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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7752.txt b/7752.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b413b05 --- /dev/null +++ b/7752.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2505 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Godolphin, by E. B. Lytton, Vol. 3 +#179 in our series by Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Godolphin, Volume 3. + +Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Release Date: March 2005 [EBook #7752] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 27, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GODOLPHIN, BY LYTTON, V3 *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Andrew Heath +and David Widger + + + + +GODOLPHIN, Volume 3. +By Edward Bulwer Lytton +(Lord Lytton) + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE BRIDE ALONE.--A DIALOGUE POLITICAL AND MATRIMONIAL.--CONSTANCWE GENIUS +FOR DIPLOMACY.--THE CHARACTER OF HER ASSBMBLIES.--HER CONQUEST OVER LADY +DELVILLE. + +"Bring me that book; place that table nearer; and leave me." + +The Abigail obeyed the orders, and the young Countess of Erpingham was +alone. Alone! what a word for a young and beautiful bride in the first +months of her marriage! Alone! and in the heart of that mighty city in +which rank and wealth--and they were hers--are the idols adored by +millions. + +It was a room fancifully and splendidly decorated. Flowers and perfumes +were, however, its chief luxury; and from the open window you might see +the trees in the old Mall deepening into the rich verdure of June. That +haunt, too--a classical haunt for London--was at the hour I speak of full +of gay and idle life; and there was something fresh and joyous in the air, +the sun, and the crowd of foot and horse that swept below. + +Was the glory gone from your brow, Constance?--or the proud gladness from +your eye? Alas! are not the blessings of the world like the enchanted +bullets?--that which pierces our heart is united with the gift which our +heart desired! + +Lord Erpingham entered the room. "Well, Constance," said he, "shall you +ride on horseback to-day?" + +"I think not." + +"Then I wish you would call on Lady Delville. You see Delville is of my +party: we sit together. You should be very civil to her, and I did not +think you were so the other night." + +"You wish Lady Delville to support your political interest; and, if I +mistake not, you think her at present lukewarm?" + +"Precisely." + +"Then, my dear lord, will you place confidence in my discretion? I +promise you, if you will leave me undisturbed in my own plans, that Lady +Delville shall be the most devoted of your party before the season is half +over: but then, the means will not be those you advise." + +"Why, I advised none." + +"Yes--civility; a very poor policy." + +"D--n it, Constance! why, you would not frown a great person like Lady +Delville into affection for us?" + +"Leave it to me." + +"Nonsense!" + +"My dear lord, only try. Three months is all I ask. You will leave the +management of politics to me ever afterwards! I was born a schemer. Am I +not John Vernon's daughter?" + +"Well, well, do as you will," said Lord Erpingham; "but I see how it will +end. However, you will call on Lady Delville to-day?" + +"If you wish it, certainly." + +"I do." + +Lady Delville was a proud, great lady; not very much liked and not so +often invited by her equals as if she had been agreeable and a flirt. + +Constance knew with whom she had to treat. She called on Lady Delville +that day. Lady Delville was at home: a pretty and popular Mrs. Trevor was +with her. + +Lady Delville received her coolly--Constance was haughtiness itself. + +"You go to the Duchess of Daubigny's to-night?" said Lady Delville in the +course of their broken conversation. + +"Indeed I do not. I like agreeable society. It shall be my object to +form a circle that not one displeasing person shall obtain access to. +Will you assist me, my dear Mrs. Trevor?"--and Constance turned, with her +softest smile, to the lady she addressed. + +Mrs. Trevor was flattered: Lady Delville drew herself up. + +"It is a small party at the duchess's," said the latter; "merely to meet +the Duke and Duchess of C----." + +"Ah, few people are capable of giving a suitable entertainment to the +royal family." + +But surely none more so than the Duchess of Daubigny--her house so large, +her rank so great!" + +"These are but poor ingredients towards the forming of an agreeable +party," said Constance, coldly. "The mistake made by common minds is to +suppose titles the only rank. Royal dukes love, above all other persons, +to be amused; and amusement is the last thing generally provided for +them." + +The conversation fell into other channels. Constance rose to depart. +She warmly pressed the hand of Mrs. Trevor, whom she had only seen once +before. + +"A few persons come to me to-morrow evening," said she; "_do_ waive +ceremony, and join us. I can promise you that not one disagreeable person +shall be present; and that the Duchess of Daubigny shall write for an +invitation and be refused." + +Mrs. Trevor accepted the invitation. + +Lady Delville was enraged beyond measure. Never