred, "but return and bring the Princess
+to her duty."
+
+"It is my duty to prevent her return hither," said Jerome.  "She is
+where orphans and virgins are safest from the snares and wiles of
+this world; and nothing but a parent's authority shall take her
+thence."
+
+"I am her parent," cried Manfred, "and demand her."
+
+"She wished to have you for her parent," said the Friar; "but
+Heaven that forbad that connection has for ever dissolved all ties
+betwixt you:  and I announce to your Highness--"
+
+"Stop! audacious man," said Manfred, "and dread my displeasure."
+
+"Holy farther," said Hippolita, "it is your office to be no
+respecter of persons:  you must speak as your duty prescribes:  but
+it is my duty to hear nothing that it pleases not my Lord I should
+hear.  Attend the Prince to his chamber.  I will retire to my
+oratory, and pray to the blessed Virgin to inspire you with her
+holy counsels, and to restore the heart of my gracious Lord to its
+wonted peace and gentleness."
+
+"Excellent woman!" said the Friar.  "My Lord, I attend your
+pleasure."
+
+Manfred, accompanied by the Friar, passed to his own apartment,
+where shutting the door, "I perceive, Father," said he, "that
+Isabella has acquainted you with my purpose.  Now hear my resolve,
+and obey.  Reasons of state, most urgent reasons, my own and the
+safety of my people, demand that I should have a son.  It is in
+vain to expect an heir from Hippolita.  I have made choice of
+Isabella.  You must bring her back; and you must do more.  I know
+the influence you have with Hippolita:  her conscience is in your
+hands.  She is, I allow, a faultless woman:  her soul is set on
+heaven, and scorns the little grandeur of this world:  you can
+withdraw her from it entirely.  Persuade her to consent to the
+dissolution of our marriage, and to retire into a monastery--she
+shall endow one if she will; and she shall have the means of being
+as liberal to your order as she or you can wish.  Thus you will
+divert the calamities that are hanging over our heads, and have the
+merit of saying the principality of Otranto from destruction.  You
+are a prudent man, and though the warmth of my temper betrayed me
+into some unbecoming expressions, I honour your virtue, and wish to
+be indebted to you for the repose of my life and the preservation
+of my family."
+
+"The will of heaven be done!" said the Friar.  "I am but its
+worthless instrument.  It makes use of my tongue to tell thee,
+Prince, of thy unwarrantable designs.  The injuries of the virtuous
+Hippolita have mounted to the throne of pity.  By me thou art
+reprimanded for thy adulterous intention of repudiating her:  by me
+thou art warned not to pursue the incestuous design on thy
+contracted daughter.  Heaven that delivered her from thy fury, when
+the judgments so recently fallen on thy house ought to have
+inspired thee with other thoughts, will continue to watch over her.
+Even I, a poor and despised Friar, am able to protect her from thy
+violence--I, sinner as I am, and uncharitably reviled by your
+Highness as an accomplice of I know not what amours, scorn the
+allurements with which it has pleased thee to tempt mine honesty.
+I love my order; I honour devout souls; I respect the piety of thy
+Princess--but I will not betray the confidence she reposes in me,
+nor serve even the cause of religion by foul and sinful
+compliances--but forsooth! the welfare of the state depends on your
+Highness having a son!  Heaven mocks the short-sighted views of
+man.  But yester-morn, whose house was so great, so flourishing as
+Manfred's?--where is young Conrad now?--My Lord, I respect your
+tears--but I mean not to check them--let them flow, Prince!  They
+will weigh more with heaven toward the welfare of thy subjects,
+than a marriage, which, founded on lust or policy, could never
+prosper.  The sceptre, which passed from the race of Alfonso to
+thine, cannot be preserved by a match which the church will never
+allow.  If it is the will of the Most High that Manfred's name must
+perish, resign yourself, my Lord, to its decrees; and thus deserve
+a crown that can never pass away.  Come, my Lord; I like this
+sorrow--let us return to the Princess:  she is not apprised of your
+cruel intentions; nor did I mean more than to alarm you.  You saw
+with what gentle patience, with what efforts of love, she heard,
+she rejected hearing, the extent of your guilt.  I know she longs
+to fold you in her arms, and assure you of her unalterable
+affection."
+
+"Father," said the Prince, "you mistake my compunction:  true, I
+honour Hippolita's virtues; I think her a Saint; and wish it were
+for my soul's health to tie faster the knot that has united us--but
+alas! Father, you know not the bitterest of my pangs! it is some
+time that I have had scruples on the legality of our union:
+Hippolita is related to me in the fourth degree--it is true, we had
+a dispensation:  but I have been informed that she had also been
+contracted to another.  This it is that sits heavy at my heart:  to
+this state of unlawful wedlock I impute the visitation that has
+fallen on me in the death of Conrad!--ease my conscience of this
+burden:  dissolve our marriage, and accomplish the work of
+godliness--which your divine exhortations have commenced in my
+soul."
+
+How cutting was the anguish which the good man felt, when he
+perceived this turn in the wily Prince!  He trembled for Hippolita,
+whose ruin he saw was determined; and he feared if Manfred had no
+hope of recovering Isabella, that his impatience for a son would
+direct him to some other object, who might not be equally proof
+against the temptation of Manfred's rank.  For some time the holy
+man remained absorbed in thought.  At length, conceiving some hopes
+from delay, he thought the wisest conduct would be to prevent the
+Prince from despairing of recovering Isabella.  Her the Friar knew
+he could dispose, from her affection to Hippolita, and from the
+aversion she had expressed to him for Manfred's addresses, to
+second his views, till the censures of the church could be
+fulminated against a divorce.  With this intention, as if struck
+with the Prince's scruples, he at length said:
+
+"My Lord, I have been pondering on what your Highness has said; and
+if in truth it is delicacy of conscience that is the real motive of
+your repugnance to your virtuous Lady, far be it from me to
+endeavour to harden your heart.  The church is an indulgent mother:
+unfold your griefs to her:  she alone can administer comfort to
+your soul, either by satisfying your conscience, or upon
+examination of your scruples, by setting you at liberty, and
+indulging you in the lawful means of continuing your lineage.  In
+the latter case, if the Lady Isabella can be brought to consent--"
+
+Manfred, who concluded that he had either over-reached the good
+man, or that his first warmth had been but a tribute paid to
+appearance, was overjoyed at this sudden turn, and repeated the
+most magnificent promises, if he should succeed by the Friar's
+mediation.  The well-meaning priest suffered him to deceive
+himself, fully determined to traverse his views, instead of
+seconding them.
+
+"Since we now understand one another," resumed the Prince, "I
+expect, Father, that you satisfy me in one point.  Who is the youth
+that I found in the vault?  He must have been privy to Isabella's
+flight:  tell me truly, is he her lover? or is he an agent for
+another's passion?  I have often suspected Isabella's indifference
+to my son:  a thousand circumstances crowd on my mind that confirm
+that suspicion.  She herself was so conscious of it, that while I
+discoursed her in the gallery, she outran my suspicious, and
+endeavoured to justify herself from coolness to Conrad."
+
+The Friar, who knew nothing of the youth, but what he had learnt
+occasionally from the Princess, ignorant what was become of him,
+and not sufficiently reflecting on the impetuosity of Manfred's
+temper, conceived that it might not be amiss to sow the seeds of
+jealousy in his mind:  they might be turned to some use hereafter,
+either by prejudicing the Prince against Isabella, if he persisted
+in that union or by diverting his attention to a wrong scent, and
+employing his thoughts on a visionary intrigue, prevent his
+engaging in any new pursuit.  With this unhappy policy, he answered
+in a manner to confirm Manfred in the belief of some connection
+between Isabella and the youth.  The Prince, whose passions wanted
+little fuel to throw them into a blaze, fell into a rage at the
+idea of what the Friar suggested.
+
+ "I will fathom to the bottom of this intrigue," cried he; and
+quitting Jerome abruptly, with a command to remain there till his
+return, he hastened to the great hall of the castle, and ordered
+the peasant to be brought before him.
+
+"Thou hardened young impostor!" said the Prince, as soon as he saw
+the youth; "what becomes of thy boasted veracity now? it was
+Providence, was it, and the light of the moon, that discovered the
+lock of the trap-door to thee?  Tell me, audacious boy, who thou
+art, and how long thou hast been acquainted with the Princess--and
+take care to answer with less equivocation than thou didst last
+night, or tortures shall wring the truth from thee."
+
+The young man, perceiving that his share in the flight of the
+Princess was discovered, and concluding that anything he should say
+could no longer be of any service or detriment to her, replied -
+
+"I am no impostor, my Lord, nor have I deserved opprobrious
+language.  I answered to every question your Highness put to me
+last night with the same veracity that I shall speak now:  and that
+will not be from fear of your tortures, but because my soul abhors
+a falsehood.  Please to repeat your questions, my Lord; I am ready
+to give you all the satisfaction in my power."
+
+"You know my questions," replied the Prince, "and only want time to
+prepare an evasion.  Speak directly; who art thou? and how long
+hast thou been known to the Princess?"
+
+"I am a labourer at the next village," said the peasant; "my name
+is Theodore.  The Princess found me in the vault last night:
+before that hour I never was in her presence."
+
+"I may believe as much or as little as I please of this," said
+Manfred; "but I will hear thy own story before I examine into the
+truth of it.  Tell me, what reason did the Princess give thee for
+making her escape? thy life depends on thy answer."
+
+"She told me," replied Theodore, "that she was on the brink of
+destruction, and that if she could not escape from the castle, she
+was in danger in a few moments of being made miserable for ever."
+
+"And on this slight foundation, on a silly girl's report," said
+Manfred, "thou didst hazard my displeasure?"
+
+"I fear no man's displeasure," said Theodore, "when a woman in
+distress puts herself under my protection."
+
+During this examination, Matilda was going to the apartment of
+Hippolita.  At the upper end of the hall, where Manfred sat, was a
+boarded gallery with latticed windows, through which Matilda and
+Bianca were to pass.  Hearing her father's voice, and seeing the
+servants assembled round him, she stopped to learn the occasion.
+The prisoner soon drew her attention:  the steady and composed
+manner in which he answered, and the gallantry of his last reply,
+which were the first words she heard distinctly, interested her in
+his flavour.  His person was noble, handsome, and commanding, even
+in that situation:  but his countenance soon engrossed her whole
+care.
+
+"Heavens!  Bianca," said the Princess softly, "do I dream? or is
+not that youth the exact resemblance of Alfonso's picture in the
+gallery?"
+
+She could say no more, for her father's voice grew louder at every
+word.
+
+"This bravado," said he, "surpasses all thy former insolence.  Thou
+shalt experience the wrath with which thou darest to trifle.  Seize
+him," continued Manfred, "and 'bind him--the first news the
+Princess hears of her champion shall be, that he has lost his head
+for her sake."
+
+"The injustice of which thou art guilty towards me," said Theodore,
+"convinces me that I have done a good deed in delivering the
+Princess from thy tyranny.  May she be happy, whatever becomes of
+me!"
+
+"This is a lover!" cried Manfred in a rage:  "a peasant within
+sight of death is not animated by such sentiments.  Tell me, tell
+me, rash boy, who thou art, or the rack shall force thy secret from
+thee."
+
+"Thou hast threatened me with death already," said the youth, "for
+the truth I have told thee:  if that is all the encouragement I am
+to expect for sincerity, I am not tempted to indulge thy vain
+curiosity farther."
+
+"Then thou wilt not speak?" said Manfred.
+
+"I will not," replied he.
+
+"Bear him away into the courtyard," said Manfred; "I will see his
+head this instant severed from his body."
+
+Matilda fainted at hearing those words.  Bianca shrieked, and cried
+-
+
+"Help! help! the Princess is dead!"  Manfred started at this
+ejaculation, and demanded what was the matter!  The young peasant,
+who heard it too, was struck with horror, and asked eagerly the
+same question; but Manfred ordered him to be hurried into the
+court, and kept there for execution, till he had informed himself
+of the cause of Bianca's shrieks.  When he learned the meaning, he
+treated it as a womanish panic, and ordering Matilda to be carried
+to her apartment, he rushed into the court, and calling for one of
+his guards, bade Theodore kneel down, and prepare to receive the
+fatal blow.
+
+The undaunted youth received the bitter sentence with a resignation
+that touched every heart but Manfred's.  He wished earnestly to
+know the meaning of the words he had heard relating to the
+Princess; but fearing to exasperate the tyrant more against her, he
+desisted.  The only boon he deigned to ask was, that he might be
+permitted to have a confessor, and make his peace with heaven.
+Manfred, who hoped by the confessor's means to come at the youth's
+history, readily granted his request; and being convinced that
+Father Jerome was now in his interest, he ordered him to be called
+and shrive the prisoner.  The holy man, who had little foreseen the
+catastrophe that his imprudence occasioned, fell on his knees to
+the Prince, and adjured him in the most solemn manner not to shed
+innocent blood.  He accused himself in the bitterest terms for his
+indiscretion, endeavoured to disculpate the youth, and left no
+method untried to soften the tyrant's rage.  Manfred, more incensed
+than appeased by Jerome's intercession, whose retraction now made
+him suspect he had been imposed upon by both, commanded the Friar
+to do his duty, telling him he would not allow the prisoner many
+minutes for confession.
+
+"Nor do I ask many, my Lord," said the unhappy young man.  "My
+sins, thank heaven, have not been numerous; nor exceed what might
+be expected at my years.  Dry your tears, good Father, and let us
+despatch.  This is a bad world; nor have I had cause to leave it
+with regret."
+
+"Oh wretched youth!" said Jerome; "how canst thou bear the sight of
+me with patience?  I am thy murderer! it is I have brought this
+dismal hour upon thee!"
+
+"I forgive thee from my soul," said the youth, "as I hope heaven
+will pardon me.  Hear my confession, Father; and give me thy
+blessing."
+
+"How can I prepare thee for thy passage as I ought?" said Jerome.
+"Thou canst not be saved without pardoning thy foes--and canst thou
+forgive that impious man there?"
+
+"I can," said Theodore; "I do."
+
+"And does not this touch thee, cruel Prince?" said the Friar.
+
+"I sent for thee to confess him," said Manfred, sternly; "not to
+plead for him.  Thou didst first incense me against him--his blood
+be upon thy head!"
+
+"It will! it will!" said the good main, in an agony of sorrow.
+"Thou and I must never hope to go where this blessed youth is
+going!"
+
+"Despatch!" said Manfred; "I am no more to be moved by the whining
+of priests than by the shrieks of women."
+
+"What!" said the youth; "is it possible that my fate could have
+occasioned what I heard!  Is the Princess then again in thy power?"
+
+"Thou dost but remember me of my wrath," said Manfred.  "Prepare
+thee, for this moment is thy last."
+
+The youth, who felt his indignation rise, and who was touched with
+the sorrow which he saw he had infused into all the spectators, as
+well as into the Friar, suppressed his emotions, and putting off
+his doublet, and unbuttoning, his collar, knelt down to his
+prayers.  As he stooped, his shirt slipped down below his shoulder,
+and discovered the mark of a bloody arrow.
+
+"Gracious heaven!" cried the holy man, starting; "what do I see?
+It is my child! my Theodore!"
+
+The passions that ensued must be conceived; they cannot be painted.
+The tears of the assistants were suspended by wonder, rather than
+stopped by joy.  They seemed to inquire in the eyes of their Lord
+what they ought to feel.  Surprise, doubt, tenderness, respect,
+succeeded each other in the countenance of the youth.  He received
+with modest submission the effusion of the old man's tears and
+embraces.  Yet afraid of giving a loose to hope, and suspecting
+from what had passed the inflexibility of Manfred's temper, he cast
+a glance towards the Prince, as if to say, canst thou be unmoved at
+such a scene as this?
+
+Manfred's heart was capable of being touched.  He forgot his anger
+in his astonishment; yet his pride forbad his owning himself
+affected.  He even doubted whether this discovery was not a
+contrivance of the Friar to save the youth.
+
+"What may this mean?" said he.  "How can he be thy son?  Is it
+consistent with thy profession or reputed sanctity to avow a
+peasant's offspring for the fruit of thy irregular amours!"
+
+"Oh, God!" said the holy man, "dost thou question his being mine?
+Could I feel the anguish I do if I were not his father?  Spare him!
+good Prince! spare him! and revile me as thou pleasest."
+
+"Spare him! spare him!" cried the attendants; "for this good man's
+sake!"
+
+"Peace!" said Manfred, sternly.  "I must know more ere I am
+disposed to pardon.  A Saint's bastard may be no saint himself."
+
+"Injurious Lord!" said Theodore, "add not insult to cruelty.  If I
+am this venerable man's son, though no Prince, as thou art, know
+the blood that flows in my veins--"
+
+"Yes," said the Friar, interrupting him, "his blood is noble; nor
+is he that abject thing, my Lord, you speak him.  He is my lawful
+son, and Sicily can boast of few houses more ancient than that of
+Falconara.  But alas! my Lord, what is blood! what is nobility!  We
+are all reptiles, miserable, sinful creatures.  It is piety alone
+that can distinguish us from the dust whence we sprung, and whither
+we must return."
+
+"Truce to your sermon," said Manfred; "you forget you are no longer
+Friar Jerome, but the Count of Falconara.  Let me know your
+history; you will have time to moralise hereafter, if you should
+not happen to obtain the grace of that sturdy criminal there."
+
+"Mother of God!" said the Friar, "is it possible my Lord can refuse
+a father the life of his only, his long-lost, child!  Trample me,
+my Lord, scorn, afflict me, accept my life for his, but spare my
+son!"
+
+"Thou canst feel, then," said Manfred, "what it is to lose an only
+son!  A little hour ago thou didst preach up resignation to me:  MY
+house, if fate so pleased, must perish--but the Count of Falconara-
+-"
+
+"Alas! my Lord," said Jerome, "I confess I have offended; but
+aggravate not an old man's sufferings!  I boast not of my family,
+nor think of such vanities--it is nature, that pleads for this boy;
+it is the memory of the dear woman that bore him.  Is she,
+Theodore, is she dead?"
+
+"Her soul has long been with the blessed," said Theodore.
+
+"Oh! how?" cried Jerome, "tell me--no--she is happy!  Thou art all
+my care now!--Most dread Lord! will you--will you grant me my poor
+boy's life?"
+
+"Return to thy convent," answered Manfred; "conduct the Princess
+hither; obey me in what else thou knowest; and I promise thee the
+life of thy son."
+
+"Oh! my Lord," said Jerome, "is my honesty the price I must pay for
+this dear youth's safety?"
+
+"For me!" cried Theodore.  "Let me die a thousand deaths, rather
+than stain thy conscience.  What is it the tyrant would exact of
+thee?  Is the Princess still safe from his power?  Protect her,
+thou venerable old man; and let all the weight of his wrath fall on
+me."
+
+Jerome endeavoured to check the impetuosity of the youth; and ere
+Manfred could reply, the trampling of horses was heard, and a
+brazen trumpet, which hung without the gate of the castle, was
+suddenly sounded.  At the same instant the sable plumes on the
+enchanted helmet, which still remained at the other end of the
+court, were tempestuously agitated, and nodded thrice, as if bowed
+by some invisible wearer.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+
+Manfred's heart misgave him when he beheld the plumage on the
+miraculous casque shaken in concert with the sounding of the brazen
+trumpet.
+
+"Father!" said he to Jerome, whom he now ceased to treat as Count
+of Falconara, "what mean these portents?  If I have offended--" the
+plumes were shaken with greater violence than before.
+
+"Unhappy Prince that I am," cried Manfred.  "Holy Father! will you
+not assist me with your prayers?"
+
+"My Lord," replied Jerome, "heaven is no doubt displeased with your
+mockery of its servants.  Submit yourself to the church; and cease
+to persecute her ministers.  Dismiss this innocent youth; and learn
+to respect the holy character I wear.  Heaven will not be trifled
+with:  you see--" the trumpet sounded again.
+
+"I acknowledge I have been too hasty," said Manfred.  "Father, do
+you go to the wicket, and demand who is at the gate."
+
+"Do you grant me the life of Theodore?" replied the Friar.
+
+"I do," said Manfred; "but inquire who is without!"
+
+Jerome, falling on the neck of his son, discharged a flood of
+tears, that spoke the fulness of his soul.
+
+"You promised to go to the gate," said Manfred.
+
+"I thought," replied the Friar, "your Highness would excuse my
+thanking you first in this tribute of my heart."
+
+"Go, dearest Sir," said Theodore; "obey the Prince.  I do not
+deserve that you should delay his satisfaction for me."
+
+Jerome, inquiring who was without, was answered, "A Herald."
+
+"From whom?" said he.
+
+"From the Knight of the Gigantic Sabre," said the Herald; "and I
+must speak with the usurper of Otranto."
+
+Jerome returned to the Prince, and did not fail to repeat the
+message in the very words it had been uttered.  The first sounds
+struck Manfred with terror; but when he heard himself styled
+usurper, his rage rekindled, and all his courage revived.
+
+"Usurper!--insolent villain!" cried he; "who dares to question my
+title?  Retire, Father; this is no business for Monks:  I will meet
+this presumptuous man myself.  Go to your convent and prepare the
+Princess's return.  Your son shall be a hostage for your fidelity:
+his life depends on your obedience."
+
+"Good heaven! my Lord," cried Jerome, "your Highness did but this
+instant freely pardon my child--have you so soon forgot the
+interposition of heaven?"
+
+"Heaven," replied Manfred, "does not send Heralds to question the
+title of a lawful Prince.  I doubt whether it even notifies its
+will through Friars--but that is your affair, not mine.  At present
+you know my pleasure; and it is not a saucy Herald that shall save
+your son, if you do not return with the Princess."
+
+It was in vain for the holy man to reply.  Manfred commanded him to
+be conducted to the postern-gate, and shut out from the castle.
+And he ordered some of his attendants to carry Theodore to the top
+of the black tower, and guard him strictly; scarce permitting the
+father and son to exchange a hasty embrace at parting.  He then
+withdrew to the hall, and seating himself in princely state,
+ordered the Herald to be admitted to his presence.
+
+"Well! thou insolent!" said the Prince, "what wouldst thou with
+me?"
+
+"I come," replied he, "to thee, Manfred, usurper of the
+principality of Otranto, from the renowned and invincible Knight,
+the Knight of the Gigantic Sabre:  in the name of his Lord,
+Frederic, Marquis of Vicenza, he demands the Lady Isabella,
+daughter of that Prince, whom thou hast basely and traitorously got
+into thy power, by bribing her false guardians during his absence;
+and he requires thee to resign the principality of Otranto, which
+thou hast usurped from the said Lord Frederic, the nearest of blood
+to the last rightful Lord, Alfonso the Good.  If thou dost not
+instantly comply with these just demands, he defies thee to single
+combat to the last extremity."  And so saying the Herald cast down
+his warder.
+
+"And where is this braggart who sends thee?" said Manfred.
+
+"At the distance of a league," said the Herald:  "he comes to make
+good his Lord's claim against thee, as he is a true knight, and
+thou an usurper and ravisher."
+
+Injurious as this challenge was, Manfred reflected that it was not
+his interest to provoke the Marquis.  He knew how well founded the
+claim of Frederic was; nor was this the first time he had heard of
+it.  Frederic's ancestors had assumed the style of Princes of
+Otranto, from the death of Alfonso the Good without issue; but
+Manfred, his father, and grandfather, had been too powerful for the
+house of Vicenza to dispossess them.  Frederic, a martial and
+amorous young Prince, had married a beautiful young lady, of whom
+he was enamoured, and who had died in childbed of Isabella.  Her
+death affected him so much that he had taken the cross and gone to
+the Holy Land, where he was wounded in an engagement against the
+infidels, made prisoner, and reported to be dead.  When the news
+reached Manfred's ears, he bribed the guardians of the Lady
+Isabella to deliver her up to him as a bride for his son Conrad, by
+which alliance he had proposed to unite the claims of the two
+houses.  This motive, on Conrad's death, had co-operated to make
+him so suddenly resolve on espousing her himself; and the same
+reflection determined him now to endeavour at obtaining the consent
+of Frederic to this marriage.  A like policy inspired him with the
+thought of inviting Frederic's champion into the castle, lest he
+should be informed of Isabella's flight, which he strictly enjoined
+his domestics not to disclose to any of the Knight's retinue.
+
+"Herald," said Manfred, as soon as he had digested these
+reflections, "return to thy master, and tell him, ere we liquidate
+our differences by the sword, Manfred would hold some converse with
+him.  Bid him welcome to my castle, where by my faith, as I am a
+true Knight, he shall have courteous reception, and full security
+for himself and followers.  If we cannot adjust our quarrel by
+amicable means, I swear he shall depart in safety, and shall have
+full satisfaction according to the laws of arms:  So help me God
+and His holy Trinity!"
+
+The Herald made three obeisances and retired.
+
+During this interview Jerome's mind was agitated by a thousand
+contrary passions.  He trembled for the life of his son, and his
+first thought was to persuade Isabella to return to the castle.
+Yet he was scarce less alarmed at the thought of her union with
+Manfred.  He dreaded Hippolita's unbounded submission to the will
+of her Lord; and though he did not doubt but he could alarm her
+piety not to consent to a divorce, if he could get access to her;
+yet should Manfred discover that the obstruction came from him, it
+might be equally fatal to Theodore.  He was impatient to know
+whence came the Herald, who with so little management had
+questioned the title of Manfred:  yet he did not dare absent
+himself from the convent, lest Isabella should leave it, and her
+flight be imputed to him.  He returned disconsolately to the
+monastery, uncertain on what conduct to resolve.  A Monk, who met
+him in the porch and observed his melancholy air, said -
+
+"Alas! brother, is it then true that we have lost our excellent
+Princess Hippolita?"
+
+The holy man started, and cried, "What meanest thou, brother?  I
+come this instant from the castle, and left her in perfect health."
+
+"Martelli," replied the other Friar, "passed by the convent but a
+quarter of an hour ago on his way from the castle, and reported
+that her Highness was dead.  All our brethren are gone to the
+chapel to pray for her happy transit to a better life, and willed
+me to wait thy arrival.  They know thy holy attachment to that good
+Lady, and are anxious for the affliction it will cause in thee--
+indeed we have all reason to weep; she was a mother to our house.
+But this life is but a pilgrimage; we must not murmur--we shall all
+follow her!  May our end be like hers!"
+
+ "Good brother, thou dreamest," said Jerome.  "I tell thee I come
+from the castle, and left the Princess well.  Where is the Lady
+Isabella?"
+
+"Poor Gentlewoman!" replied the Friar; "I told her the sad news,
+and offered her spiritual comfort.  I reminded her of the
+transitory condition of mortality, and advised her to take the
+veil:  I quoted the example of the holy Princess Sanchia of
+Arragon."
+
+"Thy zeal was laudable," said Jerome, impatiently; "but at present
+it was unnecessary:  Hippolita is well--at least I trust in the
+Lord she is; I heard nothing to the contrary--yet, methinks, the
+Prince's earnestness--Well, brother, but where is the Lady
+Isabella?"
+
+"I know not," said the Friar; "she wept much, and said she would
+retire to her chamber."
+
+Jerome left his comrade abruptly, and hastened to the Princess, but
+she was not in her chamber.  He inquired of the domestics of the
+convent, but could learn no news of her.  He searched in vain
+throughout the monastery and the church, and despatched messengers
+round the neighbourhood, to get intelligence if she had been seen;
+but to no purpose.  Nothing could equal the good man's perplexity.
+He judged that Isabella, suspecting Manfred of having precipitated
+his wife's death, had taken the alarm, and withdrawn herself to
+some more secret place of concealment.  This new flight would
+probably carry the Prince's fury to the height.  The report of
+Hippolita's death, though it seemed almost incredible, increased
+his consternation; and though Isabella's escape bespoke her
+aversion of Manfred for a husband, Jerome could feel no comfort
+from it, while it endangered the life of his son.  He determined to
+return to the castle, and made several of his brethren accompany
+him to attest his innocence to Manfred, and, if necessary, join
+their intercession with his for Theodore.
+
+The Prince, in the meantime, had passed into the court, and ordered
+the gates of the castle to be flung open for the reception of the
+stranger Knight and his train.  In a few minutes the cavalcade
+arrived.  First came two harbingers with wands.  Next a herald,
+followed by two pages and two trumpets.  Then a hundred foot-
+guards.  These were attended by as many horse.  After them fifty
+footmen, clothed in scarlet and black, the colours of the Knight.
+Then a led horse.  Two heralds on each side of a gentleman on
+horseback bearing a banner with the arms of Vicenza and Otranto
+quarterly--a circumstance that much offended Manfred--but he
+stifled his resentment.  Two more pages.  The Knight's confessor
+telling his beads.  Fifty more footmen clad as before.  Two Knights
+habited in complete armour, their beavers down, comrades to the
+principal Knight.  The squires of the two Knights, carrying their
+shields and devices.  The Knight's own squire.  A hundred gentlemen
+bearing an enormous sword, and seeming to faint under the weight of
+it.  The Knight himself on a chestnut steed, in complete armour,
+his lance in the rest, his face entirely concealed by his vizor,
+which was surmounted by a large plume of scarlet and black
+feathers.  Fifty foot-guards with drums and trumpets closed the
+procession, which wheeled off to the right and left to make room
+for the principal Knight.
+
+As soon as he approached the gate he stopped; and the herald
+advancing, read again the words of the challenge.  Manfred's eyes
+were fixed on the gigantic sword, and he scarce seemed to attend to
+the cartel:  but his attention was soon diverted by a tempest of
+wind that rose behind him.  He turned and beheld the Plumes of the
+enchanted helmet agitated in the same extraordinary manner as
+before.  It required intrepidity like Manfred's not to sink under a
+concurrence of circumstances that seemed to announce his fate.  Yet
+scorning in the presence of strangers to betray the courage he had
+always manifested, he said boldly -
+
+"Sir Knight, whoever thou art, I bid thee welcome.  If thou art of
+mortal mould, thy valour shall meet its equal:  and if thou art a
+true Knight, thou wilt scorn to employ sorcery to carry thy point.
+Be these omens from heaven or hell, Manfred trusts to the
+righteousness of his cause and to the aid of St. Nicholas, who has
+ever protected his house.  Alight, Sir Knight, and repose thyself.
+To-morrow thou shalt have a fair field, and heaven befriend the
+juster side!"
+
+The Knight made no reply, but dismounting, was conducted by Manfred
+to the great hall of the castle.  As they traversed the court, the
+Knight stopped to gaze on the miraculous casque; and kneeling down,
+seemed to pray inwardly for some minutes.  Rising, he made a sign
+to the Prince to lead on.  As soon as they entered the hall,
+Manfred proposed to the stranger to disarm, but the Knight shook
+his head in token of refusal.
+
+"Sir Knight," said Manfred, "this is not courteous, but by my good
+faith I will not cross thee, nor shalt thou have cause to complain
+of the Prince of Otranto.  No treachery is designed on my part; I
+hope none is intended on thine; here take my gage" (giving him his
+ring):  "your friends and you shall enjoy the laws of hospitality.
+Rest here until refreshments are brought.  I will but give orders
+for the accommodation of your train, and return to you."  The three
+Knights bowed as accepting his courtesy.  Manfred directed the
+stranger's retinue to be conducted to an adjacent hospital, founded
+by the Princess Hippolita for the reception of pilgrims.  As they
+made the circuit of the court to return towards the gate, the
+gigantic sword burst from the supporters, and falling to the ground
+opposite to the helmet, remained immovable.  Manfred, almost
+hardened to preternatural appearances, surmounted the shock of this
+new prodigy; and returning to the hall, where by this time the
+feast was ready, he invited his silent guests to take their places.
+Manfred, however ill his heart was at ease, endeavoured to inspire
+the company with mirth.  He put several questions to them, but was
+answered only by signs.  They raised their vizors but sufficiently
+to feed themselves, and that sparingly.
+
+"Sirs" said the Prince, "ye are the first guests I ever treated
+within these walls who scorned to hold any intercourse with me:
+nor has it oft been customary, I ween, for princes to hazard their
+state and dignity against strangers and mutes.  You say you come in
+the name of Frederic of Vicenza; I have ever heard that he was a
+gallant and courteous Knight; nor would he, I am bold to say, think
+it beneath him to mix in social converse with a Prince that is his
+equal, and not unknown by deeds in arms.  Still ye are silent--
+well! be it as it may--by the laws of hospitality and chivalry ye
+are masters under this roof:  ye shall do your pleasure.  But come,
+give me a goblet of wine; ye will not refuse to pledge me to the
+healths of your fair mistresses."
+
+The principal Knight sighed and crossed himself, and was rising
+from the board.
+
+"Sir Knight," said Manfred, "what I said was but in sport.  I shall
+constrain you in nothing:  use your good liking.  Since mirth is
+not your mood, let us be sad.  Business may hit your fancies
+better.  Let us withdraw, and hear if what I have to unfold may be
+better relished than the vain efforts I have made for your
+pastime."
+
+Manfred then conducting the three Knights into an inner chamber,
+shut the door, and inviting them to be seated, began thus,
+addressing himself to the chief personage:-
+
+"You come, Sir Knight, as I understand, in the name of the Marquis
+of Vicenza, to re-demand the Lady Isabella, his daughter, who has
+been contracted in the face of Holy Church to my son, by the
+consent of her legal guardians; and to require me to resign my
+dominions to your Lord, who gives himself for the nearest of blood
+to Prince Alfonso, whose soul God rest!  I shall speak to the
+latter article of your demands first.  You must know, your Lord
+knows, that I enjoy the principality of Otranto from my father, Don
+Manuel, as he received it from his father, Don Ricardo.  Alfonso,
+their predecessor, dying childless in the Holy Land, bequeathed his
+estates to my grandfather, Don Ricardo, in consideration of his
+faithful services."  The stranger shook his head.
+
+"Sir Knight," said Manfred, warmly, "Ricardo was a valiant and
+upright man; he was a pious man; witness his munificent foundation
+of the adjoining church and two converts.  He was peculiarly
+patronised by St. Nicholas--my grandfather was incapable--I say,
+Sir, Don Ricardo was incapable--excuse me, your interruption has
+disordered me.  I venerate the memory of my grandfather.  Well,
+Sirs, he held this estate; he held it by his good sword and by the
+favour of St. Nicholas--so did my father; and so, Sirs, will I,
+come what come will.  But Frederic, your Lord, is nearest in blood.
+I have consented to put my title to the issue of the sword.  Does
+that imply a vicious title?  I might have asked, where is Frederic
+your Lord?  Report speaks him dead in captivity.  You say, your
+actions say, he lives--I question it not--I might, Sirs, I might--
+but I do not.  Other Princes would bid Frederic take his
+inheritance by force, if he can:  they would not stake their
+dignity on a single combat:  they would not submit it to the
+decision of unknown mutes!--pardon me, gentlemen, I am too warm:
+but suppose yourselves in my situation:  as ye are stout Knights,
+would it not move your choler to have your own and the honour of
+your ancestors called in question?"
+
+"But to the point.  Ye require me to deliver up the Lady Isabella.
+Sirs, I must ask if ye are authorised to receive her?"
+
+The Knight nodded.
+
+"Receive her," continued Manfred; "well, you are authorised to
+receive her, but, gentle Knight, may I ask if you have full
+powers?"
+
+The Knight nodded.
+
+"'Tis well," said Manfred; "then hear what I have to offer.  Ye
+see, gentlemen, before you, the most unhappy of men!" (he began to
+weep); "afford me your compassion; I am entitled to it, indeed I
+am.  Know, I have lost my only hope, my joy, the support of my
+house--Conrad died yester morning."
+
+The Knights discovered signs of surprise.
+
+"Yes, Sirs, fate has disposed of my son.  Isabella is at liberty."
+
+"Do you then restore her?" cried the chief Knight, breaking
+silence.
+
+"Afford me your patience," said Manfred.  "I rejoice to find, by
+this testimony of your goodwill, that this matter may be adjusted
+without blood.  It is no interest of mine dictates what little I
+have farther to say.  Ye behold in me a man disgusted with the
+world:  the loss of my son has weaned me from earthly cares.  Power
+and greatness have no longer any charms in my eyes.  I wished to
+transmit the sceptre I had received from my ancestors with honour
+to my son--but that is over!  Life itself is so indifferent to me,
+that I accepted your defiance with joy.  A good Knight cannot go to
+the grave with more satisfaction than when falling in his vocation:
+whatever is the will of heaven, I submit; for alas! Sirs, I am a
+man of many sorrows.  Manfred is no object of envy, but no doubt
+you are acquainted with my story."
+
+The Knight made signs of ignorance, and seemed curious to have
+Manfred proceed.
+
+"Is it possible, Sirs," continued the Prince, "that my story should
+be a secret to you?  Have you heard nothing relating to me and the
+Princess Hippolita?"
+
+They shook their heads.
+
+"No!  Thus, then, Sirs, it is.  You think me ambitious:  ambition,
+alas! is composed of more rugged materials.  If I were ambitious, I
+should not for so many years have been a prey to all the hell of
+conscientious scruples.  But I weary your patience:  I will be
+brief.  Know, then, that I have long been troubled in mind on my
+union with the Princess Hippolita.  Oh! Sirs, if ye were acquainted
+with that excellent woman! if ye knew that I adore her like a
+mistress, and cherish her as a friend--but man was not born for
+perfect happiness!  She shares my scruples, and with her consent I
+have brought this matter before the church, for we are related
+within the forbidden degrees.  I expect every hour the definitive
+sentence that must separate us for ever--I am sure you feel for me-
+-I see you do--pardon these tears!"
+
+The Knights gazed on each other, wondering where this would end.
+
+Manfred continued -
+
+"The death of my son betiding while my soul was under this anxiety,
+I thought of nothing but resigning my dominions, and retiring for
+ever from the sight of mankind.  My only difficulty was to fix on a
+successor, who would be tender of my people, and to dispose of the
+Lady Isabella, who is dear to me as my own blood.  I was willing to
+restore the line of Alfonso, even in his most distant kindred.  And
+though, pardon me, I am satisfied it was his will that Ricardo's
+lineage should take place of his own relations; yet where was I to
+search for those relations?  I knew of none but Frederic, your
+Lord; he was a captive to the infidels, or dead; and were he
+living, and at home, would he quit the flourishing State of Vicenza
+for the inconsiderable principality of Otranto?  If he would not,
+could I bear the thought of seeing a hard, unfeeling, Viceroy set
+over my poor faithful people? for, Sirs, I love my people, and
+thank heaven am beloved by them.  But ye will ask whither tends
+this long discourse?  Briefly, then, thus, Sirs.  Heaven in your
+arrival seems to point out a remedy for these difficulties and my
+misfortunes.  The Lady Isabella is at liberty; I shall soon be so.
+I would submit to anything for the good of my people.  Were it not
+the best, the only way to extinguish the feuds between our
+families, if I was to take the Lady Isabella to wife?  You start.
+But though Hippolita's virtues will ever be dear to me, a Prince
+must not consider himself; he is born for his people."  A servant
+at that instant entering the chamber apprised Manfred that Jerome
+and several of his brethren demanded immediate access to him.
+
+The Prince, provoked at this interruption, and fearing that the
+Friar would discover to the strangers that Isabella had taken
+sanctuary, was going to forbid Jerome's entrance.  But recollecting
+that he was certainly arrived to notify the Princess's return,
+Manfred began to excuse himself to the Knights for leaving them for
+a few moments, but was prevented by the arrival of the Friars.
+Manfred angrily reprimanded them for their intrusion, and would
+have forced them back from the chamber; but Jerome was too much
+agitated to be repulsed.  He declared aloud the flight of Isabella,
+with protestations of his own innocence.
+
+Manfred, distracted at the news, and not less at its coming to the
+knowledge of the strangers, uttered nothing but incoherent
+sentences, now upbraiding the Friar, now apologising to the
+Knights, earnest to know what was become of Isabella, yet equally
+afraid of their knowing; impatient to pursue her, yet dreading to
+have them join in the pursuit.  He offered to despatch messengers
+in quest of her, but the chief Knight, no longer keeping silence,
+reproached Manfred in bitter terms for his dark and ambiguous
+dealing, and demanded the cause of Isabella's first absence from
+the castle.  Manfred, casting a stern look at Jerome, implying a
+command of silence, pretended that on Conrad's death he had placed
+her in sanctuary until he could determine how to dispose of her.
+Jerome, who trembled for his son's life, did not dare contradict
+this falsehood, but one of his brethren, not under the same
+anxiety, declared frankly that she had fled to their church in the
+preceding night.  The Prince in vain endeavoured to stop this
+discovery, which overwhelmed him with shame and confusion.  The
+principal stranger, amazed at the contradictions he heard, and more
+than half persuaded that Manfred had secreted the Princess,
+notwithstanding the concern he expressed at her flight, rushing to
+the door, said -
+
+"Thou traitor Prince!  Isabella shall be found."
+
+Manfred endeavoured to hold him, but the other Knights assisting
+their comrade, he broke from the Prince, and hastened into the
+court, demanding his attendants.  Manfred, finding it vain to
+divert him from the pursuit, offered to accompany him and summoning
+his attendants, and taking Jerome and some of the Friars to guide
+them, they issued from the castle; Manfred privately giving orders
+to have the Knight's company secured, while to the knight he
+affected to despatch a messenger to require their assistance.
+
+The company had no sooner quitted the castle than Matilda, who felt
+herself deeply interested for the young peasant, since she had seen
+him condemned to death in the hall, and whose thoughts had been
+taken up with concerting measures to save him, was informed by some
+of the female attendants that Manfred had despatched all his men
+various ways in pursuit of Isabella.  He had in his hurry given
+this order in general terms, not meaning to extend it to the guard
+he had set upon Theodore, but forgetting it.  The domestics,
+officious to obey so peremptory a Prince, and urged by their own
+curiosity and love of novelty to join in any precipitate chase, had
+to a man left the castle.  Matilda disengaged herself from her
+women, stole up to the black tower, and unbolting the door,
+presented herself to the astonished Theodore.
+
+"Young man," said she, "though filial duty and womanly modesty
+condemn the step I am taking, yet holy charity, surmounting all
+other ties, justifies this act.  Fly; the doors of thy prison are
+open:  my father and his domestics are absent; but they may soon
+return.  Be gone in safety; and may the angels of heaven direct thy
+course!"