was female tongue more +bitter than hers at the expense of that insolent Lady Erpingham! Yet +Lady Delville was secretly in grief; for the first time in her life, she +was hurt at not having been asked to a party: and being hurt because she +was not going, she longed most eagerly to go. + +The next evening came. Erpingham House was not large, but it was well +adapted to the description of assembly its beautiful owner had invited. +Statues, busts, pictures, books, scattered or arranged about the +apartments, furnished matter for intellectual conversation, or gave at +least an intellectual air to the meeting. + +About a hundred persons were present. They were selected from the most +distinguished ornaments of the time. Musicians, painters, authors, +orators, fine gentlemen, dukes, princes, and beauties. One thing, +however, was imperatively necessary in order to admit them--the profession +of liberal opinions. No Tory, however wise, eloquent or beautiful, could, +that evening, have obtained the sesame to those apartments. + +Constance never seemed more lovely, and never before was she so winning. +The coldness and the arrogance of her manner had wholly vanished. To +every one she spoke; and to every one her voice, her manner, were kind, +cordial, familiar, but familiar with a soft dignity that heightened the +charm. Ambitious not only to please but to dazzle, she breathed into her +conversation all the grace and culture of her mind. They who admired her +the most were the most accomplished themselves. + +Now exchanging with foreign nobles that brilliant trifling of the world in +which there is often so much penetration, wisdom, and research into +character; now with a kindling eye and animated cheek commenting, with +poets and critics, on literature and the arts; now, in a more remote and +quiet corner, seriously discussing, with hoary politicians, those affairs +in which even they allowed her shrewdness and her grasp of intellect; and +combining with every grace and every accomplishment a rare and dazzling +order of beauty--we may readily imagine the sensation she created, and the +sudden and novel zest which so splendid an Armida must have given to the +tameness of society. + +The whole of the next week, the party at Erpingham House was the theme of +every conversation. Each person who had been there had met the lion he +had been most anxious to see. The beauty had conversed with the poet, who +had charmed her; the young debutant in science had paid homage to the +great professor of its loftiest mysteries; the statesman had thanked the +author who had defended his measures; the author had been delighted with +the compliment of the statesman. Every one then agreed that, while the +highest rank in the kingdom had been there, rank had been the least +attraction; and those who before had found Constance repellent, were the +very persons who now expatiated with the greatest rapture on the sweetness +of her manners. Then, too, every one who had been admitted to the coterie +dwelt on the rarity of the admission; and thus, all the world were dying +for an introduction to Erpingham House--partly, because it was +agreeable--principally, because it was difficult. + +It soon became a compliment to the understanding to say of a person, "He +goes to Lady Erpingham's!" They who valued themselves on their +understandings moved heaven and earth to become popular with the beautiful +countess. Lady Delville was not asked; Lady Delville was furious: she +affected disdain, but no one gave her credit for it. Lord Erpingham +teazed Constance on this point. + +"You see I was right; for you have affronted Lady Delville. She has made +Delville look coolly on me; in a few weeks he will be a Tory; think of +that, Lady Erpingham!" + +"One month more," answered Constance, with a smile, "and you shall see." + +One night, Lady Delville and Lady Erpingham met at a large party. The +latter seated herself by her haughty enemy; not seeming to heed Lady +Delville's coolness, Constance entered into conversation with her. She +dwelt upon books, pictures, music: her manner was animated, and her wit +playful. Pleased, in spite of herself, Lady Delville warmed from her +reserve. + +"My dear Lady Delville," said Constance, suddenly turning her bright +countenance on the countess with an expression of delighted surprise, +"will you forgive me?--I never dreamed before that you were so charming a +person! I never conceal my sentiments: and I own with regret and shame +that, till this moment, I had never seen in your mind--whatever I might in +your person--those claims to admiration which were constantly dinned into +my ear." + +Lady Delville actually coloured. + +"Pray," continued Constance, "condescend to permit me to a nearer +acquaintance. Will you dine with us on Thursday?