+
+"Thou art surely one of those angels!" said the enraptured
+Theodore:  "none but a blessed saint could speak, could act--could
+look--like thee.  May I not know the name of my divine protectress?
+Methought thou namedst thy father.  Is it possible?  Can Manfred's
+blood feel holy pity!  Lovely Lady, thou answerest not.  But how
+art thou here thyself?  Why dost thou neglect thy own safety, and
+waste a thought on a wretch like Theodore?  Let us fly together:
+the life thou bestowest shall be dedicated to thy defence."
+
+"Alas! thou mistakest," said Matilda, signing:  "I am Manfred's
+daughter, but no dangers await me."
+
+"Amazement!" said Theodore; "but last night I blessed myself for
+yielding thee the service thy gracious compassion so charitably
+returns me now."
+
+"Still thou art in an error," said the Princess; "but this is no
+time for explanation.  Fly, virtuous youth, while it is in my power
+to save thee:  should my father return, thou and I both should
+indeed have cause to tremble."
+
+"How!" said Theodore; "thinkest thou, charming maid, that I will
+accept of life at the hazard of aught calamitous to thee?  Better I
+endured a thousand deaths."
+
+"I run no risk," said Matilda, "but by thy delay.  Depart; it
+cannot be known that I have assisted thy flight."
+
+"Swear by the saints above," said Theodore, "that thou canst not be
+suspected; else here I vow to await whatever can befall me."
+
+"Oh! thou art too generous," said Matilda; "but rest assured that
+no suspicion can alight on me."
+
+"Give me thy beauteous hand in token that thou dost not deceive
+me," said Theodore; "and let me bathe it with the warm tears of
+gratitude."
+
+"Forbear!" said the Princess; "this must not be."
+
+"Alas!" said Theodore, "I have never known but calamity until this
+hour--perhaps shall never know other fortune again:  suffer the
+chaste raptures of holy gratitude:  'tis my soul would print its
+effusions on thy hand."
+
+"Forbear, and be gone," said Matilda.  "How would Isabella approve
+of seeing thee at my feet?"
+
+"Who is Isabella?" said the young man with surprise.
+
+"Ah, me!  I fear," said the Princess, "I am serving a deceitful
+one.  Hast thou forgot thy curiosity this morning?"
+
+"Thy looks, thy actions, all thy beauteous self seem an emanation
+of divinity," said Theodore; "but thy words are dark and
+mysterious.  Speak, Lady; speak to thy servant's comprehension."
+
+"Thou understandest but too well!" said Matilda; "but once more I
+command thee to be gone:  thy blood, which I may preserve, will be
+on my head, if I waste the time in vain discourse."
+
+"I go, Lady," said Theodore, "because it is thy will, and because I
+would not bring the grey hairs of my father with sorrow to the
+grave.  Say but, adored Lady, that I have thy gentle pity."
+
+"Stay," said Matilda; "I will conduct thee to the subterraneous
+vault by which Isabella escaped; it will lead thee to the church of
+St. Nicholas, where thou mayst take sanctuary."
+
+"What!" said Theodore, "was it another, and not thy lovely self
+that I assisted to find the subterraneous passage?"
+
+"It was," said Matilda; "but ask no more; I tremble to see thee
+still abide here; fly to the sanctuary."
+
+"To sanctuary," said Theodore; "no, Princess; sanctuaries are for
+helpless damsels, or for criminals.  Theodore's soul is free from
+guilt, nor will wear the appearance of it.  Give me a sword, Lady,
+and thy father shall learn that Theodore scorns an ignominious
+flight."
+
+"Rash youth!" said Matilda; "thou wouldst not dare to lift thy
+presumptuous arm against the Prince of Otranto?"
+
+"Not against thy father; indeed, I dare not," said Theodore.
+"Excuse me, Lady; I had forgotten.  But could I gaze on thee, and
+remember thou art sprung from the tyrant Manfred!  But he is thy
+father, and from this moment my injuries are buried in oblivion."
+
+A deep and hollow groan, which seemed to come from above, startled
+the Princess and Theodore.
+
+"Good heaven! we are overheard!" said the Princess.  They listened;
+but perceiving no further noise, they both concluded it the effect
+of pent-up vapours.  And the Princess, preceding Theodore softly,
+carried him to her father's armoury, where, equipping him with a
+complete suit, he was conducted by Matilda to the postern-gate.
+
+"Avoid the town," said the Princess, "and all the western side of
+the castle.  'Tis there the search must be making by Manfred and
+the strangers; but hie thee to the opposite quarter.  Yonder behind
+that forest to the east is a chain of rocks, hollowed into a
+labyrinth of caverns that reach to the sea coast.  There thou mayst
+lie concealed, till thou canst make signs to some vessel to put on
+shore, and take thee off.  Go! heaven be thy guide!--and sometimes
+in thy prayers remember--Matilda!"
+
+Theodore flung himself at her feet, and seizing her lily hand,
+which with struggles she suffered him to kiss, he vowed on the
+earliest opportunity to get himself knighted, and fervently
+entreated her permission to swear himself eternally her knight.
+Ere the Princess could reply, a clap of thunder was suddenly heard
+that shook the battlements.  Theodore, regardless of the tempest,
+would have urged his suit:  but the Princess, dismayed, retreated
+hastily into the castle, and commanded the youth to be gone with an
+air that would not be disobeyed.  He sighed, and retired, but with
+eyes fixed on the gate, until Matilda, closing it, put an end to an
+interview, in which the hearts of both had drunk so deeply of a
+passion, which both now tasted for the first time.
+
+Theodore went pensively to the convent, to acquaint his father with
+his deliverance.  There he learned the absence of Jerome, and the
+pursuit that was making after the Lady Isabella, with some
+particulars of whose story he now first became acquainted.  The
+generous gallantry of his nature prompted him to wish to assist
+her; but the Monks could lend him no lights to guess at the route
+she had taken.  He was not tempted to wander far in search of her,
+for the idea of Matilda had imprinted itself so strongly on his
+heart, that he could not bear to absent himself at much distance
+from her abode.  The tenderness Jerome had expressed for him
+concurred to confirm this reluctance; and he even persuaded himself
+that filial affection was the chief cause of his hovering between
+the castle and monastery.
+
+Until Jerome should return at night, Theodore at length determined
+to repair to the forest that Matilda had pointed out to him.
+Arriving there, he sought the gloomiest shades, as best suited to
+the pleasing melancholy that reigned in his mind.  In this mood he
+roved insensibly to the caves which had formerly served as a
+retreat to hermits, and were now reported round the country to be
+haunted by evil spirits.  He recollected to have heard this
+tradition; and being of a brave and adventurous disposition, he
+willingly indulged his curiosity in exploring the secret recesses
+of this labyrinth.  He had not penetrated far before he thought he
+heard the steps of some person who seemed to retreat before him.
+
+Theodore, though firmly grounded in all our holy faith enjoins to
+be believed, had no apprehension that good men were abandoned
+without cause to the malice of the powers of darkness.  He thought
+the place more likely to be infested by robbers than by those
+infernal agents who are reported to molest and bewilder travellers.
+He had long burned with impatience to approve his valour.  Drawing
+his sabre, he marched sedately onwards, still directing his steps
+as the imperfect rustling sound before him led the way.  The armour
+he wore was a like indication to the person who avoided him.
+Theodore, now convinced that he was not mistaken, redoubled his
+pace, and evidently gained on the person that fled, whose haste
+increasing, Theodore came up just as a woman fell breathless before
+him.  He hasted to raise her, but her terror was so great that he
+apprehended she would faint in his arms.  He used every gentle word
+to dispel her alarms, and assured her that far from injuring, he
+would defend her at the peril of his life.  The Lady recovering her
+spirits from his courteous demeanour, and gazing on her protector,
+said -
+
+"Sure, I have heard that voice before!"
+
+"Not to my knowledge," replied Theodore; "unless, as I conjecture,
+thou art the Lady Isabella."
+
+"Merciful heaven!" cried she.  "Thou art not sent in quest of me,
+art thou?"  And saying those words, she threw herself at his feet,
+and besought him not to deliver her up to Manfred.
+
+"To Manfred!" cried Theodore--"no, Lady; I have once already
+delivered thee from his tyranny, and it shall fare hard with me
+now, but I will place thee out of the reach of his daring."
+
+"Is it possible," said she, "that thou shouldst be the generous
+unknown whom I met last night in the vault of the castle?  Sure
+thou art not a mortal, but my guardian angel.  On my knees, let me
+thank--"
+
+"Hold! gentle Princess," said Theodore, "nor demean thyself before
+a poor and friendless young man.  If heaven has selected me for thy
+deliverer, it will accomplish its work, and strengthen my arm in
+thy cause.  But come, Lady, we are too near the mouth of the
+cavern; let us seek its inmost recesses.  I can have no
+tranquillity till I have placed thee beyond the reach of danger."
+
+"Alas! what mean you, sir?" said she.  "Though all your actions are
+noble, though your sentiments speak the purity of your soul, is it
+fitting that I should accompany you alone into these perplexed
+retreats?  Should we be found together, what would a censorious
+world think of my conduct?"
+
+"I respect your virtuous delicacy," said Theodore; "nor do you
+harbour a suspicion that wounds my honour.  I meant to conduct you
+into the most private cavity of these rocks, and then at the hazard
+of my life to guard their entrance against every living thing.
+Besides, Lady," continued he, drawing a deep sigh, "beauteous and
+all perfect as your form is, and though my wishes are not guiltless
+of aspiring, know, my soul is dedicated to another; and although--"
+A sudden noise prevented Theodore from proceeding.  They soon
+distinguished these sounds -
+
+"Isabella! what, ho! Isabella!"  The trembling Princess relapsed
+into her former agony of fear.  Theodore endeavoured to encourage
+her, but in vain.  He assured her he would die rather than suffer
+her to return under Manfred's power; and begging her to remain
+concealed, he went forth to prevent the person in search of her
+from approaching.
+
+At the mouth of the cavern he found an armed Knight, discoursing
+with a peasant, who assured him he had seen a lady enter the passes
+of the rock.  The Knight was preparing to seek her, when Theodore,
+placing himself in his way, with his sword drawn, sternly forbad
+him at his peril to advance.
+
+"And who art thou, who darest to cross my way?" said the Knight,
+haughtily.
+
+"One who does not dare more than he will perform," said Theodore.
+
+"I seek the Lady Isabella," said the Knight, "and understand she
+has taken refuge among these rocks.  Impede me not, or thou wilt
+repent having provoked my resentment."
+
+"Thy purpose is as odious as thy resentment is contemptible," said
+Theodore.  "Return whence thou camest, or we shall soon know whose
+resentment is most terrible."
+
+The stranger, who was the principal Knight that had arrived from
+the Marquis of Vicenza, had galloped from Manfred as he was busied
+in getting information of the Princess, and giving various orders
+to prevent her falling into the power of the three Knights.  Their
+chief had suspected Manfred of being privy to the Princess's
+absconding, and this insult from a man, who he concluded was
+stationed by that Prince to secrete her, confirming his suspicions,
+he made no reply, but discharging a blow with his sabre at
+Theodore, would soon have removed all obstruction, if Theodore, who
+took him for one of Manfred's captains, and who had no sooner given
+the provocation than prepared to support it, had not received the
+stroke on his shield.  The valour that had so long been smothered
+in his breast broke forth at once; he rushed impetuously on the
+Knight, whose pride and wrath were not less powerful incentives to
+hardy deeds.  The combat was furious, but not long.  Theodore
+wounded the Knight in three several places, and at last disarmed
+him as he fainted by the loss of blood.
+
+The peasant, who had fled on the first onset, had given the alarm
+to some of Manfred's domestics, who, by his orders, were dispersed
+through the forest in pursuit of Isabella.  They came up as the
+Knight fell, whom they soon discovered to be the noble stranger.
+Theodore, notwithstanding his hatred to Manfred, could not behold
+the victory he had gained without emotions of pity and generosity.
+But he was more touched when he learned the quality of his
+adversary, and was informed that he was no retainer, but an enemy,
+of Manfred.  He assisted the servants of the latter in disarming
+the Knight, and in endeavouring to stanch the blood that flowed
+from his wounds.  The Knight recovering his speech, said, in a
+faint and faltering voice -
+
+"Generous foe, we have both been in an error.  I took thee for an
+instrument of the tyrant; I perceive thou hast made the like
+mistake.  It is too late for excuses.  I faint.  If Isabella is at
+hand--call her--I have important secrets to--"
+
+"He is dying!" said one of the attendants; "has nobody a crucifix
+about them?  Andrea, do thou pray over him."
+
+"Fetch some water," said Theodore, "and pour it down his throat,
+while I hasten to the Princess."
+
+Saying this, he flew to Isabella, and in few words told her
+modestly that he had been so unfortunate by mistake as to wound a
+gentleman from her father's court, who wished, ere he died, to
+impart something of consequence to her.
+
+The Princess, who had been transported at hearing the voice of
+Theodore, as he called to her to come forth, was astonished at what
+she heard.  Suffering herself to be conducted by Theodore, the new
+proof of whose valour recalled her dispersed spirits, she came
+where the bleeding Knight lay speechless on the ground.  But her
+fears returned when she beheld the domestics of Manfred.  She would
+again have fled if Theodore had not made her observe that they were
+unarmed, and had not threatened them with instant death if they
+should dare to seize the Princess.
+
+The stranger, opening his eyes, and beholding a woman, said, "Art
+thou--pray tell me truly--art thou Isabella of Vicenza?"
+
+"I am," said she:  "good heaven restore thee!"
+
+ "Then thou--then thou"--said the Knight, struggling for utterance-
+-"seest--thy father.  Give me one--"
+
+"Oh! amazement! horror! what do I hear! what do I see!" cried
+Isabella.  "My father!  You my father!  How came you here, Sir?
+For heaven's sake, speak!  Oh! run for help, or he will expire!"
+
+"'Tis most true," said the wounded Knight, exerting all his force;
+"I am Frederic thy father.  Yes, I came to deliver thee.  It will
+not be.  Give me a parting kiss, and take--"
+
+"Sir," said Theodore, "do not exhaust yourself; suffer us to convey
+you to the castle."
+
+"To the castle!" said Isabella.  "Is there no help nearer than the
+castle?  Would you expose my father to the tyrant?  If he goes
+thither, I dare not accompany him; and yet, can I leave him!"
+
+"My child," said Frederic, "it matters not for me whither I am
+carried.  A few minutes will place me beyond danger; but while I
+have eyes to dote on thee, forsake me not, dear Isabella!  This
+brave Knight--I know not who he is--will protect thy innocence.
+Sir, you will not abandon my child, will you?"
+
+Theodore, shedding tears over his victim, and vowing to guard the
+Princess at the expense of his life, persuaded Frederic to suffer
+himself to be conducted to the castle.  They placed him on a horse
+belonging to one of the domestics, after binding up his wounds as
+well as they were able.  Theodore marched by his side; and the
+afflicted Isabella, who could not bear to quit him, followed
+mournfully behind.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+
+The sorrowful troop no sooner arrived at the castle, than they were
+met by Hippolita and Matilda, whom Isabella had sent one of the
+domestics before to advertise of their approach.  The ladies
+causing Frederic to be conveyed into the nearest chamber, retired,
+while the surgeons examined his wounds.  Matilda blushed at seeing
+Theodore and Isabella together; but endeavoured to conceal it by
+embracing the latter, and condoling with her on her father's
+mischance.  The surgeons soon came to acquaint Hippolita that none
+of the Marquis's wounds were dangerous; and that he was desirous of
+seeing his daughter and the Princesses.
+
+Theodore, under pretence of expressing his joy at being freed from
+his apprehensions of the combat being fatal to Frederic, could not
+resist the impulse of following Matilda.  Her eyes were so often
+cast down on meeting his, that Isabella, who regarded Theodore as
+attentively as he gazed on Matilda, soon divined who the object was
+that he had told her in the cave engaged his affections.  While
+this mute scene passed, Hippolita demanded of Frederic the cause of
+his having taken that mysterious course for reclaiming his
+daughter; and threw in various apologies to excuse her Lord for the
+match contracted between their children.
+
+Frederic, however incensed against Manfred, was not insensible to
+the courtesy and benevolence of Hippolita:  but he was still more
+struck with the lovely form of Matilda.  Wishing to detain them by
+his bedside, he informed Hippolita of his story.  He told her that,
+while prisoner to the infidels, he had dreamed that his daughter,
+of whom he had learned no news since his captivity, was detained in
+a castle, where she was in danger of the most dreadful misfortunes:
+and that if he obtained his liberty, and repaired to a wood near
+Joppa, he would learn more.  Alarmed at this dream, and incapable
+of obeying the direction given by it, his chains became more
+grievous than ever.  But while his thoughts were occupied on the
+means of obtaining his liberty, he received the agreeable news that
+the confederate Princes who were warring in Palestine had paid his
+ransom.  He instantly set out for the wood that had been marked in
+his dream.
+
+For three days he and his attendants had wandered in the forest
+without seeing a human form:  but on the evening of the third they
+came to a cell, in which they found a venerable hermit in the
+agonies of death.  Applying rich cordials, they brought the
+fainting man to his speech.
+
+"My sons," said he, "I am bounden to your charity--but it is in
+vain--I am going to my eternal rest--yet I die with the
+satisfaction of performing the will of heaven.  When first I
+repaired to this solitude, after seeing my country become a prey to
+unbelievers--it is alas! above fifty years since I was witness to
+that dreadful scene!  St. Nicholas appeared to me, and revealed a
+secret, which he bade me never disclose to mortal man, but on my
+death-bed.  This is that tremendous hour, and ye are no doubt the
+chosen warriors to whom I was ordered to reveal my trust.  As soon
+as ye have done the last offices to this wretched corse, dig under
+the seventh tree on the left hand of this poor cave, and your pains
+will--Oh! good heaven receive my soul!"  With those words the
+devout man breathed his last.
+
+"By break of day," continued Frederic, "when we had committed the
+holy relics to earth, we dug according to direction.  But what was
+our astonishment when about the depth of six feet we discovered an
+enormous sabre--the very weapon yonder in the court.  On the blade,
+which was then partly out of the scabbard, though since closed by
+our efforts in removing it, were written the following lines--no;
+excuse me, Madam," added the Marquis, turning to Hippolita; "if I
+forbear to repeat them:  I respect your sex and rank, and would not
+be guilty of offending your ear with sounds injurious to aught that
+is dear to you."
+
+He paused.  Hippolita trembled.  She did not doubt but Frederic was
+destined by heaven to accomplish the fate that seemed to threaten
+her house.  Looking with anxious fondness at Matilda, a silent tear
+stole down her cheek:  but recollecting herself, she said -
+
+"Proceed, my Lord; heaven does nothing in vain; mortals must
+receive its divine behests with lowliness and submission.  It is
+our part to deprecate its wrath, or bow to its decrees.  Repeat the
+sentence, my Lord; we listen resigned."
+
+Frederic was grieved that he had proceeded so far.  The dignity and
+patient firmness of Hippolita penetrated him with respect, and the
+tender silent affection with which the Princess and her daughter
+regarded each other, melted him almost to tears.  Yet apprehensive
+that his forbearance to obey would be more alarming, he repeated in
+a faltering and low voice the following lines:
+
+
+"Where'er a casque that suits this sword is found,
+With perils is thy daughter compass'd round;
+ALFONSO'S blood alone can save the maid,
+And quiet a long restless Prince's shade."
+
+
+"What is there in these lines," said Theodore impatiently, "that
+affects these Princesses?  Why were they to be shocked by a
+mysterious delicacy, that has so little foundation?"
+
+"Your words are rude, young man," said the Marquis; "and though
+fortune has favoured you once--"
+
+"My honoured Lord," said Isabella, who resented Theodore's warmth,
+which she perceived was dictated by his sentiments for Matilda,
+"discompose not yourself for the glosing of a peasant's son:  he
+forgets the reverence he owes you; but he is not accustomed--"
+
+Hippolita, concerned at the heat that had arisen, checked Theodore
+for his boldness, but with an air acknowledging his zeal; and
+changing the conversation, demanded of Frederic where he had left
+her Lord?  As the Marquis was going to reply, they heard a noise
+without, and rising to inquire the cause, Manfred, Jerome, and part
+of the troop, who had met an imperfect rumour of what had happened,
+entered the chamber.  Manfred advanced hastily towards Frederic's
+bed to condole with him on his misfortune, and to learn the
+circumstances of the combat, when starting in an agony of terror
+and amazement, he cried -
+
+"Ha! what art thou? thou dreadful spectre! is my hour come?"
+
+"My dearest, gracious Lord," cried Hippolita, clasping him in her
+arms, "what is it you see!  Why do you fix your eye-balls thus?"
+
+"What!" cried Manfred breathless; "dost thou see nothing,
+Hippolita?  Is this ghastly phantom sent to me alone--to rue, who
+did not--"
+
+"For mercy's sweetest self, my Lord," said Hippolita, "resume your
+soul, command your reason.  There is none here, but us, your
+friends."
+
+"What, is not that Alfonso?" cried Manfred.  "Dost thou not see
+him? can it be my brain's delirium?"
+
+"This! my Lord," said Hippolita; "this is Theodore, the youth who
+has been so unfortunate."
+
+"Theodore!" said Manfred mournfully, and striking his forehead;
+"Theodore or a phantom, he has unhinged the soul of Manfred.  But
+how comes he here? and how comes he in armour?"
+
+"I believe he went in search of Isabella," said Hippolita.
+
+"Of Isabella!" said Manfred, relapsing into rage; "yes, yes, that
+is not doubtful -.  But how did he escape from durance in which I
+left him?  Was it Isabella, or this hypocritical old Friar, that
+procured his enlargement?"
+
+"And would a parent be criminal, my Lord," said Theodore, "if he
+meditated the deliverance of his child?"
+
+Jerome, amazed to hear himself in a manner accused by his son, and
+without foundation, knew not what to think.  He could not
+comprehend how Theodore had escaped, how he came to be armed, and
+to encounter Frederic.  Still he would not venture to ask any
+questions that might tend to inflame Manfred's wrath against his
+son.  Jerome's silence convinced Manfred that he had contrived
+Theodore's release.
+
+"And is it thus, thou ungrateful old man," said the Prince,
+addressing himself to the Friar, "that thou repayest mine and
+Hippolita's bounties?  And not content with traversing my heart's
+nearest wishes, thou armest thy bastard, and bringest him into my
+own castle to insult me!"
+
+"My Lord," said Theodore, "you wrong my father:  neither he nor I
+are capable of harbouring a thought against your peace.  Is it
+insolence thus to surrender myself to your Highness's pleasure?"
+added he, laying his sword respectfully at Manfred's feet.  "Behold
+my bosom; strike, my Lord, if you suspect that a disloyal thought
+is lodged there.  There is not a sentiment engraven on my heart
+that does not venerate you and yours."
+
+The grace and fervour with which Theodore uttered these words
+interested every person present in his favour.  Even Manfred was
+touched--yet still possessed with his resemblance to Alfonso, his
+admiration was dashed with secret horror.
+
+"Rise," said he; "thy life is not my present purpose.  But tell me
+thy history, and how thou camest connected with this old traitor
+here."
+
+"My Lord," said Jerome eagerly.
+
+"Peace! impostor!" said Manfred; "I will not have him prompted."
+
+"My Lord," said Theodore, "I want no assistance; my story is very
+brief.  I was carried at five years of age to Algiers with my
+mother, who had been taken by corsairs from the coast of Sicily.
+She died of grief in less than a twelvemonth;" the tears gushed
+from Jerome's eyes, on whose countenance a thousand anxious
+passions stood expressed.  "Before she died," continued Theodore,
+"she bound a writing about my arm under my garments, which told me
+I was the son of the Count Falconara."
+
+"It is most true," said Jerome; "I am that wretched father."
+
+"Again I enjoin thee silence," said Manfred:  "proceed."
+
+"I remained in slavery," said Theodore, "until within these two
+years, when attending on my master in his cruises, I was delivered
+by a Christian vessel, which overpowered the pirate; and
+discovering myself to the captain, he generously put me on shore in
+Sicily; but alas! instead of finding a father, I learned that his
+estate, which was situated on the coast, had, during his absence,
+been laid waste by the Rover who had carried my mother and me into
+captivity:  that his castle had been burnt to the ground, and that
+my father on his return had sold what remained, and was retired
+into religion in the kingdom of Naples, but where no man could
+inform me.  Destitute and friendless, hopeless almost of attaining
+the transport of a parent's embrace, I took the first opportunity
+of setting sail for Naples, from whence, within these six days, I
+wandered into this province, still supporting myself by the labour
+of my hands; nor until yester-morn did I believe that heaven had
+reserved any lot for me but peace of mind and contented poverty.
+This, my Lord, is Theodore's story.  I am blessed beyond my hope in
+finding a father; I am unfortunate beyond my desert in having
+incurred your Highness's displeasure."
+
+He ceased.  A murmur of approbation gently arose from the audience.
+
+"This is not all," said Frederic; "I am bound in honour to add what
+he suppresses.  Though he is modest, I must be generous; he is one
+of the bravest youths on Christian ground.  He is warm too; and
+from the short knowledge I have of him, I will pledge myself for
+his veracity:  if what he reports of himself were not true, he
+would not utter it--and for me, youth, I honour a frankness which
+becomes thy birth; but now, and thou didst offend me:  yet the
+noble blood which flows in thy veins, may well be allowed to boil
+out, when it has so recently traced itself to its source.  Come, my
+Lord," (turning to Manfred), "if I can pardon him, surely you may;
+it is not the youth's fault, if you took him for a spectre."
+
+This bitter taunt galled the soul of Manfred.
+
+"If beings from another world," replied he haughtily, "have power
+to impress my mind with awe, it is more than living man can do; nor
+could a stripling's arm."
+
+"My Lord," interrupted Hippolita, "your guest has occasion for
+repose:  shall we not leave him to his rest?"  Saying this, and
+taking Manfred by the hand, she took leave of Frederic, and led the
+company forth.
+
+The Prince, not sorry to quit a conversation which recalled to mind
+the discovery he had made of his most secret sensations, suffered
+himself to be conducted to his own apartment, after permitting
+Theodore, though under engagement to return to the castle on the
+morrow (a condition the young man gladly accepted), to retire with
+his father to the convent.  Matilda and Isabella were too much
+occupied with their own reflections, and too little content with
+each other, to wish for farther converse that night.  They
+separated each to her chamber, with more expressions of ceremony
+and fewer of affection thou had passed between them since their
+childhood.
+
+If they parted with small cordiality, they did but meet with
+greater impatience, as soon as the sun was risen.  Their minds were
+in a situation that excluded sleep, and each recollected a thousand
+questions which she wished she had put to the other overnight.
+Matilda reflected that Isabella had been twice delivered by
+Theodore in very critical situations, which she could not believe
+accidental.  His eyes, it was true, had been fixed on her in
+Frederic's chamber; but that might have been to disguise his
+passion for Isabella from the fathers of both.  It were better to
+clear this up.  She wished to know the truth, lest she should wrong
+her friend by entertaining a passion for Isabella's lover.  Thus
+jealousy prompted, and at the same time borrowed an excuse from
+friendship to justify its curiosity.
+
+Isabella, not less restless, had better foundation for her
+suspicions.  Both Theodore's tongue and eyes had told her his heart
+was engaged; it was true--yet, perhaps, Matilda might not
+correspond to his passion; she had ever appeared insensible to
+love:  all her thoughts were set on heaven.
+
+"Why did I dissuade her?" said Isabella to herself; "I am punished
+for my generosity; but when did they meet? where?  It cannot be; I
+have deceived myself; perhaps last night was the first time they
+ever beheld each other; it must be some other object that has
+prepossessed his affections--if it is, I am not so unhappy as I
+thought; if it is not my friend Matilda--how!  Can I stoop to wish
+for the affection of a man, who rudely and unnecessarily acquainted
+me with his indifference? and that at the very moment in which
+common courtesy demanded at least expressions of civility.  I will
+go to my dear Matilda, who will confirm me in this becoming pride.
+Man is false--I will advise with her on taking the veil:  she will
+rejoice to find me in this disposition; and I will acquaint her
+that I no longer oppose her inclination for the cloister."
+
+In this frame of mind, and determined to open her heart entirely to
+Matilda, she went to that Princess's chamber, whom she found
+already dressed, and leaning pensively on her arm.  This attitude,
+so correspondent to what she felt herself, revived Isabella's
+suspicions, and destroyed the confidence she had purposed to place
+in her friend.  They blushed at meeting, and were too much novices
+to disguise their sensations with address.  After some unmeaning
+questions and replies, Matilda demanded of Isabella the cause of
+her flight?  The latter, who had almost forgotten Manfred's
+passion, so entirely was she occupied by her own, concluding that
+Matilda referred to her last escape from the convent, which had
+occasioned the events of the preceding evening, replied -
+
+"Martelli brought word to the convent that your mother was dead."
+
+"Oh!" said Matilda, interrupting her, "Bianca has explained that
+mistake to me:  on seeing me faint, she cried out, 'The Princess is
+dead!' and Martelli, who had come for the usual dole to the castle-
+-"
+
+"And what made you faint?" said Isabella, indifferent to the rest.
+Matilda blushed and stammered -
+
+"My father--he was sitting in judgment on a criminal--"
+
+"What criminal?" said Isabella eagerly.
+
+"A young man," said Matilda; "I believe--"
+
+"I think it was that young man that--"
+
+"What, Theodore?" said Isabella.
+
+"Yes," answered she; "I never saw him before; I do not know how he
+had offended my father, but as he has been of service to you, I am
+glad my Lord has pardoned him."
+
+"Served me!" replied Isabella; "do you term it serving me, to wound
+my father, and almost occasion his death?  Though it is but since
+yesterday that I am blessed with knowing a parent, I hope Matilda
+does not think I am such a stranger to filial tenderness as not to
+resent the boldness of that audacious youth, and that it is
+impossible for me ever to feel any affection for one who dared to
+lift his arm against the author of my being.  No, Matilda, my heart
+abhors him; and if you still retain the friendship for me that you
+have vowed from your infancy, you will detest a man who has been on
+the point of making me miserable for ever."
+
+Matilda held down her head and replied:  "I hope my dearest
+Isabella does not doubt her Matilda's friendship:  I never beheld
+that youth until yesterday; he is almost a stranger to me:  but as
+the surgeons have pronounced your father out of danger, you ought
+not to harbour uncharitable resentment against one, who I am
+persuaded did not know the Marquis was related to you."
+
+"You plead his cause very pathetically," said Isabella,
+"considering he is so much a stranger to you!  I am mistaken, or he
+returns your charity."
+
+"What mean you?" said Matilda.
+
+"Nothing," said Isabella, repenting that she had given Matilda a
+hint of Theodore's inclination for her.  Then changing the
+discourse, she asked Matilda what occasioned Manfred to take
+Theodore for a spectre?
+
+"Bless me," said Matilda, "did not you observe his extreme
+resemblance to the portrait of Alfonso in the gallery?  I took
+notice of it to Bianca even before I saw him in armour; but with
+the helmet on, he is the very image of that picture."
+
+"I do not much observe pictures," said Isabella:  "much less have I
+examined this young man so attentively as you seem to have done.
+Ah?  Matilda, your heart is in danger, but let me warn you as a
+friend, he has owned to me that he is in love; it cannot be with
+you, for yesterday was the first time you ever met--was it not?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Matilda; "but why does my dearest Isabella
+conclude from anything I have said, that"--she paused--then
+continuing:  "he saw you first, and I am far from having the vanity
+to think that my little portion of charms could engage a heart
+devoted to you; may you be happy, Isabella, whatever is the fate of
+Matilda!"
+
+"My lovely friend," said Isabella, whose heart was too honest to
+resist a kind expression, "it is you that Theodore admires; I saw
+it; I am persuaded of it; nor shall a thought of my own happiness
+suffer me to interfere with yours."
+
+This frankness drew tears from the gentle Matilda; and jealousy
+that for a moment had raised a coolness between these amiable
+maidens soon gave way to the natural sincerity and candour of their
+souls.  Each confessed to the other the impression that Theodore
+had made on her; and this confidence was followed by a struggle of
+generosity, each insisting on yielding her claim to her friend.  At
+length the dignity of Isabella's virtue reminding her of the
+preference which Theodore had almost declared for her rival, made
+her determine to conquer her passion, and cede the beloved object
+to her friend.
+
+During this contest of amity, Hippolita entered her daughter's
+chamber.
+
+"Madam," said she to Isabella, "you have so much tenderness for
+Matilda, and interest yourself so kindly in whatever affects our
+wretched house, that I can have no secrets with my child which are
+not proper for you to hear."
+
+The princesses were all attention and anxiety.
+
+"Know then, Madam," continued Hippolita, "and you my dearest
+Matilda, that being convinced by all the events of these two last
+ominous days, that heaven purposes the sceptre of Otranto should
+pass from Manfred's hands into those of the Marquis Frederic, I
+have been perhaps inspired with the thought of averting our total
+destruction by the union of our rival houses.  With this view I
+have been proposing to Manfred, my lord, to tender this dear, dear
+child to Frederic, your father."
+
+"Me to Lord Frederic!" cried Matilda; "good heavens! my gracious
+mother--and have you named it to my father?"
+
+"I have," said Hippolita; "he listened benignly to my proposal, and
+is gone to break it to the Marquis."
+
+"Ah! wretched princess!" cried Isabella; "what hast thou done! what
+ruin has thy inadvertent goodness been preparing for thyself, for
+me, and for Matilda!"
+
+"Ruin from me to you and to my child!" said Hippolita "what can
+this mean?"
+
+"Alas!" said Isabella, "the purity of your own heart prevents your
+seeing the depravity of others.  Manfred, your lord, that impious
+man--"
+
+"Hold," said Hippolita; "you must not in my presence, young lady,
+mention Manfred with disrespect:  he is my lord and husband, and--"
+
+"Will not long be so," said Isabella, "if his wicked purposes can
+be carried into execution."
+
+"This language amazes me," said Hippolita.  "Your feeling,
+Isabella, is warm; but until this hour I never knew it betray you
+into intemperance.  What deed of Manfred authorises you to treat
+him as a murderer, an assassin?"
+
+"Thou virtuous, and too credulous Princess!" replied Isabella; "it
+is not thy life he aims at--it is to separate himself from thee! to
+divorce thee! to--"
+
+"To divorce me!"  "To divorce my mother!" cried Hippolita and
+Matilda at once.
+
+"Yes," said Isabella; "and to complete his crime, he meditates--I
+cannot speak it!"
+
+"What can surpass what thou hast already uttered?" said Matilda.
+
+Hippolita was silent.  Grief choked her speech; and the
+recollection of Manfred's late ambiguous discourses confirmed what
+she heard.
+
+"Excellent, dear lady! madam! mother!" cried Isabella, flinging
+herself at Hippolita's feet in a transport of passion; "trust me,
+believe me, I will die a thousand deaths sooner than consent to
+injure you, than yield to so odious--oh!--"
+
+"This is too much!" cried Hippolita:  "What crimes does one crime
+suggest!  Rise, dear Isabella; I do not doubt your virtue.  Oh!
+Matilda, this stroke is too heavy for thee! weep not, my child; and
+not a murmur, I charge thee.  Remember, he is thy father still!"
+
+"But you are my mother too," said Matilda fervently; "and you are
+virtuous, you are guiltless!--Oh! must not I, must not I complain?"
+
+"You must not," said Hippolita--"come, all will yet be well.
+Manfred, in the agony for the loss of thy brother, knew not what he
+said; perhaps Isabella misunderstood him; his heart is good--and,
+my child, thou knowest not all!  There is a destiny hangs over us;
+the hand of Providence is stretched out; oh! could I but save thee
+from the wreck!  Yes," continued she in a firmer tone, "perhaps the
+sacrifice of myself may atone for all; I will go and offer myself
+to this divorce--it boots not what becomes of me.  I will withdraw
+into the neighbouring monastery, and waste the remainder of life in
+prayers and tears for my child and--the Prince!"
+
+"Thou art as much too good for this world," said Isabella, "as
+Manfred is execrable; but think not, lady, that thy weakness shall
+determine for me.  I swear, hear me all ye angels--"
+
+"Stop, I adjure thee," cried Hippolita:  "remember thou dost not
+depend on thyself; thou hast a father."
+
+"My father is too pious, too noble," interrupted Isabella, "to
+command an impious deed.  But should he command it; can a father
+enjoin a cursed act?  I was contracted to the son, can I wed the
+father?  No, madam, no; force should not drag me to Manfred's hated
+bed.  I loathe him, I abhor him:  divine and human laws forbid--and
+my friend, my dearest Matilda! would I wound her tender soul by
+injuring her adored mother? my own mother--I never have known
+another" -
+
+"Oh! she is the mother of both!" cried Matilda:  "can we, can we,
+Isabella, adore her too much?"
+
+"My lovely children," said the touched Hippolita, "your tenderness
+overpowers me--but I must not give way to it.  It is not ours to
+make election for ourselves:  heaven, our fathers, and our husbands
+must decide for us.  Have patience until you hear what Manfred and
+Frederic have determined.  If the Marquis accepts Matilda's hand, I
+know she will readily obey.  Heaven may interpose and prevent the
+rest.  What means my child?" continued she, seeing Matilda fall at
+her feet with a flood of speechless tears--"But no; answer me not,
+my daughter:  I must not hear a word against the pleasure of thy
+father."
+
+"Oh! doubt not my obedience, my dreadful obedience to him and to
+you!" said Matilda.  "But can I, most respected of women, can I
+experience all this tenderness, this world of goodness, and conceal
+a thought from the best of mothers?"
+
+"What art thou going to utter?" said Isabella trembling.
+"Recollect thyself, Matilda."
+
+"No, Isabella," said the Princess, "I should not deserve this
+incomparable parent, if the inmost recesses of my soul harboured a
+thought without her permission--nay, I have offended her; I have
+suffered a passion to enter my heart without her avowal--but here I
+disclaim it; here I vow to heaven and her--"
+
+"My child! my child;" said Hippolita, "what words are these! what
+new calamities has fate in store for us!  Thou, a passion?  Thou,
+in this hour of destruction--"
+
+"Oh! I see all my guilt!" said Matilda.  "I abhor myself, if I cost
+my mother a pang.  She is the dearest thing I have on earth--Oh! I
+will never, never behold him more!"
+
+"Isabella," said Hippolita, "thou art conscious to this unhappy
+secret, whatever it is.  Speak!"
+
+"What!" cried Matilda, "have I so forfeited my mother's love, that
+she will not permit me even to speak my own guilt? oh! wretched,
+wretched Matilda!"
+
+"Thou art too cruel," said Isabella to Hippolita:  "canst thou
+behold this anguish of a virtuous mind, and not commiserate it?"
+
+"Not pity my child!" said Hippolita, catching Matilda in her arms--
+"Oh! I know she is good, she is all virtue, all tenderness, and
+duty.  I do forgive thee, my excellent, my only hope!"
+
+The princesses then revealed to Hippolita their mutual inclination
+for Theodore, and the purpose of Isabella to resign him to Matilda.
+Hippolita blamed their imprudence, and showed them the
+improbability that either father would consent to bestow his
+heiress on so poor a man, though nobly born.  Some comfort it gave
+her to find their passion of so recent a date, and that Theodore
+had had but little cause to suspect it in either.  She strictly
+enjoined them to avoid all correspondence with him.  This Matilda
+fervently promised:  but Isabella, who flattered herself that she
+meant no more than to promote his union with her friend, could not
+determine to avoid him; and made no reply.
+
+"I will go to the convent," said Hippolita, "and order new masses
+to be said for a deliverance from these calamities."
+
+"Oh! my mother," said Matilda, "you mean to quit us:  you mean to
+take sanctuary, and to give my father an opportunity of pursuing
+his fatal intention.  Alas! on my knees I supplicate you to
+forbear; will you leave me a prey to Frederic?  I will follow you
+to the convent."
+
+"Be at peace, my child," said Hippolita:  "I will return instantly.
+I will never abandon thee, until I know it is the will of heaven,
+and for thy benefit."
+
+"Do not deceive me," said Matilda.  "I will not marry Frederic
+until thou commandest it.  Alas! what will become of me?"
+
+"Why that exclamation?" said Hippolita.  "I have promised thee to
+return--"
+
+"Ah! my mother," replied Matilda, "stay and save me from myself.  A
+frown from thee can do more than all my father's severity.  I have
+given away my heart, and you alone can make me recall it."
+
+"No more," said Hippolita; "thou must not relapse, Matilda."
+
+"I can quit Theodore," said she, "but must I wed another? let me
+attend thee to the altar, and shut myself from the world for ever."
+
+"Thy fate depends on thy father," said Hippolita; "I have ill-
+bestowed my tenderness, if it has taught thee to revere aught
+beyond him.  Adieu! my child:  I go to pray for thee."
+
+Hippolita's real purpose was to demand of Jerome, whether in
+conscience she might not consent to the divorce.  She had oft urged
+Manfred to resign the principality, which the delicacy of her
+conscience rendered an hourly burthen to her.  These scruples
+concurred to make the separation from her husband appear less
+dreadful to her than it would have seemed in any other situation.
+
+Jerome, at quitting the castle overnight, had questioned Theodore
+severely why he had accused him to Manfred of being privy to his
+escape.  Theodore owned it had been with design to prevent
+Manfred's suspicion from alighting on Matilda; and added, the
+holiness of Jerome's life and character secured him from the
+tyrant's wrath.  Jerome was heartily grieved to discover his son's
+inclination for that princess; and leaving him to his rest,
+promised in the morning to acquaint him with important reasons for
+conquering his passion.
+
+Theodore, like Isabella, was too recently acquainted with parental
+authority to submit to its decisions against the impulse of his
+heart.  He had little curiosity to learn the Friar's reasons, and
+less disposition to obey them.  The lovely Matilda had made
+stronger impressions on him than filial affection.  All night he
+pleased himself with visions of love; and it was not till late
+after the morning-office, that he recollected the Friar's commands
+to attend him at Alfonso's tomb.
+
+"Young man," said Jerome, when he saw him, "this tardiness does not
+please me.  Have a father's commands already so little weight?"
+
+Theodore made awkward excuses, and attributed his delay to having
+overslept himself.
+
+"And on whom were thy dreams employed?" said the Friar sternly.
+His son blushed.  "Come, come," resumed the Friar, "inconsiderate
+youth, this must not be; eradicate this guilty passion from thy
+breast--"
+
+"Guilty passion!" cried Theodore:  "Can guilt dwell with innocent
+beauty and virtuous modesty?"
+
+"It is sinful," replied the Friar, "to cherish those whom heaven
+has doomed to destruction.  A tyrant's race must be swept from the
+earth to the third and fourth generation."
+
+"Will heaven visit the innocent for the crimes of the guilty?" said
+Theodore.  "The fair Matilda has virtues enough--"
+
+"To undo thee:" interrupted Jerome.  "Hast thou so soon forgotten
+that twice the savage Manfred has pronounced thy sentence?"
+
+"Nor have I forgotten, sir," said Theodore, "that the charity of
+his daughter delivered me from his power.  I can forget injuries,
+but never benefits."
+
+"The injuries thou hast received from Manfred's race," said the
+Friar, "are beyond what thou canst conceive.  Reply not, but view
+this holy image!  Beneath this marble monument rest the ashes of
+the good Alfonso; a prince adorned with every virtue:  the father
+of his people! the delight of mankind!  Kneel, headstrong boy, and
+list, while a father unfolds a tale of horror that will expel every
+sentiment from thy soul, but sensations of sacred vengeance--
+Alfonso! much injured prince! let thy unsatisfied shade sit awful
+on the troubled air, while these trembling lips--Ha! who comes
+there?--"
+
+"The most wretched of women!" said Hippolita, entering the choir.
+"Good Father, art thou at leisure?--but why this kneeling youth?
+what means the horror imprinted on each countenance? why at this
+venerable tomb--alas! hast thou seen aught?"
+
+"We were pouring forth our orisons to heaven," replied the Friar,
+with some confusion, "to put an end to the woes of this deplorable
+province.  Join with us, Lady! thy spotless soul may obtain an
+exemption from the judgments which the portents of these days but
+too speakingly denounce against thy house."
+
+"I pray fervently to heaven to divert them," said the pious
+Princess.  "Thou knowest it has been the occupation of my life to
+wrest a blessing for my Lord and my harmless children.--One alas!
+is taken from me! would heaven but hear me for my poor Matilda!
+Father! intercede for her!"
+
+"Every heart will bless her," cried Theodore with rapture.
+
+"Be dumb, rash youth!" said Jerome.  "And thou, fond Princess,
+contend not with the Powers above! the Lord giveth, and the Lord
+taketh away:  bless His holy name, and submit to his decrees."
+
+"I do most devoutly," said Hippolita; "but will He not spare my
+only comfort? must Matilda perish too?--ah!  Father, I came--but
+dismiss thy son.  No ear but thine must hear what I have to utter."
+
+"May heaven grant thy every wish, most excellent Princess!" said
+Theodore retiring.  Jerome frowned.
+
+Hippolita then acquainted the Friar with the proposal she had
+suggested to Manfred, his approbation of it, and the tender of
+Matilda that he was gone to make to Frederic.  Jerome could not
+conceal his dislike of the notion, which he covered under pretence
+of the improbability that Frederic, the nearest of blood to
+Alfonso, and who was come to claim his succession, would yield to
+an alliance with the usurper of his right.  But nothing could equal
+the perplexity of the Friar, when Hippolita confessed her readiness
+not to oppose the separation, and demanded his opinion on the
+legality of her acquiescence.  The Friar caught eagerly at her
+request of his advice, and without explaining his aversion to the
+proposed marriage of Manfred and Isabella, he painted to Hippolita
+in the most alarming colours the sinfulness of her consent,
+denounced judgments against her if she complied, and enjoined her
+in the severest terms to treat any such proposition with every mark
+of indignation and refusal.
+
+Manfred, in the meantime, had broken his purpose to Frederic, and
+proposed the double marriage.  That weak Prince, who had been
+struck with the charms of Matilda, listened but too eagerly to the
+offer.  He forgot his enmity to Manfred, whom he saw but little
+hope of dispossessing by force; and flattering himself that no
+issue might succeed from the union of his daughter with the tyrant,
+he looked upon his own succession to the principality as
+facilitated by wedding Matilda.  He made faint opposition to the
+proposal; affecting, for form only, not to acquiesce unless
+Hippolita should consent to the divorce.  Manfred took that upon
+himself.
+
+Transported with his success, and impatient to see himself in a
+situation to expect sons, he hastened to his wife's apartment,
+determined to extort her compliance.  He learned with indignation
+that she was absent at the convent.  His guilt suggested to him
+that she had probably been informed by Isabella of his purpose.  He
+doubted whether her retirement to the convent did not import an
+intention of remaining there, until she could raise obstacles to
+their divorce; and the suspicions he had already entertained of
+Jerome, made him apprehend that the Friar would not only traverse
+his views, but might have inspired Hippolita with the resolution of
+talking sanctuary.  Impatient to unravel this clue, and to defeat
+its success, Manfred hastened to the convent, and arrived there as
+the Friar was earnestly exhorting the Princess never to yield to
+the divorce.
+
+"Madam," said Manfred, "what business drew you hither? why did you
+not await my return from the Marquis?"
+
+"I came to implore a blessing on your councils," replied Hippolita.
+
+"My councils do not need a Friar's intervention," said Manfred;
+"and of all men living is that hoary traitor the only one whom you
+delight to confer with?"
+
+"Profane Prince!" said Jerome; "is it at the altar that thou
+choosest to insult the servants of the altar?--but, Manfred, thy
+impious schemes are known.  Heaven and this virtuous lady know
+them--nay, frown not, Prince.  The Church despises thy menaces.
+Her thunders will be heard above thy wrath.  Dare to proceed in thy
+cursed purpose of a divorce, until her sentence be known, and here
+I lance her anathema at thy head."
+
+"Audacious rebel!" said Manfred, endeavouring to conceal the awe
+with which the Friar's words inspired him.  "Dost thou presume to
+threaten thy lawful Prince?"
+
+"Thou art no lawful Prince," said Jerome; "thou art no Prince--go,
+discuss thy claim with Frederic; and when that is done--"
+
+"It is done," replied Manfred; "Frederic accepts Matilda's hand,
+and is content to waive his claim, unless I have no male issue"--as
+he spoke those words three drops of blood fell from the nose of
+Alfonso's statue.  Manfred turned pale, and the Princess sank on
+her knees.
+
+"Behold!" said the Friar; "mark this miraculous indication that the
+blood of Alfonso will never mix with that of Manfred!"
+
+"My gracious Lord," said Hippolita, "let us submit ourselves to
+heaven.  Think not thy ever obedient wife rebels against thy
+authority.  I have no will but that of my Lord and the Church.  To
+that revered tribunal let us appeal.  It does not depend on us to
+burst the bonds that unite us.  If the Church shall approve the
+dissolution of our marriage, be it so--I have but few years, and
+those of sorrow, to pass.  Where can they be worn away so well as
+at the foot of this altar, in prayers for thine and Matilda's
+safety?"
+
+"But thou shalt not remain here until then," said Manfred.  "Repair
+with me to the castle, and there I will advise on the proper
+measures for a divorce;--but this meddling Friar comes not thither;
+my hospitable roof shall never more harbour a traitor--and for thy
+Reverence's offspring," continued he, "I banish him from my
+dominions.  He, I ween, is no sacred personage, nor under the
+protection of the Church.  Whoever weds Isabella, it shall not be
+Father Falconara's started-up son."
+
+"They start up," said the Friar, "who are suddenly beheld in the
+seat of lawful Princes; but they wither away like the grass, and
+their place knows them no more."
+
+Manfred, casting a look of scorn at the Friar, led Hippolita forth;
+but at the door of the church whispered one of his attendants to
+remain concealed about the convent, and bring him instant notice,
+if any one from the castle should repair thither.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+
+Every reflection which Manfred made on the Friar's behaviour,
+conspired to persuade him that Jerome was privy to an amour between
+Isabella and Theodore.  But Jerome's new presumption, so dissonant
+from his former meekness, suggested still deeper apprehensions.
+The Prince even suspected that the Friar depended on some secret
+support from Frederic, whose arrival, coinciding with the novel
+appearance of Theodore, seemed to bespeak a correspondence.  Still
+more was he troubled with the resemblance of Theodore to Alfonso's
+portrait.  The latter he knew had unquestionably died without
+issue.  Frederic had consented to bestow Isabella on him.  These
+contradictions agitated his mind with numberless pangs.
+
+He saw but two methods of extricating himself from his
+difficulties.  The one was to resign his dominions to the Marquis--
+pride, ambition, and his reliance on ancient prophecies, which had
+pointed out a possibility of his preserving them to his posterity,
+combated that thought.  The other was to press his marriage with
+Isabella.  After long ruminating on these anxious thoughts, as he
+marched silently with Hippolita to the castle, he at last
+discoursed with that Princess on the subject of his disquiet, and
+used every insinuating and plausible argument to extract her
+consent to, even her promise of promoting the divorce.  Hippolita
+needed little persuasions to bend her to his pleasure.  She
+endeavoured to win him over to the measure of resigning his
+dominions; but finding her exhortations fruitless, she assured him,
+that as far as her conscience would allow, she would raise no
+opposition to a separation, though without better founded scruples
+than what he yet alleged, she would not engage to be active in
+demanding it.
+
+This compliance, though inadequate, was sufficient to raise
+Manfred's hopes.  He trusted that his power and wealth would easily
+advance his suit at the court of Rome, whither he resolved to
+engage Frederic to take a journey on purpose.  That Prince had
+discovered so much passion for Matilda, that Manfred hoped to
+obtain all he wished by holding out or withdrawing his daughter's
+charms, according as the Marquis should appear more or less
+disposed to co-operate in his views.  Even the absence of Frederic
+would be a material point gained, until he could take further
+measures for his security.
+
+Dismissing Hippolita to her apartment, he repaired to that of the
+Marquis; but crossing the great hall through which he was to pass
+he met Bianca.  The damsel he knew was in the confidence of both
+the young ladies.  It immediately occurred to him to sift her on
+the subject of Isabella and Theodore.  Calling her aside into the
+recess of the oriel window of the hall, and soothing her with many
+fair words and promises, he demanded of her whether she knew aught
+of the state of Isabella's affections.
+
+"I! my Lord! no my Lord--yes my Lord--poor Lady! she is wonderfully
+alarmed about her father's wounds; but I tell her he will do well;
+don't your Highness think so?"
+
+"I do not ask you," replied Manfred, "what she thinks about her
+father; but you are in her secrets.  Come, be a good girl and tell
+me; is there any young man--ha!--you understand me."
+
+"Lord bless me! understand your Highness? no, not I.  I told her a
+few vulnerary herbs and repose--"
+
+"I am not talking," replied the Prince, impatiently, "about her
+father; I know he will do well."
+
+"Bless me, I rejoice to hear your Highness say so; for though I
+thought it not right to let my young Lady despond, methought his
+greatness had a wan look, and a something--I remember when young
+Ferdinand was wounded by the Venetian--"
+
+ "Thou answerest from the point," interrupted Manfred; "but here,
+take this jewel, perhaps that may fix thy attention--nay, no
+reverences; my favour shall not stop here--come, tell me truly; how
+stands Isabella's heart?"
+
+"Well! your Highness has such a way!" said Bianca, "to be sure--but
+can your Highness keep a secret? if it should ever come out of your
+lips--"
+
+"It shall not, it shall not," cried Manfred.
+
+"Nay, but swear, your Highness."
+
+"By my halidame, if it should ever be known that I said it--"
+
+"Why, truth is truth, I do not think my Lady Isabella ever much
+affectioned my young Lord your son; yet he was a sweet youth as one
+should see; I am sure, if I had been a Princess--but bless me!  I
+must attend my Lady Matilda; she will marvel what is become of me."
+
+"Stay," cried Manfred; "thou hast not satisfied my question.  Hast
+thou ever carried any message, any letter?"
+
+"I! good gracious!" cried Bianca; "I carry a letter?  I would not
+to be a Queen.  I hope your Highness thinks, though I am poor, I am
+honest.  Did your Highness never hear what Count Marsigli offered
+me, when he came a wooing to my Lady Matilda?"
+
+"I have not leisure," said Manfred, "to listen to thy tale.  I do
+not question thy honesty.  But it is thy duty to conceal nothing
+from me.  How long has Isabella been acquainted with Theodore?"
+
+"Nay, there is nothing can escape your Highness!" said Bianca; "not
+that I know any thing of the matter.  Theodore, to be sure, is a
+proper young man, and, as my Lady Matilda says, the very image of
+good Alfonso.  Has not your Highness remarked it?"
+
+"Yes, yes,--No--thou torturest me," said Manfred.  "Where did they
+meet? when?"
+
+"Who! my Lady Matilda?" said Bianca.
+
+"No, no, not Matilda:  Isabella; when did Isabella first become
+acquainted with this Theodore!"
+
+"Virgin Mary!" said Bianca, "how should I know?"
+
+"Thou dost know," said Manfred; "and I must know; I will--"
+
+"Lord! your Highness is not jealous of young Theodore!" said
+Bianca.
+
+"Jealous! no, no.  Why should I be jealous? perhaps I mean to unite
+them--If I were sure Isabella would have no repugnance."
+
+"Repugnance! no, I'll warrant her," said Bianca; "he is as comely a
+youth as ever trod on Christian ground.  We are all in love with
+him; there is not a soul in the castle but would be rejoiced to
+have him for our Prince--I mean, when it shall please heaven to
+call your Highness to itself."
+
+"Indeed!" said Manfred, "has it gone so far! oh! this cursed
+Friar!--but I must not lose time--go, Bianca, attend Isabella; but
+I charge thee, not a word of what has passed.  Find out how she is
+affected towards Theodore; bring me good news, and that ring has a
+companion.  Wait at the foot of the winding staircase:  I am going
+to visit the Marquis, and will talk further with thee at my
+return."
+
+Manfred, after some general conversation, desired Frederic to
+dismiss the two Knights, his companions, having to talk with him on
+urgent affairs.
+
+As soon as they were alone, he began in artful guise to sound the
+Marquis on the subject of Matilda; and finding him disposed to his
+wish, he let drop hints on the difficulties that would attend the
+celebration of their marriage, unless--At that instant Bianca burst
+into the room with a wildness in her look and gestures that spoke
+the utmost terror.
+
+"Oh! my Lord, my Lord!" cried she; "we are all undone! it is come
+again! it is come again!"
+
+"What is come again?" cried Manfred amazed.
+
+"Oh! the hand! the Giant! the hand!--support me! I am terrified out
+of my senses," cried Bianca.  "I will not sleep in the castle to-
+night.  Where shall I go? my things may come after me to-morrow--
+would I had been content to wed Francesco! this comes of ambition!"
+
+"What has terrified thee thus, young woman?" said the Marquis.
+"Thou art safe here; be not alarmed."
+
+"Oh! your Greatness is wonderfully good," said Bianca, "but I dare
+not--no, pray let me go--I had rather leave everything behind me,
+than stay another hour under this roof."
+
+"Go to, thou hast lost thy senses," said Manfred.  "Interrupt us
+not; we were communing on important matters--My Lord, this wench is
+subject to fits--Come with me, Bianca."
+
+"Oh! the Saints!  No," said Bianca, "for certain it comes to warn
+your Highness; why should it appear to me else?  I say my prayers
+morning and evening--oh! if your Highness had believed Diego!  'Tis
+the same hand that he saw the foot to in the gallery-chamber--
+Father Jerome has often told us the prophecy would be out one of
+these days--'Bianca,' said he, 'mark my words--'"
+
+"Thou ravest," said Manfred, in a rage; "be gone, and keep these
+fooleries to frighten thy companions."
+
+"What! my Lord," cried Bianca, "do you think I have seen nothing?
+go to the foot of the great stairs yourself--as I live I saw it."
+
+"Saw what? tell us, fair maid, what thou hast seen," said Frederic.
+
+"Can your Highness listen," said Manfred, "to the delirium of a
+silly wench, who has heard stories of apparitions until she
+believes them?"
+
+"This is more than fancy," said the Marquis; "her terror is too
+natural and too strongly impressed to be the work of imagination.
+Tell us, fair maiden, what it is has moved thee thus?"
+
+"Yes, my Lord, thank your Greatness," said Bianca; "I believe I
+look very pale; I shall be better when I have recovered myself--I
+was going to my Lady Isabella's chamber, by his Highness's order--"
+
+"We do not want the circumstances," interrupted Manfred.  "Since
+his Highness will have it so, proceed; but be brief."
+
+"Lord! your Highness thwarts one so!" replied Bianca; "I fear my
+hair--I am sure I never in my life--well! as I was telling your
+Greatness, I was going by his Highness's order to my Lady
+Isabella's chamber; she lies in the watchet-coloured chamber, on
+the right hand, one pair of stairs:  so when I came to the great
+stairs--I was looking on his Highness's present here--"
+
+"Grant me patience!" said Manfred, "will this wench never come to
+the point? what imports it to the Marquis, that I gave thee a
+bauble for thy faithful attendance on my daughter? we want to know
+what thou sawest."
+
+"I was going to tell your Highness," said Bianca, "if you would
+permit me.  So as I was rubbing the ring--I am sure I had not gone
+up three steps, but I heard the rattling of armour; for all the
+world such a clatter as Diego says he heard when the Giant turned
+him about in the gallery-chamber."
+
+"What Giant is this, my Lord?" said the Marquis; "is your castle
+haunted by giants and goblins?"
+
+"Lord! what, has not your Greatness heard the story of the Giant in
+the gallery-chamber?" cried Bianca.  "I marvel his Highness has not
+told you; mayhap you do not know there is a prophecy--"
+
+"This trifling is intolerable," interrupted Manfred.  "Let us
+dismiss this silly wench, my Lord! we have more important affairs
+to discuss."
+
+"By your favour," said Frederic, "these are no trifles.  The
+enormous sabre I was directed to in the wood, yon casque, its
+fellow--are these visions of this poor maiden's brain?"
+
+"So Jaquez thinks, may it please your Greatness," said Bianca.  "He
+says this moon will not be out without our seeing some strange
+revolution.  For my part, I should not be surprised if it was to
+happen to-morrow; for, as I was saying, when I heard the clattering
+of armour, I was all in a cold sweat.  I looked up, and, if your
+Greatness will believe me, I saw upon the uppermost banister of the
+great stairs a hand in armour as big as big.  I thought I should
+have swooned.  I never stopped until I came hither--would I were
+well out of this castle.  My Lady Matilda told me but yester-
+morning that her Highness Hippolita knows something."
+
+"Thou art an insolent!" cried Manfred.  "Lord Marquis, it much
+misgives me that this scene is concerted to affront me.  Are my own
+domestics suborned to spread tales injurious to my honour?  Pursue
+your claim by manly daring; or let us bury our feuds, as was
+proposed, by the intermarriage of our children.  But trust me, it
+ill becomes a Prince of your bearing to practise on mercenary
+wenches."
+
+"I scorn your imputation," said Frederic.  "Until this hour I never
+set eyes on this damsel:  I have given her no jewel.  My Lord, my
+Lord, your conscience, your guilt accuses you, and would throw the
+suspicion on me; but keep your daughter, and think no more of
+Isabella.  The judgments already fallen on your house forbid me
+matching into it."
+
+Manfred, alarmed at the resolute tone in which Frederic delivered
+these words, endeavoured to pacify him.  Dismissing Bianca, he made
+such submissions to the Marquis, and threw in such artful encomiums
+on Matilda, that Frederic was once more staggered.  However, as his
+passion was of so recent a date, it could not at once surmount the
+scruples he had conceived.  He had gathered enough from Bianca's
+discourse to persuade him that heaven declared itself against
+Manfred.  The proposed marriages too removed his claim to a
+distance; and the principality of Otranto was a stronger temptation
+than the contingent reversion of it with Matilda.  Still he would
+not absolutely recede from his engagements; but purposing to gain
+time, he demanded of Manfred if it was true in fact that Hippolita
+consented to the divorce.  The Prince, transported to find no other
+obstacle, and depending on his influence over his wife, assured the
+Marquis it was so, and that he might satisfy himself of the truth
+from her own mouth.
+
+As they were thus discoursing, word was brought that the banquet
+was prepared.  Manfred conducted Frederic to the great hall, where
+they were received by Hippolita and the young Princesses.  Manfred
+placed the Marquis next to Matilda, and seated himself between his
+wife and Isabella.  Hippolita comported herself with an easy
+gravity; but the young ladies were silent and melancholy.  Manfred,
+who was determined to pursue his point with the Marquis in the
+remainder of the evening, pushed on the feast until it waxed late;
+affecting unrestrained gaiety, and plying Frederic with repeated
+goblets of wine.  The latter, more upon his guard than Manfred
+wished, declined his frequent challenges, on pretence of his late
+loss of blood; while the Prince, to raise his own disordered
+spirits, and to counterfeit unconcern, indulged himself in
+plentiful draughts, though not to the intoxication of his senses.
+
+The evening being far advanced, the banquet concluded.  Manfred
+would have withdrawn with Frederic; but the latter pleading
+weakness and want of repose, retired to his chamber, gallantly
+telling the Prince that his daughter should amuse his Highness
+until himself could attend him.  Manfred accepted the party, and to
+the no small grief of Isabella, accompanied her to her apartment.
+Matilda waited on her mother to enjoy the freshness of the evening
+on the ramparts of the castle.
+
+Soon as the company were dispersed their several ways, Frederic,
+quitting his chamber, inquired if Hippolita was alone, and was told
+by one of her attendants, who had not noticed her going forth, that
+at that hour she generally withdrew to her oratory, where he
+probably would find her.  The Marquis, during the repast, had
+beheld Matilda with increase of passion.  He now wished to find
+Hippolita in the disposition her Lord had promised.  The portents
+that had alarmed him were forgotten in his desires.  Stealing
+softly and unobserved to the apartment of Hippolita, he entered it
+with a resolution to encourage her acquiescence to the divorce,
+having perceived that Manfred was resolved to make the possession
+of Isabella an unalterable condition, before he would grant Matilda
+to his wishes.
+
+The Marquis was not surprised at the silence that reigned in the
+Princess's apartment.  Concluding her, as he had been advertised,
+in her oratory, he passed on.  The door was ajar; the evening
+gloomy and overcast.  Pushing open the door gently, he saw a person
+kneeling before the altar.  As he approached nearer, it seemed not
+a woman, but one in a long woollen weed, whose back was towards
+him.  The person seemed absorbed in prayer.  The Marquis was about
+to return, when the figure, rising, stood some moments fixed in
+meditation, without regarding him.  The Marquis, expecting the holy
+person to come forth, and meaning to excuse his uncivil
+interruption, said,
+
+"Reverend Father, I sought the Lady Hippolita."
+
+"Hippolita!" replied a hollow voice; "camest thou to this castle to
+seek Hippolita?" and then the figure, turning slowly round,
+discovered to Frederic the fleshless jaws and empty sockets of a
+skeleton, wrapt in a hermit's cowl.
+
+"Angels of grace protect me!" cried Frederic, recoiling.
+
+"Deserve their protection!" said the Spectre.  Frederic, falling on
+his knees, adjured the phantom to take pity on him.
+
+"Dost thou not remember me?" said the apparition.  "Remember the
+wood of Joppa!"
+
+"Art thou that holy hermit?" cried Frederic, trembling.  "Can I do
+aught for thy eternal peace?"
+
+"Wast thou delivered from bondage," said the spectre, "to pursue
+carnal delights?  Hast thou forgotten the buried sabre, and the
+behest of Heaven engraven on it?"
+
+"I have not, I have not," said Frederic; "but say, blest spirit,
+what is thy errand to me?  What remains to be done?"
+
+"To forget Matilda!" said the apparition; and vanished.
+
+Frederic's blood froze in his veins.  For some minutes he remained
+motionless.  Then falling prostrate on his face before the altar,
+he besought the intercession of every saint for pardon.  A flood of
+tears succeeded to this transport; and the image of the beauteous
+Matilda rushing in spite of him on his thoughts, he lay on the
+ground in a conflict of penitence and passion.  Ere he could
+recover from this agony of his spirits, the Princess Hippolita with
+a taper in her hand entered the oratory alone.  Seeing a man
+without motion on the floor, she gave a shriek, concluding him
+dead.  Her fright brought Frederic to himself.  Rising suddenly,
+his face bedewed with tears, he would have rushed from her
+presence; but Hippolita stopping him, conjured him in the most
+plaintive accents to explain the cause of his disorder, and by what
+strange chance she had found him there in that posture.
+
+"Ah, virtuous Princess!" said the Marquis, penetrated with grief,
+and stopped.
+
+"For the love of Heaven, my Lord," said Hippolita, "disclose the
+cause of this transport!  What mean these doleful sounds, this
+alarming exclamation on my name?  What woes has heaven still in
+store for the wretched Hippolita?  Yet silent!  By every pitying
+angel, I adjure thee, noble Prince," continued she, falling at his
+feet, "to disclose the purport of what lies at thy heart.  I see
+thou feelest for me; thou feelest the sharp pangs that thou
+inflictest--speak, for pity!  Does aught thou knowest concern my
+child?"
+
+"I cannot speak," cried Frederic, bursting from her.  "Oh,
+Matilda!"
+
+Quitting the Princess thus abruptly, he hastened to his own
+apartment.  At the door of it he was accosted by Manfred, who
+flushed by wine and love had come to seek him, and to propose to
+waste some hours of the night in music and revelling.  Frederic,
+offended at an invitation so dissonant from the mood of his soul,
+pushed him rudely aside, and entering his chamber, flung the door
+intemperately against Manfred, and bolted it inwards.  The haughty
+Prince, enraged at this unaccountable behaviour, withdrew in a
+frame of mind capable of the most fatal excesses.  As he crossed
+the court, he was met by the domestic whom he had planted at the
+convent as a spy on Jerome and Theodore.  This man, almost
+breathless with the haste he had made, informed his Lord that
+Theodore, and some lady from the castle were, at that instant, in
+private conference at the tomb of Alfonso in St. Nicholas's church.
+He had dogged Theodore thither, but the gloominess of the night had
+prevented his discovering who the woman was.
+
+Manfred, whose spirits were inflamed, and whom Isabella had driven
+from her on his urging his passion with too little reserve, did not
+doubt but the inquietude she had expressed had been occasioned by
+her impatience to meet Theodore.  Provoked by this conjecture, and
+enraged at her father, he hastened secretly to the great church.
+Gliding softly between the aisles, and guided by an imperfect gleam
+of moonshine that shone faintly through the illuminated windows, he
+stole towards the tomb of Alfonso, to which he was directed by
+indistinct whispers of the persons he sought.  The first sounds he
+could distinguish were -
+
+"Does it, alas! depend on me?  Manfred will never permit our
+union."
+
+"No, this shall prevent it!" cried the tyrant, drawing his dagger,
+and plunging it over her shoulder into the bosom of the person that
+spoke.
+
+"Ah, me, I am slain!" cried Matilda, sinking.  "Good heaven,
+receive my soul!"
+
+"Savage, inhuman monster, what hast thou done!" cried Theodore,
+rushing on him, and wrenching his dagger from him.
+
+"Stop, stop thy impious hand!" cried Matilda; "it is my father!"
+
+Manfred, waking as from a trance, beat his breast, twisted his
+hands in his locks, and endeavoured to recover his dagger from
+Theodore to despatch himself.  Theodore, scarce less distracted,
+and only mastering the transports of his grief to assist Matilda,
+had now by his cries drawn some of the monks to his aid.  While
+part of them endeavoured, in concert with the afflicted Theodore,
+to stop the blood of the dying Princess, the rest prevented Manfred
+from laying violent hands on himself.
+
+Matilda, resigning herself patiently to her fate, acknowledged with
+looks of grateful love the zeal of Theodore.  Yet oft as her
+faintness would permit her speech its way, she begged the
+assistants to comfort her father.  Jerome, by this time, had learnt
+the fatal news, and reached the church.  His looks seemed to
+reproach Theodore, but turning to Manfred, he said,
+
+"Now, tyrant! behold the completion of woe fulfilled on thy impious
+and devoted head!  The blood of Alfonso cried to heaven for
+vengeance; and heaven has permitted its altar to be polluted by
+assassination, that thou mightest shed thy own blood at the foot of
+that Prince's sepulchre!"
+
+"Cruel man!" cried Matilda, "to aggravate the woes of a parent; may
+heaven bless my father, and forgive him as I do!  My Lord, my
+gracious Sire, dost thou forgive thy child?  Indeed, I came not
+hither to meet Theodore.  I found him praying at this tomb, whither
+my mother sent me to intercede for thee, for her--dearest father,
+bless your child, and say you forgive her."
+
+"Forgive thee!  Murderous monster!" cried Manfred, "can assassins
+forgive?  I took thee for Isabella; but heaven directed my bloody
+hand to the heart of my child.  Oh, Matilda!--I cannot utter it--
+canst thou forgive the blindness of my rage?"
+
+"I can, I do; and may heaven confirm it!" said Matilda; "but while
+I have life to ask it--oh! my mother! what will she feel?  Will you
+comfort her, my Lord?  Will you not put her away?  Indeed she loves
+you!  Oh, I am faint! bear me to the castle.  Can I live to have
+her close my eyes?"
+
+Theodore and the monks besought her earnestly to suffer herself to
+be borne into the convent; but her instances were so pressing to be
+carried to the castle, that placing her on a litter, they conveyed
+her thither as she requested.  Theodore, supporting her head with
+his arm, and hanging over her in an agony of despairing love, still
+endeavoured to inspire her with hopes of life.  Jerome, on the
+other side, comforted her with discourses of heaven, and holding a
+crucifix before her, which she bathed with innocent tears, prepared
+her for her passage to immortality.  Manfred, plunged in the
+deepest affliction, followed the litter in despair.
+
+Ere they reached the castle, Hippolita, informed of the dreadful
+catastrophe, had flown to meet her murdered child; but when she saw
+the afflicted procession, the mightiness of her grief deprived her
+of her senses, and she fell lifeless to the earth in a swoon.
+Isabella and Frederic, who attended her, were overwhelmed in almost
+equal sorrow.  Matilda alone seemed insensible to her own
+situation:  every thought was lost in tenderness for her mother.
+
+Ordering the litter to stop, as soon as Hippolita was brought to
+herself, she asked for her father.  He approached, unable to speak.
+Matilda, seizing his hand and her mother's, locked them in her own,
+and then clasped them to her heart.  Manfred could not support this
+act of pathetic piety.  He dashed himself on the ground, and cursed
+the day he was born.  Isabella, apprehensive that these struggles
+of passion were more than Matilda could support, took upon herself
+to order Manfred to be borne to his apartment, while she caused
+Matilda to be conveyed to the nearest chamber.  Hippolita, scarce
+more alive than her daughter, was regardless of everything but her;
+but when the tender Isabella's care would have likewise removed
+her, while the surgeons examined Matilda's wound, she cried,
+
+"Remove me! never, never!  I lived but in her, and will expire with
+her."
+
+Matilda raised her eyes at her mother's voice, but closed them
+again without speaking.  Her sinking pulse and the damp coldness of
+her hand soon dispelled all hopes of recovery.  Theodore followed
+the surgeons into the outer chamber, and heard them pronounce the
+fatal sentence with a transport equal to frenzy.
+
+"Since she cannot live mine," cried he, "at least she shall be mine
+in death!  Father!  Jerome! will you not join our hands?" cried he
+to the Friar, who, with the Marquis, had accompanied the surgeons.
+
+"What means thy distracted rashness?" said Jerome.  "Is this an
+hour for marriage?"
+
+"It is, it is," cried Theodore.  "Alas! there is no other!"
+
+"Young man, thou art too unadvised," said Frederic.  "Dost thou
+think we are to listen to thy fond transports in this hour of fate?
+What pretensions hast thou to the Princess?"
+
+"Those of a Prince," said Theodore; "of the sovereign of Otranto.
+This reverend man, my father, has informed me who I am."
+
+"Thou ravest," said the Marquis.  "There is no Prince of Otranto
+but myself, now Manfred, by murder, by sacrilegious murder, has
+forfeited all pretensions."
+
+"My Lord," said Jerome, assuming an air of command, "he tells you
+true.  It was not my purpose the secret should have been divulged
+so soon, but fate presses onward to its work.  What his hot-headed
+passion has revealed, my tongue confirms.  Know, Prince, that when
+Alfonso set sail for the Holy Land--"
+
+"Is this a season for explanations?" cried Theodore.  "Father, come
+and unite me to the Princess; she shall be mine!  In every other
+thing I will dutifully obey you.  My life! my adored Matilda!"
+continued Theodore, rushing back into the inner chamber, "will you
+not be mine?  Will you not bless your--"
+
+Isabella made signs to him to be silent, apprehending the Princess
+was near her end.
+
+"What, is she dead?" cried Theodore; "is it possible!"
+
+The violence of his exclamations brought Matilda to herself.
+Lifting up her eyes, she looked round for her mother.
+
+"Life of my soul, I am here!" cried Hippolita; "think not I will
+quit thee!"
+
+"Oh! you are too good," said Matilda.  "But weep not for me, my
+mother!  I am going where sorrow never dwells--Isabella, thou hast
+loved me; wouldst thou not supply my fondness to this dear, dear
+woman?  Indeed I am faint!"
+
+"Oh! my child! my child!" said Hippolita in a flood of tears, "can
+I not withhold thee a moment?"
+
+"It will not be," said Matilda; "commend me to heaven--Where is my
+father? forgive him, dearest mother--forgive him my death; it was
+an error.  Oh!  I had forgotten--dearest mother, I vowed never to
+see Theodore more--perhaps that has drawn down this calamity--but
+it was not intentional--can you pardon me?"
+
+"Oh! wound not my agonising soul!" said Hippolita; "thou never
+couldst offend me--Alas! she faints! help! help!"
+
+"I would say something more," said Matilda, struggling, "but it
+cannot be--Isabella--Theodore--for my sake--Oh!--" she expired.
+
+Isabella and her women tore Hippolita from the corse; but Theodore
+threatened destruction to all who attempted to remove him from it.
+He printed a thousand kisses on her clay-cold hands, and uttered
+every expression that despairing love could dictate.
+
+Isabella, in the meantime, was accompanying the afflicted Hippolita
+to her apartment; but, in the middle of the court, they were met by
+Manfred, who, distracted with his own thoughts, and anxious once
+more to behold his daughter, was advancing to the chamber where she
+lay.  As the moon was now at its height, he read in the
+countenances of this unhappy company the event he dreaded.
+
+"What! is she dead?" cried he in wild confusion.  A clap of thunder
+at that instant shook the castle to its foundations; the earth
+rocked, and the clank of more than mortal armour was heard behind.
+Frederic and Jerome thought the last day was at hand.  The latter,
+forcing Theodore along with them, rushed into the court.  The
+moment Theodore appeared, the walls of the castle behind Manfred
+were thrown down with a mighty force, and the form of Alfonso,
+dilated to an immense magnitude, appeared in the centre of the
+ruins.
+
+"Behold in Theodore the true heir of Alfonso!" said the vision:
+And having pronounced those words, accompanied by a clap of
+thunder, it ascended solemnly towards heaven, where the clouds
+parting asunder, the form of St. Nicholas was seen, and receiving
+Alfonso's shade, they were soon wrapt from mortal eyes in a blaze
+of glory.
+
+The beholders fell prostrate on their faces, acknowledging the
+divine will.  The first that broke silence was Hippolita.
+
+"My Lord," said she to the desponding Manfred, "behold the vanity
+of human greatness!  Conrad is gone!  Matilda is no more!  In
+Theodore we view the true Prince of Otranto.  By what miracle he is
+so I know not--suffice it to us, our doom is pronounced! shall we
+not, can we but dedicate the few deplorable hours we have to live,
+in deprecating the further wrath of heaven? heaven ejects us--
+whither can we fly, but to yon holy cells that yet offer us a
+retreat."
+
+"Thou guiltless but unhappy woman! unhappy by my crimes!" replied
+Manfred, "my heart at last is open to thy devout admonitions.  Oh!
+could--but it cannot be--ye are lost in wonder--let me at last do
+justice on myself!  To heap shame on my own head is all the
+satisfaction I have left to offer to offended heaven.  My story has
+drawn down these judgments:  Let my confession atone--but, ah! what
+can atone for usurpation and a murdered child? a child murdered in
+a consecrated place?  List, sirs, and may this bloody record be a
+warning to future tyrants!"
+
+"Alfonso, ye all know, died in the Holy Land--ye would interrupt
+me; ye would say he came not fairly to his end--it is most true--
+why else this bitter cup which Manfred must drink to the dregs.
+Ricardo, my grandfather, was his chamberlain--I would draw a veil
+over my ancestor's crimes--but it is in vain!  Alfonso died by
+poison.  A fictitious will declared Ricardo his heir.  His crimes
+pursued him--yet he lost no Conrad, no Matilda!  I pay the price of
+usurpation for all!  A storm overtook him.  Haunted by his guilt he
+vowed to St. Nicholas to found a church and two convents, if he
+lived to reach Otranto.  The sacrifice was accepted:  the saint
+appeared to him in a dream, and promised that Ricardo's posterity
+should reign in Otranto until the rightful owner should be grown
+too large to inhabit the castle, and as long as issue male from
+Ricardo's loins should remain to enjoy it--alas! alas! nor male nor
+female, except myself, remains of all his wretched race!  I have
+done--the woes of these three days speak the rest.  How this young
+man can be Alfonso's heir I know not--yet I do not doubt it.  His
+are these dominions; I resign them--yet I knew not Alfonso had an
+heir--I question not the will of heaven--poverty and prayer must
+fill up the woeful space, until Manfred shall be summoned to
+Ricardo."
+
+"What remains is my part to declare," said Jerome.  "When Alfonso
+set sail for the Holy Land he was driven by a storm to the coast of
+Sicily.  The other vessel, which bore Ricardo and his train, as
+your Lordship must have heard, was separated from him."
+
+"It is most true," said Manfred; "and the title you give me is more
+than an outcast can claim--well! be it so--proceed."
+
+Jerome blushed, and continued.  "For three months Lord Alfonso was
+wind-bound in Sicily.  There he became enamoured of a fair virgin
+named Victoria.  He was too pious to tempt her to forbidden
+pleasures.  They were married.  Yet deeming this amour incongruous
+with the holy vow of arms by which he was bound, he determined to
+conceal their nuptials until his return from the Crusade, when he
+purposed to seek and acknowledge her for his lawful wife.  He left
+her pregnant.  During his absence she was delivered of a daughter.
+But scarce had she felt a mother's pangs ere she heard the fatal
+rumour of her Lord's death, and the succession of Ricardo.  What
+could a friendless, helpless woman do?  Would her testimony avail?-
+-yet, my lord, I have an authentic writing--"
+
+"It needs not," said Manfred; "the horrors of these days, the
+vision we have but now seen, all corroborate thy evidence beyond a
+thousand parchments.  Matilda's death and my expulsion--"
+
+"Be composed, my Lord," said Hippolita; "this holy man did not mean
+to recall your griefs."  Jerome proceeded.
+
+"I shall not dwell on what is needless.  The daughter of which
+Victoria was delivered, was at her maturity bestowed in marriage on
+me.  Victoria died; and the secret remained locked in my breast.
+Theodore's narrative has told the rest."
+
+The Friar ceased.  The disconsolate company retired to the
+remaining part of the castle.  In the morning Manfred signed his
+abdication of the principality, with the approbation of Hippolita,
+and each took on them the habit of religion in the neighbouring
+convents.  Frederic offered his daughter to the new Prince, which
+Hippolita's tenderness for Isabella concurred to promote.  But
+Theodore's grief was too fresh to admit the thought of another
+love; and it was not until after frequent discourses with Isabella
+of his dear Matilda, that he was persuaded he could know no
+happiness but in the society of one with whom he could for ever
+indulge the melancholy that had taken possession of his soul.