--we shall have only nine +persons beside yourself: but they are the nine persons whom I most esteem +and admire." + +Lady Delville accepted the invitation. From that hour, Lady Delville--who +had at first resented, from the deepest recess of her heart, Constance +Vernon's accession to rank and wealth,--who, had Constance deferred to her +early acquaintance, would have always found something in her she could +have affected to despise; from that hour, Lady Delville was the warmest +advocate, and a little time after, the sincerest follower, of the youthful +countess. + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +AN INSIGHT INTO THE REAL GRANDE MONDE;--BEING A SEARCH BEHIND THE +ROSE-COLOURED CURTAINS. + +The time we now speak of was the most brilliant the English world, during +the last half century, has known. Lord Byron was in his brief and +dazzling zenith; De Stael was in London; the Peace had turned the +attention of rich idlers to social enjoyment and to letters. There was an +excitement, and a brilliancy, and a spirituality, about our circles, which +we do not recognise now. Never had a young and ambitious woman--a beauty +and a genius--a finer moment for the commencement of her power. It was +Constance's early and bold resolution to push to the utmost--even to +exaggeration--a power existing in all polished states, but now mostly in +this,--the power of fashion! This mysterious and subtle engine she was +eminently skilled to move according to her will. Her intuitive +penetration into character, her tact, and her grace, were exactly the +talents Fashion most demands; and they were at present devoted only to +that sphere. The rudeness that she mingled, at times, with the bewitching +softness and ease of manner she could command at others, increased the +effect of her power. It is much to intimidate as well as to win. And her +rudeness in a very little while grew popular; for it was never exercised +but on those whom the world loves to see humbled. Modest merit in any +rank; and even insolence, if accompanied with merit, were always safe from +her satire. It was the hauteur of foolish duchesses or purse-proud +roturiers that she loved, and scrupled not, to abase. + +And the independence of her character was mixed with extraordinary +sweetness of temper. Constance could not be in a passion: it was out of +her nature. If she was stung, she could utter a sarcasm; but she could +not frown or raise her voice. There was that magic in her, that she was +always feminine. She did not stare young men out of countenance; she +never addressed them by their Christian names; she never flirted--never +coquetted: the bloom and flush of modesty was yet all virgin upon her +youth. She, the founder of a new dynasty, avoided what her successors and +contemporaries have deemed it necessary to incur. She was the leader of +fashion; but--it is a miraculous union--she was respectable! + +At this period, some new dances were brought into England. These dances +found much favour in the eves of several great ladies young enough to +dance them. They met at each other's houses in the morning to practise +the steps. Among these was Lady Erpingham; her house became the favourite +rendezvous. + +The young Marquis of Dartington was one of the little knot. Celebrated +for his great fortune, his personal beauty, and his general success, he +resolved to fall in love with Lady Erpingham. He devoted himself +exclusively to her; he joined her in the morning in her rides--in the +evening in her gaieties. He had fallen in love with her?--yes!--did he +love her?--not the least. But he was excessively idle!--what else could +he do? + +Constance early saw the attentions and designs of Lord Dartington. There +is one difficulty in repressing advances in great society--one so easily +becomes ridiculous by being a prude. But Constance dismissed Lord +Dartington with great dexterity. This was the occasion:-- + +One of the apartments in Erpingham House communicated with a conservatory. +In this conservatory Constance was alone one morning, when Lord +Dartington, who had entered the house with Lord Erpingham, joined her. He +was not a man who could ever become sentimental; he was rather the gay +lover--rather the Don Gaolor than the Amadis; but he was a little abashed +before Constance. He trusted, however, to his fine eyes and his good +complexion--plucked up courage; and, picking a flower from the same plant +Constance was tending, said,-- + +"I believe there is a custom in some part of the world to express love by +flowers. May I, dear Lady Erpingham, trust to this flower to express what +I dare not utter?" + +Constance did not blush, nor look confused, as Lord Dartington had hoped +and expected. One who had been loved by Godolphin was not likely to feel +much agitation at the gallantry of Lord Dartington; but she looked gravely +in his face, paused a little before she answered, and then said, with a +smile that abashed the suitor more than severity could possibly have +done:-- + +"My dear Lord Dartington, do not let us mistake each other. I live in the +world like other women, but I am not altogether like them. Not another +word of gallantry to me alone, as you value my friendship. In a crowded +room pay me as many compliments as you like. It will flatter my vanity to +have you in my train. And now, just do me the favour to take these +scissors and cut the dead leaves off that plant." + +Lord Dartington, to use a common phrase, "hummed and hawed." He looked, +too, a little angry. An artful and shrewd politician, it was not +Constance's wish to cool the devotion, though she might the attachment, of +a single member of her husband's party. With a kind look--but a look so +superior, so queen-like, so free from the petty and coquettish +condescension of the sex, that the gay lord wondered from that hour how he +could ever have dreamed of Constance as of certain other ladies--she +stretched her hand to him. + +"We are friends, Lord Dartington?