+
+
+
+
+
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+<title>The Castle of Otranto</title>
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+<h2>
+<a href="#startoftext">The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole</a>
+</h2>
+<pre>
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole
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+
+
+Title: The Castle of Otranto
+
+Author: Horace Walpole
+
+Release Date: October, 1996  [EBook #696]
+[This file was first posted on October 22, 1996]
+[Most recently updated: September 8, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+</pre>
+<p>
+<a name="startoftext"></a>
+Transcribed from the 1901 Cassell and Company edition by David Price,
+email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+The following work was found in the library of an ancient Catholic family
+in the north of England.&nbsp; It was printed at Naples, in the black
+letter, in the year 1529.&nbsp; How much sooner it was written does
+not appear.&nbsp; The principal incidents are such as were believed
+in the darkest ages of Christianity; but the language and conduct have
+nothing that savours of barbarism.&nbsp; The style is the purest Italian.<br>
+<br>
+If the story was written near the time when it is supposed to have happened,
+it must have been between 1095, the era of the first Crusade, and 1243,
+the date of the last, or not long afterwards.&nbsp; There is no other
+circumstance in the work that can lead us to guess at the period in
+which the scene is laid: the names of the actors are evidently fictitious,
+and probably disguised on purpose: yet the Spanish names of the domestics
+seem to indicate that this work was not composed until the establishment
+of the Arragonian Kings in Naples had made Spanish appellations familiar
+in that country.&nbsp; The beauty of the diction, and the zeal of the
+author (moderated, however, by singular judgment) concur to make me
+think that the date of the composition was little antecedent to that
+of the impression.&nbsp; Letters were then in their most flourishing
+state in Italy, and contributed to dispel the empire of superstition,
+at that time so forcibly attacked by the reformers.&nbsp; It is not
+unlikely that an artful priest might endeavour to turn their own arms
+on the innovators, and might avail himself of his abilities as an author
+to confirm the populace in their ancient errors and superstitions.&nbsp;
+If this was his view, he has certainly acted with signal address.&nbsp;
+Such a work as the following would enslave a hundred vulgar minds beyond
+half the books of controversy that have been written from the days of
+Luther to the present hour.<br>
+<br>
+This solution of the author&rsquo;s motives is, however, offered as
+a mere conjecture.&nbsp; Whatever his views were, or whatever effects
+the execution of them might have, his work can only be laid before the
+public at present as a matter of entertainment.&nbsp; Even as such,
+some apology for it is necessary.&nbsp; Miracles, visions, necromancy,
+dreams, and other preternatural events, are exploded now even from romances.&nbsp;
+That was not the case when our author wrote; much less when the story
+itself is supposed to have happened.&nbsp; Belief in every kind of prodigy
+was so established in those dark ages, that an author would not be faithful
+to the manners of the times, who should omit all mention of them.&nbsp;
+He is not bound to believe them himself, but he must represent his actors
+as believing them.<br>
+<br>
+If this air of the miraculous is excused, the reader will find nothing
+else unworthy of his perusal.&nbsp; Allow the possibility of the facts,
+and all the actors comport themselves as persons would do in their situation.&nbsp;
+There is no bombast, no similes, flowers, digressions, or unnecessary
+descriptions.&nbsp; Everything tends directly to the catastrophe.&nbsp;
+Never is the reader&rsquo;s attention relaxed.&nbsp; The rules of the
+drama are almost observed throughout the conduct of the piece.&nbsp;
+The characters are well drawn, and still better maintained.&nbsp; Terror,
+the author&rsquo;s principal engine, prevents the story from ever languishing;
+and it is so often contrasted by pity, that the mind is kept up in a
+constant vicissitude of interesting passions.<br>
+<br>
+Some persons may perhaps think the characters of the domestics too little
+serious for the general cast of the story; but besides their opposition
+to the principal personages, the art of the author is very observable
+in his conduct of the subalterns.&nbsp; They discover many passages
+essential to the story, which could not be well brought to light but
+by their <i>na&iuml;vet&eacute;</i> and simplicity.&nbsp; In particular,
+the womanish terror and foibles of Bianca, in the last chapter, conduce
+essentially towards advancing the catastrophe.<br>
+<br>
+It is natural for a translator to be prejudiced in favour of his adopted
+work.&nbsp; More impartial readers may not be so much struck with the
+beauties of this piece as I was.&nbsp; Yet I am not blind to my author&rsquo;s
+defects.&nbsp; I could wish he had grounded his plan on a more useful
+moral than this: that &ldquo;the sins of fathers are visited on their
+children to the third and fourth generation.&rdquo;&nbsp; I doubt whether,
+in his time, any more than at present, ambition curbed its appetite
+of dominion from the dread of so remote a punishment.&nbsp; And yet
+this moral is weakened by that less direct insinuation, that even such
+anathema may be diverted by devotion to St. Nicholas.&nbsp; Here the
+interest of the Monk plainly gets the better of the judgment of the
+author.&nbsp; However, with all its faults, I have no doubt but the
+English reader will be pleased with a sight of this performance.&nbsp;
+The piety that reigns throughout, the lessons of virtue that are inculcated,
+and the rigid purity of the sentiments, exempt this work from the censure
+to which romances are but too liable.&nbsp; Should it meet with the
+success I hope for, I may be encouraged to reprint the original Italian,
+though it will tend to depreciate my own labour.&nbsp; Our language
+falls far short of the charms of the Italian, both for variety and harmony.&nbsp;
+The latter is peculiarly excellent for simple narrative.&nbsp; It is
+difficult in English to relate without falling too low or rising too
+high; a fault obviously occasioned by the little care taken to speak
+pure language in common conversation.&nbsp; Every Italian or Frenchman
+of any rank piques himself on speaking his own tongue correctly and
+with choice.&nbsp; I cannot flatter myself with having done justice
+to my author in this respect: his style is as elegant as his conduct
+of the passions is masterly.&nbsp; It is a pity that he did not apply
+his talents to what they were evidently proper for - the theatre.<br>
+<br>
+I will detain the reader no longer, but to make one short remark.&nbsp;
+Though the machinery is invention, and the names of the actors imaginary,
+I cannot but believe that the groundwork of the story is founded on
+truth.&nbsp; The scene is undoubtedly laid in some real castle.&nbsp;
+The author seems frequently, without design, to describe particular
+parts.&nbsp; &ldquo;The chamber,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;on the right
+hand;&rdquo; &ldquo;the door on the left hand;&rdquo; &ldquo;the distance
+from the chapel to Conrad&rsquo;s apartment:&rdquo; these and other
+passages are strong presumptions that the author had some certain building
+in his eye.&nbsp; Curious persons, who have leisure to employ in such
+researches, may possibly discover in the Italian writers the foundation
+on which our author has built.&nbsp; If a catastrophe, at all resembling
+that which he describes, is believed to have given rise to this work,
+it will contribute to interest the reader, and will make the &ldquo;Castle
+of Otranto&rdquo; a still more moving story.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+SONNET TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY MARY COKE.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+The gentle maid, whose hapless tale<br>
+These melancholy pages speak;<br>
+Say, gracious lady, shall she fail<br>
+To draw the tear adown thy cheek?<br>
+<br>
+No; never was thy pitying breast<br>
+Insensible to human woes;<br>
+Tender, tho&rsquo; firm, it melts distrest<br>
+For weaknesses it never knows.<br>
+<br>
+Oh! guard the marvels I relate<br>
+Of fell ambition scourg&rsquo;d by fate,<br>
+From reason&rsquo;s peevish blame.<br>
+Blest with thy smile, my dauntless sail<br>
+I dare expand to Fancy&rsquo;s gale,<br>
+For sure thy smiles are Fame.<br>
+<br>
+H. W.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+CHAPTER I.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, Prince of Otranto, had one son and one daughter: the latter,
+a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda.&nbsp; Conrad,
+the son, was three years younger, a homely youth, sickly, and of no
+promising disposition; yet he was the darling of his father, who never
+showed any symptoms of affection to Matilda.&nbsp; Manfred had contracted
+a marriage for his son with the Marquis of Vicenza&rsquo;s daughter,
+Isabella; and she had already been delivered by her guardians into the
+hands of Manfred, that he might celebrate the wedding as soon as Conrad&rsquo;s
+infirm state of health would permit.<br>
+<br>
+Manfred&rsquo;s impatience for this ceremonial was remarked by his family
+and neighbours.&nbsp; The former, indeed, apprehending the severity
+of their Prince&rsquo;s disposition, did not dare to utter their surmises
+on this precipitation.&nbsp; Hippolita, his wife, an amiable lady, did
+sometimes venture to represent the danger of marrying their only son
+so early, considering his great youth, and greater infirmities; but
+she never received any other answer than reflections on her own sterility,
+who had given him but one heir.&nbsp; His tenants and subjects were
+less cautious in their discourses.&nbsp; They attributed this hasty
+wedding to the Prince&rsquo;s dread of seeing accomplished an ancient
+prophecy, which was said to have pronounced that the castle and lordship
+of Otranto &ldquo;should pass from the present family, whenever the
+real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it.&rdquo;&nbsp; It
+was difficult to make any sense of this prophecy; and still less easy
+to conceive what it had to do with the marriage in question.&nbsp; Yet
+these mysteries, or contradictions, did not make the populace adhere
+the less to their opinion.<br>
+<br>
+Young Conrad&rsquo;s birthday was fixed for his espousals.&nbsp; The
+company was assembled in the chapel of the Castle, and everything ready
+for beginning the divine office, when Conrad himself was missing.&nbsp;
+Manfred, impatient of the least delay, and who had not observed his
+son retire, despatched one of his attendants to summon the young Prince.&nbsp;
+The servant, who had not stayed long enough to have crossed the court
+to Conrad&rsquo;s apartment, came running back breathless, in a frantic
+manner, his eyes staring, and foaming at the month.&nbsp; He said nothing,
+but pointed to the court.<br>
+<br>
+The company were struck with terror and amazement.&nbsp; The Princess
+Hippolita, without knowing what was the matter, but anxious for her
+son, swooned away.&nbsp; Manfred, less apprehensive than enraged at
+the procrastination of the nuptials, and at the folly of his domestic,
+asked imperiously what was the matter?&nbsp; The fellow made no answer,
+but continued pointing towards the courtyard; and at last, after repeated
+questions put to him, cried out, &ldquo;Oh! the helmet! the helmet!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+In the meantime, some of the company had run into the court, from whence
+was heard a confused noise of shrieks, horror, and surprise.&nbsp; Manfred,
+who began to be alarmed at not seeing his son, went himself to get information
+of what occasioned this strange confusion.&nbsp; Matilda remained endeavouring
+to assist her mother, and Isabella stayed for the same purpose, and
+to avoid showing any impatience for the bridegroom, for whom, in truth,
+she had conceived little affection.<br>
+<br>
+The first thing that struck Manfred&rsquo;s eyes was a group of his
+servants endeavouring to raise something that appeared to him a mountain
+of sable plumes.&nbsp; He gazed without believing his sight.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What are ye doing?&rdquo; cried Manfred, wrathfully; &ldquo;where
+is my son?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+A volley of voices replied, &ldquo;Oh! my Lord! the Prince! the Prince!
+the helmet! the helmet!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Shocked with these lamentable sounds, and dreading he knew not what,
+he advanced hastily, - but what a sight for a father&rsquo;s eyes! -
+he beheld his child dashed to pieces, and almost buried under an enormous
+helmet, an hundred times more large than any casque ever made for human
+being, and shaded with a proportionable quantity of black feathers.<br>
+<br>
+The horror of the spectacle, the ignorance of all around how this misfortune
+had happened, and above all, the tremendous phenomenon before him, took
+away the Prince&rsquo;s speech.&nbsp; Yet his silence lasted longer
+than even grief could occasion.&nbsp; He fixed his eyes on what he wished
+in vain to believe a vision; and seemed less attentive to his loss,
+than buried in meditation on the stupendous object that had occasioned
+it.&nbsp; He touched, he examined the fatal casque; nor could even the
+bleeding mangled remains of the young Prince divert the eyes of Manfred
+from the portent before him.<br>
+<br>
+All who had known his partial fondness for young Conrad, were as much
+surprised at their Prince&rsquo;s insensibility, as thunderstruck themselves
+at the miracle of the helmet.&nbsp; They conveyed the disfigured corpse
+into the hall, without receiving the least direction from Manfred.&nbsp;
+As little was he attentive to the ladies who remained in the chapel.&nbsp;
+On the contrary, without mentioning the unhappy princesses, his wife
+and daughter, the first sounds that dropped from Manfred&rsquo;s lips
+were, &ldquo;Take care of the Lady Isabella.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The domestics, without observing the singularity of this direction,
+were guided by their affection to their mistress, to consider it as
+peculiarly addressed to her situation, and flew to her assistance.&nbsp;
+They conveyed her to her chamber more dead than alive, and indifferent
+to all the strange circumstances she heard, except the death of her
+son.<br>
+<br>
+Matilda, who doted on her mother, smothered her own grief and amazement,
+and thought of nothing but assisting and comforting her afflicted parent.&nbsp;
+Isabella, who had been treated by Hippolita like a daughter, and who
+returned that tenderness with equal duty and affection, was scarce less
+assiduous about the Princess; at the same time endeavouring to partake
+and lessen the weight of sorrow which she saw Matilda strove to suppress,
+for whom she had conceived the warmest sympathy of friendship.&nbsp;
+Yet her own situation could not help finding its place in her thoughts.&nbsp;
+She felt no concern for the death of young Conrad, except commiseration;
+and she was not sorry to be delivered from a marriage which had promised
+her little felicity, either from her destined bridegroom, or from the
+severe temper of Manfred, who, though he had distinguished her by great
+indulgence, had imprinted her mind with terror, from his causeless rigour
+to such amiable princesses as Hippolita and Matilda.<br>
+<br>
+While the ladies were conveying the wretched mother to her bed, Manfred
+remained in the court, gazing on the ominous casque, and regardless
+of the crowd which the strangeness of the event had now assembled around
+him.&nbsp; The few words he articulated, tended solely to inquiries,
+whether any man knew from whence it could have come?&nbsp; Nobody could
+give him the least information.&nbsp; However, as it seemed to be the
+sole object of his curiosity, it soon became so to the rest of the spectators,
+whose conjectures were as absurd and improbable, as the catastrophe
+itself was unprecedented.&nbsp; In the midst of their senseless guesses,
+a young peasant, whom rumour had drawn thither from a neighbouring village,
+observed that the miraculous helmet was exactly like that on the figure
+in black marble of Alfonso the Good, one of their former princes, in
+the church of St. Nicholas.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Villain!&nbsp; What sayest thou?&rdquo; cried Manfred, starting
+from his trance in a tempest of rage, and seizing the young man by the
+collar; &ldquo;how darest thou utter such treason?&nbsp; Thy life shall
+pay for it.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The spectators, who as little comprehended the cause of the Prince&rsquo;s
+fury as all the rest they had seen, were at a loss to unravel this new
+circumstance.&nbsp; The young peasant himself was still more astonished,
+not conceiving how he had offended the Prince.&nbsp; Yet recollecting
+himself, with a mixture of grace and humility, he disengaged himself
+from Manfred&rsquo;s grip, and then with an obeisance, which discovered
+more jealousy of innocence than dismay, he asked, with respect, of what
+he was guilty?&nbsp; Manfred, more enraged at the vigour, however decently
+exerted, with which the young man had shaken off his hold, than appeased
+by his submission, ordered his attendants to seize him, and, if he had
+not been withheld by his friends whom he had invited to the nuptials,
+would have poignarded the peasant in their arms.<br>
+<br>
+During this altercation, some of the vulgar spectators had run to the
+great church, which stood near the castle, and came back open-mouthed,
+declaring that the helmet was missing from Alfonso&rsquo;s statue.&nbsp;
+Manfred, at this news, grew perfectly frantic; and, as if he sought
+a subject on which to vent the tempest within him, he rushed again on
+the young peasant, crying -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Villain! Monster! Sorcerer! &rsquo;tis thou hast done this! &rsquo;tis
+thou hast slain my son!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The mob, who wanted some object within the scope of their capacities,
+on whom they might discharge their bewildered reasoning, caught the
+words from the mouth of their lord, and re-echoed -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Ay, ay; &rsquo;tis he, &rsquo;tis he: he has stolen the helmet
+from good Alfonso&rsquo;s tomb, and dashed out the brains of our young
+Prince with it,&rdquo; never reflecting how enormous the disproportion
+was between the marble helmet that had been in the church, and that
+of steel before their eyes; nor how impossible it was for a youth seemingly
+not twenty, to wield a piece of armour of so prodigious a weight<br>
+<br>
+The folly of these ejaculations brought Manfred to himself: yet whether
+provoked at the peasant having observed the resemblance between the
+two helmets, and thereby led to the farther discovery of the absence
+of that in the church, or wishing to bury any such rumour under so impertinent
+a supposition, he gravely pronounced that the young man was certainly
+a necromancer, and that till the Church could take cognisance of the
+affair, he would have the Magician, whom they had thus detected, kept
+prisoner under the helmet itself, which he ordered his attendants to
+raise, and place the young man under it; declaring he should be kept
+there without food, with which his own infernal art might furnish him.<br>
+<br>
+It was in vain for the youth to represent against this preposterous
+sentence: in vain did Manfred&rsquo;s friends endeavour to divert him
+from this savage and ill-grounded resolution.&nbsp; The generality were
+charmed with their lord&rsquo;s decision, which, to their apprehensions,
+carried great appearance of justice, as the Magician was to be punished
+by the very instrument with which he had offended: nor were they struck
+with the least compunction at the probability of the youth being starved,
+for they firmly believed that, by his diabolic skill, he could easily
+supply himself with nutriment.<br>
+<br>
+Manfred thus saw his commands even cheerfully obeyed; and appointing
+a guard with strict orders to prevent any food being conveyed to the
+prisoner, he dismissed his friends and attendants, and retired to his
+own chamber, after locking the gates of the castle, in which he suffered
+none but his domestics to remain.<br>
+<br>
+In the meantime, the care and zeal of the young Ladies had brought the
+Princess Hippolita to herself, who amidst the transports of her own
+sorrow frequently demanded news of her lord, would have dismissed her
+attendants to watch over him, and at last enjoined Matilda to leave
+her, and visit and comfort her father.&nbsp; Matilda, who wanted no
+affectionate duty to Manfred, though she trembled at his austerity,
+obeyed the orders of Hippolita, whom she tenderly recommended to Isabella;
+and inquiring of the domestics for her father, was informed that he
+was retired to his chamber, and had commanded that nobody should have
+admittance to him.&nbsp; Concluding that he was immersed in sorrow for
+the death of her brother, and fearing to renew his tears by the sight
+of his sole remaining child, she hesitated whether she should break
+in upon his affliction; yet solicitude for him, backed by the commands
+of her mother, encouraged her to venture disobeying the orders he had
+given; a fault she had never been guilty of before.<br>
+<br>
+The gentle timidity of her nature made her pause for some minutes at
+his door.&nbsp; She heard him traverse his chamber backwards, and forwards
+with disordered steps; a mood which increased her apprehensions.&nbsp;
+She was, however, just going to beg admittance, when Manfred suddenly
+opened the door; and as it was now twilight, concurring with the disorder
+of his mind, he did not distinguish the person, but asked angrily, who
+it was?&nbsp; Matilda replied, trembling -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My dearest father, it is I, your daughter.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, stepping back hastily, cried, &ldquo;Begone!&nbsp; I do not
+want a daughter;&rdquo; and flinging back abruptly, clapped the door
+against the terrified Matilda.<br>
+<br>
+She was too well acquainted with her father&rsquo;s impetuosity to venture
+a second intrusion.&nbsp; When she had a little recovered the shock
+of so bitter a reception, she wiped away her tears to prevent the additional
+stab that the knowledge of it would give to Hippolita, who questioned
+her in the most anxious terms on the health of Manfred, and how he bore
+his loss.&nbsp; Matilda assured her he was well, and supported his misfortune
+with manly fortitude.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;But will he not let me see him?&rdquo; said Hippolita mournfully;
+&ldquo;will he not permit me to blend my tears with his, and shed a
+mother&rsquo;s sorrows in the bosom of her Lord?&nbsp; Or do you deceive
+me, Matilda?&nbsp; I know how Manfred doted on his son: is not the stroke
+too heavy for him? has he not sunk under it?&nbsp; You do not answer
+me - alas! I dread the worst! - Raise me, my maidens; I will, I will
+see my Lord.&nbsp; Bear me to him instantly: he is dearer to me even
+than my children.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Matilda made signs to Isabella to prevent Hippolita&rsquo;s rising;
+and both those lovely young women were using their gentle violence to
+stop and calm the Princess, when a servant, on the part of Manfred,
+arrived and told Isabella that his Lord demanded to speak with her.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;With me!&rdquo; cried Isabella.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Go,&rdquo; said Hippolita, relieved by a message from her Lord:
+&ldquo;Manfred cannot support the sight of his own family.&nbsp; He
+thinks you less disordered than we are, and dreads the shock of my grief.&nbsp;
+Console him, dear Isabella, and tell him I will smother my own anguish
+rather than add to his.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+As it was now evening the servant who conducted Isabella bore a torch
+before her.&nbsp; When they came to Manfred, who was walking impatiently
+about the gallery, he started, and said hastily -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Take away that light, and begone.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Then shutting the door impetuously, he flung himself upon a bench against
+the wall, and bade Isabella sit by him.&nbsp; She obeyed trembling.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I sent for you, Lady,&rdquo; said he - and then stopped under
+great appearance of confusion.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes, I sent for you on a matter of great moment,&rdquo; resumed
+he.&nbsp; &ldquo;Dry your tears, young Lady - you have lost your bridegroom.&nbsp;
+Yes, cruel fate! and I have lost the hopes of my race!&nbsp; But Conrad
+was not worthy of your beauty.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;How, my Lord!&rdquo; said Isabella; &ldquo;sure you do not suspect
+me of not feeling the concern I ought: my duty and affection would have
+always - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Think no more of him,&rdquo; interrupted Manfred; &ldquo;he was
+a sickly, puny child, and Heaven has perhaps taken him away, that I
+might not trust the honours of my house on so frail a foundation.&nbsp;
+The line of Manfred calls for numerous supports.&nbsp; My foolish fondness
+for that boy blinded the eyes of my prudence - but it is better as it
+is.&nbsp; I hope, in a few years, to have reason to rejoice at the death
+of Conrad.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Words cannot paint the astonishment of Isabella.&nbsp; At first she
+apprehended that grief had disordered Manfred&rsquo;s understanding.&nbsp;
+Her next thought suggested that this strange discourse was designed
+to ensnare her: she feared that Manfred had perceived her indifference
+for his son: and in consequence of that idea she replied -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Good my Lord, do not doubt my tenderness: my heart would have
+accompanied my hand.&nbsp; Conrad would have engrossed all my care;
+and wherever fate shall dispose of me, I shall always cherish his memory,
+and regard your Highness and the virtuous Hippolita as my parents.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Curse on Hippolita!&rdquo; cried Manfred.&nbsp; &ldquo;Forget
+her from this moment, as I do.&nbsp; In short, Lady, you have missed
+a husband undeserving of your charms: they shall now be better disposed
+of.&nbsp; Instead of a sickly boy, you shall have a husband in the prime
+of his age, who will know how to value your beauties, and who may expect
+a numerous offspring.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Alas, my Lord!&rdquo; said Isabella, &ldquo;my mind is too sadly
+engrossed by the recent catastrophe in your family to think of another
+marriage.&nbsp; If ever my father returns, and it shall be his pleasure,
+I shall obey, as I did when I consented to give my hand to your son:
+but until his return, permit me to remain under your hospitable roof,
+and employ the melancholy hours in assuaging yours, Hippolita&rsquo;s,
+and the fair Matilda&rsquo;s affliction.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I desired you once before,&rdquo; said Manfred angrily, &ldquo;not
+to name that woman: from this hour she must be a stranger to you, as
+she must be to me.&nbsp; In short, Isabella, since I cannot give you
+my son, I offer you myself.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Heavens!&rdquo; cried Isabella, waking from her delusion, &ldquo;what
+do I hear?&nbsp; You! my Lord!&nbsp; You!&nbsp; My father-in-law! the
+father of Conrad! the husband of the virtuous and tender Hippolita!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I tell you,&rdquo; said Manfred imperiously, &ldquo;Hippolita
+is no longer my wife; I divorce her from this hour.&nbsp; Too long has
+she cursed me by her unfruitfulness.&nbsp; My fate depends on having
+sons, and this night I trust will give a new date to my hopes.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+At those words he seized the cold hand of Isabella, who was half dead
+with fright and horror.&nbsp; She shrieked, and started from him, Manfred
+rose to pursue her, when the moon, which was now up, and gleamed in
+at the opposite casement, presented to his sight the plumes of the fatal
+helmet, which rose to the height of the windows, waving backwards and
+forwards in a tempestuous manner, and accompanied with a hollow and
+rustling sound.&nbsp; Isabella, who gathered courage from her situation,
+and who dreaded nothing so much as Manfred&rsquo;s pursuit of his declaration,
+cried -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Look, my Lord! see, Heaven itself declares against your impious
+intentions!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Heaven nor Hell shall impede my designs,&rdquo; said Manfred,
+advancing again to seize the Princess.<br>
+<br>
+At that instant the portrait of his grandfather, which hung over the
+bench where they had been sitting, uttered a deep sigh, and heaved its
+breast.<br>
+<br>
+Isabella, whose back was turned to the picture, saw not the motion,
+nor knew whence the sound came, but started, and said -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Hark, my Lord!&nbsp; What sound was that?&rdquo; and at the same
+time made towards the door.<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, distracted between the flight of Isabella, who had now reached
+the stairs, and yet unable to keep his eyes from the picture, which
+began to move, had, however, advanced some steps after her, still looking
+backwards on the portrait, when he saw it quit its panel, and descend
+on the floor with a grave and melancholy air.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Do I dream?&rdquo; cried Manfred, returning; &ldquo;or are the
+devils themselves in league against me?&nbsp; Speak, internal spectre!&nbsp;
+Or, if thou art my grandsire, why dost thou too conspire against thy
+wretched descendant, who too dearly pays for - &rdquo;&nbsp; Ere he
+could finish the sentence, the vision sighed again, and made a sign
+to Manfred to follow him.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Lead on!&rdquo; cried Manfred; &ldquo;I will follow thee to the
+gulf of perdition.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The spectre marched sedately, but dejected, to the end of the gallery,
+and turned into a chamber on the right hand.&nbsp; Manfred accompanied
+him at a little distance, full of anxiety and horror, but resolved.&nbsp;
+As he would have entered the chamber, the door was clapped to with violence
+by an invisible hand.&nbsp; The Prince, collecting courage from this
+delay, would have forcibly burst open the door with his foot, but found
+that it resisted his utmost efforts.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Since Hell will not satisfy my curiosity,&rdquo; said Manfred,
+&ldquo;I will use the human means in my power for preserving my race;
+Isabella shall not escape me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The lady, whose resolution had given way to terror the moment she had
+quitted Manfred, continued her flight to the bottom of the principal
+staircase.&nbsp; There she stopped, not knowing whither to direct her
+steps, nor how to escape from the impetuosity of the Prince.&nbsp; The
+gates of the castle, she knew, were locked, and guards placed in the
+court.&nbsp; Should she, as her heart prompted her, go and prepare Hippolita
+for the cruel destiny that awaited her, she did not doubt but Manfred
+would seek her there, and that his violence would incite him to double
+the injury he meditated, without leaving room for them to avoid the
+impetuosity of his passions.&nbsp; Delay might give him time to reflect
+on the horrid measures he had conceived, or produce some circumstance
+in her favour, if she could - for that night, at least - avoid his odious
+purpose.&nbsp; Yet where conceal herself?&nbsp; How avoid the pursuit
+he would infallibly make throughout the castle?<br>
+<br>
+As these thoughts passed rapidly through her mind, she recollected a
+subterraneous passage which led from the vaults of the castle to the
+church of St. Nicholas.&nbsp; Could she reach the altar before she was
+overtaken, she knew even Manfred&rsquo;s violence would not dare to
+profane the sacredness of the place; and she determined, if no other
+means of deliverance offered, to shut herself up for ever among the
+holy virgins whose convent was contiguous to the cathedral.&nbsp; In
+this resolution, she seized a lamp that burned at the foot of the staircase,
+and hurried towards the secret passage.<br>
+<br>
+The lower part of the castle was hollowed into several intricate cloisters;
+and it was not easy for one under so much anxiety to find the door that
+opened into the cavern.&nbsp; An awful silence reigned throughout those
+subterraneous regions, except now and then some blasts of wind that
+shook the doors she had passed, and which, grating on the rusty hinges,
+were re-echoed through that long labyrinth of darkness.&nbsp; Every
+murmur struck her with new terror; yet more she dreaded to hear the
+wrathful voice of Manfred urging his domestics to pursue her.<br>
+<br>
+She trod as softly as impatience would give her leave, yet frequently
+stopped and listened to hear if she was followed.&nbsp; In one of those
+moments she thought she heard a sigh.&nbsp; She shuddered, and recoiled
+a few paces.&nbsp; In a moment she thought she heard the step of some
+person.&nbsp; Her blood curdled; she concluded it was Manfred.&nbsp;
+Every suggestion that horror could inspire rushed into her mind.&nbsp;
+She condemned her rash flight, which had thus exposed her to his rage
+in a place where her cries were not likely to draw anybody to her assistance.&nbsp;
+Yet the sound seemed not to come from behind.&nbsp; If Manfred knew
+where she was, he must have followed her.&nbsp; She was still in one
+of the cloisters, and the steps she had heard were too distinct to proceed
+from the way she had come.&nbsp; Cheered with this reflection, and hoping
+to find a friend in whoever was not the Prince, she was going to advance,
+when a door that stood ajar, at some distance to the left, was opened
+gently: but ere her lamp, which she held up, could discover who opened
+it, the person retreated precipitately on seeing the light.<br>
+<br>
+Isabella, whom every incident was sufficient to dismay, hesitated whether
+she should proceed.&nbsp; Her dread of Manfred soon outweighed every
+other terror.&nbsp; The very circumstance of the person avoiding her
+gave her a sort of courage.&nbsp; It could only be, she thought, some
+domestic belonging to the castle.&nbsp; Her gentleness had never raised
+her an enemy, and conscious innocence made her hope that, unless sent
+by the Prince&rsquo;s order to seek her, his servants would rather assist
+than prevent her flight.&nbsp; Fortifying herself with these reflections,
+and believing by what she could observe that she was near the mouth
+of the subterraneous cavern, she approached the door that had been opened;
+but a sudden gust of wind that met her at the door extinguished her
+lamp, and left her in total darkness.<br>
+<br>
+Words cannot paint the horror of the Princess&rsquo;s situation.&nbsp;
+Alone in so dismal a place, her mind imprinted with all the terrible
+events of the day, hopeless of escaping, expecting every moment the
+arrival of Manfred, and far from tranquil on knowing she was within
+reach of somebody, she knew not whom, who for some cause seemed concealed
+thereabouts; all these thoughts crowded on her distracted mind, and
+she was ready to sink under her apprehensions.&nbsp; She addressed herself
+to every saint in heaven, and inwardly implored their assistance.&nbsp;
+For a considerable time she remained in an agony of despair.<br>
+<br>
+At last, as softly as was possible, she felt for the door, and having
+found it, entered trembling into the vault from whence she had heard
+the sigh and steps.&nbsp; It gave her a kind of momentary joy to perceive
+an imperfect ray of clouded moonshine gleam from the roof of the vault,
+which seemed to be fallen in, and from whence hung a fragment of earth
+or building, she could not distinguish which, that appeared to have
+been crushed inwards.&nbsp; She advanced eagerly towards this chasm,
+when she discerned a human form standing close against the wall.<br>
+<br>
+She shrieked, believing it the ghost of her betrothed Conrad.&nbsp;
+The figure, advancing, said, in a submissive voice -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Be not alarmed, Lady; I will not injure you.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Isabella, a little encouraged by the words and tone of voice of the
+stranger, and recollecting that this must be the person who had opened
+the door, recovered her spirits enough to reply -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Sir, whoever you are, take pity on a wretched Princess, standing
+on the brink of destruction.&nbsp; Assist me to escape from this fatal
+castle, or in a few moments I may be made miserable for ever.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; said the stranger, &ldquo;what can I do to assist
+you?&nbsp; I will die in your defence; but I am unacquainted with the
+castle, and want - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Isabella, hastily interrupting him; &ldquo;help
+me but to find a trap-door that must be hereabout, and it is the greatest
+service you can do me, for I have not a minute to lose.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Saying a these words, she felt about on the pavement, and directed the
+stranger to search likewise, for a smooth piece of brass enclosed in
+one of the stones.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;That,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;is the lock, which opens with a
+spring, of which I know the secret.&nbsp; If we can find that, I may
+escape - if not, alas! courteous stranger, I fear I shall have involved
+you in my misfortunes: Manfred will suspect you for the accomplice of
+my flight, and you will fall a victim to his resentment.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I value not my life,&rdquo; said the stranger, &ldquo;and it
+will be some comfort to lose it in trying to deliver you from his tyranny.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Generous youth,&rdquo; said Isabella, &ldquo;how shall I ever
+requite - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+As she uttered those words, a ray of moonshine, streaming through a
+cranny of the ruin above, shone directly on the lock they sought.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! transport!&rdquo; said Isabella; &ldquo;here is the trap-door!&rdquo;
+and, taking out the key, she touched the spring, which, starting aside,
+discovered an iron ring.&nbsp; &ldquo;Lift up the door,&rdquo; said
+the Princess.<br>
+<br>
+The stranger obeyed, and beneath appeared some stone steps descending
+into a vault totally dark.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;We must go down here,&rdquo; said Isabella.&nbsp; &ldquo;Follow
+me; dark and dismal as it is, we cannot miss our way; it leads directly
+to the church of St. Nicholas.&nbsp; But, perhaps,&rdquo; added the
+Princess modestly, &ldquo;you have no reason to leave the castle, nor
+have I farther occasion for your service; in a few minutes I shall be
+safe from Manfred&rsquo;s rage - only let me know to whom I am so much
+obliged.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I will never quit you,&rdquo; said the stranger eagerly, &ldquo;until
+I have placed you in safety - nor think me, Princess, more generous
+than I am; though you are my principal care - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The stranger was interrupted by a sudden noise of voices that seemed
+approaching, and they soon distinguished these words -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Talk not to me of necromancers; I tell you she must be in the
+castle; I will find her in spite of enchantment.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh, heavens!&rdquo; cried Isabella; &ldquo;it is the voice of
+Manfred!&nbsp; Make haste, or we are ruined! and shut the trap-door
+after you.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Saying this, she descended the steps precipitately; and as the stranger
+hastened to follow her, he let the door slip out of his hands: it fell,
+and the spring closed over it.&nbsp; He tried in vain to open it, not
+having observed Isabella&rsquo;s method of touching the spring; nor
+had he many moments to make an essay.&nbsp; The noise of the falling
+door had been heard by Manfred, who, directed by the sound, hastened
+thither, attended by his servants with torches.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It must be Isabella,&rdquo; cried Manfred, before he entered
+the vault.&nbsp; &ldquo;She is escaping by the subterraneous passage,
+but she cannot have got far.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+What was the astonishment of the Prince when, instead of Isabella, the
+light of the torches discovered to him the young peasant whom he thought
+confined under the fatal helmet!<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Traitor!&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;how camest thou here?&nbsp;
+I thought thee in durance above in the court.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I am no traitor,&rdquo; replied the young man boldly, &ldquo;nor
+am I answerable for your thoughts.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Presumptuous villain!&rdquo; cried Manfred; &ldquo;dost thou
+provoke my wrath?&nbsp; Tell me, how hast thou escaped from above?&nbsp;
+Thou hast corrupted thy guards, and their lives shall answer it.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My poverty,&rdquo; said the peasant calmly, &ldquo;will disculpate
+them: though the ministers of a tyrant&rsquo;s wrath, to thee they are
+faithful, and but too willing to execute the orders which you unjustly
+imposed upon them.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Art thou so hardy as to dare my vengeance?&rdquo; said the Prince;
+&ldquo;but tortures shall force the truth from thee.&nbsp; Tell me;
+I will know thy accomplices.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;There was my accomplice!&rdquo; said the youth, smiling, and
+pointing to the roof.<br>
+<br>
+Manfred ordered the torches to be held up, and perceived that one of
+the cheeks of the enchanted casque had forced its way through the pavement
+of the court, as his servants had let it fall over the peasant, and
+had broken through into the vault, leaving a gap, through which the
+peasant had pressed himself some minutes before he was found by Isabella.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Was that the way by which thou didst descend?&rdquo; said Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It was,&rdquo; said the youth.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;But what noise was that,&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;which I
+heard as I entered the cloister?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;A door clapped,&rdquo; said the peasant; &ldquo;I heard it as
+well as you.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What door?&rdquo; said Manfred hastily.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I am not acquainted with your castle,&rdquo; said the peasant;
+&ldquo;this is the first time I ever entered it, and this vault the
+only part of it within which I ever was.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;But I tell thee,&rdquo; said Manfred (wishing to find out if
+the youth had discovered the trap-door), &ldquo;it was this way I heard
+the noise.&nbsp; My servants heard it too.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; interrupted one of them officiously, &ldquo;to
+be sure it was the trap-door, and he was going to make his escape.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Peace, blockhead!&rdquo; said the Prince angrily; &ldquo;if he
+was going to escape, how should he come on this side?&nbsp; I will know
+from his own mouth what noise it was I heard.&nbsp; Tell me truly; thy
+life depends on thy veracity.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My veracity is dearer to me than my life,&rdquo; said the peasant;
+&ldquo;nor would I purchase the one by forfeiting the other.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Indeed, young philosopher!&rdquo; said Manfred contemptuously;
+&ldquo;tell me, then, what was the noise I heard?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Ask me what I can answer,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and put me to
+death instantly if I tell you a lie.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, growing impatient at the steady valour and indifference of
+the youth, cried -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Well, then, thou man of truth, answer!&nbsp; Was it the fall
+of the trap-door that I heard?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It was,&rdquo; said the youth.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It was!&rdquo; said the Prince; &ldquo;and how didst thou come
+to know there was a trap-door here?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I saw the plate of brass by a gleam of moonshine,&rdquo; replied
+he.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;But what told thee it was a lock?&rdquo; said Manfred.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;How didst thou discover the secret of opening it?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Providence, that delivered me from the helmet, was able to direct
+me to the spring of a lock,&rdquo; said he.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Providence should have gone a little farther, and have placed
+thee out of the reach of my resentment,&rdquo; said Manfred.&nbsp; &ldquo;When
+Providence had taught thee to open the lock, it abandoned thee for a
+fool, who did not know how to make use of its favours.&nbsp; Why didst
+thou not pursue the path pointed out for thy escape?&nbsp; Why didst
+thou shut the trap-door before thou hadst descended the steps?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I might ask you, my Lord,&rdquo; said the peasant, &ldquo;how
+I, totally unacquainted with your castle, was to know that those steps
+led to any outlet? but I scorn to evade your questions.&nbsp; Wherever
+those steps lead to, perhaps I should have explored the way - I could
+not be in a worse situation than I was.&nbsp; But the truth is, I let
+the trap-door fall: your immediate arrival followed.&nbsp; I had given
+the alarm - what imported it to me whether I was seized a minute sooner
+or a minute later?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou art a resolute villain for thy years,&rdquo; said Manfred;
+&ldquo;yet on reflection I suspect thou dost but trifle with me.&nbsp;
+Thou hast not yet told me how thou didst open the lock.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;That I will show you, my Lord,&rdquo; said the peasant; and,
+taking up a fragment of stone that had fallen from above, he laid himself
+on the trap-door, and began to beat on the piece of brass that covered
+it, meaning to gain time for the escape of the Princess.&nbsp; This
+presence of mind, joined to the frankness of the youth, staggered Manfred.&nbsp;
+He even felt a disposition towards pardoning one who had been guilty
+of no crime.&nbsp; Manfred was not one of those savage tyrants who wanton
+in cruelty unprovoked.&nbsp; The circumstances of his fortune had given
+an asperity to his temper, which was naturally humane; and his virtues
+were always ready to operate, when his passions did not obscure his
+reason.<br>
+<br>
+While the Prince was in this suspense, a confused noise of voices echoed
+through the distant vaults.&nbsp; As the sound approached, he distinguished
+the clamours of some of his domestics, whom he had dispersed through
+the castle in search of Isabella, calling out -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Where is my Lord? where is the Prince?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Here I am,&rdquo; said Manfred, as they came nearer; &ldquo;have
+you found the Princess?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The first that arrived, replied, &ldquo;Oh, my Lord!&nbsp; I am glad
+we have found you.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Found me!&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;have you found the Princess?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;We thought we had, my Lord,&rdquo; said the fellow, looking terrified,
+&ldquo;but - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;But, what?&rdquo; cried the Prince; &ldquo;has she escaped?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Jaquez and I, my Lord - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes, I and Diego,&rdquo; interrupted the second, who came up
+in still greater consternation.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Speak one of you at a time,&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;I ask
+you, where is the Princess?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;We do not know,&rdquo; said they both together; &ldquo;but we
+are frightened out of our wits.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;So I think, blockheads,&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;what is it
+has scared you thus?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! my Lord,&rdquo; said Jaquez, &ldquo;Diego has seen such a
+sight! your Highness would not believe our eyes.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What new absurdity is this?&rdquo; cried Manfred; &ldquo;give
+me a direct answer, or, by Heaven - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Why, my Lord, if it please your Highness to hear me,&rdquo; said
+the poor fellow, &ldquo;Diego and I - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes, I and Jaquez - &rdquo; cried his comrade.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Did not I forbid you to speak both at a time?&rdquo; said the
+Prince: &ldquo;you, Jaquez, answer; for the other fool seems more distracted
+than thou art; what is the matter?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My gracious Lord,&rdquo; said Jaquez, &ldquo;if it please your
+Highness to hear me; Diego and I, according to your Highness&rsquo;s
+orders, went to search for the young Lady; but being comprehensive that
+we might meet the ghost of my young Lord, your Highness&rsquo;s son,
+God rest his soul, as he has not received Christian burial - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Sot!&rdquo; cried Manfred in a rage; &ldquo;is it only a ghost,
+then, that thou hast seen?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! worse! worse! my Lord,&rdquo; cried Diego: &ldquo;I had rather
+have seen ten whole ghosts.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Grant me patience!&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;these blockheads
+distract me.&nbsp; Out of my sight, Diego! and thou, Jaquez, tell me
+in one word, art thou sober? art thou raving? thou wast wont to have
+some sense: has the other sot frightened himself and thee too?&nbsp;
+Speak; what is it he fancies he has seen?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Why, my Lord,&rdquo; replied Jaquez, trembling, &ldquo;I was
+going to tell your Highness, that since the calamitous misfortune of
+my young Lord, God rest his precious soul! not one of us your Highness&rsquo;s
+faithful servants - indeed we are, my Lord, though poor men - I say,
+not one of us has dared to set a foot about the castle, but two together:
+so Diego and I, thinking that my young Lady might be in the great gallery,
+went up there to look for her, and tell her your Highness wanted something
+to impart to her.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;O blundering fools!&rdquo; cried Manfred; &ldquo;and in the meantime,
+she has made her escape, because you were afraid of goblins! - Why,
+thou knave! she left me in the gallery; I came from thence myself.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;For all that, she may be there still for aught I know,&rdquo;
+said Jaquez; &ldquo;but the devil shall have me before I seek her there
+again - poor Diego!&nbsp; I do not believe he will ever recover it.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Recover what?&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;am I never to learn
+what it is has terrified these rascals? - but I lose my time; follow
+me, slave; I will see if she is in the gallery.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;For Heaven&rsquo;s sake, my dear, good Lord,&rdquo; cried Jaquez,
+&ldquo;do not go to the gallery.&nbsp; Satan himself I believe is in
+the chamber next to the gallery.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, who hitherto had treated the terror of his servants as an idle
+panic, was struck at this new circumstance.&nbsp; He recollected the
+apparition of the portrait, and the sudden closing of the door at the
+end of the gallery.&nbsp; His voice faltered, and he asked with disorder
+-<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What is in the great chamber?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; said Jaquez, &ldquo;when Diego and I came into
+the gallery, he went first, for he said he had more courage than I.&nbsp;
+So when we came into the gallery we found nobody.&nbsp; We looked under
+every bench and stool; and still we found nobody.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Were all the pictures in their places?&rdquo; said Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes, my Lord,&rdquo; answered Jaquez; &ldquo;but we did not think
+of looking behind them.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Well, well!&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;proceed.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;When we came to the door of the great chamber,&rdquo; continued
+Jaquez, &ldquo;we found it shut.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And could not you open it?&rdquo; said Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! yes, my Lord; would to Heaven we had not!&rdquo; replied
+he - &ldquo;nay, it was not I neither; it was Diego: he was grown foolhardy,
+and would go on, though I advised him not - if ever I open a door that
+is shut again - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Trifle not,&rdquo; said Manfred, shuddering, &ldquo;but tell
+me what you saw in the great chamber on opening the door.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I! my Lord!&rdquo; said Jaquez; &ldquo;I was behind Diego; but
+I heard the noise.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Jaquez,&rdquo; said Manfred, in a solemn tone of voice; &ldquo;tell
+me, I adjure thee by the souls of my ancestors, what was it thou sawest?
+what was it thou heardest?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It was Diego saw it, my Lord, it was not I,&rdquo; replied Jaquez;
+&ldquo;I only heard the noise.&nbsp; Diego had no sooner opened the
+door, than he cried out, and ran back.&nbsp; I ran back too, and said,
+&lsquo;Is it the ghost?&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;The ghost! no, no,&rsquo;
+said Diego, and his hair stood on end - &lsquo;it is a giant, I believe;
+he is all clad in armour, for I saw his foot and part of his leg, and
+they are as large as the helmet below in the court.&rsquo;&nbsp; As
+he said these words, my Lord, we heard a violent motion and the rattling
+of armour, as if the giant was rising, for Diego has told me since that
+he believes the giant was lying down, for the foot and leg were stretched
+at length on the floor.&nbsp; Before we could get to the end of the
+gallery, we heard the door of the great chamber clap behind us, but
+we did not dare turn back to see if the giant was following us - yet,
+now I think on it, we must have heard him if he had pursued us - but
+for Heaven&rsquo;s sake, good my Lord, send for the chaplain, and have
+the castle exorcised, for, for certain, it is enchanted.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Ay, pray do, my Lord,&rdquo; cried all the servants at once,
+&ldquo;or we must leave your Highness&rsquo;s service.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Peace, dotards!&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;and follow me; I
+will know what all this means.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;We! my Lord!&rdquo; cried they with one voice; &ldquo;we would
+not go up to the gallery for your Highness&rsquo;s revenue.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+The young peasant, who had stood silent, now spoke.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Will your Highness,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;permit me to try this
+adventure?&nbsp; My life is of consequence to nobody; I fear no bad
+angel, and have offended no good one.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Your behaviour is above your seeming,&rdquo; said Manfred, viewing
+him with surprise and admiration - &ldquo;hereafter I will reward your
+bravery - but now,&rdquo; continued he with a sigh, &ldquo;I am so circumstanced,
+that I dare trust no eyes but my own.&nbsp; However, I give you leave
+to accompany me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, when he first followed Isabella from the gallery, had gone
+directly to the apartment of his wife, concluding the Princess had retired
+thither.&nbsp; Hippolita, who knew his step, rose with anxious fondness
+to meet her Lord, whom she had not seen since the death of their son.&nbsp;
+She would have flown in a transport mixed of joy and grief to his bosom,
+but he pushed her rudely off, and said -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Where is Isabella?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Isabella! my Lord!&rdquo; said the astonished Hippolita.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes, Isabella,&rdquo; cried Manfred imperiously; &ldquo;I want
+Isabella.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; replied Matilda, who perceived how much his behaviour
+had shocked her mother, &ldquo;she has not been with us since your Highness
+summoned her to your apartment.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Tell me where she is,&rdquo; said the Prince; &ldquo;I do not
+want to know where she has been.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My good Lord,&rdquo; says Hippolita, &ldquo;your daughter tells
+you the truth: Isabella left us by your command, and has not returned
+since; - but, my good Lord, compose yourself: retire to your rest: this
+dismal day has disordered you.&nbsp; Isabella shall wait your orders
+in the morning.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What, then, you know where she is!&rdquo; cried Manfred.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Tell me directly, for I will not lose an instant - and you, woman,&rdquo;
+speaking to his wife, &ldquo;order your chaplain to attend me forthwith.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Isabella,&rdquo; said Hippolita calmly, &ldquo;is retired, I
+suppose, to her chamber: she is not accustomed to watch at this late
+hour.&nbsp; Gracious my Lord,&rdquo; continued she, &ldquo;let me know
+what has disturbed you.&nbsp; Has Isabella offended you?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Trouble me not with questions,&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;but
+tell me where she is.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Matilda shall call her,&rdquo; said the Princess.&nbsp; &ldquo;Sit
+down, my Lord, and resume your wonted fortitude.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What, art thou jealous of Isabella?&rdquo; replied he, &ldquo;that
+you wish to be present at our interview!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Good heavens! my Lord,&rdquo; said Hippolita, &ldquo;what is
+it your Highness means?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou wilt know ere many minutes are passed,&rdquo; said the cruel
+Prince.&nbsp; &ldquo;Send your chaplain to me, and wait my pleasure
+here.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+At these words he flung out of the room in search of Isabella, leaving
+the amazed ladies thunderstruck with his words and frantic deportment,
+and lost in vain conjectures on what he was meditating.<br>
+<br>
+Manfred was now returning from the vault, attended by the peasant and
+a few of his servants whom he had obliged to accompany him.&nbsp; He
+ascended the staircase without stopping till he arrived at the gallery,
+at the door of which he met Hippolita and her chaplain.&nbsp; When Diego
+had been dismissed by Manfred, he had gone directly to the Princess&rsquo;s
+apartment with the alarm of what he had seen.&nbsp; That excellent Lady,
+who no more than Manfred doubted of the reality of the vision, yet affected
+to treat it as a delirium of the servant.&nbsp; Willing, however, to
+save her Lord from any additional shock, and prepared by a series of
+griefs not to tremble at any accession to it, she determined to make
+herself the first sacrifice, if fate had marked the present hour for
+their destruction.&nbsp; Dismissing the reluctant Matilda to her rest,
+who in vain sued for leave to accompany her mother, and attended only
+by her chaplain, Hippolita had visited the gallery and great chamber;
+and now with more serenity of soul than she had felt for many hours,
+she met her Lord, and assured him that the vision of the gigantic leg
+and foot was all a fable; and no doubt an impression made by fear, and
+the dark and dismal hour of the night, on the minds of his servants.&nbsp;
+She and the chaplain had examined the chamber, and found everything
+in the usual order.<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, though persuaded, like his wife, that the vision had been no
+work of fancy, recovered a little from the tempest of mind into which
+so many strange events had thrown him.&nbsp; Ashamed, too, of his inhuman
+treatment of a Princess who returned every injury with new marks of
+tenderness and duty, he felt returning love forcing itself into his
+eyes; but not less ashamed of feeling remorse towards one against whom
+he was inwardly meditating a yet more bitter outrage, he curbed the
+yearnings of his heart, and did not dare to lean even towards pity.&nbsp;
+The next transition of his soul was to exquisite villainy.<br>
+<br>
+Presuming on the unshaken submission of Hippolita, he flattered himself
+that she would not only acquiesce with patience to a divorce, but would
+obey, if it was his pleasure, in endeavouring to persuade Isabella to
+give him her hand - but ere he could indulge his horrid hope, he reflected
+that Isabella was not to be found.&nbsp; Coming to himself, he gave
+orders that every avenue to the castle should be strictly guarded, and
+charged his domestics on pain of their lives to suffer nobody to pass
+out.&nbsp; The young peasant, to whom he spoke favourably, he ordered
+to remain in a small chamber on the stairs, in which there was a pallet-bed,
+and the key of which he took away himself, telling the youth he would
+talk with him in the morning.&nbsp; Then dismissing his attendants,
+and bestowing a sullen kind of half-nod on Hippolita, he retired to
+his own chamber.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+CHAPTER II.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+Matilda, who by Hippolita&rsquo;s order had retired to her apartment,
+was ill-disposed to take any rest.&nbsp; The shocking fate of her brother
+had deeply affected her.&nbsp; She was surprised at not seeing Isabella;
+but the strange words which had fallen from her father, and his obscure
+menace to the Princess his wife, accompanied by the most furious behaviour,
+had filled her gentle mind with terror and alarm.&nbsp; She waited anxiously
+for the return of Bianca, a young damsel that attended her, whom she
+had sent to learn what was become of Isabella.&nbsp; Bianca soon appeared,
+and informed her mistress of what she had gathered from the servants,
+that Isabella was nowhere to be found.&nbsp; She related the adventure
+of the young peasant who had been discovered in the vault, though with
+many simple additions from the incoherent accounts of the domestics;
+and she dwelt principally on the gigantic leg and foot which had been
+seen in the gallery-chamber.&nbsp; This last circumstance had terrified
+Bianca so much, that she was rejoiced when Matilda told her that she
+would not go to rest, but would watch till the Princess should rise.<br>
+<br>
+The young Princess wearied herself in conjectures on the flight of Isabella,
+and on the threats of Manfred to her mother.&nbsp; &ldquo;But what business
+could he have so urgent with the chaplain?&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;Does
+he intend to have my brother&rsquo;s body interred privately in the
+chapel?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh, Madam!&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;now I guess.&nbsp; As you
+are become his heiress, he is impatient to have you married: he has
+always been raving for more sons; I warrant he is now impatient for
+grandsons.&nbsp; As sure as I live, Madam, I shall see you a bride at
+last. - Good madam, you won&rsquo;t cast off your faithful Bianca: you
+won&rsquo;t put Donna Rosara over me now you are a great Princess.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My poor Bianca,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;how fast your thoughts
+amble!&nbsp; I a great princess!&nbsp; What hast thou seen in Manfred&rsquo;s
+behaviour since my brother&rsquo;s death that bespeaks any increase
+of tenderness to me?&nbsp; No, Bianca; his heart was ever a stranger
+to me - but he is my father, and I must not complain.&nbsp; Nay, if
+Heaven shuts my father&rsquo;s heart against me, it overpays my little
+merit in the tenderness of my mother - O that dear mother! yes, Bianca,
+&rsquo;tis there I feel the rugged temper of Manfred.&nbsp; I can support
+his harshness to me with patience; but it wounds my soul when I am witness
+to his causeless severity towards her.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! Madam,&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;all men use their wives
+so, when they are weary of them.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And yet you congratulated me but now,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;when
+you fancied my father intended to dispose of me!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I would have you a great Lady,&rdquo; replied Bianca, &ldquo;come
+what will.&nbsp; I do not wish to see you moped in a convent, as you
+would be if you had your will, and if my Lady, your mother, who knows
+that a bad husband is better than no husband at all, did not hinder
+you. - Bless me! what noise is that!&nbsp; St. Nicholas forgive me!&nbsp;
+I was but in jest.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It is the wind,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;whistling through
+the battlements in the tower above: you have heard it a thousand times.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Nay,&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;there was no harm neither in
+what I said: it is no sin to talk of matrimony - and so, Madam, as I
+was saying, if my Lord Manfred should offer you a handsome young Prince
+for a bridegroom, you would drop him a curtsey, and tell him you would
+rather take the veil?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thank Heaven!&nbsp; I am in no such danger,&rdquo; said Matilda:
+&ldquo;you know how many proposals for me he has rejected - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And you thank him, like a dutiful daughter, do you, Madam?&nbsp;
+But come, Madam; suppose, to-morrow morning, he was to send for you
+to the great council chamber, and there you should find at his elbow
+a lovely young Prince, with large black eyes, a smooth white forehead,
+and manly curling locks like jet; in short, Madam, a young hero resembling
+the picture of the good Alfonso in the gallery, which you sit and gaze
+at for hours together - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Do not speak lightly of that picture,&rdquo; interrupted Matilda
+sighing; &ldquo;I know the adoration with which I look at that picture
+is uncommon - but I am not in love with a coloured panel.&nbsp; The
+character of that virtuous Prince, the veneration with which my mother
+has inspired me for his memory, the orisons which, I know not why, she
+has enjoined me to pour forth at his tomb, all have concurred to persuade
+me that somehow or other my destiny is linked with something relating
+to him.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Lord, Madam! how should that be?&rdquo; said Bianca; &ldquo;I
+have always heard that your family was in no way related to his: and
+I am sure I cannot conceive why my Lady, the Princess, sends you in
+a cold morning or a damp evening to pray at his tomb: he is no saint
+by the almanack.&nbsp; If you must pray, why does she not bid you address
+yourself to our great St. Nicholas?&nbsp; I am sure he is the saint
+I pray to for a husband.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Perhaps my mind would be less affected,&rdquo; said Matilda,
+&ldquo;if my mother would explain her reasons to me: but it is the mystery
+she observes, that inspires me with this - I know not what to call it.&nbsp;
+As she never acts from caprice, I am sure there is some fatal secret
+at bottom - nay, I know there is: in her agony of grief for my brother&rsquo;s
+death she dropped some words that intimated as much.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! dear Madam,&rdquo; cried Bianca, &ldquo;what were they?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;if a parent lets fall a word,
+and wishes it recalled, it is not for a child to utter it.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What! was she sorry for what she had said?&rdquo; asked Bianca;
+&ldquo;I am sure, Madam, you may trust me - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;With my own little secrets when I have any, I may,&rdquo; said
+Matilda; &ldquo;but never with my mother&rsquo;s: a child ought to have
+no ears or eyes but as a parent directs.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Well! to be sure, Madam, you were born to be a saint,&rdquo;
+said Bianca, &ldquo;and there is no resisting one&rsquo;s vocation:
+you will end in a convent at last.&nbsp; But there is my Lady Isabella
+would not be so reserved to me: she will let me talk to her of young
+men: and when a handsome cavalier has come to the castle, she has owned
+to me that she wished your brother Conrad resembled him.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Bianca,&rdquo; said the Princess, &ldquo;I do not allow you to
+mention my friend disrespectfully.&nbsp; Isabella is of a cheerful disposition,
+but her soul is pure as virtue itself.&nbsp; She knows your idle babbling
+humour, and perhaps has now and then encouraged it, to divert melancholy,
+and enliven the solitude in which my father keeps us - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Blessed Mary!&rdquo; said Bianca, starting, &ldquo;there it is
+again!&nbsp; Dear Madam, do you hear nothing? this castle is certainly
+haunted!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Peace!&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;and listen!&nbsp; I did think
+I heard a voice - but it must be fancy: your terrors, I suppose, have
+infected me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Indeed! indeed!&nbsp; Madam,&rdquo; said Bianca, half-weeping
+with agony, &ldquo;I am sure I heard a voice.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Does anybody lie in the chamber beneath?&rdquo; said the Princess.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Nobody has dared to lie there,&rdquo; answered Bianca, &ldquo;since
+the great astrologer, that was your brother&rsquo;s tutor, drowned himself.&nbsp;
+For certain, Madam, his ghost and the young Prince&rsquo;s are now met
+in the chamber below - for Heaven&rsquo;s sake let us fly to your mother&rsquo;s
+apartment!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I charge you not to stir,&rdquo; said Matilda.&nbsp; &ldquo;If
+they are spirits in pain, we may ease their sufferings by questioning
+them.&nbsp; They can mean no hurt to us, for we have not injured them
+- and if they should, shall we be more safe in one chamber than in another?&nbsp;
+Reach me my beads; we will say a prayer, and then speak to them.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! dear Lady, I would not speak to a ghost for the world!&rdquo;
+cried Bianca.&nbsp; As she said those words they heard the casement
+of the little chamber below Matilda&rsquo;s open.&nbsp; They listened
+attentively, and in a few minutes thought they heard a person sing,
+but could not distinguish the words.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;This can be no evil spirit,&rdquo; said the Princess, in a low
+voice; &ldquo;it is undoubtedly one of the family - open the window,
+and we shall know the voice.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I dare not, indeed, Madam,&rdquo; said Bianca.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou art a very fool,&rdquo; said Matilda, opening the window
+gently herself.&nbsp; The noise the Princess made was, however, heard
+by the person beneath, who stopped; and they concluded had heard the
+casement open.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Is anybody below?&rdquo; said the Princess; &ldquo;if there is,
+speak.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said an unknown voice.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Who is it?&rdquo; said Matilda.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;A stranger,&rdquo; replied the voice.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What stranger?&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;and how didst thou come
+there at this unusual hour, when all the gates of the castle are locked?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I am not here willingly,&rdquo; answered the voice.&nbsp; &ldquo;But
+pardon me, Lady, if I have disturbed your rest; I knew not that I was
+overheard.&nbsp; Sleep had forsaken me; I left a restless couch, and
+came to waste the irksome hours with gazing on the fair approach of
+morning, impatient to be dismissed from this castle.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thy words and accents,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;are of melancholy
+cast; if thou art unhappy, I pity thee.&nbsp; If poverty afflicts thee,
+let me know it; I will mention thee to the Princess, whose beneficent
+soul ever melts for the distressed, and she will relieve thee.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I am indeed unhappy,&rdquo; said the stranger; &ldquo;and I know
+not what wealth is.&nbsp; But I do not complain of the lot which Heaven
+has cast for me; I am young and healthy, and am not ashamed of owing
+my support to myself - yet think me not proud, or that I disdain your
+generous offers.&nbsp; I will remember you in my orisons, and will pray
+for blessings on your gracious self and your noble mistress - if I sigh,
+Lady, it is for others, not for myself.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Now I have it, Madam,&rdquo; said Bianca, whispering the Princess;
+&ldquo;this is certainly the young peasant; and, by my conscience, he
+is in love - Well! this is a charming adventure! - do, Madam, let us
+sift him.&nbsp; He does not know you, but takes you for one of my Lady
+Hippolita&rsquo;s women.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Art thou not ashamed, Bianca!&rdquo; said the Princess.&nbsp;
+ &ldquo;What right have we to pry into the secrets of this young man&rsquo;s
+heart?&nbsp; He seems virtuous and frank, and tells us he is unhappy.&nbsp;
+Are those circumstances that authorise us to make a property of him?&nbsp;
+How are we entitled to his confidence?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Lord, Madam! how little you know of love!&rdquo; replied Bianca;
+&ldquo;why, lovers have no pleasure equal to talking of their mistress.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And would you have <i>me</i> become a peasant&rsquo;s confidante?&rdquo;
+said the Princess.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Well, then, let me talk to him,&rdquo; said Bianca; &ldquo;though
+I have the honour of being your Highness&rsquo;s maid of honour, I was
+not always so great.&nbsp; Besides, if love levels ranks, it raises
+them too; I have a respect for any young man in love.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Peace, simpleton!&rdquo; said the Princess.&nbsp; &ldquo;Though
+he said he was unhappy, it does not follow that he must be in love.&nbsp;
+Think of all that has happened to-day, and tell me if there are no misfortunes
+but what love causes. - Stranger,&rdquo; resumed the Princess, &ldquo;if
+thy misfortunes have not been occasioned by thy own fault, and are within
+the compass of the Princess Hippolita&rsquo;s power to redress, I will
+take upon me to answer that she will be thy protectress.&nbsp; When
+thou art dismissed from this castle, repair to holy father Jerome, at
+the convent adjoining to the church of St. Nicholas, and make thy story
+known to him, as far as thou thinkest meet.&nbsp; He will not fail to
+inform the Princess, who is the mother of all that want her assistance.&nbsp;
+Farewell; it is not seemly for me to hold farther converse with a man
+at this unwonted hour.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;May the saints guard thee, gracious Lady!&rdquo; replied the
+peasant; &ldquo;but oh! if a poor and worthless stranger might presume
+to beg a minute&rsquo;s audience farther; am I so happy? the casement
+is not shut; might I venture to ask - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Speak quickly,&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;the morning dawns
+apace: should the labourers come into the fields and perceive us - What
+wouldst thou ask?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I know not how, I know not if I dare,&rdquo; said the Young stranger,
+faltering; &ldquo;yet the humanity with which you have spoken to me
+emboldens - Lady! dare I trust you?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Heavens!&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;what dost thou mean?&nbsp;
+With what wouldst thou trust me?&nbsp; Speak boldly, if thy secret is
+fit to be entrusted to a virtuous breast.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I would ask,&rdquo; said the peasant, recollecting himself, &ldquo;whether
+what I have heard from the domestics is true, that the Princess is missing
+from the castle?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What imports it to thee to know?&rdquo; replied Matilda.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Thy first words bespoke a prudent and becoming gravity.&nbsp;
+Dost thou come hither to pry into the secrets of Manfred?&nbsp; Adieu.&nbsp;
+I have been mistaken in thee.&rdquo;&nbsp; Saying these words she shut
+the casement hastily, without giving the young man time to reply.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I had acted more wisely,&rdquo; said the Princess to Bianca,
+with some sharpness, &ldquo;if I had let thee converse with this peasant;
+his inquisitiveness seems of a piece with thy own.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It is not fit for me to argue with your Highness,&rdquo; replied
+Bianca; &ldquo;but perhaps the questions I should have put to him would
+have been more to the purpose than those you have been pleased to ask
+him.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! no doubt,&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;you are a very discreet
+personage!&nbsp; May I know what <i>you</i> would have asked him?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;A bystander often sees more of the game than those that play,&rdquo;
+answered Bianca.&nbsp; &ldquo;Does your Highness think, Madam, that
+this question about my Lady Isabella was the result of mere curiosity?&nbsp;
+No, no, Madam, there is more in it than you great folks are aware of.&nbsp;
+Lopez told me that all the servants believe this young fellow contrived
+my Lady Isabella&rsquo;s escape; now, pray, Madam, observe you and I
+both know that my Lady Isabella never much fancied the Prince your brother.&nbsp;
+Well! he is killed just in a critical minute - I accuse nobody.&nbsp;
+A helmet falls from the moon - so, my Lord, your father says; but Lopez
+and all the servants say that this young spark is a magician, and stole
+it from Alfonso&rsquo;s tomb - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Have done with this rhapsody of impertinence,&rdquo; said Matilda.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Nay, Madam, as you please,&rdquo; cried Bianca; &ldquo;yet it
+is very particular though, that my Lady Isabella should be missing the
+very same day, and that this young sorcerer should be found at the mouth
+of the trap-door.&nbsp; I accuse nobody; but if my young Lord came honestly
+by his death - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Dare not on thy duty,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;to breathe
+a suspicion on the purity of my dear Isabella&rsquo;s fame.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Purity, or not purity,&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;gone she is
+- a stranger is found that nobody knows; you question him yourself;
+he tells you he is in love, or unhappy, it is the same thing - nay,
+he owned he was unhappy about others; and is anybody unhappy about another,
+unless they are in love with them? and at the very next word, he asks
+innocently, pour soul! if my Lady Isabella is missing.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;To be sure,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;thy observations are
+not totally without foundation - Isabella&rsquo;s flight amazes me.&nbsp;
+The curiosity of the stranger is very particular; yet Isabella never
+concealed a thought from me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;So she told you,&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;to fish out your
+secrets; but who knows, Madam, but this stranger may be some Prince
+in disguise?&nbsp; Do, Madam, let me open the window, and ask him a
+few questions.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Matilda, &ldquo;I will ask him myself, if
+he knows aught of Isabella; he is not worthy I should converse farther
+with him.&rdquo;&nbsp; She was going to open the casement, when they
+heard the bell ring at the postern-gate of the castle, which is on the
+right hand of the tower, where Matilda lay.&nbsp; This prevented the
+Princess from renewing the conversation with the stranger.<br>
+<br>
+After continuing silent for some time, &ldquo;I am persuaded,&rdquo;
+said she to Bianca, &ldquo;that whatever be the cause of Isabella&rsquo;s
+flight it had no unworthy motive.&nbsp; If this stranger was accessory
+to it, she must be satisfied with his fidelity and worth.&nbsp; I observed,
+did not you, Bianca? that his words were tinctured with an uncommon
+infusion of piety.&nbsp; It was no ruffian&rsquo;s speech; his phrases
+were becoming a man of gentle birth.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I told you, Madam,&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;that I was sure
+he was some Prince in disguise.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yet,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;if he was privy to her escape,
+how will you account for his not accompanying her in her flight? why
+expose himself unnecessarily and rashly to my father&rsquo;s resentment?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;As for that, Madam,&rdquo; replied she, &ldquo;if he could get
+from under the helmet, he will find ways of eluding your father&rsquo;s
+anger.&nbsp; I do not doubt but he has some talisman or other about
+him.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;You resolve everything into magic,&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;but
+a man who has any intercourse with infernal spirits, does not dare to
+make use of those tremendous and holy words which he uttered.&nbsp;
+Didst thou not observe with what fervour he vowed to remember <i>me</i>
+to heaven in his prayers?&nbsp; Yes; Isabella was undoubtedly convinced
+of his piety.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Commend me to the piety of a young fellow and a damsel that consult
+to elope!&rdquo; said Bianca.&nbsp; &ldquo;No, no, Madam, my Lady Isabella
+is of another guess mould than you take her for.&nbsp; She used indeed
+to sigh and lift up her eyes in your company, because she knows you
+are a saint; but when your back was turned - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;You wrong her,&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;Isabella is no hypocrite;
+she has a due sense of devotion, but never affected a call she has not.&nbsp;
+On the contrary, she always combated my inclination for the cloister;
+and though I own the mystery she has made to me of her flight confounds
+me; though it seems inconsistent with the friendship between us; I cannot
+forget the disinterested warmth with which she always opposed my taking
+the veil.&nbsp; She wished to see me married, though my dower would
+have been a loss to her and my brother&rsquo;s children.&nbsp; For her
+sake I will believe well of this young peasant.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Then you do think there is some liking between them,&rdquo; said
+Bianca.&nbsp; While she was speaking, a servant came hastily into the
+chamber and told the Princess that the Lady Isabella was found.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Where?&rdquo; said Matilda.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;She has taken sanctuary in St. Nicholas&rsquo;s church,&rdquo;
+replied the servant; &ldquo;Father Jerome has brought the news himself;
+he is below with his Highness.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Where is my mother?&rdquo; said Matilda.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;She is in her own chamber, Madam, and has asked for you.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred had risen at the first dawn of light, and gone to Hippolita&rsquo;s
+apartment, to inquire if she knew aught of Isabella.&nbsp; While he
+was questioning her, word was brought that Jerome demanded to speak
+with him.&nbsp; Manfred, little suspecting the cause of the Friar&rsquo;s
+arrival, and knowing he was employed by Hippolita in her charities,
+ordered him to be admitted, intending to leave them together, while
+he pursued his search after Isabella.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Is your business with me or the Princess?&rdquo; said Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;With both,&rdquo; replied the holy man.&nbsp; &ldquo;The Lady
+Isabella - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What of her?&rdquo; interrupted Manfred, eagerly.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Is at St. Nicholas&rsquo;s altar,&rdquo; replied Jerome.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;That is no business of Hippolita,&rdquo; said Manfred with confusion;
+&ldquo;let us retire to my chamber, Father, and inform me how she came
+thither.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;No, my Lord,&rdquo; replied the good man, with an air of firmness
+and authority, that daunted even the resolute Manfred, who could not
+help revering the saint-like virtues of Jerome; &ldquo;my commission
+is to both, and with your Highness&rsquo;s good-liking, in the presence
+of both I shall deliver it; but first, my Lord, I must interrogate the
+Princess, whether she is acquainted with the cause of the Lady Isabella&rsquo;s
+retirement from your castle.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;No, on my soul,&rdquo; said Hippolita; &ldquo;does Isabella charge
+me with being privy to it?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Father,&rdquo; interrupted Manfred, &ldquo;I pay due reverence
+to your holy profession; but I am sovereign here, and will allow no
+meddling priest to interfere in the affairs of my domestic.&nbsp; If
+you have aught to say attend me to my chamber; I do not use to let my
+wife be acquainted with the secret affairs of my state; they are not
+within a woman&rsquo;s province.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; said the holy man, &ldquo;I am no intruder into
+the secrets of families.&nbsp; My office is to promote peace, to heal
+divisions, to preach repentance, and teach mankind to curb their headstrong
+passions.&nbsp; I forgive your Highness&rsquo;s uncharitable apostrophe;
+I know my duty, and am the minister of a mightier prince than Manfred.&nbsp;
+Hearken to him who speaks through my organs.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred trembled with rage and shame.&nbsp; Hippolita&rsquo;s countenance
+declared her astonishment and impatience to know where this would end.&nbsp;
+Her silence more strongly spoke her observance of Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;The Lady Isabella,&rdquo; resumed Jerome, &ldquo;commends herself
+to both your Highnesses; she thanks both for the kindness with which
+she has been treated in your castle: she deplores the loss of your son,
+and her own misfortune in not becoming the daughter of such wise and
+noble Princes, whom she shall always respect as Parents; she prays for
+uninterrupted union and felicity between you&rdquo; [Manfred&rsquo;s
+colour changed]: &ldquo;but as it is no longer possible for her to be
+allied to you, she entreats your consent to remain in sanctuary, till
+she can learn news of her father, or, by the certainty of his death,
+be at liberty, with the approbation of her guardians, to dispose of
+herself in suitable marriage.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I shall give no such consent,&rdquo; said the Prince, &ldquo;but
+insist on her return to the castle without delay: I am answerable for
+her person to her guardians, and will not brook her being in any hands
+but my own.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Your Highness will recollect whether that can any longer be proper,&rdquo;
+replied the Friar.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I want no monitor,&rdquo; said Manfred, colouring; &ldquo;Isabella&rsquo;s
+conduct leaves room for strange suspicions - and that young villain,
+who was at least the accomplice of her flight, if not the cause of it
+- &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;The cause!&rdquo; interrupted Jerome; &ldquo;was a <i>young</i>
+man the cause?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;This is not to be borne!&rdquo; cried Manfred.&nbsp; &ldquo;Am
+I to be bearded in my own palace by an insolent Monk?&nbsp; Thou art
+privy, I guess, to their amours.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I would pray to heaven to clear up your uncharitable surmises,&rdquo;
+said Jerome, &ldquo;if your Highness were not satisfied in your conscience
+how unjustly you accuse me.&nbsp; I do pray to heaven to pardon that
+uncharitableness: and I implore your Highness to leave the Princess
+at peace in that holy place, where she is not liable to be disturbed
+by such vain and worldly fantasies as discourses of love from any man.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Cant not to me,&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;but return and bring
+the Princess to her duty.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It is my duty to prevent her return hither,&rdquo; said Jerome.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;She is where orphans and virgins are safest from the snares and
+wiles of this world; and nothing but a parent&rsquo;s authority shall
+take her thence.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I am her parent,&rdquo; cried Manfred, &ldquo;and demand her.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;She wished to have you for her parent,&rdquo; said the Friar;
+&ldquo;but Heaven that forbad that connection has for ever dissolved
+all ties betwixt you: and I announce to your Highness - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Stop! audacious man,&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;and dread my
+displeasure.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Holy farther,&rdquo; said Hippolita, &ldquo;it is your office
+to be no respecter of persons: you must speak as your duty prescribes:
+but it is my duty to hear nothing that it pleases not my Lord I should
+hear.&nbsp; Attend the Prince to his chamber.&nbsp; I will retire to
+my oratory, and pray to the blessed Virgin to inspire you with her holy
+counsels, and to restore the heart of my gracious Lord to its wonted
+peace and gentleness.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Excellent woman!&rdquo; said the Friar.&nbsp; &ldquo;My Lord,
+I attend your pleasure.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, accompanied by the Friar, passed to his own apartment, where
+shutting the door, &ldquo;I perceive, Father,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that
+Isabella has acquainted you with my purpose.&nbsp; Now hear my resolve,
+and obey.&nbsp; Reasons of state, most urgent reasons, my own and the
+safety of my people, demand that I should have a son.&nbsp; It is in
+vain to expect an heir from Hippolita.&nbsp; I have made choice of Isabella.&nbsp;
+You must bring her back; and you must do more.&nbsp; I know the influence
+you have with Hippolita: her conscience is in your hands.&nbsp; She
+is, I allow, a faultless woman: her soul is set on heaven, and scorns
+the little grandeur of this world: you can withdraw her from it entirely.&nbsp;
+Persuade her to consent to the dissolution of our marriage, and to retire
+into a monastery - she shall endow one if she will; and she shall have
+the means of being as liberal to your order as she or you can wish.&nbsp;
+Thus you will divert the calamities that are hanging over our heads,
+and have the merit of saying the principality of Otranto from destruction.&nbsp;
+You are a prudent man, and though the warmth of my temper betrayed me
+into some unbecoming expressions, I honour your virtue, and wish to
+be indebted to you for the repose of my life and the preservation of
+my family.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;The will of heaven be done!&rdquo; said the Friar.&nbsp; &ldquo;I
+am but its worthless instrument.&nbsp; It makes use of my tongue to
+tell thee, Prince, of thy unwarrantable designs.&nbsp; The injuries
+of the virtuous Hippolita have mounted to the throne of pity.&nbsp;
+By me thou art reprimanded for thy adulterous intention of repudiating
+her: by me thou art warned not to pursue the incestuous design on thy
+contracted daughter.&nbsp; Heaven that delivered her from thy fury,
+when the judgments so recently fallen on thy house ought to have inspired
+thee with other thoughts, will continue to watch over her.&nbsp; Even
+I, a poor and despised Friar, am able to protect her from thy violence
+- I, sinner as I am, and uncharitably reviled by your Highness as an
+accomplice of I know not what amours, scorn the allurements with which
+it has pleased thee to tempt mine honesty.&nbsp; I love my order; I
+honour devout souls; I respect the piety of thy Princess - but I will
+not betray the confidence she reposes in me, nor serve even the cause
+of religion by foul and sinful compliances - but forsooth! the welfare
+of the state depends on your Highness having a son!&nbsp; Heaven mocks
+the short-sighted views of man.&nbsp; But yester-morn, whose house was
+so great, so flourishing as Manfred&rsquo;s? - where is young Conrad
+now? - My Lord, I respect your tears - but I mean not to check them
+- let them flow, Prince!&nbsp; They will weigh more with heaven toward
+the welfare of thy subjects, than a marriage, which, founded on lust
+or policy, could never prosper.&nbsp; The sceptre, which passed from
+the race of Alfonso to thine, cannot be preserved by a match which the
+church will never allow.&nbsp; If it is the will of the Most High that
+Manfred&rsquo;s name must perish, resign yourself, my Lord, to its decrees;
+and thus deserve a crown that can never pass away.&nbsp; Come, my Lord;
+I like this sorrow - let us return to the Princess: she is not apprised
+of your cruel intentions; nor did I mean more than to alarm you.&nbsp;
+You saw with what gentle patience, with what efforts of love, she heard,
+she rejected hearing, the extent of your guilt.&nbsp; I know she longs
+to fold you in her arms, and assure you of her unalterable affection.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Father,&rdquo; said the Prince, &ldquo;you mistake my compunction:
+true, I honour Hippolita&rsquo;s virtues; I think her a Saint; and wish
+it were for my soul&rsquo;s health to tie faster the knot that has united
+us - but alas! Father, you know not the bitterest of my pangs! it is
+some time that I have had scruples on the legality of our union: Hippolita
+is related to me in the fourth degree - it is true, we had a dispensation:
+but I have been informed that she had also been contracted to another.&nbsp;
+This it is that sits heavy at my heart: to this state of unlawful wedlock
+I impute the visitation that has fallen on me in the death of Conrad!
+- ease my conscience of this burden: dissolve our marriage, and accomplish
+the work of godliness - which your divine exhortations have commenced
+in my soul.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+How cutting was the anguish which the good man felt, when he perceived
+this turn in the wily Prince!&nbsp; He trembled for Hippolita, whose
+ruin he saw was determined; and he feared if Manfred had no hope of
+recovering Isabella, that his impatience for a son would direct him
+to some other object, who might not be equally proof against the temptation
+of Manfred&rsquo;s rank.&nbsp; For some time the holy man remained absorbed
+in thought.&nbsp; At length, conceiving some hopes from delay, he thought
+the wisest conduct would be to prevent the Prince from despairing of
+recovering Isabella.&nbsp; Her the Friar knew he could dispose, from
+her affection to Hippolita, and from the aversion she had expressed
+to him for Manfred&rsquo;s addresses, to second his views, till the
+censures of the church could be fulminated against a divorce.&nbsp;
+With this intention, as if struck with the Prince&rsquo;s scruples,
+he at length said:<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord, I have been pondering on what your Highness has said;
+and if in truth it is delicacy of conscience that is the real motive
+of your repugnance to your virtuous Lady, far be it from me to endeavour
+to harden your heart.&nbsp; The church is an indulgent mother: unfold
+your griefs to her: she alone can administer comfort to your soul, either
+by satisfying your conscience, or upon examination of your scruples,
+by setting you at liberty, and indulging you in the lawful means of
+continuing your lineage.&nbsp; In the latter case, if the Lady Isabella
+can be brought to consent - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, who concluded that he had either over-reached the good man,
+or that his first warmth had been but a tribute paid to appearance,
+was overjoyed at this sudden turn, and repeated the most magnificent
+promises, if he should succeed by the Friar&rsquo;s mediation.&nbsp;
+The well-meaning priest suffered him to deceive himself, fully determined
+to traverse his views, instead of seconding them.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Since we now understand one another,&rdquo; resumed the Prince,
+&ldquo;I expect, Father, that you satisfy me in one point.&nbsp; Who
+is the youth that I found in the vault?&nbsp; He must have been privy
+to Isabella&rsquo;s flight: tell me truly, is he her lover? or is he
+an agent for another&rsquo;s passion?&nbsp; I have often suspected Isabella&rsquo;s
+indifference to my son: a thousand circumstances crowd on my mind that
+confirm that suspicion.&nbsp; She herself was so conscious of it, that
+while I discoursed her in the gallery, she outran my suspicious, and
+endeavoured to justify herself from coolness to Conrad.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The Friar, who knew nothing of the youth, but what he had learnt occasionally
+from the Princess, ignorant what was become of him, and not sufficiently
+reflecting on the impetuosity of Manfred&rsquo;s temper, conceived that
+it might not be amiss to sow the seeds of jealousy in his mind: they
+might be turned to some use hereafter, either by prejudicing the Prince
+against Isabella, if he persisted in that union or by diverting his
+attention to a wrong scent, and employing his thoughts on a visionary
+intrigue, prevent his engaging in any new pursuit.&nbsp; With this unhappy
+policy, he answered in a manner to confirm Manfred in the belief of
+some connection between Isabella and the youth.&nbsp; The Prince, whose
+passions wanted little fuel to throw them into a blaze, fell into a
+rage at the idea of what the Friar suggested.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&ldquo;I will fathom to the bottom of this intrigue,&rdquo; cried
+he; and quitting Jerome abruptly, with a command to remain there till
+his return, he hastened to the great hall of the castle, and ordered
+the peasant to be brought before him.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou hardened young impostor!&rdquo; said the Prince, as soon
+as he saw the youth; &ldquo;what becomes of thy boasted veracity now?