--and now we know each other, we shall be +so always." + +Lord Dartington bowed confusedly over the beautiful hand he touched; and +Constance, walking into the drawing-room, sent for Lord Erpingham on +business--Dartington took his leave. + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE MARRIED STATE OF CONSTANCE. + +Constance, Countess of Erpingham, was young, rich, lovely as a dream, +worshipped as a goddess. Was she happy? and was her whole heart occupied +with the trifles that surrounded her? + +Deep within her memory was buried one fatal image that she could not +exorcise. The reproaching and mournful countenance of Godolphin rose +before her at all times and seasons. The charm of his presence no other +human being could renew. His eloquent and noble features, living, and +glorious with genius and with passion, his sweet deep voice, his +conversation, so rich with mind and knowledge, and the subtle delicacy +with which he applied its graces to some sentiment dedicated to her, +(delicious flattery, of all flatteries the most attractive to a sensitive +and intellectual woman!)--these occurred to her again and again, and +rendered all she saw around her flat, wearisome, insipid. Nor was this +deep-seated and tender weakness the only serpent--if I may use so confused +a metaphor--in the roses of her lot. + +And here I invoke the reader's graver attention. The fate of women in all +the more polished circles of society is eminently unnatural and unhappy. +The peasant and his dame are on terms of equality--equality even of +ambition: no career is open to one and shut to the other;--equality even +of hardship, and hardship is employment: no labour occupies the whole +energies of the man, but leaves those of the woman unemployed. Is this +the case with the wives in a higher station?--the wives of the lawyer, the +merchant, the senator, the noble? There, the men have their occupations; +and the women (unless, like poor Fanny, work-bags and parrots can employ +them) none. They are idle. They employ the imagination and the heart. +They fall in love and are wretched; or they remain virtuous, and are +either wearied by an eternal monotony or they fritter away intellect, +mind, character, in the minutest frivolities--frivolities being their only +refuge from stagnation. Yes! there is one very curious curse for the sex +which men don't consider! Once married, the more aspiring of them have no +real scope for ambition: the ambition gnaws away their content, and never +find elsewhere wherewithal to feed on. + +This was Constance's especial misfortune. Her lofty, and restless, and +soaring spirit pined for a sphere of action, and ballrooms and boudoirs +met it on every side. One hope she did indeed cherish; that hope was the +source of her intriguings and schemes, of her care for seeming trifles, +the waste of her energies on seeming frivolities. This hope, this object, +was to diminish--to crush, not only the party which had forsaken her +father, but the power of that order to which she belonged herself; which +she had entered only to humble. But this hope was a distant and chill +vision. She was too rational to anticipate an early and effectual change +in our social state, and too rich in the treasures of mind to be the +creature of one idea. Satiety--the common curse of the great;--crept over +her day by day. The powers within her lay stagnant--the keen intellect +rusted in its sheath. + +"How is it," said she to the beautiful Countess of ----, "that you seem +always so gay and so animated; that with all your vivacity and tenderness, +you are never at a loss for occupation? You never seem +weary--ennuyee--why is this?" + +"I will tell you," said the pretty countess, archly; "I change my lovers +every month." Constance blushed, and asked no more. + +Many women in her state, influenced by contagious example, wearied by a +life in which the heart had no share; without children, without a guide; +assailed and wooed on all sides, in all shapes;--many women might have +ventured, if not into love, at least into coquetry. But Constance +remained as bright and cold as ever--"the unsunned snow!" It might be, +indeed, that the memory of Godolphin preserved her safe from all lesser +dangers. The asbestos once conquered by fire can never be consumed by it; +but there was also another cause in Constance's very nature--it was pride! + +Oh! if men could but dream of what a proud woman endures in those +caresses which humble her, they would not wonder why proud women are so +difficult to subdue. This is a matter on which we all ponder much, but we +dare not write honestly upon it. But imagine a young, haughty, guileless +beauty, married to a man whom she neither loves nor honours; and so far +from that want of love rendering her likely to fall hereafter, it is more +probable that it will make her recoil from the very name of love. + +About this