+it was Providence, was it, and the light of the moon, that discovered
+the lock of the trap-door to thee?&nbsp; Tell me, audacious boy, who
+thou art, and how long thou hast been acquainted with the Princess -
+and take care to answer with less equivocation than thou didst last
+night, or tortures shall wring the truth from thee.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The young man, perceiving that his share in the flight of the Princess
+was discovered, and concluding that anything he should say could no
+longer be of any service or detriment to her, replied -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I am no impostor, my Lord, nor have I deserved opprobrious language.&nbsp;
+I answered to every question your Highness put to me last night with
+the same veracity that I shall speak now: and that will not be from
+fear of your tortures, but because my soul abhors a falsehood.&nbsp;
+Please to repeat your questions, my Lord; I am ready to give you all
+the satisfaction in my power.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;You know my questions,&rdquo; replied the Prince, &ldquo;and
+only want time to prepare an evasion.&nbsp; Speak directly; who art
+thou? and how long hast thou been known to the Princess?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I am a labourer at the next village,&rdquo; said the peasant;
+&ldquo;my name is Theodore.&nbsp; The Princess found me in the vault
+last night: before that hour I never was in her presence.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I may believe as much or as little as I please of this,&rdquo;
+said Manfred; &ldquo;but I will hear thy own story before I examine
+into the truth of it.&nbsp; Tell me, what reason did the Princess give
+thee for making her escape? thy life depends on thy answer.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;She told me,&rdquo; replied Theodore, &ldquo;that she was on
+the brink of destruction, and that if she could not escape from the
+castle, she was in danger in a few moments of being made miserable for
+ever.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And on this slight foundation, on a silly girl&rsquo;s report,&rdquo;
+said Manfred, &ldquo;thou didst hazard my displeasure?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I fear no man&rsquo;s displeasure,&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;when
+a woman in distress puts herself under my protection.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+During this examination, Matilda was going to the apartment of Hippolita.&nbsp;
+At the upper end of the hall, where Manfred sat, was a boarded gallery
+with latticed windows, through which Matilda and Bianca were to pass.&nbsp;
+Hearing her father&rsquo;s voice, and seeing the servants assembled
+round him, she stopped to learn the occasion.&nbsp; The prisoner soon
+drew her attention: the steady and composed manner in which he answered,
+and the gallantry of his last reply, which were the first words she
+heard distinctly, interested her in his flavour.&nbsp; His person was
+noble, handsome, and commanding, even in that situation: but his countenance
+soon engrossed her whole care.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Heavens!&nbsp; Bianca,&rdquo; said the Princess softly, &ldquo;do
+I dream? or is not that youth the exact resemblance of Alfonso&rsquo;s
+picture in the gallery?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+She could say no more, for her father&rsquo;s voice grew louder at every
+word.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;This bravado,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;surpasses all thy former
+insolence.&nbsp; Thou shalt experience the wrath with which thou darest
+to trifle.&nbsp; Seize him,&rdquo; continued Manfred, &ldquo;and &lsquo;bind
+him - the first news the Princess hears of her champion shall be, that
+he has lost his head for her sake.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;The injustice of which thou art guilty towards me,&rdquo; said
+Theodore, &ldquo;convinces me that I have done a good deed in delivering
+the Princess from thy tyranny.&nbsp; May she be happy, whatever becomes
+of me!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;This is a lover!&rdquo; cried Manfred in a rage: &ldquo;a peasant
+within sight of death is not animated by such sentiments.&nbsp; Tell
+me, tell me, rash boy, who thou art, or the rack shall force thy secret
+from thee.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou hast threatened me with death already,&rdquo; said the youth,
+&ldquo;for the truth I have told thee: if that is all the encouragement
+I am to expect for sincerity, I am not tempted to indulge thy vain curiosity
+farther.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Then thou wilt not speak?&rdquo; said Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I will not,&rdquo; replied he.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Bear him away into the courtyard,&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;I
+will see his head this instant severed from his body.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Matilda fainted at hearing those words.&nbsp; Bianca shrieked, and cried
+-<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Help! help! the Princess is dead!&rdquo;&nbsp; Manfred started
+at this ejaculation, and demanded what was the matter!&nbsp; The young
+peasant, who heard it too, was struck with horror, and asked eagerly
+the same question; but Manfred ordered him to be hurried into the court,
+and kept there for execution, till he had informed himself of the cause
+of Bianca&rsquo;s shrieks.&nbsp; When he learned the meaning, he treated
+it as a womanish panic, and ordering Matilda to be carried to her apartment,
+he rushed into the court, and calling for one of his guards, bade Theodore
+kneel down, and prepare to receive the fatal blow.<br>
+<br>
+The undaunted youth received the bitter sentence with a resignation
+that touched every heart but Manfred&rsquo;s.&nbsp; He wished earnestly
+to know the meaning of the words he had heard relating to the Princess;
+but fearing to exasperate the tyrant more against her, he desisted.&nbsp;
+The only boon he deigned to ask was, that he might be permitted to have
+a confessor, and make his peace with heaven.&nbsp; Manfred, who hoped
+by the confessor&rsquo;s means to come at the youth&rsquo;s history,
+readily granted his request; and being convinced that Father Jerome
+was now in his interest, he ordered him to be called and shrive the
+prisoner.&nbsp; The holy man, who had little foreseen the catastrophe
+that his imprudence occasioned, fell on his knees to the Prince, and
+adjured him in the most solemn manner not to shed innocent blood.&nbsp;
+He accused himself in the bitterest terms for his indiscretion, endeavoured
+to disculpate the youth, and left no method untried to soften the tyrant&rsquo;s
+rage.&nbsp; Manfred, more incensed than appeased by Jerome&rsquo;s intercession,
+whose retraction now made him suspect he had been imposed upon by both,
+commanded the Friar to do his duty, telling him he would not allow the
+prisoner many minutes for confession.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Nor do I ask many, my Lord,&rdquo; said the unhappy young man.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;My sins, thank heaven, have not been numerous; nor exceed what
+might be expected at my years.&nbsp; Dry your tears, good Father, and
+let us despatch.&nbsp; This is a bad world; nor have I had cause to
+leave it with regret.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh wretched youth!&rdquo; said Jerome; &ldquo;how canst thou
+bear the sight of me with patience?&nbsp; I am thy murderer! it is I
+have brought this dismal hour upon thee!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I forgive thee from my soul,&rdquo; said the youth, &ldquo;as
+I hope heaven will pardon me.&nbsp; Hear my confession, Father; and
+give me thy blessing.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;How can I prepare thee for thy passage as I ought?&rdquo; said
+Jerome.&nbsp; &ldquo;Thou canst not be saved without pardoning thy foes
+- and canst thou forgive that impious man there?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I can,&rdquo; said Theodore; &ldquo;I do.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And does not this touch thee, cruel Prince?&rdquo; said the Friar.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I sent for thee to confess him,&rdquo; said Manfred, sternly;
+&ldquo;not to plead for him.&nbsp; Thou didst first incense me against
+him - his blood be upon thy head!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It will! it will!&rdquo; said the good main, in an agony of sorrow.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Thou and I must never hope to go where this blessed youth is
+going!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Despatch!&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;I am no more to be moved
+by the whining of priests than by the shrieks of women.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What!&rdquo; said the youth; &ldquo;is it possible that my fate
+could have occasioned what I heard!&nbsp; Is the Princess then again
+in thy power?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou dost but remember me of my wrath,&rdquo; said Manfred.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Prepare thee, for this moment is thy last.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The youth, who felt his indignation rise, and who was touched with the
+sorrow which he saw he had infused into all the spectators, as well
+as into the Friar, suppressed his emotions, and putting off his doublet,
+and unbuttoning, his collar, knelt down to his prayers.&nbsp; As he
+stooped, his shirt slipped down below his shoulder, and discovered the
+mark of a bloody arrow.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Gracious heaven!&rdquo; cried the holy man, starting; &ldquo;what
+do I see?&nbsp; It is my child! my Theodore!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The passions that ensued must be conceived; they cannot be painted.&nbsp;
+The tears of the assistants were suspended by wonder, rather than stopped
+by joy.&nbsp; They seemed to inquire in the eyes of their Lord what
+they ought to feel.&nbsp; Surprise, doubt, tenderness, respect, succeeded
+each other in the countenance of the youth.&nbsp; He received with modest
+submission the effusion of the old man&rsquo;s tears and embraces.&nbsp;
+Yet afraid of giving a loose to hope, and suspecting from what had passed
+the inflexibility of Manfred&rsquo;s temper, he cast a glance towards
+the Prince, as if to say, canst thou be unmoved at such a scene as this?<br>
+<br>
+Manfred&rsquo;s heart was capable of being touched.&nbsp; He forgot
+his anger in his astonishment; yet his pride forbad his owning himself
+affected.&nbsp; He even doubted whether this discovery was not a contrivance
+of the Friar to save the youth.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What may this mean?&rdquo; said he.&nbsp; &ldquo;How can he be
+thy son?&nbsp; Is it consistent with thy profession or reputed sanctity
+to avow a peasant&rsquo;s offspring for the fruit of thy irregular amours!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh, God!&rdquo; said the holy man, &ldquo;dost thou question
+his being mine?&nbsp; Could I feel the anguish I do if I were not his
+father?&nbsp; Spare him! good Prince! spare him! and revile me as thou
+pleasest.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Spare him! spare him!&rdquo; cried the attendants; &ldquo;for
+this good man&rsquo;s sake!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Peace!&rdquo; said Manfred, sternly.&nbsp; &ldquo;I must know
+more ere I am disposed to pardon.&nbsp; A Saint&rsquo;s bastard may
+be no saint himself.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Injurious Lord!&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;add not insult to
+cruelty.&nbsp; If I am this venerable man&rsquo;s son, though no Prince,
+as thou art, know the blood that flows in my veins - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the Friar, interrupting him, &ldquo;his blood
+is noble; nor is he that abject thing, my Lord, you speak him.&nbsp;
+He is my lawful son, and Sicily can boast of few houses more ancient
+than that of Falconara.&nbsp; But alas! my Lord, what is blood! what
+is nobility!&nbsp; We are all reptiles, miserable, sinful creatures.&nbsp;
+It is piety alone that can distinguish us from the dust whence we sprung,
+and whither we must return.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Truce to your sermon,&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;you forget
+you are no longer Friar Jerome, but the Count of Falconara.&nbsp; Let
+me know your history; you will have time to moralise hereafter, if you
+should not happen to obtain the grace of that sturdy criminal there.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Mother of God!&rdquo; said the Friar, &ldquo;is it possible my
+Lord can refuse a father the life of his only, his long-lost, child!&nbsp;
+Trample me, my Lord, scorn, afflict me, accept my life for his, but
+spare my son!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou canst feel, then,&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;what it is
+to lose an only son!&nbsp; A little hour ago thou didst preach up resignation
+to me: <i>my</i> house, if fate so pleased, must perish - but the Count
+of Falconara - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Alas! my Lord,&rdquo; said Jerome, &ldquo;I confess I have offended;
+but aggravate not an old man&rsquo;s sufferings!&nbsp; I boast not of
+my family, nor think of such vanities - it is nature, that pleads for
+this boy; it is the memory of the dear woman that bore him.&nbsp; Is
+she, Theodore, is she dead?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Her soul has long been with the blessed,&rdquo; said Theodore.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! how?&rdquo; cried Jerome, &ldquo;tell me - no - she is happy!&nbsp;
+Thou art all my care now! - Most dread Lord! will you - will you grant
+me my poor boy&rsquo;s life?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Return to thy convent,&rdquo; answered Manfred; &ldquo;conduct
+the Princess hither; obey me in what else thou knowest; and I promise
+thee the life of thy son.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! my Lord,&rdquo; said Jerome, &ldquo;is my honesty the price
+I must pay for this dear youth&rsquo;s safety?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;For me!&rdquo; cried Theodore.&nbsp; &ldquo;Let me die a thousand
+deaths, rather than stain thy conscience.&nbsp; What is it the tyrant
+would exact of thee?&nbsp; Is the Princess still safe from his power?&nbsp;
+Protect her, thou venerable old man; and let all the weight of his wrath
+fall on me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Jerome endeavoured to check the impetuosity of the youth; and ere Manfred
+could reply, the trampling of horses was heard, and a brazen trumpet,
+which hung without the gate of the castle, was suddenly sounded.&nbsp;
+At the same instant the sable plumes on the enchanted helmet, which
+still remained at the other end of the court, were tempestuously agitated,
+and nodded thrice, as if bowed by some invisible wearer.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+CHAPTER III.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+Manfred&rsquo;s heart misgave him when he beheld the plumage on the
+miraculous casque shaken in concert with the sounding of the brazen
+trumpet.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Father!&rdquo; said he to Jerome, whom he now ceased to treat
+as Count of Falconara, &ldquo;what mean these portents?&nbsp; If I have
+offended - &rdquo; the plumes were shaken with greater violence than
+before.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Unhappy Prince that I am,&rdquo; cried Manfred.&nbsp; &ldquo;Holy
+Father! will you not assist me with your prayers?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; replied Jerome, &ldquo;heaven is no doubt displeased
+with your mockery of its servants.&nbsp; Submit yourself to the church;
+and cease to persecute her ministers.&nbsp; Dismiss this innocent youth;
+and learn to respect the holy character I wear.&nbsp; Heaven will not
+be trifled with: you see - &rdquo; the trumpet sounded again.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I acknowledge I have been too hasty,&rdquo; said Manfred.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Father, do you go to the wicket, and demand who is at the gate.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Do you grant me the life of Theodore?&rdquo; replied the Friar.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I do,&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;but inquire who is without!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Jerome, falling on the neck of his son, discharged a flood of tears,
+that spoke the fulness of his soul.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;You promised to go to the gate,&rdquo; said Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I thought,&rdquo; replied the Friar, &ldquo;your Highness would
+excuse my thanking you first in this tribute of my heart.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Go, dearest Sir,&rdquo; said Theodore; &ldquo;obey the Prince.&nbsp;
+I do not deserve that you should delay his satisfaction for me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Jerome, inquiring who was without, was answered, &ldquo;A Herald.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;From whom?&rdquo; said he.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;From the Knight of the Gigantic Sabre,&rdquo; said the Herald;
+&ldquo;and I must speak with the usurper of Otranto.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Jerome returned to the Prince, and did not fail to repeat the message
+in the very words it had been uttered.&nbsp; The first sounds struck
+Manfred with terror; but when he heard himself styled usurper, his rage
+rekindled, and all his courage revived.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Usurper! - insolent villain!&rdquo; cried he; &ldquo;who dares
+to question my title?&nbsp; Retire, Father; this is no business for
+Monks: I will meet this presumptuous man myself.&nbsp; Go to your convent
+and prepare the Princess&rsquo;s return.&nbsp; Your son shall be a hostage
+for your fidelity: his life depends on your obedience.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Good heaven! my Lord,&rdquo; cried Jerome, &ldquo;your Highness
+did but this instant freely pardon my child - have you so soon forgot
+the interposition of heaven?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Heaven,&rdquo; replied Manfred, &ldquo;does not send Heralds
+to question the title of a lawful Prince.&nbsp; I doubt whether it even
+notifies its will through Friars - but that is your affair, not mine.&nbsp;
+At present you know my pleasure; and it is not a saucy Herald that shall
+save your son, if you do not return with the Princess.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+It was in vain for the holy man to reply.&nbsp; Manfred commanded him
+to be conducted to the postern-gate, and shut out from the castle.&nbsp;
+And he ordered some of his attendants to carry Theodore to the top of
+the black tower, and guard him strictly; scarce permitting the father
+and son to exchange a hasty embrace at parting.&nbsp; He then withdrew
+to the hall, and seating himself in princely state, ordered the Herald
+to be admitted to his presence.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Well! thou insolent!&rdquo; said the Prince, &ldquo;what wouldst
+thou with me?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I come,&rdquo; replied he, &ldquo;to thee, Manfred, usurper of
+the principality of Otranto, from the renowned and invincible Knight,
+the Knight of the Gigantic Sabre: in the name of his Lord, Frederic,
+Marquis of Vicenza, he demands the Lady Isabella, daughter of that Prince,
+whom thou hast basely and traitorously got into thy power, by bribing
+her false guardians during his absence; and he requires thee to resign
+the principality of Otranto, which thou hast usurped from the said Lord
+Frederic, the nearest of blood to the last rightful Lord, Alfonso the
+Good.&nbsp; If thou dost not instantly comply with these just demands,
+he defies thee to single combat to the last extremity.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+And so saying the Herald cast down his warder.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And where is this braggart who sends thee?&rdquo; said Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;At the distance of a league,&rdquo; said the Herald: &ldquo;he
+comes to make good his Lord&rsquo;s claim against thee, as he is a true
+knight, and thou an usurper and ravisher.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Injurious as this challenge was, Manfred reflected that it was not his
+interest to provoke the Marquis.&nbsp; He knew how well founded the
+claim of Frederic was; nor was this the first time he had heard of it.&nbsp;
+Frederic&rsquo;s ancestors had assumed the style of Princes of Otranto,
+from the death of Alfonso the Good without issue; but Manfred, his father,
+and grandfather, had been too powerful for the house of Vicenza to dispossess
+them.&nbsp; Frederic, a martial and amorous young Prince, had married
+a beautiful young lady, of whom he was enamoured, and who had died in
+childbed of Isabella.&nbsp; Her death affected him so much that he had
+taken the cross and gone to the Holy Land, where he was wounded in an
+engagement against the infidels, made prisoner, and reported to be dead.&nbsp;
+When the news reached Manfred&rsquo;s ears, he bribed the guardians
+of the Lady Isabella to deliver her up to him as a bride for his son
+Conrad, by which alliance he had proposed to unite the claims of the
+two houses.&nbsp; This motive, on Conrad&rsquo;s death, had co-operated
+to make him so suddenly resolve on espousing her himself; and the same
+reflection determined him now to endeavour at obtaining the consent
+of Frederic to this marriage.&nbsp; A like policy inspired him with
+the thought of inviting Frederic&rsquo;s champion into the castle, lest
+he should be informed of Isabella&rsquo;s flight, which he strictly
+enjoined his domestics not to disclose to any of the Knight&rsquo;s
+retinue.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Herald,&rdquo; said Manfred, as soon as he had digested these
+reflections, &ldquo;return to thy master, and tell him, ere we liquidate
+our differences by the sword, Manfred would hold some converse with
+him.&nbsp; Bid him welcome to my castle, where by my faith, as I am
+a true Knight, he shall have courteous reception, and full security
+for himself and followers.&nbsp; If we cannot adjust our quarrel by
+amicable means, I swear he shall depart in safety, and shall have full
+satisfaction according to the laws of arms: So help me God and His holy
+Trinity!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The Herald made three obeisances and retired.<br>
+<br>
+During this interview Jerome&rsquo;s mind was agitated by a thousand
+contrary passions.&nbsp; He trembled for the life of his son, and his
+first thought was to persuade Isabella to return to the castle.&nbsp;
+Yet he was scarce less alarmed at the thought of her union with Manfred.&nbsp;
+He dreaded Hippolita&rsquo;s unbounded submission to the will of her
+Lord; and though he did not doubt but he could alarm her piety not to
+consent to a divorce, if he could get access to her; yet should Manfred
+discover that the obstruction came from him, it might be equally fatal
+to Theodore.&nbsp; He was impatient to know whence came the Herald,
+who with so little management had questioned the title of Manfred: yet
+he did not dare absent himself from the convent, lest Isabella should
+leave it, and her flight be imputed to him.&nbsp; He returned disconsolately
+to the monastery, uncertain on what conduct to resolve.&nbsp; A Monk,
+who met him in the porch and observed his melancholy air, said -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Alas! brother, is it then true that we have lost our excellent
+Princess Hippolita?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The holy man started, and cried, &ldquo;What meanest thou, brother?&nbsp;
+I come this instant from the castle, and left her in perfect health.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Martelli,&rdquo; replied the other Friar, &ldquo;passed by the
+convent but a quarter of an hour ago on his way from the castle, and
+reported that her Highness was dead.&nbsp; All our brethren are gone
+to the chapel to pray for her happy transit to a better life, and willed
+me to wait thy arrival.&nbsp; They know thy holy attachment to that
+good Lady, and are anxious for the affliction it will cause in thee
+- indeed we have all reason to weep; she was a mother to our house.&nbsp;
+But this life is but a pilgrimage; we must not murmur - we shall all
+follow her!&nbsp; May our end be like hers!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&ldquo;Good brother, thou dreamest,&rdquo; said Jerome.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;I tell thee I come from the castle, and left the Princess well.&nbsp;
+Where is the Lady Isabella?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Poor Gentlewoman!&rdquo; replied the Friar; &ldquo;I told her
+the sad news, and offered her spiritual comfort.&nbsp; I reminded her
+of the transitory condition of mortality, and advised her to take the
+veil: I quoted the example of the holy Princess Sanchia of Arragon.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thy zeal was laudable,&rdquo; said Jerome, impatiently; &ldquo;but
+at present it was unnecessary: Hippolita is well - at least I trust
+in the Lord she is; I heard nothing to the contrary - yet, methinks,
+the Prince&rsquo;s earnestness - Well, brother, but where is the Lady
+Isabella?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I know not,&rdquo; said the Friar; &ldquo;she wept much, and
+said she would retire to her chamber.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Jerome left his comrade abruptly, and hastened to the Princess, but
+she was not in her chamber.&nbsp; He inquired of the domestics of the
+convent, but could learn no news of her.&nbsp; He searched in vain throughout
+the monastery and the church, and despatched messengers round the neighbourhood,
+to get intelligence if she had been seen; but to no purpose.&nbsp; Nothing
+could equal the good man&rsquo;s perplexity.&nbsp; He judged that Isabella,
+suspecting Manfred of having precipitated his wife&rsquo;s death, had
+taken the alarm, and withdrawn herself to some more secret place of
+concealment.&nbsp; This new flight would probably carry the Prince&rsquo;s
+fury to the height.&nbsp; The report of Hippolita&rsquo;s death, though
+it seemed almost incredible, increased his consternation; and though
+Isabella&rsquo;s escape bespoke her aversion of Manfred for a husband,
+Jerome could feel no comfort from it, while it endangered the life of
+his son.&nbsp; He determined to return to the castle, and made several
+of his brethren accompany him to attest his innocence to Manfred, and,
+if necessary, join their intercession with his for Theodore.<br>
+<br>
+The Prince, in the meantime, had passed into the court, and ordered
+the gates of the castle to be flung open for the reception of the stranger
+Knight and his train.&nbsp; In a few minutes the cavalcade arrived.&nbsp;
+First came two harbingers with wands.&nbsp; Next a herald, followed
+by two pages and two trumpets.&nbsp; Then a hundred foot-guards.&nbsp;
+These were attended by as many horse.&nbsp; After them fifty footmen,
+clothed in scarlet and black, the colours of the Knight.&nbsp; Then
+a led horse.&nbsp; Two heralds on each side of a gentleman on horseback
+bearing a banner with the arms of Vicenza and Otranto quarterly - a
+circumstance that much offended Manfred - but he stifled his resentment.&nbsp;
+Two more pages.&nbsp; The Knight&rsquo;s confessor telling his beads.&nbsp;
+Fifty more footmen clad as before.&nbsp; Two Knights habited in complete
+armour, their beavers down, comrades to the principal Knight.&nbsp;
+The squires of the two Knights, carrying their shields and devices.&nbsp;
+The Knight&rsquo;s own squire.&nbsp; A hundred gentlemen bearing an
+enormous sword, and seeming to faint under the weight of it.&nbsp; The
+Knight himself on a chestnut steed, in complete armour, his lance in
+the rest, his face entirely concealed by his vizor, which was surmounted
+by a large plume of scarlet and black feathers.&nbsp; Fifty foot-guards
+with drums and trumpets closed the procession, which wheeled off to
+the right and left to make room for the principal Knight.<br>
+<br>
+As soon as he approached the gate he stopped; and the herald advancing,
+read again the words of the challenge.&nbsp; Manfred&rsquo;s eyes were
+fixed on the gigantic sword, and he scarce seemed to attend to the cartel:
+but his attention was soon diverted by a tempest of wind that rose behind
+him.&nbsp; He turned and beheld the Plumes of the enchanted helmet agitated
+in the same extraordinary manner as before.&nbsp; It required intrepidity
+like Manfred&rsquo;s not to sink under a concurrence of circumstances
+that seemed to announce his fate.&nbsp; Yet scorning in the presence
+of strangers to betray the courage he had always manifested, he said
+boldly -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Sir Knight, whoever thou art, I bid thee welcome.&nbsp; If thou
+art of mortal mould, thy valour shall meet its equal: and if thou art
+a true Knight, thou wilt scorn to employ sorcery to carry thy point.&nbsp;
+Be these omens from heaven or hell, Manfred trusts to the righteousness
+of his cause and to the aid of St. Nicholas, who has ever protected
+his house.&nbsp; Alight, Sir Knight, and repose thyself.&nbsp; To-morrow
+thou shalt have a fair field, and heaven befriend the juster side!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The Knight made no reply, but dismounting, was conducted by Manfred
+to the great hall of the castle.&nbsp; As they traversed the court,
+the Knight stopped to gaze on the miraculous casque; and kneeling down,
+seemed to pray inwardly for some minutes.&nbsp; Rising, he made a sign
+to the Prince to lead on.&nbsp; As soon as they entered the hall, Manfred
+proposed to the stranger to disarm, but the Knight shook his head in
+token of refusal.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Sir Knight,&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;this is not courteous,
+but by my good faith I will not cross thee, nor shalt thou have cause
+to complain of the Prince of Otranto.&nbsp; No treachery is designed
+on my part; I hope none is intended on thine; here take my gage&rdquo;
+(giving him his ring): &ldquo;your friends and you shall enjoy the laws
+of hospitality.&nbsp; Rest here until refreshments are brought.&nbsp;
+I will but give orders for the accommodation of your train, and return
+to you.&rdquo;&nbsp; The three Knights bowed as accepting his courtesy.&nbsp;
+Manfred directed the stranger&rsquo;s retinue to be conducted to an
+adjacent hospital, founded by the Princess Hippolita for the reception
+of pilgrims.&nbsp; As they made the circuit of the court to return towards
+the gate, the gigantic sword burst from the supporters, and falling
+to the ground opposite to the helmet, remained immovable.&nbsp; Manfred,
+almost hardened to preternatural appearances, surmounted the shock of
+this new prodigy; and returning to the hall, where by this time the
+feast was ready, he invited his silent guests to take their places.&nbsp;
+Manfred, however ill his heart was at ease, endeavoured to inspire the
+company with mirth.&nbsp; He put several questions to them, but was
+answered only by signs.&nbsp; They raised their vizors but sufficiently
+to feed themselves, and that sparingly.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Sirs&rdquo; said the Prince, &ldquo;ye are the first guests I
+ever treated within these walls who scorned to hold any intercourse
+with me: nor has it oft been customary, I ween, for princes to hazard
+their state and dignity against strangers and mutes.&nbsp; You say you
+come in the name of Frederic of Vicenza; I have ever heard that he was
+a gallant and courteous Knight; nor would he, I am bold to say, think
+it beneath him to mix in social converse with a Prince that is his equal,
+and not unknown by deeds in arms.&nbsp; Still ye are silent - well!
+be it as it may - by the laws of hospitality and chivalry ye are masters
+under this roof: ye shall do your pleasure.&nbsp; But come, give me
+a goblet of wine; ye will not refuse to pledge me to the healths of
+your fair mistresses.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The principal Knight sighed and crossed himself, and was rising from
+the board.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Sir Knight,&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;what I said was but in
+sport.&nbsp; I shall constrain you in nothing: use your good liking.&nbsp;
+Since mirth is not your mood, let us be sad.&nbsp; Business may hit
+your fancies better.&nbsp; Let us withdraw, and hear if what I have
+to unfold may be better relished than the vain efforts I have made for
+your pastime.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred then conducting the three Knights into an inner chamber, shut
+the door, and inviting them to be seated, began thus, addressing himself
+to the chief personage:-<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;You come, Sir Knight, as I understand, in the name of the Marquis
+of Vicenza, to re-demand the Lady Isabella, his daughter, who has been
+contracted in the face of Holy Church to my son, by the consent of her
+legal guardians; and to require me to resign my dominions to your Lord,
+who gives himself for the nearest of blood to Prince Alfonso, whose
+soul God rest!&nbsp; I shall speak to the latter article of your demands
+first.&nbsp; You must know, your Lord knows, that I enjoy the principality
+of Otranto from my father, Don Manuel, as he received it from his father,
+Don Ricardo.&nbsp; Alfonso, their predecessor, dying childless in the
+Holy Land, bequeathed his estates to my grandfather, Don Ricardo, in
+consideration of his faithful services.&rdquo;&nbsp; The stranger shook
+his head.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Sir Knight,&rdquo; said Manfred, warmly, &ldquo;Ricardo was a
+valiant and upright man; he was a pious man; witness his munificent
+foundation of the adjoining church and two converts.&nbsp; He was peculiarly
+patronised by St. Nicholas - my grandfather was incapable - I say, Sir,
+Don Ricardo was incapable - excuse me, your interruption has disordered
+me.&nbsp; I venerate the memory of my grandfather.&nbsp; Well, Sirs,
+he held this estate; he held it by his good sword and by the favour
+of St. Nicholas - so did my father; and so, Sirs, will I, come what
+come will.&nbsp; But Frederic, your Lord, is nearest in blood.&nbsp;
+I have consented to put my title to the issue of the sword.&nbsp; Does
+that imply a vicious title?&nbsp; I might have asked, where is Frederic
+your Lord?&nbsp; Report speaks him dead in captivity.&nbsp; You say,
+your actions say, he lives - I question it not - I might, Sirs, I might
+- but I do not.&nbsp; Other Princes would bid Frederic take his inheritance
+by force, if he can: they would not stake their dignity on a single
+combat: they would not submit it to the decision of unknown mutes! -
+pardon me, gentlemen, I am too warm: but suppose yourselves in my situation:
+as ye are stout Knights, would it not move your choler to have your
+own and the honour of your ancestors called in question?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;But to the point.&nbsp; Ye require me to deliver up the Lady
+Isabella.&nbsp; Sirs, I must ask if ye are authorised to receive her?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The Knight nodded.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Receive her,&rdquo; continued Manfred; &ldquo;well, you are authorised
+to receive her, but, gentle Knight, may I ask if you have full powers?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The Knight nodded.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis well,&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;then hear what I
+have to offer.&nbsp; Ye see, gentlemen, before you, the most unhappy
+of men!&rdquo; (he began to weep); &ldquo;afford me your compassion;
+I am entitled to it, indeed I am.&nbsp; Know, I have lost my only hope,
+my joy, the support of my house - Conrad died yester morning.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The Knights discovered signs of surprise.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes, Sirs, fate has disposed of my son.&nbsp; Isabella is at
+liberty.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Do you then restore her?&rdquo; cried the chief Knight, breaking
+silence.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Afford me your patience,&rdquo; said Manfred.&nbsp; &ldquo;I
+rejoice to find, by this testimony of your goodwill, that this matter
+may be adjusted without blood.&nbsp; It is no interest of mine dictates
+what little I have farther to say.&nbsp; Ye behold in me a man disgusted
+with the world: the loss of my son has weaned me from earthly cares.&nbsp;
+Power and greatness have no longer any charms in my eyes.&nbsp; I wished
+to transmit the sceptre I had received from my ancestors with honour
+to my son - but that is over!&nbsp; Life itself is so indifferent to
+me, that I accepted your defiance with joy.&nbsp; A good Knight cannot
+go to the grave with more satisfaction than when falling in his vocation:
+whatever is the will of heaven, I submit; for alas! Sirs, I am a man
+of many sorrows.&nbsp; Manfred is no object of envy, but no doubt you
+are acquainted with my story.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The Knight made signs of ignorance, and seemed curious to have Manfred
+proceed.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Is it possible, Sirs,&rdquo; continued the Prince, &ldquo;that
+my story should be a secret to you?&nbsp; Have you heard nothing relating
+to me and the Princess Hippolita?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+They shook their heads.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;No!&nbsp; Thus, then, Sirs, it is.&nbsp; You think me ambitious:
+ambition, alas! is composed of more rugged materials.&nbsp; If I were
+ambitious, I should not for so many years have been a prey to all the
+hell of conscientious scruples.&nbsp; But I weary your patience: I will
+be brief.&nbsp; Know, then, that I have long been troubled in mind on
+my union with the Princess Hippolita.&nbsp; Oh! Sirs, if ye were acquainted
+with that excellent woman! if ye knew that I adore her like a mistress,
+and cherish her as a friend - but man was not born for perfect happiness!&nbsp;
+She shares my scruples, and with her consent I have brought this matter
+before the church, for we are related within the forbidden degrees.&nbsp;
+I expect every hour the definitive sentence that must separate us for
+ever - I am sure you feel for me - I see you do - pardon these tears!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The Knights gazed on each other, wondering where this would end.<br>
+<br>
+Manfred continued -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;The death of my son betiding while my soul was under this anxiety,
+I thought of nothing but resigning my dominions, and retiring for ever
+from the sight of mankind.&nbsp; My only difficulty was to fix on a
+successor, who would be tender of my people, and to dispose of the Lady
+Isabella, who is dear to me as my own blood.&nbsp; I was willing to
+restore the line of Alfonso, even in his most distant kindred.&nbsp;
+And though, pardon me, I am satisfied it was his will that Ricardo&rsquo;s
+lineage should take place of his own relations; yet where was I to search
+for those relations?&nbsp; I knew of none but Frederic, your Lord; he
+was a captive to the infidels, or dead; and were he living, and at home,
+would he quit the flourishing State of Vicenza for the inconsiderable
+principality of Otranto?&nbsp; If he would not, could I bear the thought
+of seeing a hard, unfeeling, Viceroy set over my poor faithful people?
+for, Sirs, I love my people, and thank heaven am beloved by them.&nbsp;
+But ye will ask whither tends this long discourse?&nbsp; Briefly, then,
+thus, Sirs.&nbsp; Heaven in your arrival seems to point out a remedy
+for these difficulties and my misfortunes.&nbsp; The Lady Isabella is
+at liberty; I shall soon be so.&nbsp; I would submit to anything for
+the good of my people.&nbsp; Were it not the best, the only way to extinguish
+the feuds between our families, if I was to take the Lady Isabella to
+wife?&nbsp; You start.&nbsp; But though Hippolita&rsquo;s virtues will
+ever be dear to me, a Prince must not consider himself; he is born for
+his people.&rdquo;&nbsp; A servant at that instant entering the chamber
+apprised Manfred that Jerome and several of his brethren demanded immediate
+access to him.<br>
+<br>
+The Prince, provoked at this interruption, and fearing that the Friar
+would discover to the strangers that Isabella had taken sanctuary, was
+going to forbid Jerome&rsquo;s entrance.&nbsp; But recollecting that
+he was certainly arrived to notify the Princess&rsquo;s return, Manfred
+began to excuse himself to the Knights for leaving them for a few moments,
+but was prevented by the arrival of the Friars.&nbsp; Manfred angrily
+reprimanded them for their intrusion, and would have forced them back
+from the chamber; but Jerome was too much agitated to be repulsed.&nbsp;
+He declared aloud the flight of Isabella, with protestations of his
+own innocence.<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, distracted at the news, and not less at its coming to the knowledge
+of the strangers, uttered nothing but incoherent sentences, now upbraiding
+the Friar, now apologising to the Knights, earnest to know what was
+become of Isabella, yet equally afraid of their knowing; impatient to
+pursue her, yet dreading to have them join in the pursuit.&nbsp; He
+offered to despatch messengers in quest of her, but the chief Knight,
+no longer keeping silence, reproached Manfred in bitter terms for his
+dark and ambiguous dealing, and demanded the cause of Isabella&rsquo;s
+first absence from the castle.&nbsp; Manfred, casting a stern look at
+Jerome, implying a command of silence, pretended that on Conrad&rsquo;s
+death he had placed her in sanctuary until he could determine how to
+dispose of her.&nbsp; Jerome, who trembled for his son&rsquo;s life,
+did not dare contradict this falsehood, but one of his brethren, not
+under the same anxiety, declared frankly that she had fled to their
+church in the preceding night.&nbsp; The Prince in vain endeavoured
+to stop this discovery, which overwhelmed him with shame and confusion.&nbsp;
+The principal stranger, amazed at the contradictions he heard, and more
+than half persuaded that Manfred had secreted the Princess, notwithstanding
+the concern he expressed at her flight, rushing to the door, said -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou traitor Prince!&nbsp; Isabella shall be found.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred endeavoured to hold him, but the other Knights assisting their
+comrade, he broke from the Prince, and hastened into the court, demanding
+his attendants.&nbsp; Manfred, finding it vain to divert him from the
+pursuit, offered to accompany him and summoning his attendants, and
+taking Jerome and some of the Friars to guide them, they issued from
+the castle; Manfred privately giving orders to have the Knight&rsquo;s
+company secured, while to the knight he affected to despatch a messenger
+to require their assistance.<br>
+<br>
+The company had no sooner quitted the castle than Matilda, who felt
+herself deeply interested for the young peasant, since she had seen
+him condemned to death in the hall, and whose thoughts had been taken
+up with concerting measures to save him, was informed by some of the
+female attendants that Manfred had despatched all his men various ways
+in pursuit of Isabella.&nbsp; He had in his hurry given this order in
+general terms, not meaning to extend it to the guard he had set upon
+Theodore, but forgetting it.&nbsp; The domestics, officious to obey
+so peremptory a Prince, and urged by their own curiosity and love of
+novelty to join in any precipitate chase, had to a man left the castle.&nbsp;
+Matilda disengaged herself from her women, stole up to the black tower,
+and unbolting the door, presented herself to the astonished Theodore.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Young man,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;though filial duty and womanly
+modesty condemn the step I am taking, yet holy charity, surmounting
+all other ties, justifies this act.&nbsp; Fly; the doors of thy prison
+are open: my father and his domestics are absent; but they may soon
+return.&nbsp; Be gone in safety; and may the angels of heaven direct
+thy course!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou art surely one of those angels!&rdquo; said the enraptured
+Theodore: &ldquo;none but a blessed saint could speak, could act - could
+look - like thee.&nbsp; May I not know the name of my divine protectress?&nbsp;
+Methought thou namedst thy father.&nbsp; Is it possible?&nbsp; Can Manfred&rsquo;s
+blood feel holy pity!&nbsp; Lovely Lady, thou answerest not.&nbsp; But
+how art thou here thyself?&nbsp; Why dost thou neglect thy own safety,
+and waste a thought on a wretch like Theodore?&nbsp; Let us fly together:
+the life thou bestowest shall be dedicated to thy defence.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Alas! thou mistakest,&rdquo; said Matilda, signing: &ldquo;I
+am Manfred&rsquo;s daughter, but no dangers await me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Amazement!&rdquo; said Theodore; &ldquo;but last night I blessed
+myself for yielding thee the service thy gracious compassion so charitably
+returns me now.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Still thou art in an error,&rdquo; said the Princess; &ldquo;but
+this is no time for explanation.&nbsp; Fly, virtuous youth, while it
+is in my power to save thee: should my father return, thou and I both
+should indeed have cause to tremble.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;How!&rdquo; said Theodore; &ldquo;thinkest thou, charming maid,
+that I will accept of life at the hazard of aught calamitous to thee?&nbsp;
+Better I endured a thousand deaths.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I run no risk,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;but by thy delay.&nbsp;
+Depart; it cannot be known that I have assisted thy flight.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Swear by the saints above,&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;that
+thou canst not be suspected; else here I vow to await whatever can befall
+me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! thou art too generous,&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;but rest
+assured that no suspicion can alight on me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Give me thy beauteous hand in token that thou dost not deceive
+me,&rdquo; said Theodore; &ldquo;and let me bathe it with the warm tears
+of gratitude.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Forbear!&rdquo; said the Princess; &ldquo;this must not be.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;I have never known but calamity
+until this hour - perhaps shall never know other fortune again: suffer
+the chaste raptures of holy gratitude: &rsquo;tis my soul would print
+its effusions on thy hand.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Forbear, and be gone,&rdquo; said Matilda.&nbsp; &ldquo;How would
+Isabella approve of seeing thee at my feet?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Who is Isabella?&rdquo; said the young man with surprise.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Ah, me!&nbsp; I fear,&rdquo; said the Princess, &ldquo;I am serving
+a deceitful one.&nbsp; Hast thou forgot thy curiosity this morning?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thy looks, thy actions, all thy beauteous self seem an emanation
+of divinity,&rdquo; said Theodore; &ldquo;but thy words are dark and
+mysterious.&nbsp; Speak, Lady; speak to thy servant&rsquo;s comprehension.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou understandest but too well!&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;but
+once more I command thee to be gone: thy blood, which I may preserve,
+will be on my head, if I waste the time in vain discourse.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I go, Lady,&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;because it is thy will,
+and because I would not bring the grey hairs of my father with sorrow
+to the grave.&nbsp; Say but, adored Lady, that I have thy gentle pity.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Stay,&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;I will conduct thee to the
+subterraneous vault by which Isabella escaped; it will lead thee to
+the church of St. Nicholas, where thou mayst take sanctuary.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What!&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;was it another, and not thy
+lovely self that I assisted to find the subterraneous passage?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It was,&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;but ask no more; I tremble
+to see thee still abide here; fly to the sanctuary.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;To sanctuary,&rdquo; said Theodore; &ldquo;no, Princess; sanctuaries
+are for helpless damsels, or for criminals.&nbsp; Theodore&rsquo;s soul
+is free from guilt, nor will wear the appearance of it.&nbsp; Give me
+a sword, Lady, and thy father shall learn that Theodore scorns an ignominious
+flight.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Rash youth!&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;thou wouldst not dare
+to lift thy presumptuous arm against the Prince of Otranto?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Not against thy father; indeed, I dare not,&rdquo; said Theodore.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Excuse me, Lady; I had forgotten.&nbsp; But could I gaze on thee,
+and remember thou art sprung from the tyrant Manfred!&nbsp; But he is
+thy father, and from this moment my injuries are buried in oblivion.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+A deep and hollow groan, which seemed to come from above, startled the
+Princess and Theodore.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Good heaven! we are overheard!&rdquo; said the Princess.&nbsp;
+They listened; but perceiving no further noise, they both concluded
+it the effect of pent-up vapours.&nbsp; And the Princess, preceding
+Theodore softly, carried him to her father&rsquo;s armoury, where, equipping
+him with a complete suit, he was conducted by Matilda to the postern-gate.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Avoid the town,&rdquo; said the Princess, &ldquo;and all the
+western side of the castle.&nbsp; &rsquo;Tis there the search must be
+making by Manfred and the strangers; but hie thee to the opposite quarter.&nbsp;
+Yonder behind that forest to the east is a chain of rocks, hollowed
+into a labyrinth of caverns that reach to the sea coast.&nbsp; There
+thou mayst lie concealed, till thou canst make signs to some vessel
+to put on shore, and take thee off.&nbsp; Go! heaven be thy guide! -
+and sometimes in thy prayers remember - Matilda!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Theodore flung himself at her feet, and seizing her lily hand, which
+with struggles she suffered him to kiss, he vowed on the earliest opportunity
+to get himself knighted, and fervently entreated her permission to swear
+himself eternally her knight.&nbsp; Ere the Princess could reply, a
+clap of thunder was suddenly heard that shook the battlements.&nbsp;
+Theodore, regardless of the tempest, would have urged his suit: but
+the Princess, dismayed, retreated hastily into the castle, and commanded
+the youth to be gone with an air that would not be disobeyed.&nbsp;
+He sighed, and retired, but with eyes fixed on the gate, until Matilda,
+closing it, put an end to an interview, in which the hearts of both
+had drunk so deeply of a passion, which both now tasted for the first
+time.<br>
+<br>
+Theodore went pensively to the convent, to acquaint his father with
+his deliverance.&nbsp; There he learned the absence of Jerome, and the
+pursuit that was making after the Lady Isabella, with some particulars
+of whose story he now first became acquainted.&nbsp; The generous gallantry
+of his nature prompted him to wish to assist her; but the Monks could
+lend him no lights to guess at the route she had taken.&nbsp; He was
+not tempted to wander far in search of her, for the idea of Matilda
+had imprinted itself so strongly on his heart, that he could not bear
+to absent himself at much distance from her abode.&nbsp; The tenderness
+Jerome had expressed for him concurred to confirm this reluctance; and
+he even persuaded himself that filial affection was the chief cause
+of his hovering between the castle and monastery.<br>
+<br>
+Until Jerome should return at night, Theodore at length determined to
+repair to the forest that Matilda had pointed out to him.&nbsp; Arriving
+there, he sought the gloomiest shades, as best suited to the pleasing
+melancholy that reigned in his mind.&nbsp; In this mood he roved insensibly
+to the caves which had formerly served as a retreat to hermits, and
+were now reported round the country to be haunted by evil spirits.&nbsp;
+He recollected to have heard this tradition; and being of a brave and
+adventurous disposition, he willingly indulged his curiosity in exploring
+the secret recesses of this labyrinth.&nbsp; He had not penetrated far
+before he thought he heard the steps of some person who seemed to retreat
+before him.<br>
+<br>
+Theodore, though firmly grounded in all our holy faith enjoins to be
+believed, had no apprehension that good men were abandoned without cause
+to the malice of the powers of darkness.&nbsp; He thought the place
+more likely to be infested by robbers than by those infernal agents
+who are reported to molest and bewilder travellers.&nbsp; He had long
+burned with impatience to approve his valour.&nbsp; Drawing his sabre,
+he marched sedately onwards, still directing his steps as the imperfect
+rustling sound before him led the way.&nbsp; The armour he wore was
+a like indication to the person who avoided him.&nbsp; Theodore, now
+convinced that he was not mistaken, redoubled his pace, and evidently
+gained on the person that fled, whose haste increasing, Theodore came
+up just as a woman fell breathless before him.&nbsp; He hasted to raise
+her, but her terror was so great that he apprehended she would faint
+in his arms.&nbsp; He used every gentle word to dispel her alarms, and
+assured her that far from injuring, he would defend her at the peril
+of his life.&nbsp; The Lady recovering her spirits from his courteous
+demeanour, and gazing on her protector, said -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Sure, I have heard that voice before!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Not to my knowledge,&rdquo; replied Theodore; &ldquo;unless,
+as I conjecture, thou art the Lady Isabella.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Merciful heaven!&rdquo; cried she.&nbsp; &ldquo;Thou art not
+sent in quest of me, art thou?&rdquo;&nbsp; And saying those words,
+she threw herself at his feet, and besought him not to deliver her up
+to Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;To Manfred!&rdquo; cried Theodore - &ldquo;no, Lady; I have once
+already delivered thee from his tyranny, and it shall fare hard with
+me now, but I will place thee out of the reach of his daring.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Is it possible,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;that thou shouldst be
+the generous unknown whom I met last night in the vault of the castle?&nbsp;
+Sure thou art not a mortal, but my guardian angel.&nbsp; On my knees,
+let me thank - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Hold! gentle Princess,&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;nor demean
+thyself before a poor and friendless young man.&nbsp; If heaven has
+selected me for thy deliverer, it will accomplish its work, and strengthen
+my arm in thy cause.&nbsp; But come, Lady, we are too near the mouth
+of the cavern; let us seek its inmost recesses.&nbsp; I can have no
+tranquillity till I have placed thee beyond the reach of danger.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Alas! what mean you, sir?&rdquo; said she.&nbsp; &ldquo;Though
+all your actions are noble, though your sentiments speak the purity
+of your soul, is it fitting that I should accompany you alone into these
+perplexed retreats?&nbsp; Should we be found together, what would a
+censorious world think of my conduct?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I respect your virtuous delicacy,&rdquo; said Theodore; &ldquo;nor
+do you harbour a suspicion that wounds my honour.&nbsp; I meant to conduct
+you into the most private cavity of these rocks, and then at the hazard
+of my life to guard their entrance against every living thing.&nbsp;
+Besides, Lady,&rdquo; continued he, drawing a deep sigh, &ldquo;beauteous
+and all perfect as your form is, and though my wishes are not guiltless
+of aspiring, know, my soul is dedicated to another; and although - &rdquo;&nbsp;
+A sudden noise prevented Theodore from proceeding.&nbsp; They soon distinguished
+these sounds -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Isabella! what, ho! Isabella!&rdquo;&nbsp; The trembling Princess
+relapsed into her former agony of fear.&nbsp; Theodore endeavoured to
+encourage her, but in vain.&nbsp; He assured her he would die rather
+than suffer her to return under Manfred&rsquo;s power; and begging her
+to remain concealed, he went forth to prevent the person in search of
+her from approaching.<br>
+<br>
+At the mouth of the cavern he found an armed Knight, discoursing with
+a peasant, who assured him he had seen a lady enter the passes of the
+rock.&nbsp; The Knight was preparing to seek her, when Theodore, placing
+himself in his way, with his sword drawn, sternly forbad him at his
+peril to advance.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And who art thou, who darest to cross my way?&rdquo; said the
+Knight, haughtily.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;One who does not dare more than he will perform,&rdquo; said
+Theodore.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I seek the Lady Isabella,&rdquo; said the Knight, &ldquo;and
+understand she has taken refuge among these rocks.&nbsp; Impede me not,
+or thou wilt repent having provoked my resentment.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thy purpose is as odious as thy resentment is contemptible,&rdquo;
+said Theodore.&nbsp; &ldquo;Return whence thou camest, or we shall soon
+know whose resentment is most terrible.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The stranger, who was the principal Knight that had arrived from the
+Marquis of Vicenza, had galloped from Manfred as he was busied in getting
+information of the Princess, and giving various orders to prevent her
+falling into the power of the three Knights.&nbsp; Their chief had suspected
+Manfred of being privy to the Princess&rsquo;s absconding, and this
+insult from a man, who he concluded was stationed by that Prince to
+secrete her, confirming his suspicions, he made no reply, but discharging
+a blow with his sabre at Theodore, would soon have removed all obstruction,
+if Theodore, who took him for one of Manfred&rsquo;s captains, and who
+had no sooner given the provocation than prepared to support it, had
+not received the stroke on his shield.&nbsp; The valour that had so
+long been smothered in his breast broke forth at once; he rushed impetuously
+on the Knight, whose pride and wrath were not less powerful incentives
+to hardy deeds.&nbsp; The combat was furious, but not long.&nbsp; Theodore
+wounded the Knight in three several places, and at last disarmed him
+as he fainted by the loss of blood.<br>
+<br>
+The peasant, who had fled on the first onset, had given the alarm to
+some of Manfred&rsquo;s domestics, who, by his orders, were dispersed
+through the forest in pursuit of Isabella.&nbsp; They came up as the
+Knight fell, whom they soon discovered to be the noble stranger.&nbsp;
+Theodore, notwithstanding his hatred to Manfred, could not behold the
+victory he had gained without emotions of pity and generosity.&nbsp;
+But he was more touched when he learned the quality of his adversary,
+and was informed that he was no retainer, but an enemy, of Manfred.&nbsp;
+He assisted the servants of the latter in disarming the Knight, and
+in endeavouring to stanch the blood that flowed from his wounds.&nbsp;
+The Knight recovering his speech, said, in a faint and faltering voice
+-<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Generous foe, we have both been in an error.&nbsp; I took thee
+for an instrument of the tyrant; I perceive thou hast made the like
+mistake.&nbsp; It is too late for excuses.&nbsp; I faint.&nbsp; If Isabella
+is at hand - call her - I have important secrets to - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;He is dying!&rdquo; said one of the attendants; &ldquo;has nobody
+a crucifix about them?&nbsp; Andrea, do thou pray over him.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Fetch some water,&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;and pour it down
+his throat, while I hasten to the Princess.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Saying this, he flew to Isabella, and in few words told her modestly
+that he had been so unfortunate by mistake as to wound a gentleman from
+her father&rsquo;s court, who wished, ere he died, to impart something
+of consequence to her.<br>
+<br>
+The Princess, who had been transported at hearing the voice of Theodore,
+as he called to her to come forth, was astonished at what she heard.&nbsp;
+Suffering herself to be conducted by Theodore, the new proof of whose
+valour recalled her dispersed spirits, she came where the bleeding Knight
+lay speechless on the ground.&nbsp; But her fears returned when she
+beheld the domestics of Manfred.&nbsp; She would again have fled if
+Theodore had not made her observe that they were unarmed, and had not
+threatened them with instant death if they should dare to seize the
+Princess.<br>
+<br>
+The stranger, opening his eyes, and beholding a woman, said, &ldquo;Art
+thou - pray tell me truly - art thou Isabella of Vicenza?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I am,&rdquo; said she: &ldquo;good heaven restore thee!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&ldquo;Then thou - then thou&rdquo; - said the Knight, struggling
+for utterance - &ldquo;seest - thy father.&nbsp; Give me one - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! amazement! horror! what do I hear! what do I see!&rdquo;
+cried Isabella.&nbsp; &ldquo;My father!&nbsp; You my father!&nbsp; How
+came you here, Sir?&nbsp; For heaven&rsquo;s sake, speak!&nbsp; Oh!
+run for help, or he will expire!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis most true,&rdquo; said the wounded Knight, exerting
+all his force; &ldquo;I am Frederic thy father.&nbsp; Yes, I came to
+deliver thee.&nbsp; It will not be.&nbsp; Give me a parting kiss, and
+take - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;do not exhaust yourself; suffer
+us to convey you to the castle.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;To the castle!&rdquo; said Isabella.&nbsp; &ldquo;Is there no
+help nearer than the castle?&nbsp; Would you expose my father to the
+tyrant?&nbsp; If he goes thither, I dare not accompany him; and yet,
+can I leave him!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My child,&rdquo; said Frederic, &ldquo;it matters not for me
+whither I am carried.&nbsp; A few minutes will place me beyond danger;
+but while I have eyes to dote on thee, forsake me not, dear Isabella!&nbsp;
+This brave Knight - I know not who he is - will protect thy innocence.&nbsp;
+Sir, you will not abandon my child, will you?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Theodore, shedding tears over his victim, and vowing to guard the Princess
+at the expense of his life, persuaded Frederic to suffer himself to
+be conducted to the castle.&nbsp; They placed him on a horse belonging
+to one of the domestics, after binding up his wounds as well as they
+were able.&nbsp; Theodore marched by his side; and the afflicted Isabella,
+who could not bear to quit him, followed mournfully behind.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+CHAPTER IV.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+The sorrowful troop no sooner arrived at the castle, than they were
+met by Hippolita and Matilda, whom Isabella had sent one of the domestics
+before to advertise of their approach.&nbsp; The ladies causing Frederic
+to be conveyed into the nearest chamber, retired, while the surgeons
+examined his wounds.&nbsp; Matilda blushed at seeing Theodore and Isabella
+together; but endeavoured to conceal it by embracing the latter, and
+condoling with her on her father&rsquo;s mischance.&nbsp; The surgeons
+soon came to acquaint Hippolita that none of the Marquis&rsquo;s wounds
+were dangerous; and that he was desirous of seeing his daughter and
+the Princesses.<br>
+<br>
+Theodore, under pretence of expressing his joy at being freed from his
+apprehensions of the combat being fatal to Frederic, could not resist
+the impulse of following Matilda.&nbsp; Her eyes were so often cast
+down on meeting his, that Isabella, who regarded Theodore as attentively
+as he gazed on Matilda, soon divined who the object was that he had
+told her in the cave engaged his affections.&nbsp; While this mute scene
+passed, Hippolita demanded of Frederic the cause of his having taken
+that mysterious course for reclaiming his daughter; and threw in various
+apologies to excuse her Lord for the match contracted between their
+children.<br>
+<br>
+Frederic, however incensed against Manfred, was not insensible to the
+courtesy and benevolence of Hippolita: but he was still more struck
+with the lovely form of Matilda.&nbsp; Wishing to detain them by his
+bedside, he informed Hippolita of his story.&nbsp; He told her that,
+while prisoner to the infidels, he had dreamed that his daughter, of
+whom he had learned no news since his captivity, was detained in a castle,
+where she was in danger of the most dreadful misfortunes: and that if
+he obtained his liberty, and repaired to a wood near Joppa, he would
+learn more.&nbsp; Alarmed at this dream, and incapable of obeying the
+direction given by it, his chains became more grievous than ever.&nbsp;
+But while his thoughts were occupied on the means of obtaining his liberty,
+he received the agreeable news that the confederate Princes who were
+warring in Palestine had paid his ransom.&nbsp; He instantly set out
+for the wood that had been marked in his dream.<br>
+<br>
+For three days he and his attendants had wandered in the forest without
+seeing a human form: but on the evening of the third they came to a
+cell, in which they found a venerable hermit in the agonies of death.&nbsp;
+Applying rich cordials, they brought the fainting man to his speech.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My sons,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I am bounden to your charity
+- but it is in vain - I am going to my eternal rest - yet I die with
+the satisfaction of performing the will of heaven.&nbsp; When first
+I repaired to this solitude, after seeing my country become a prey to
+unbelievers - it is alas! above fifty years since I was witness to that
+dreadful scene!&nbsp; St. Nicholas appeared to me, and revealed a secret,
+which he bade me never disclose to mortal man, but on my death-bed.&nbsp;
+This is that tremendous hour, and ye are no doubt the chosen warriors
+to whom I was ordered to reveal my trust.&nbsp; As soon as ye have done
+the last offices to this wretched corse, dig under the seventh tree
+on the left hand of this poor cave, and your pains will - Oh! good heaven
+receive my soul!&rdquo;&nbsp; With those words the devout man breathed
+his last.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;By break of day,&rdquo; continued Frederic, &ldquo;when we had
+committed the holy relics to earth, we dug according to direction.&nbsp;
+But what was our astonishment when about the depth of six feet we discovered
+an enormous sabre - the very weapon yonder in the court.&nbsp; On the
+blade, which was then partly out of the scabbard, though since closed
+by our efforts in removing it, were written the following lines - no;
+excuse me, Madam,&rdquo; added the Marquis, turning to Hippolita; &ldquo;if
+I forbear to repeat them: I respect your sex and rank, and would not
+be guilty of offending your ear with sounds injurious to aught that
+is dear to you.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+He paused.&nbsp; Hippolita trembled.&nbsp; She did not doubt but Frederic
+was destined by heaven to accomplish the fate that seemed to threaten
+her house.&nbsp; Looking with anxious fondness at Matilda, a silent
+tear stole down her cheek: but recollecting herself, she said -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Proceed, my Lord; heaven does nothing in vain; mortals must receive
+its divine behests with lowliness and submission.&nbsp; It is our part
+to deprecate its wrath, or bow to its decrees.&nbsp; Repeat the sentence,
+my Lord; we listen resigned.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Frederic was grieved that he had proceeded so far.&nbsp; The dignity
+and patient firmness of Hippolita penetrated him with respect, and the
+tender silent affection with which the Princess and her daughter regarded
+each other, melted him almost to tears.&nbsp; Yet apprehensive that
+his forbearance to obey would be more alarming, he repeated in a faltering
+and low voice the following lines:<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Where&rsquo;er a casque that suits this sword is found,<br>
+With perils is thy daughter compass&rsquo;d round;<br>
+<i>Alfonso&rsquo;s</i> blood alone can save the maid,<br>
+And quiet a long restless Prince&rsquo;s shade.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What is there in these lines,&rdquo; said Theodore impatiently,
+&ldquo;that affects these Princesses?&nbsp; Why were they to be shocked
+by a mysterious delicacy, that has so little foundation?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Your words are rude, young man,&rdquo; said the Marquis; &ldquo;and
+though fortune has favoured you once - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My honoured Lord,&rdquo; said Isabella, who resented Theodore&rsquo;s
+warmth, which she perceived was dictated by his sentiments for Matilda,
+&ldquo;discompose not yourself for the glosing of a peasant&rsquo;s
+son: he forgets the reverence he owes you; but he is not accustomed
+- &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Hippolita, concerned at the heat that had arisen, checked Theodore for
+his boldness, but with an air acknowledging his zeal; and changing the
+conversation, demanded of Frederic where he had left her Lord?&nbsp;
+As the Marquis was going to reply, they heard a noise without, and rising
+to inquire the cause, Manfred, Jerome, and part of the troop, who had
+met an imperfect rumour of what had happened, entered the chamber.&nbsp;
+Manfred advanced hastily towards Frederic&rsquo;s bed to condole with
+him on his misfortune, and to learn the circumstances of the combat,
+when starting in an agony of terror and amazement, he cried -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Ha! what art thou? thou dreadful spectre! is my hour come?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My dearest, gracious Lord,&rdquo; cried Hippolita, clasping him
+in her arms, &ldquo;what is it you see!&nbsp; Why do you fix your eye-balls
+thus?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What!&rdquo; cried Manfred breathless; &ldquo;dost thou see nothing,
+Hippolita?&nbsp; Is this ghastly phantom sent to me alone - to rue,
+who did not - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;For mercy&rsquo;s sweetest self, my Lord,&rdquo; said Hippolita,
+&ldquo;resume your soul, command your reason.&nbsp; There is none here,
+but us, your friends.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What, is not that Alfonso?&rdquo; cried Manfred.&nbsp; &ldquo;Dost
+thou not see him? can it be my brain&rsquo;s delirium?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;This! my Lord,&rdquo; said Hippolita; &ldquo;this is Theodore,
+the youth who has been so unfortunate.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Theodore!&rdquo; said Manfred mournfully, and striking his forehead;
+&ldquo;Theodore or a phantom, he has unhinged the soul of Manfred.&nbsp;
+But how comes he here? and how comes he in armour?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I believe he went in search of Isabella,&rdquo; said Hippolita.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Of Isabella!&rdquo; said Manfred, relapsing into rage; &ldquo;yes,
+yes, that is not doubtful -.&nbsp; But how did he escape from durance
+in which I left him?&nbsp; Was it Isabella, or this hypocritical old
+Friar, that procured his enlargement?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And would a parent be criminal, my Lord,&rdquo; said Theodore,
+&ldquo;if he meditated the deliverance of his child?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Jerome, amazed to hear himself in a manner accused by his son, and without
+foundation, knew not what to think.&nbsp; He could not comprehend how
+Theodore had escaped, how he came to be armed, and to encounter Frederic.&nbsp;
+Still he would not venture to ask any questions that might tend to inflame
+Manfred&rsquo;s wrath against his son.&nbsp; Jerome&rsquo;s silence
+convinced Manfred that he had contrived Theodore&rsquo;s release.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And is it thus, thou ungrateful old man,&rdquo; said the Prince,
+addressing himself to the Friar, &ldquo;that thou repayest mine and
+Hippolita&rsquo;s bounties?&nbsp; And not content with traversing my
+heart&rsquo;s nearest wishes, thou armest thy bastard, and bringest
+him into my own castle to insult me!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;you wrong my father: neither
+he nor I are capable of harbouring a thought against your peace.&nbsp;
+Is it insolence thus to surrender myself to your Highness&rsquo;s pleasure?&rdquo;
+added he, laying his sword respectfully at Manfred&rsquo;s feet.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Behold my bosom; strike, my Lord, if you suspect that a disloyal
+thought is lodged there.&nbsp; There is not a sentiment engraven on
+my heart that does not venerate you and yours.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The grace and fervour with which Theodore uttered these words interested
+every person present in his favour.&nbsp; Even Manfred was touched -
+yet still possessed with his resemblance to Alfonso, his admiration
+was dashed with secret horror.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Rise,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;thy life is not my present purpose.&nbsp;
+But tell me thy history, and how thou camest connected with this old
+traitor here.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; said Jerome eagerly.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Peace! impostor!&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;I will not have
+him prompted.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;I want no assistance; my
+story is very brief.&nbsp; I was carried at five years of age to Algiers
+with my mother, who had been taken by corsairs from the coast of Sicily.&nbsp;
+She died of grief in less than a twelvemonth;&rdquo; the tears gushed
+from Jerome&rsquo;s eyes, on whose countenance a thousand anxious passions
+stood expressed.&nbsp; &ldquo;Before she died,&rdquo; continued Theodore,
+&ldquo;she bound a writing about my arm under my garments, which told
+me I was the son of the Count Falconara.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It is most true,&rdquo; said Jerome; &ldquo;I am that wretched
+father.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Again I enjoin thee silence,&rdquo; said Manfred: &ldquo;proceed.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I remained in slavery,&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;until within
+these two years, when attending on my master in his cruises, I was delivered
+by a Christian vessel, which overpowered the pirate; and discovering
+myself to the captain, he generously put me on shore in Sicily; but
+alas! instead of finding a father, I learned that his estate, which
+was situated on the coast, had, during his absence, been laid waste
+by the Rover who had carried my mother and me into captivity: that his
+castle had been burnt to the ground, and that my father on his return
+had sold what remained, and was retired into religion in the kingdom
+of Naples, but where no man could inform me.&nbsp; Destitute and friendless,
+hopeless almost of attaining the transport of a parent&rsquo;s embrace,
+I took the first opportunity of setting sail for Naples, from whence,
+within these six days, I wandered into this province, still supporting
+myself by the labour of my hands; nor until yester-morn did I believe
+that heaven had reserved any lot for me but peace of mind and contented
+poverty.&nbsp; This, my Lord, is Theodore&rsquo;s story.&nbsp; I am
+blessed beyond my hope in finding a father; I am unfortunate beyond
+my desert in having incurred your Highness&rsquo;s displeasure.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+He ceased.&nbsp; A murmur of approbation gently arose from the audience.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;This is not all,&rdquo; said Frederic; &ldquo;I am bound in honour
+to add what he suppresses.&nbsp; Though he is modest, I must be generous;
+he is one of the bravest youths on Christian ground.&nbsp; He is warm
+too; and from the short knowledge I have of him, I will pledge myself
+for his veracity: if what he reports of himself were not true, he would
+not utter it - and for me, youth, I honour a frankness which becomes
+thy birth; but now, and thou didst offend me: yet the noble blood which
+flows in thy veins, may well be allowed to boil out, when it has so
+recently traced itself to its source.&nbsp; Come, my Lord,&rdquo; (turning
+to Manfred), &ldquo;if I can pardon him, surely you may; it is not the
+youth&rsquo;s fault, if you took him for a spectre.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+This bitter taunt galled the soul of Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;If beings from another world,&rdquo; replied he haughtily, &ldquo;have
+power to impress my mind with awe, it is more than living man can do;
+nor could a stripling&rsquo;s arm.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; interrupted Hippolita, &ldquo;your guest has
+occasion for repose: shall we not leave him to his rest?&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Saying this, and taking Manfred by the hand, she took leave of Frederic,
+and led the company forth.<br>
+<br>
+The Prince, not sorry to quit a conversation which recalled to mind
+the discovery he had made of his most secret sensations, suffered himself
+to be conducted to his own apartment, after permitting Theodore, though
+under engagement to return to the castle on the morrow (a condition
+the young man gladly accepted), to retire with his father to the convent.&nbsp;
+Matilda and Isabella were too much occupied with their own reflections,
+and too little content with each other, to wish for farther converse
+that night.&nbsp; They separated each to her chamber, with more expressions
+of ceremony and fewer of affection thou had passed between them since
+their childhood.<br>
+<br>
+If they parted with small cordiality, they did but meet with greater
+impatience, as soon as the sun was risen.&nbsp; Their minds were in
+a situation that excluded sleep, and each recollected a thousand questions
+which she wished she had put to the other overnight.&nbsp; Matilda reflected
+that Isabella had been twice delivered by Theodore in very critical
+situations, which she could not believe accidental.&nbsp; His eyes,
+it was true, had been fixed on her in Frederic&rsquo;s chamber; but
+that might have been to disguise his passion for Isabella from the fathers
+of both.&nbsp; It were better to clear this up.&nbsp; She wished to
+know the truth, lest she should wrong her friend by entertaining a passion
+for Isabella&rsquo;s lover.&nbsp; Thus jealousy prompted, and at the
+same time borrowed an excuse from friendship to justify its curiosity.<br>
+<br>
+Isabella, not less restless, had better foundation for her suspicions.&nbsp;
+Both Theodore&rsquo;s tongue and eyes had told her his heart was engaged;
+it was true - yet, perhaps, Matilda might not correspond to his passion;
+she had ever appeared insensible to love: all her thoughts were set
+on heaven.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Why did I dissuade her?&rdquo; said Isabella to herself; &ldquo;I
+am punished for my generosity; but when did they meet? where?&nbsp;
+It cannot be; I have deceived myself; perhaps last night was the first
+time they ever beheld each other; it must be some other object that
+has prepossessed his affections - if it is, I am not so unhappy as I
+thought; if it is not my friend Matilda - how!&nbsp; Can I stoop to
+wish for the affection of a man, who rudely and unnecessarily acquainted
+me with his indifference? and that at the very moment in which common
+courtesy demanded at least expressions of civility.&nbsp; I will go
+to my dear Matilda, who will confirm me in this becoming pride.&nbsp;
+Man is false - I will advise with her on taking the veil: she will rejoice
+to find me in this disposition; and I will acquaint her that I no longer
+oppose her inclination for the cloister.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+In this frame of mind, and determined to open her heart entirely to
+Matilda, she went to that Princess&rsquo;s chamber, whom she found already
+dressed, and leaning pensively on her arm.&nbsp; This attitude, so correspondent
+to what she felt herself, revived Isabella&rsquo;s suspicions, and destroyed
+the confidence she had purposed to place in her friend.&nbsp; They blushed
+at meeting, and were too much novices to disguise their sensations with
+address.&nbsp; After some unmeaning questions and replies, Matilda demanded
+of Isabella the cause of her flight?&nbsp; The latter, who had almost
+forgotten Manfred&rsquo;s passion, so entirely was she occupied by her
+own, concluding that Matilda referred to her last escape from the convent,
+which had occasioned the events of the preceding evening, replied -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Martelli brought word to the convent that your mother was dead.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Matilda, interrupting her, &ldquo;Bianca has
+explained that mistake to me: on seeing me faint, she cried out, &lsquo;The
+Princess is dead!&rsquo; and Martelli, who had come for the usual dole
+to the castle - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And what made you faint?&rdquo; said Isabella, indifferent to
+the rest.&nbsp; Matilda blushed and stammered -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My father - he was sitting in judgment on a criminal - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What criminal?&rdquo; said Isabella eagerly.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;A young man,&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;I believe - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I think it was that young man that - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What, Theodore?&rdquo; said Isabella.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered she; &ldquo;I never saw him before; I do
+not know how he had offended my father, but as he has been of service
+to you, I am glad my Lord has pardoned him.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Served me!&rdquo; replied Isabella; &ldquo;do you term it serving
+me, to wound my father, and almost occasion his death?&nbsp; Though
+it is but since yesterday that I am blessed with knowing a parent, I
+hope Matilda does not think I am such a stranger to filial tenderness
+as not to resent the boldness of that audacious youth, and that it is
+impossible for me ever to feel any affection for one who dared to lift
+his arm against the author of my being.&nbsp; No, Matilda, my heart
+abhors him; and if you still retain the friendship for me that you have
+vowed from your infancy, you will detest a man who has been on the point
+of making me miserable for ever.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Matilda held down her head and replied: &ldquo;I hope my dearest Isabella
+does not doubt her Matilda&rsquo;s friendship: I never beheld that youth
+until yesterday; he is almost a stranger to me: but as the surgeons
+have pronounced your father out of danger, you ought not to harbour
+uncharitable resentment against one, who I am persuaded did not know
+the Marquis was related to you.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;You plead his cause very pathetically,&rdquo; said Isabella,
+&ldquo;considering he is so much a stranger to you!&nbsp; I am mistaken,
+or he returns your charity.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What mean you?&rdquo; said Matilda.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; said Isabella, repenting that she had given Matilda
+a hint of Theodore&rsquo;s inclination for her.&nbsp; Then changing
+the discourse, she asked Matilda what occasioned Manfred to take Theodore
+for a spectre?<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Bless me,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;did not you observe his
+extreme resemblance to the portrait of Alfonso in the gallery?&nbsp;
+I took notice of it to Bianca even before I saw him in armour; but with
+the helmet on, he is the very image of that picture.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I do not much observe pictures,&rdquo; said Isabella: &ldquo;much
+less have I examined this young man so attentively as you seem to have
+done.&nbsp; Ah?&nbsp; Matilda, your heart is in danger, but let me warn
+you as a friend, he has owned to me that he is in love; it cannot be
+with you, for yesterday was the first time you ever met - was it not?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; replied Matilda; &ldquo;but why does my dearest
+Isabella conclude from anything I have said, that&rdquo; - she paused
+- then continuing: &ldquo;he saw you first, and I am far from having
+the vanity to think that my little portion of charms could engage a
+heart devoted to you; may you be happy, Isabella, whatever is the fate
+of Matilda!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My lovely friend,&rdquo; said Isabella, whose heart was too honest
+to resist a kind expression, &ldquo;it is you that Theodore admires;
+I saw it; I am persuaded of it; nor shall a thought of my own happiness
+suffer me to interfere with yours.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+This frankness drew tears from the gentle Matilda; and jealousy that
+for a moment had raised a coolness between these amiable maidens soon
+gave way to the natural sincerity and candour of their souls.&nbsp;
+Each confessed to the other the impression that Theodore had made on
+her; and this confidence was followed by a struggle of generosity, each
+insisting on yielding her claim to her friend.&nbsp; At length the dignity
+of Isabella&rsquo;s virtue reminding her of the preference which Theodore
+had almost declared for her rival, made her determine to conquer her
+passion, and cede the beloved object to her friend.<br>
+<br>
+During this contest of amity, Hippolita entered her daughter&rsquo;s
+chamber.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said she to Isabella, &ldquo;you have so much tenderness
+for Matilda, and interest yourself so kindly in whatever affects our
+wretched house, that I can have no secrets with my child which are not
+proper for you to hear.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The princesses were all attention and anxiety.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Know then, Madam,&rdquo; continued Hippolita, &ldquo;and you
+my dearest Matilda, that being convinced by all the events of these
+two last ominous days, that heaven purposes the sceptre of Otranto should
+pass from Manfred&rsquo;s hands into those of the Marquis Frederic,
+I have been perhaps inspired with the thought of averting our total
+destruction by the union of our rival houses.&nbsp; With this view I
+have been proposing to Manfred, my lord, to tender this dear, dear child
+to Frederic, your father.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Me to Lord Frederic!&rdquo; cried Matilda; &ldquo;good heavens!
+my gracious mother - and have you named it to my father?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I have,&rdquo; said Hippolita; &ldquo;he listened benignly to
+my proposal, and is gone to break it to the Marquis.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Ah! wretched princess!&rdquo; cried Isabella; &ldquo;what hast
+thou done! what ruin has thy inadvertent goodness been preparing for
+thyself, for me, and for Matilda!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Ruin from me to you and to my child!&rdquo; said Hippolita &ldquo;what
+can this mean?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; said Isabella, &ldquo;the purity of your own heart
+prevents your seeing the depravity of others.&nbsp; Manfred, your lord,
+that impious man - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Hold,&rdquo; said Hippolita; &ldquo;you must not in my presence,
+young lady, mention Manfred with disrespect: he is my lord and husband,
+and - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Will not long be so,&rdquo; said Isabella, &ldquo;if his wicked
+purposes can be carried into execution.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;This language amazes me,&rdquo; said Hippolita.&nbsp; &ldquo;Your
+feeling, Isabella, is warm; but until this hour I never knew it betray
+you into intemperance.&nbsp; What deed of Manfred authorises you to
+treat him as a murderer, an assassin?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou virtuous, and too credulous Princess!&rdquo; replied Isabella;
+&ldquo;it is not thy life he aims at - it is to separate himself from
+thee! to divorce thee! to - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;To divorce me!&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;To divorce my mother!&rdquo;
+cried Hippolita and Matilda at once.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Isabella; &ldquo;and to complete his crime,
+he meditates - I cannot speak it!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What can surpass what thou hast already uttered?&rdquo; said
+Matilda.<br>
+<br>
+Hippolita was silent.&nbsp; Grief choked her speech; and the recollection
+of Manfred&rsquo;s late ambiguous discourses confirmed what she heard.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Excellent, dear lady! madam! mother!&rdquo; cried Isabella, flinging
+herself at Hippolita&rsquo;s feet in a transport of passion; &ldquo;trust
+me, believe me, I will die a thousand deaths sooner than consent to
+injure you, than yield to so odious - oh! - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;This is too much!&rdquo; cried Hippolita: &ldquo;What crimes
+does one crime suggest!&nbsp; Rise, dear Isabella; I do not doubt your
+virtue.&nbsp; Oh! Matilda, this stroke is too heavy for thee! weep not,
+my child; and not a murmur, I charge thee.&nbsp; Remember, he is thy
+father still!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;But you are my mother too,&rdquo; said Matilda fervently; &ldquo;and
+you are virtuous, you are guiltless! - Oh! must not I, must not I complain?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;You must not,&rdquo; said Hippolita - &ldquo;come, all will yet
+be well.&nbsp; Manfred, in the agony for the loss of thy brother, knew
+not what he said; perhaps Isabella misunderstood him; his heart is good
+- and, my child, thou knowest not all!&nbsp; There is a destiny hangs
+over us; the hand of Providence is stretched out; oh! could I but save
+thee from the wreck!&nbsp; Yes,&rdquo; continued she in a firmer tone,
+&ldquo;perhaps the sacrifice of myself may atone for all; I will go
+and offer myself to this divorce - it boots not what becomes of me.&nbsp;
+I will withdraw into the neighbouring monastery, and waste the remainder
+of life in prayers and tears for my child and - the Prince!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou art as much too good for this world,&rdquo; said Isabella,
+&ldquo;as Manfred is execrable; but think not, lady, that thy weakness
+shall determine for me.&nbsp; I swear, hear me all ye angels - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Stop, I adjure thee,&rdquo; cried Hippolita: &ldquo;remember
+thou dost not depend on thyself; thou hast a father.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My father is too pious, too noble,&rdquo; interrupted Isabella,
+&ldquo;to command an impious deed.&nbsp; But should he command it; can
+a father enjoin a cursed act?&nbsp; I was contracted to the son, can
+I wed the father?&nbsp; No, madam, no; force should not drag me to Manfred&rsquo;s
+hated bed.&nbsp; I loathe him, I abhor him: divine and human laws forbid
+- and my friend, my dearest Matilda! would I wound her tender soul by
+injuring her adored mother? my own mother - I never have known another&rdquo;
+-<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! she is the mother of both!&rdquo; cried Matilda: &ldquo;can
+we, can we, Isabella, adore her too much?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My lovely children,&rdquo; said the touched Hippolita, &ldquo;your
+tenderness overpowers me - but I must not give way to it.&nbsp; It is
+not ours to make election for ourselves: heaven, our fathers, and our
+husbands must decide for us.&nbsp; Have patience until you hear what
+Manfred and Frederic have determined.&nbsp; If the Marquis accepts Matilda&rsquo;s
+hand, I know she will readily obey.&nbsp; Heaven may interpose and prevent
+the rest.&nbsp; What means my child?&rdquo; continued she, seeing Matilda
+fall at her feet with a flood of speechless tears - &ldquo;But no; answer
+me not, my daughter: I must not hear a word against the pleasure of
+thy father.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! doubt not my obedience, my dreadful obedience to him and
+to you!&rdquo; said Matilda.&nbsp; &ldquo;But can I, most respected
+of women, can I experience all this tenderness, this world of goodness,
+and conceal a thought from the best of mothers?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What art thou going to utter?&rdquo; said Isabella trembling.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Recollect thyself, Matilda.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;No, Isabella,&rdquo; said the Princess, &ldquo;I should not deserve
+this incomparable parent, if the inmost recesses of my soul harboured
+a thought without her permission - nay, I have offended her; I have
+suffered a passion to enter my heart without her avowal - but here I
+disclaim it; here I vow to heaven and her - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My child! my child;&rdquo; said Hippolita, &ldquo;what words
+are these! what new calamities has fate in store for us!&nbsp; Thou,
+a passion?&nbsp; Thou, in this hour of destruction - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! I see all my guilt!&rdquo; said Matilda.&nbsp; &ldquo;I abhor
+myself, if I cost my mother a pang.&nbsp; She is the dearest thing I
+have on earth - Oh! I will never, never behold him more!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Isabella,&rdquo; said Hippolita, &ldquo;thou art conscious to
+this unhappy secret, whatever it is.&nbsp; Speak!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What!&rdquo; cried Matilda, &ldquo;have I so forfeited my mother&rsquo;s
+love, that she will not permit me even to speak my own guilt? oh! wretched,
+wretched Matilda!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou art too cruel,&rdquo; said Isabella to Hippolita: &ldquo;canst
+thou behold this anguish of a virtuous mind, and not commiserate it?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Not pity my child!&rdquo; said Hippolita, catching Matilda in
+her arms - &ldquo;Oh! I know she is good, she is all virtue, all tenderness,
+and duty.&nbsp; I do forgive thee, my excellent, my only hope!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The princesses then revealed to Hippolita their mutual inclination for
+Theodore, and the purpose of Isabella to resign him to Matilda.&nbsp;
+Hippolita blamed their imprudence, and showed them the improbability
+that either father would consent to bestow his heiress on so poor a
+man, though nobly born.&nbsp; Some comfort it gave her to find their
+passion of so recent a date, and that Theodore had had but little cause
+to suspect it in either.&nbsp; She strictly enjoined them to avoid all
+correspondence with him.&nbsp; This Matilda fervently promised: but
+Isabella, who flattered herself that she meant no more than to promote
+his union with her friend, could not determine to avoid him; and made
+no reply.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I will go to the convent,&rdquo; said Hippolita, &ldquo;and order
+new masses to be said for a deliverance from these calamities.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! my mother,&rdquo; said Matilda, &ldquo;you mean to quit us:
+you mean to take sanctuary, and to give my father an opportunity of
+pursuing his fatal intention.&nbsp; Alas! on my knees I supplicate you
+to forbear; will you leave me a prey to Frederic?&nbsp; I will follow
+you to the convent.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Be at peace, my child,&rdquo; said Hippolita: &ldquo;I will return
+instantly.&nbsp; I will never abandon thee, until I know it is the will
+of heaven, and for thy benefit.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Do not deceive me,&rdquo; said Matilda.&nbsp; &ldquo;I will not
+marry Frederic until thou commandest it.&nbsp; Alas! what will become
+of me?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Why that exclamation?&rdquo; said Hippolita.&nbsp; &ldquo;I have
+promised thee to return - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Ah! my mother,&rdquo; replied Matilda, &ldquo;stay and save me
+from myself.&nbsp; A frown from thee can do more than all my father&rsquo;s
+severity.&nbsp; I have given away my heart, and you alone can make me
+recall it.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;No more,&rdquo; said Hippolita; &ldquo;thou must not relapse,
+Matilda.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I can quit Theodore,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;but must I wed another?
+let me attend thee to the altar, and shut myself from the world for
+ever.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thy fate depends on thy father,&rdquo; said Hippolita; &ldquo;I
+have ill-bestowed my tenderness, if it has taught thee to revere aught
+beyond him.&nbsp; Adieu! my child: I go to pray for thee.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Hippolita&rsquo;s real purpose was to demand of Jerome, whether in conscience
+she might not consent to the divorce.&nbsp; She had oft urged Manfred
+to resign the principality, which the delicacy of her conscience rendered
+an hourly burthen to her.&nbsp; These scruples concurred to make the
+separation from her husband appear less dreadful to her than it would
+have seemed in any other situation.<br>
+<br>
+Jerome, at quitting the castle overnight, had questioned Theodore severely
+why he had accused him to Manfred of being privy to his escape.&nbsp;
+Theodore owned it had been with design to prevent Manfred&rsquo;s suspicion
+from alighting on Matilda; and added, the holiness of Jerome&rsquo;s
+life and character secured him from the tyrant&rsquo;s wrath.&nbsp;
+Jerome was heartily grieved to discover his son&rsquo;s inclination
+for that princess; and leaving him to his rest, promised in the morning
+to acquaint him with important reasons for conquering his passion.<br>
+<br>
+Theodore, like Isabella, was too recently acquainted with parental authority
+to submit to its decisions against the impulse of his heart.&nbsp; He
+had little curiosity to learn the Friar&rsquo;s reasons, and less disposition
+to obey them.&nbsp; The lovely Matilda had made stronger impressions
+on him than filial affection.&nbsp; All night he pleased himself with
+visions of love; and it was not till late after the morning-office,
+that he recollected the Friar&rsquo;s commands to attend him at Alfonso&rsquo;s
+tomb.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Young man,&rdquo; said Jerome, when he saw him, &ldquo;this tardiness
+does not please me.&nbsp; Have a father&rsquo;s commands already so
+little weight?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Theodore made awkward excuses, and attributed his delay to having overslept
+himself.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;And on whom were thy dreams employed?&rdquo; said the Friar sternly.&nbsp;
+His son blushed.&nbsp; &ldquo;Come, come,&rdquo; resumed the Friar,
+&ldquo;inconsiderate youth, this must not be; eradicate this guilty
+passion from thy breast - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Guilty passion!&rdquo; cried Theodore: &ldquo;Can guilt dwell
+with innocent beauty and virtuous modesty?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It is sinful,&rdquo; replied the Friar, &ldquo;to cherish those
+whom heaven has doomed to destruction.&nbsp; A tyrant&rsquo;s race must
+be swept from the earth to the third and fourth generation.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Will heaven visit the innocent for the crimes of the guilty?&rdquo;
+said Theodore.&nbsp; &ldquo;The fair Matilda has virtues enough - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;To undo thee:&rdquo; interrupted Jerome.&nbsp; &ldquo;Hast thou
+so soon forgotten that twice the savage Manfred has pronounced thy sentence?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Nor have I forgotten, sir,&rdquo; said Theodore, &ldquo;that
+the charity of his daughter delivered me from his power.&nbsp; I can
+forget injuries, but never benefits.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;The injuries thou hast received from Manfred&rsquo;s race,&rdquo;
+said the Friar, &ldquo;are beyond what thou canst conceive.&nbsp; Reply
+not, but view this holy image!&nbsp; Beneath this marble monument rest
+the ashes of the good Alfonso; a prince adorned with every virtue: the
+father of his people! the delight of mankind!&nbsp; Kneel, headstrong
+boy, and list, while a father unfolds a tale of horror that will expel
+every sentiment from thy soul, but sensations of sacred vengeance -
+Alfonso! much injured prince! let thy unsatisfied shade sit awful on
+the troubled air, while these trembling lips - Ha! who comes there?
+- &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;The most wretched of women!&rdquo; said Hippolita, entering the
+choir.&nbsp; &ldquo;Good Father, art thou at leisure? - but why this
+kneeling youth? what means the horror imprinted on each countenance?
+why at this venerable tomb - alas! hast thou seen aught?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;We were pouring forth our orisons to heaven,&rdquo; replied the
+Friar, with some confusion, &ldquo;to put an end to the woes of this
+deplorable province.&nbsp; Join with us, Lady! thy spotless soul may
+obtain an exemption from the judgments which the portents of these days
+but too speakingly denounce against thy house.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I pray fervently to heaven to divert them,&rdquo; said the pious
+Princess.&nbsp; &ldquo;Thou knowest it has been the occupation of my
+life to wrest a blessing for my Lord and my harmless children. - One
+alas! is taken from me! would heaven but hear me for my poor Matilda!&nbsp;
+Father! intercede for her!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Every heart will bless her,&rdquo; cried Theodore with rapture.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Be dumb, rash youth!&rdquo; said Jerome.&nbsp; &ldquo;And thou,
+fond Princess, contend not with the Powers above! the Lord giveth, and
+the Lord taketh away: bless His holy name, and submit to his decrees.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I do most devoutly,&rdquo; said Hippolita; &ldquo;but will He
+not spare my only comfort? must Matilda perish too? - ah!&nbsp; Father,
+I came - but dismiss thy son.&nbsp; No ear but thine must hear what
+I have to utter.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;May heaven grant thy every wish, most excellent Princess!&rdquo;
+said Theodore retiring.&nbsp; Jerome frowned.<br>
+<br>
+Hippolita then acquainted the Friar with the proposal she had suggested
+to Manfred, his approbation of it, and the tender of Matilda that he
+was gone to make to Frederic.&nbsp; Jerome could not conceal his dislike
+of the notion, which he covered under pretence of the improbability
+that Frederic, the nearest of blood to Alfonso, and who was come to
+claim his succession, would yield to an alliance with the usurper of
+his right.&nbsp; But nothing could equal the perplexity of the Friar,
+when Hippolita confessed her readiness not to oppose the separation,
+and demanded his opinion on the legality of her acquiescence.&nbsp;
+The Friar caught eagerly at her request of his advice, and without explaining
+his aversion to the proposed marriage of Manfred and Isabella, he painted
+to Hippolita in the most alarming colours the sinfulness of her consent,
+denounced judgments against her if she complied, and enjoined her in
+the severest terms to treat any such proposition with every mark of
+indignation and refusal.<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, in the meantime, had broken his purpose to Frederic, and proposed
+the double marriage.&nbsp; That weak Prince, who had been struck with
+the charms of Matilda, listened but too eagerly to the offer.&nbsp;
+He forgot his enmity to Manfred, whom he saw but little hope of dispossessing
+by force; and flattering himself that no issue might succeed from the
+union of his daughter with the tyrant, he looked upon his own succession
+to the principality as facilitated by wedding Matilda.&nbsp; He made
+faint opposition to the proposal; affecting, for form only, not to acquiesce
+unless Hippolita should consent to the divorce.&nbsp; Manfred took that
+upon himself.<br>
+<br>
+Transported with his success, and impatient to see himself in a situation
+to expect sons, he hastened to his wife&rsquo;s apartment, determined
+to extort her compliance.&nbsp; He learned with indignation that she
+was absent at the convent.&nbsp; His guilt suggested to him that she
+had probably been informed by Isabella of his purpose.&nbsp; He doubted
+whether her retirement to the convent did not import an intention of
+remaining there, until she could raise obstacles to their divorce; and
+the suspicions he had already entertained of Jerome, made him apprehend
+that the Friar would not only traverse his views, but might have inspired
+Hippolita with the resolution of talking sanctuary.&nbsp; Impatient
+to unravel this clue, and to defeat its success, Manfred hastened to
+the convent, and arrived there as the Friar was earnestly exhorting
+the Princess never to yield to the divorce.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;what business drew you hither?
+why did you not await my return from the Marquis?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I came to implore a blessing on your councils,&rdquo; replied
+Hippolita.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My councils do not need a Friar&rsquo;s intervention,&rdquo;
+said Manfred; &ldquo;and of all men living is that hoary traitor the
+only one whom you delight to confer with?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Profane Prince!&rdquo; said Jerome; &ldquo;is it at the altar
+that thou choosest to insult the servants of the altar? - but, Manfred,
+thy impious schemes are known.&nbsp; Heaven and this virtuous lady know
+them - nay, frown not, Prince.&nbsp; The Church despises thy menaces.&nbsp;
+Her thunders will be heard above thy wrath.&nbsp; Dare to proceed in
+thy cursed purpose of a divorce, until her sentence be known, and here
+I lance her anathema at thy head.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Audacious rebel!&rdquo; said Manfred, endeavouring to conceal
+the awe with which the Friar&rsquo;s words inspired him.&nbsp; &ldquo;Dost
+thou presume to threaten thy lawful Prince?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou art no lawful Prince,&rdquo; said Jerome; &ldquo;thou art
+no Prince - go, discuss thy claim with Frederic; and when that is done
+- &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It is done,&rdquo; replied Manfred; &ldquo;Frederic accepts Matilda&rsquo;s
+hand, and is content to waive his claim, unless I have no male issue&rdquo;
+- as he spoke those words three drops of blood fell from the nose of
+Alfonso&rsquo;s statue.&nbsp; Manfred turned pale, and the Princess
+sank on her knees.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Behold!&rdquo; said the Friar; &ldquo;mark this miraculous indication
+that the blood of Alfonso will never mix with that of Manfred!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My gracious Lord,&rdquo; said Hippolita, &ldquo;let us submit
+ourselves to heaven.&nbsp; Think not thy ever obedient wife rebels against
+thy authority.&nbsp; I have no will but that of my Lord and the Church.&nbsp;
+To that revered tribunal let us appeal.&nbsp; It does not depend on
+us to burst the bonds that unite us.&nbsp; If the Church shall approve
+the dissolution of our marriage, be it so - I have but few years, and
+those of sorrow, to pass.&nbsp; Where can they be worn away so well
+as at the foot of this altar, in prayers for thine and Matilda&rsquo;s
+safety?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;But thou shalt not remain here until then,&rdquo; said Manfred.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Repair with me to the castle, and there I will advise on the
+proper measures for a divorce; - but this meddling Friar comes not thither;
+my hospitable roof shall never more harbour a traitor - and for thy
+Reverence&rsquo;s offspring,&rdquo; continued he, &ldquo;I banish him
+from my dominions.&nbsp; He, I ween, is no sacred personage, nor under
+the protection of the Church.&nbsp; Whoever weds Isabella, it shall
+not be Father Falconara&rsquo;s started-up son.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;They start up,&rdquo; said the Friar, &ldquo;who are suddenly
+beheld in the seat of lawful Princes; but they wither away like the
+grass, and their place knows them no more.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, casting a look of scorn at the Friar, led Hippolita forth;
+but at the door of the church whispered one of his attendants to remain
+concealed about the convent, and bring him instant notice, if any one
+from the castle should repair thither.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+CHAPTER V.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+Every reflection which Manfred made on the Friar&rsquo;s behaviour,
+conspired to persuade him that Jerome was privy to an amour between
+Isabella and Theodore.&nbsp; But Jerome&rsquo;s new presumption, so
+dissonant from his former meekness, suggested still deeper apprehensions.&nbsp;
+The Prince even suspected that the Friar depended on some secret support
+from Frederic, whose arrival, coinciding with the novel appearance of
+Theodore, seemed to bespeak a correspondence.&nbsp; Still more was he
+troubled with the resemblance of Theodore to Alfonso&rsquo;s portrait.&nbsp;
+The latter he knew had unquestionably died without issue.&nbsp; Frederic
+had consented to bestow Isabella on him.&nbsp; These contradictions
+agitated his mind with numberless pangs.<br>
+<br>
+He saw but two methods of extricating himself from his difficulties.&nbsp;
+The one was to resign his dominions to the Marquis - pride, ambition,
+and his reliance on ancient prophecies, which had pointed out a possibility
+of his preserving them to his posterity, combated that thought.&nbsp;
+The other was to press his marriage with Isabella.&nbsp; After long
+ruminating on these anxious thoughts, as he marched silently with Hippolita
+to the castle, he at last discoursed with that Princess on the subject
+of his disquiet, and used every insinuating and plausible argument to
+extract her consent to, even her promise of promoting the divorce.&nbsp;
+Hippolita needed little persuasions to bend her to his pleasure.&nbsp;
+She endeavoured to win him over to the measure of resigning his dominions;
+but finding her exhortations fruitless, she assured him, that as far
+as her conscience would allow, she would raise no opposition to a separation,
+though without better founded scruples than what he yet alleged, she
+would not engage to be active in demanding it.<br>
+<br>
+This compliance, though inadequate, was sufficient to raise Manfred&rsquo;s
+hopes.&nbsp; He trusted that his power and wealth would easily advance
+his suit at the court of Rome, whither he resolved to engage Frederic
+to take a journey on purpose.&nbsp; That Prince had discovered so much
+passion for Matilda, that Manfred hoped to obtain all he wished by holding
+out or withdrawing his daughter&rsquo;s charms, according as the Marquis
+should appear more or less disposed to co-operate in his views.&nbsp;
+Even the absence of Frederic would be a material point gained, until
+he could take further measures for his security.<br>
+<br>
+Dismissing Hippolita to her apartment, he repaired to that of the Marquis;
+but crossing the great hall through which he was to pass he met Bianca.&nbsp;
+The damsel he knew was in the confidence of both the young ladies.&nbsp;
+It immediately occurred to him to sift her on the subject of Isabella
+and Theodore.&nbsp; Calling her aside into the recess of the oriel window
+of the hall, and soothing her with many fair words and promises, he
+demanded of her whether she knew aught of the state of Isabella&rsquo;s
+affections.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I! my Lord! no my Lord - yes my Lord - poor Lady! she is wonderfully
+alarmed about her father&rsquo;s wounds; but I tell her he will do well;
+don&rsquo;t your Highness think so?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I do not ask you,&rdquo; replied Manfred, &ldquo;what she thinks
+about her father; but you are in her secrets.&nbsp; Come, be a good
+girl and tell me; is there any young man - ha! - you understand me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Lord bless me! understand your Highness? no, not I.&nbsp; I told
+her a few vulnerary herbs and repose - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I am not talking,&rdquo; replied the Prince, impatiently, &ldquo;about
+her father; I know he will do well.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Bless me, I rejoice to hear your Highness say so; for though
+I thought it not right to let my young Lady despond, methought his greatness
+had a wan look, and a something - I remember when young Ferdinand was
+wounded by the Venetian - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&ldquo;Thou answerest from the point,&rdquo; interrupted Manfred;
+&ldquo;but here, take this jewel, perhaps that may fix thy attention
+- nay, no reverences; my favour shall not stop here - come, tell me
+truly; how stands Isabella&rsquo;s heart?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Well! your Highness has such a way!&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;to
+be sure - but can your Highness keep a secret? if it should ever come
+out of your lips - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It shall not, it shall not,&rdquo; cried Manfred.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Nay, but swear, your Highness.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;By my halidame, if it should ever be known that I said it - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Why, truth is truth, I do not think my Lady Isabella ever much
+affectioned my young Lord your son; yet he was a sweet youth as one
+should see; I am sure, if I had been a Princess - but bless me!&nbsp;
+I must attend my Lady Matilda; she will marvel what is become of me.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Stay,&rdquo; cried Manfred; &ldquo;thou hast not satisfied my
+question.&nbsp; Hast thou ever carried any message, any letter?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I! good gracious!&rdquo; cried Bianca; &ldquo;I carry a letter?&nbsp;
+I would not to be a Queen.&nbsp; I hope your Highness thinks, though
+I am poor, I am honest.&nbsp; Did your Highness never hear what Count
+Marsigli offered me, when he came a wooing to my Lady Matilda?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I have not leisure,&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;to listen to
+thy tale.&nbsp; I do not question thy honesty.&nbsp; But it is thy duty
+to conceal nothing from me.&nbsp; How long has Isabella been acquainted
+with Theodore?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Nay, there is nothing can escape your Highness!&rdquo; said Bianca;
+&ldquo;not that I know any thing of the matter.&nbsp; Theodore, to be
+sure, is a proper young man, and, as my Lady Matilda says, the very
+image of good Alfonso.&nbsp; Has not your Highness remarked it?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes, yes, - No - thou torturest me,&rdquo; said Manfred.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Where did they meet? when?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Who! my Lady Matilda?&rdquo; said Bianca.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;No, no, not Matilda: Isabella; when did Isabella first become
+acquainted with this Theodore!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Virgin Mary!&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;how should I know?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou dost know,&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;and I must know;
+I will - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Lord! your Highness is not jealous of young Theodore!&rdquo;
+said Bianca.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Jealous! no, no.&nbsp; Why should I be jealous? perhaps I mean
+to unite them - If I were sure Isabella would have no repugnance.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Repugnance! no, I&rsquo;ll warrant her,&rdquo; said Bianca; &ldquo;he
+is as comely a youth as ever trod on Christian ground.&nbsp; We are
+all in love with him; there is not a soul in the castle but would be
+rejoiced to have him for our Prince - I mean, when it shall please heaven
+to call your Highness to itself.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Indeed!&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;has it gone so far! oh! this
+cursed Friar! - but I must not lose time - go, Bianca, attend Isabella;
+but I charge thee, not a word of what has passed.&nbsp; Find out how
+she is affected towards Theodore; bring me good news, and that ring
+has a companion.&nbsp; Wait at the foot of the winding staircase: I
+am going to visit the Marquis, and will talk further with thee at my
+return.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, after some general conversation, desired Frederic to dismiss
+the two Knights, his companions, having to talk with him on urgent affairs.<br>
+<br>
+As soon as they were alone, he began in artful guise to sound the Marquis
+on the subject of Matilda; and finding him disposed to his wish, he
+let drop hints on the difficulties that would attend the celebration
+of their marriage, unless - At that instant Bianca burst into the room
+with a wildness in her look and gestures that spoke the utmost terror.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! my Lord, my Lord!&rdquo; cried she; &ldquo;we are all undone!
+it is come again! it is come again!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What is come again?&rdquo; cried Manfred amazed.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! the hand! the Giant! the hand! - support me! I am terrified
+out of my senses,&rdquo; cried Bianca.&nbsp; &ldquo;I will not sleep
+in the castle to-night.&nbsp; Where shall I go? my things may come after
+me to-morrow - would I had been content to wed Francesco! this comes
+of ambition!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What has terrified thee thus, young woman?&rdquo; said the Marquis.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Thou art safe here; be not alarmed.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! your Greatness is wonderfully good,&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;but
+I dare not - no, pray let me go - I had rather leave everything behind
+me, than stay another hour under this roof.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Go to, thou hast lost thy senses,&rdquo; said Manfred.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Interrupt us not; we were communing on important matters - My
+Lord, this wench is subject to fits - Come with me, Bianca.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! the Saints!&nbsp; No,&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;for certain
+it comes to warn your Highness; why should it appear to me else?&nbsp;
+I say my prayers morning and evening - oh! if your Highness had believed
+Diego!&nbsp; &rsquo;Tis the same hand that he saw the foot to in the
+gallery-chamber - Father Jerome has often told us the prophecy would
+be out one of these days - &lsquo;Bianca,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;mark
+my words - &rsquo;&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou ravest,&rdquo; said Manfred, in a rage; &ldquo;be gone,
+and keep these fooleries to frighten thy companions.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What! my Lord,&rdquo; cried Bianca, &ldquo;do you think I have
+seen nothing? go to the foot of the great stairs yourself - as I live
+I saw it.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Saw what? tell us, fair maid, what thou hast seen,&rdquo; said
+Frederic.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Can your Highness listen,&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;to the
+delirium of a silly wench, who has heard stories of apparitions until
+she believes them?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;This is more than fancy,&rdquo; said the Marquis; &ldquo;her
+terror is too natural and too strongly impressed to be the work of imagination.&nbsp;
+Tell us, fair maiden, what it is has moved thee thus?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Yes, my Lord, thank your Greatness,&rdquo; said Bianca; &ldquo;I
+believe I look very pale; I shall be better when I have recovered myself
+- I was going to my Lady Isabella&rsquo;s chamber, by his Highness&rsquo;s
+order - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;We do not want the circumstances,&rdquo; interrupted Manfred.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Since his Highness will have it so, proceed; but be brief.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Lord! your Highness thwarts one so!&rdquo; replied Bianca; &ldquo;I
+fear my hair - I am sure I never in my life - well! as I was telling
+your Greatness, I was going by his Highness&rsquo;s order to my Lady
+Isabella&rsquo;s chamber; she lies in the watchet-coloured chamber,
+on the right hand, one pair of stairs: so when I came to the great stairs
+- I was looking on his Highness&rsquo;s present here - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Grant me patience!&rdquo; said Manfred, &ldquo;will this wench
+never come to the point? what imports it to the Marquis, that I gave
+thee a bauble for thy faithful attendance on my daughter? we want to
+know what thou sawest.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I was going to tell your Highness,&rdquo; said Bianca, &ldquo;if
+you would permit me.&nbsp; So as I was rubbing the ring - I am sure
+I had not gone up three steps, but I heard the rattling of armour; for
+all the world such a clatter as Diego says he heard when the Giant turned
+him about in the gallery-chamber.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What Giant is this, my Lord?&rdquo; said the Marquis; &ldquo;is
+your castle haunted by giants and goblins?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Lord! what, has not your Greatness heard the story of the Giant
+in the gallery-chamber?&rdquo; cried Bianca.&nbsp; &ldquo;I marvel his
+Highness has not told you; mayhap you do not know there is a prophecy
+- &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;This trifling is intolerable,&rdquo; interrupted Manfred.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Let us dismiss this silly wench, my Lord! we have more important
+affairs to discuss.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;By your favour,&rdquo; said Frederic, &ldquo;these are no trifles.&nbsp;
+The enormous sabre I was directed to in the wood, yon casque, its fellow
+- are these visions of this poor maiden&rsquo;s brain?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;So Jaquez thinks, may it please your Greatness,&rdquo; said Bianca.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;He says this moon will not be out without our seeing some strange
+revolution.&nbsp; For my part, I should not be surprised if it was to
+happen to-morrow; for, as I was saying, when I heard the clattering
+of armour, I was all in a cold sweat.&nbsp; I looked up, and, if your
+Greatness will believe me, I saw upon the uppermost banister of the
+great stairs a hand in armour as big as big.&nbsp; I thought I should
+have swooned.&nbsp; I never stopped until I came hither - would I were
+well out of this castle.&nbsp; My Lady Matilda told me but yester-morning
+that her Highness Hippolita knows something.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou art an insolent!&rdquo; cried Manfred.&nbsp; &ldquo;Lord
+Marquis, it much misgives me that this scene is concerted to affront
+me.&nbsp; Are my own domestics suborned to spread tales injurious to
+my honour?&nbsp; Pursue your claim by manly daring; or let us bury our
+feuds, as was proposed, by the intermarriage of our children.&nbsp;
+But trust me, it ill becomes a Prince of your bearing to practise on
+mercenary wenches.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I scorn your imputation,&rdquo; said Frederic.&nbsp; &ldquo;Until
+this hour I never set eyes on this damsel: I have given her no jewel.&nbsp;
+My Lord, my Lord, your conscience, your guilt accuses you, and would
+throw the suspicion on me; but keep your daughter, and think no more
+of Isabella.&nbsp; The judgments already fallen on your house forbid
+me matching into it.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, alarmed at the resolute tone in which Frederic delivered these
+words, endeavoured to pacify him.&nbsp; Dismissing Bianca, he made such
+submissions to the Marquis, and threw in such artful encomiums on Matilda,
+that Frederic was once more staggered.&nbsp; However, as his passion
+was of so recent a date, it could not at once surmount the scruples
+he had conceived.&nbsp; He had gathered enough from Bianca&rsquo;s discourse
+to persuade him that heaven declared itself against Manfred.&nbsp; The
+proposed marriages too removed his claim to a distance; and the principality
+of Otranto was a stronger temptation than the contingent reversion of
+it with Matilda.&nbsp; Still he would not absolutely recede from his
+engagements; but purposing to gain time, he demanded of Manfred if it
+was true in fact that Hippolita consented to the divorce.&nbsp; The
+Prince, transported to find no other obstacle, and depending on his
+influence over his wife, assured the Marquis it was so, and that he
+might satisfy himself of the truth from her own mouth.<br>
+<br>
+As they were thus discoursing, word was brought that the banquet was
+prepared.&nbsp; Manfred conducted Frederic to the great hall, where
+they were received by Hippolita and the young Princesses.&nbsp; Manfred
+placed the Marquis next to Matilda, and seated himself between his wife
+and Isabella.&nbsp; Hippolita comported herself with an easy gravity;
+but the young ladies were silent and melancholy.&nbsp; Manfred, who
+was determined to pursue his point with the Marquis in the remainder
+of the evening, pushed on the feast until it waxed late; affecting unrestrained
+gaiety, and plying Frederic with repeated goblets of wine.&nbsp; The
+latter, more upon his guard than Manfred wished, declined his frequent
+challenges, on pretence of his late loss of blood; while the Prince,
+to raise his own disordered spirits, and to counterfeit unconcern, indulged
+himself in plentiful draughts, though not to the intoxication of his
+senses.<br>
+<br>
+The evening being far advanced, the banquet concluded.&nbsp; Manfred
+would have withdrawn with Frederic; but the latter pleading weakness
+and want of repose, retired to his chamber, gallantly telling the Prince
+that his daughter should amuse his Highness until himself could attend
+him.&nbsp; Manfred accepted the party, and to the no small grief of
+Isabella, accompanied her to her apartment.&nbsp; Matilda waited on
+her mother to enjoy the freshness of the evening on the ramparts of
+the castle.<br>
+<br>
+Soon as the company were dispersed their several ways, Frederic, quitting
+his chamber, inquired if Hippolita was alone, and was told by one of
+her attendants, who had not noticed her going forth, that at that hour
+she generally withdrew to her oratory, where he probably would find
+her.&nbsp; The Marquis, during the repast, had beheld Matilda with increase
+of passion.&nbsp; He now wished to find Hippolita in the disposition
+her Lord had promised.&nbsp; The portents that had alarmed him were
+forgotten in his desires.&nbsp; Stealing softly and unobserved to the
+apartment of Hippolita, he entered it with a resolution to encourage
+her acquiescence to the divorce, having perceived that Manfred was resolved
+to make the possession of Isabella an unalterable condition, before
+he would grant Matilda to his wishes.<br>
+<br>
+The Marquis was not surprised at the silence that reigned in the Princess&rsquo;s
+apartment.&nbsp; Concluding her, as he had been advertised, in her oratory,
+he passed on.&nbsp; The door was ajar; the evening gloomy and overcast.&nbsp;
+Pushing open the door gently, he saw a person kneeling before the altar.&nbsp;
+As he approached nearer, it seemed not a woman, but one in a long woollen
+weed, whose back was towards him.&nbsp; The person seemed absorbed in
+prayer.&nbsp; The Marquis was about to return, when the figure, rising,
+stood some moments fixed in meditation, without regarding him.&nbsp;
+The Marquis, expecting the holy person to come forth, and meaning to
+excuse his uncivil interruption, said,<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Reverend Father, I sought the Lady Hippolita.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Hippolita!&rdquo; replied a hollow voice; &ldquo;camest thou
+to this castle to seek Hippolita?&rdquo; and then the figure, turning
+slowly round, discovered to Frederic the fleshless jaws and empty sockets
+of a skeleton, wrapt in a hermit&rsquo;s cowl.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Angels of grace protect me!&rdquo; cried Frederic, recoiling.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Deserve their protection!&rdquo; said the Spectre.&nbsp; Frederic,
+falling on his knees, adjured the phantom to take pity on him.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Dost thou not remember me?&rdquo; said the apparition.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Remember the wood of Joppa!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Art thou that holy hermit?&rdquo; cried Frederic, trembling.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Can I do aught for thy eternal peace?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Wast thou delivered from bondage,&rdquo; said the spectre, &ldquo;to
+pursue carnal delights?&nbsp; Hast thou forgotten the buried sabre,
+and the behest of Heaven engraven on it?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I have not, I have not,&rdquo; said Frederic; &ldquo;but say,
+blest spirit, what is thy errand to me?&nbsp; What remains to be done?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;To forget Matilda!&rdquo; said the apparition; and vanished.<br>
+<br>
+Frederic&rsquo;s blood froze in his veins.&nbsp; For some minutes he
+remained motionless.&nbsp; Then falling prostrate on his face before
+the altar, he besought the intercession of every saint for pardon.&nbsp;
+A flood of tears succeeded to this transport; and the image of the beauteous
+Matilda rushing in spite of him on his thoughts, he lay on the ground
+in a conflict of penitence and passion.&nbsp; Ere he could recover from
+this agony of his spirits, the Princess Hippolita with a taper in her
+hand entered the oratory alone.&nbsp; Seeing a man without motion on
+the floor, she gave a shriek, concluding him dead.&nbsp; Her fright
+brought Frederic to himself.&nbsp; Rising suddenly, his face bedewed
+with tears, he would have rushed from her presence; but Hippolita stopping
+him, conjured him in the most plaintive accents to explain the cause
+of his disorder, and by what strange chance she had found him there
+in that posture.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Ah, virtuous Princess!&rdquo; said the Marquis, penetrated with
+grief, and stopped.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;For the love of Heaven, my Lord,&rdquo; said Hippolita, &ldquo;disclose
+the cause of this transport!&nbsp; What mean these doleful sounds, this
+alarming exclamation on my name?&nbsp; What woes has heaven still in
+store for the wretched Hippolita?&nbsp; Yet silent!&nbsp; By every pitying
+angel, I adjure thee, noble Prince,&rdquo; continued she, falling at
+his feet, &ldquo;to disclose the purport of what lies at thy heart.&nbsp;
+I see thou feelest for me; thou feelest the sharp pangs that thou inflictest
+- speak, for pity!&nbsp; Does aught thou knowest concern my child?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I cannot speak,&rdquo; cried Frederic, bursting from her.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Oh, Matilda!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Quitting the Princess thus abruptly, he hastened to his own apartment.&nbsp;
+At the door of it he was accosted by Manfred, who flushed by wine and
+love had come to seek him, and to propose to waste some hours of the
+night in music and revelling.&nbsp; Frederic, offended at an invitation
+so dissonant from the mood of his soul, pushed him rudely aside, and
+entering his chamber, flung the door intemperately against Manfred,
+and bolted it inwards.&nbsp; The haughty Prince, enraged at this unaccountable
+behaviour, withdrew in a frame of mind capable of the most fatal excesses.&nbsp;
+As he crossed the court, he was met by the domestic whom he had planted
+at the convent as a spy on Jerome and Theodore.&nbsp; This man, almost
+breathless with the haste he had made, informed his Lord that Theodore,
+and some lady from the castle were, at that instant, in private conference
+at the tomb of Alfonso in St. Nicholas&rsquo;s church.&nbsp; He had
+dogged Theodore thither, but the gloominess of the night had prevented
+his discovering who the woman was.<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, whose spirits were inflamed, and whom Isabella had driven from
+her on his urging his passion with too little reserve, did not doubt
+but the inquietude she had expressed had been occasioned by her impatience
+to meet Theodore.&nbsp; Provoked by this conjecture, and enraged at
+her father, he hastened secretly to the great church.&nbsp; Gliding
+softly between the aisles, and guided by an imperfect gleam of moonshine
+that shone faintly through the illuminated windows, he stole towards
+the tomb of Alfonso, to which he was directed by indistinct whispers
+of the persons he sought.&nbsp; The first sounds he could distinguish
+were -<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Does it, alas! depend on me?&nbsp; Manfred will never permit
+our union.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;No, this shall prevent it!&rdquo; cried the tyrant, drawing his
+dagger, and plunging it over her shoulder into the bosom of the person
+that spoke.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Ah, me, I am slain!&rdquo; cried Matilda, sinking.&nbsp; &ldquo;Good
+heaven, receive my soul!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Savage, inhuman monster, what hast thou done!&rdquo; cried Theodore,
+rushing on him, and wrenching his dagger from him.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Stop, stop thy impious hand!&rdquo; cried Matilda; &ldquo;it
+is my father!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Manfred, waking as from a trance, beat his breast, twisted his hands
+in his locks, and endeavoured to recover his dagger from Theodore to
+despatch himself.&nbsp; Theodore, scarce less distracted, and only mastering
+the transports of his grief to assist Matilda, had now by his cries
+drawn some of the monks to his aid.&nbsp; While part of them endeavoured,
+in concert with the afflicted Theodore, to stop the blood of the dying
+Princess, the rest prevented Manfred from laying violent hands on himself.<br>
+<br>
+Matilda, resigning herself patiently to her fate, acknowledged with
+looks of grateful love the zeal of Theodore.&nbsp; Yet oft as her faintness
+would permit her speech its way, she begged the assistants to comfort
+her father.&nbsp; Jerome, by this time, had learnt the fatal news, and
+reached the church.&nbsp; His looks seemed to reproach Theodore, but
+turning to Manfred, he said,<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Now, tyrant! behold the completion of woe fulfilled on thy impious
+and devoted head!&nbsp; The blood of Alfonso cried to heaven for vengeance;
+and heaven has permitted its altar to be polluted by assassination,
+that thou mightest shed thy own blood at the foot of that Prince&rsquo;s
+sepulchre!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Cruel man!&rdquo; cried Matilda, &ldquo;to aggravate the woes
+of a parent; may heaven bless my father, and forgive him as I do!&nbsp;
+My Lord, my gracious Sire, dost thou forgive thy child?&nbsp; Indeed,
+I came not hither to meet Theodore.&nbsp; I found him praying at this
+tomb, whither my mother sent me to intercede for thee, for her - dearest
+father, bless your child, and say you forgive her.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Forgive thee!&nbsp; Murderous monster!&rdquo; cried Manfred,
+&ldquo;can assassins forgive?&nbsp; I took thee for Isabella; but heaven
+directed my bloody hand to the heart of my child.&nbsp; Oh, Matilda!
+- I cannot utter it - canst thou forgive the blindness of my rage?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I can, I do; and may heaven confirm it!&rdquo; said Matilda;
+&ldquo;but while I have life to ask it - oh! my mother! what will she
+feel?&nbsp; Will you comfort her, my Lord?&nbsp; Will you not put her
+away?&nbsp; Indeed she loves you!&nbsp; Oh, I am faint! bear me to the
+castle.&nbsp; Can I live to have her close my eyes?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Theodore and the monks besought her earnestly to suffer herself to be
+borne into the convent; but her instances were so pressing to be carried
+to the castle, that placing her on a litter, they conveyed her thither
+as she requested.&nbsp; Theodore, supporting her head with his arm,
+and hanging over her in an agony of despairing love, still endeavoured
+to inspire her with hopes of life.&nbsp; Jerome, on the other side,
+comforted her with discourses of heaven, and holding a crucifix before
+her, which she bathed with innocent tears, prepared her for her passage
+to immortality.&nbsp; Manfred, plunged in the deepest affliction, followed
+the litter in despair.<br>
+<br>
+Ere they reached the castle, Hippolita, informed of the dreadful catastrophe,
+had flown to meet her murdered child; but when she saw the afflicted
+procession, the mightiness of her grief deprived her of her senses,
+and she fell lifeless to the earth in a swoon.&nbsp; Isabella and Frederic,
+who attended her, were overwhelmed in almost equal sorrow.&nbsp; Matilda
+alone seemed insensible to her own situation: every thought was lost
+in tenderness for her mother.<br>
+<br>
+Ordering the litter to stop, as soon as Hippolita was brought to herself,
+she asked for her father.&nbsp; He approached, unable to speak.&nbsp;
+Matilda, seizing his hand and her mother&rsquo;s, locked them in her
+own, and then clasped them to her heart.&nbsp; Manfred could not support
+this act of pathetic piety.&nbsp; He dashed himself on the ground, and
+cursed the day he was born.&nbsp; Isabella, apprehensive that these
+struggles of passion were more than Matilda could support, took upon
+herself to order Manfred to be borne to his apartment, while she caused
+Matilda to be conveyed to the nearest chamber.&nbsp; Hippolita, scarce
+more alive than her daughter, was regardless of everything but her;
+but when the tender Isabella&rsquo;s care would have likewise removed
+her, while the surgeons examined Matilda&rsquo;s wound, she cried,<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Remove me! never, never!&nbsp; I lived but in her, and will expire
+with her.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Matilda raised her eyes at her mother&rsquo;s voice, but closed them
+again without speaking.&nbsp; Her sinking pulse and the damp coldness
+of her hand soon dispelled all hopes of recovery.&nbsp; Theodore followed
+the surgeons into the outer chamber, and heard them pronounce the fatal
+sentence with a transport equal to frenzy.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Since she cannot live mine,&rdquo; cried he, &ldquo;at least
+she shall be mine in death!&nbsp; Father!&nbsp; Jerome! will you not
+join our hands?&rdquo; cried he to the Friar, who, with the Marquis,
+had accompanied the surgeons.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What means thy distracted rashness?&rdquo; said Jerome.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Is this an hour for marriage?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It is, it is,&rdquo; cried Theodore.&nbsp; &ldquo;Alas! there
+is no other!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Young man, thou art too unadvised,&rdquo; said Frederic.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Dost thou think we are to listen to thy fond transports in this
+hour of fate?&nbsp; What pretensions hast thou to the Princess?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Those of a Prince,&rdquo; said Theodore; &ldquo;of the sovereign
+of Otranto.&nbsp; This reverend man, my father, has informed me who
+I am.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou ravest,&rdquo; said the Marquis.&nbsp; &ldquo;There is no
+Prince of Otranto but myself, now Manfred, by murder, by sacrilegious
+murder, has forfeited all pretensions.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; said Jerome, assuming an air of command, &ldquo;he
+tells you true.&nbsp; It was not my purpose the secret should have been
+divulged so soon, but fate presses onward to its work.&nbsp; What his
+hot-headed passion has revealed, my tongue confirms.&nbsp; Know, Prince,
+that when Alfonso set sail for the Holy Land - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Is this a season for explanations?&rdquo; cried Theodore.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Father, come and unite me to the Princess; she shall be mine!&nbsp;
+In every other thing I will dutifully obey you.&nbsp; My life! my adored
+Matilda!&rdquo; continued Theodore, rushing back into the inner chamber,
+&ldquo;will you not be mine?&nbsp; Will you not bless your - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Isabella made signs to him to be silent, apprehending the Princess was
+near her end.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What, is she dead?&rdquo; cried Theodore; &ldquo;is it possible!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The violence of his exclamations brought Matilda to herself.&nbsp; Lifting
+up her eyes, she looked round for her mother.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Life of my soul, I am here!&rdquo; cried Hippolita; &ldquo;think
+not I will quit thee!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! you are too good,&rdquo; said Matilda.&nbsp; &ldquo;But weep
+not for me, my mother!&nbsp; I am going where sorrow never dwells -
+Isabella, thou hast loved me; wouldst thou not supply my fondness to
+this dear, dear woman?&nbsp; Indeed I am faint!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! my child! my child!&rdquo; said Hippolita in a flood of tears,
+&ldquo;can I not withhold thee a moment?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It will not be,&rdquo; said Matilda; &ldquo;commend me to heaven
+- Where is my father? forgive him, dearest mother - forgive him my death;
+it was an error.&nbsp; Oh!&nbsp; I had forgotten - dearest mother, I
+vowed never to see Theodore more - perhaps that has drawn down this
+calamity - but it was not intentional - can you pardon me?&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Oh! wound not my agonising soul!&rdquo; said Hippolita; &ldquo;thou
+never couldst offend me - Alas! she faints! help! help!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I would say something more,&rdquo; said Matilda, struggling,
+&ldquo;but it cannot be - Isabella - Theodore - for my sake - Oh! -
+&rdquo; she expired.<br>
+<br>
+Isabella and her women tore Hippolita from the corse; but Theodore threatened
+destruction to all who attempted to remove him from it.&nbsp; He printed
+a thousand kisses on her clay-cold hands, and uttered every expression
+that despairing love could dictate.<br>
+<br>
+Isabella, in the meantime, was accompanying the afflicted Hippolita
+to her apartment; but, in the middle of the court, they were met by
+Manfred, who, distracted with his own thoughts, and anxious once more
+to behold his daughter, was advancing to the chamber where she lay.&nbsp;
+As the moon was now at its height, he read in the countenances of this
+unhappy company the event he dreaded.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What! is she dead?&rdquo; cried he in wild confusion.&nbsp; A
+clap of thunder at that instant shook the castle to its foundations;
+the earth rocked, and the clank of more than mortal armour was heard
+behind.&nbsp; Frederic and Jerome thought the last day was at hand.&nbsp;
+The latter, forcing Theodore along with them, rushed into the court.&nbsp;
+The moment Theodore appeared, the walls of the castle behind Manfred
+were thrown down with a mighty force, and the form of Alfonso, dilated
+to an immense magnitude, appeared in the centre of the ruins.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Behold in Theodore the true heir of Alfonso!&rdquo; said the
+vision: And having pronounced those words, accompanied by a clap of
+thunder, it ascended solemnly towards heaven, where the clouds parting
+asunder, the form of St. Nicholas was seen, and receiving Alfonso&rsquo;s
+shade, they were soon wrapt from mortal eyes in a blaze of glory.<br>
+<br>
+The beholders fell prostrate on their faces, acknowledging the divine
+will.&nbsp; The first that broke silence was Hippolita.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;My Lord,&rdquo; said she to the desponding Manfred, &ldquo;behold
+the vanity of human greatness!&nbsp; Conrad is gone!&nbsp; Matilda is
+no more!&nbsp; In Theodore we view the true Prince of Otranto.&nbsp;
+By what miracle he is so I know not - suffice it to us, our doom is
+pronounced! shall we not, can we but dedicate the few deplorable hours
+we have to live, in deprecating the further wrath of heaven? heaven
+ejects us - whither can we fly, but to yon holy cells that yet offer
+us a retreat.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Thou guiltless but unhappy woman! unhappy by my crimes!&rdquo;
+replied Manfred, &ldquo;my heart at last is open to thy devout admonitions.&nbsp;
+Oh! could - but it cannot be - ye are lost in wonder - let me at last
+do justice on myself!&nbsp; To heap shame on my own head is all the
+satisfaction I have left to offer to offended heaven.&nbsp; My story
+has drawn down these judgments: Let my confession atone - but, ah! what
+can atone for usurpation and a murdered child? a child murdered in a
+consecrated place?&nbsp; List, sirs, and may this bloody record be a
+warning to future tyrants!&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Alfonso, ye all know, died in the Holy Land - ye would interrupt
+me; ye would say he came not fairly to his end - it is most true - why
+else this bitter cup which Manfred must drink to the dregs.&nbsp; Ricardo,
+my grandfather, was his chamberlain - I would draw a veil over my ancestor&rsquo;s
+crimes - but it is in vain!&nbsp; Alfonso died by poison.&nbsp; A fictitious
+will declared Ricardo his heir.&nbsp; His crimes pursued him - yet he
+lost no Conrad, no Matilda!&nbsp; I pay the price of usurpation for
+all!&nbsp; A storm overtook him.&nbsp; Haunted by his guilt he vowed
+to St. Nicholas to found a church and two convents, if he lived to reach
+Otranto.&nbsp; The sacrifice was accepted: the saint appeared to him
+in a dream, and promised that Ricardo&rsquo;s posterity should reign
+in Otranto until the rightful owner should be grown too large to inhabit
+the castle, and as long as issue male from Ricardo&rsquo;s loins should
+remain to enjoy it - alas! alas! nor male nor female, except myself,
+remains of all his wretched race!&nbsp; I have done - the woes of these
+three days speak the rest.&nbsp; How this young man can be Alfonso&rsquo;s
+heir I know not - yet I do not doubt it.&nbsp; His are these dominions;
+I resign them - yet I knew not Alfonso had an heir - I question not
+the will of heaven - poverty and prayer must fill up the woeful space,
+until Manfred shall be summoned to Ricardo.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;What remains is my part to declare,&rdquo; said Jerome.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;When Alfonso set sail for the Holy Land he was driven by a storm
+to the coast of Sicily.&nbsp; The other vessel, which bore Ricardo and
+his train, as your Lordship must have heard, was separated from him.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It is most true,&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;and the title you
+give me is more than an outcast can claim - well! be it so - proceed.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+Jerome blushed, and continued.&nbsp; &ldquo;For three months Lord Alfonso
+was wind-bound in Sicily.&nbsp; There he became enamoured of a fair
+virgin named Victoria.&nbsp; He was too pious to tempt her to forbidden
+pleasures.&nbsp; They were married.&nbsp; Yet deeming this amour incongruous
+with the holy vow of arms by which he was bound, he determined to conceal
+their nuptials until his return from the Crusade, when he purposed to
+seek and acknowledge her for his lawful wife.&nbsp; He left her pregnant.&nbsp;
+During his absence she was delivered of a daughter.&nbsp; But scarce
+had she felt a mother&rsquo;s pangs ere she heard the fatal rumour of
+her Lord&rsquo;s death, and the succession of Ricardo.&nbsp; What could
+a friendless, helpless woman do?&nbsp; Would her testimony avail? -
+yet, my lord, I have an authentic writing - &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;It needs not,&rdquo; said Manfred; &ldquo;the horrors of these
+days, the vision we have but now seen, all corroborate thy evidence
+beyond a thousand parchments.&nbsp; Matilda&rsquo;s death and my expulsion
+- &rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;Be composed, my Lord,&rdquo; said Hippolita; &ldquo;this holy
+man did not mean to recall your griefs.&rdquo;&nbsp; Jerome proceeded.<br>
+<br>
+&ldquo;I shall not dwell on what is needless.&nbsp; The daughter of
+which Victoria was delivered, was at her maturity bestowed in marriage
+on me.&nbsp; Victoria died; and the secret remained locked in my breast.&nbsp;
+Theodore&rsquo;s narrative has told the rest.&rdquo;<br>
+<br>
+The Friar ceased.&nbsp; The disconsolate company retired to the remaining
+part of the castle.&nbsp; In the morning Manfred signed his abdication
+of the principality, with the approbation of Hippolita, and each took
+on them the habit of religion in the neighbouring convents.&nbsp; Frederic
+offered his daughter to the new Prince, which Hippolita&rsquo;s tenderness
+for Isabella concurred to promote.&nbsp; But Theodore&rsquo;s grief
+was too fresh to admit the thought of another love; and it was not until
+after frequent discourses with Isabella of his dear Matilda, that he
+was persuaded he could know no happiness but in the society of one with
+whom he could for ever indulge the melancholy that had taken possession
+of his soul.<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO ***<br>
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