time the Dowager Lady Erpingham died; an event sincerely +mourned by Constance, and which broke the strongest tie that united the +young countess to her lord. Lord Erpingham and Constance, indeed, now saw +but little of each other. Like most men six feet high, with large black +whiskers, the earl was vain of his person; and, like most rich noblemen, +he found plenty of ladies who assured him he was irresistible. He had +soon grown angry at the unadmiring and calm urbanity of Constance; and, +living a great deal with single men, he formed liaisons of the same order +as they do. He was, however, sensible that he had been fortunate in the +choice of a wife. His political importance the wisdom of Constance had +quadrupled; at the least; his house she had rendered the most brilliant in +London, and his name the most courted in the lists of the peerage. Though +munificent, she was not extravagant; though a beauty, she did not +intrigue; neither, though his inconstancy was open, did she appear +jealous; nor, whatever the errors of his conduct, did she ever disregard +his interest, disobey his wishes, or waver from the smooth and continuous +sweetness of her temper. Of such a wife Lord Erpingham could not +complain: he esteemed her, praised her, asked her advice, and stood a +little in awe of her. + +Ah, Constance! had you been the daughter of a noble or a peasant--had you +been the daughter of any man but John Vernon--what a treasure beyond +price, without parallel, would that heart, that beauty, that genius have +been! + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE PLEASURE OF RETALIATING HUMILIATION.--CONSTANCE'S DEFENCE OF +FASHION.--REMARKS ON FASHION.--GODOLPHIN'S WHEREABOUT.--FANNY MILLINGER'S +CHARACTER OF HERSELF.--WANT OF COURAGE IN MORALISTS. + +It was a proud moment for Constance when the Duchess of Winstoun and Lady +Margaret Midgecombe wrote to her, worried her, beset her, for a smile, a +courtesy, an invitation, or a ticket to Almack's. + +They had at first thought to cry her down; to declare that she was +plebeian, mad, bizarre, and a blue. It was all in vain. Constance rose +every hour. They struggled against the conviction, but it would not do. +The first person who confounded them with a sense of their error was the +late King, then Regent; he devoted himself to Lady Erpingham for a whole +evening, at a ball given by himself. From that hour they were assured +they had been wrong: they accordingly called on her the next day. +Constance received them with the same coldness she had always evinced; but +they went away declaring they never saw any one whose manners were so +improved. They then sent her an invitation! she refused it; a second! +she refused; a third, begging her to fix the day!!! she fixed the day, and +disappointed them. Lord bless us!--how sorry they were, how alarmed, how +terrified!--their dear Lady Erpingham must be ill!--they sent every day +for the next week to know how she was! + +"Why," said Mrs. Trevor to Lady Erpingham,--"why do you continue so cruel +to these poor people? I know they were very impertinent, and so forth, +once; but it is surely wiser and more dignified now to forgive; to appear +unconscious of the past: people of the world ought not to quarrel with +each other." + +"You are right, and yet you are mistaken," said Constance: "I do forgive, +and I don't quarrel; but my opinion, my contempt, remain the same, or are +rather more disdainful than ever. These people are not worth losing the +luxury we all experience in expressing contempt. I continue, therefore, +but quietly and without affectation, to indulge that luxury. Besides, I +own to you, my dear Mrs. Trevor, I do think that the mere insolence of +titles must fairly and thoroughly be put down, if we sincerely wish to +render society agreeable; and where can we find a better example for +punishment than the Duchess of Winstoun?" + +"But, my dear Lady Erpingham, you are thought insolent: your friend, Lady +----, is called insolent, too;--are you sure the charge is not merited?" + +"I allow the justice of the charge; but you will observe, ours is not the +insolence of rank: we have made it a point to protect, to the utmost, the +poor and unfriended of all circles. Are we ever rude to governesses or +companions, or poor writers, or musicians? When a man marries below him, +do we turn our backs on the poor wife? Do we not, on the contrary, lavish +our attention on her, and throw round her equivocal and joyless state the +protection of Fashion? No, no! _our_ insolence is Justice! it is the +chalice returned to the lips which prepared it; it is insolence to the +insolent; reflect, and you will allow it." + +The fashion that Constance set and fostered was of a generous order; but +it was not suited to the majority; it was corrupted by her followers into +a thousand basenesses. In vain do we make a law, if the general spirit is +averse to the law. Constance could humble the great; could loosen the +links of extrinsic rank; could undermine the power of titles; but that was +all! She could abase the proud, but not elevate the general tone: for one +slavery she only substituted another,--people hugged the chains of +Fashion, as before they hugged those of Titular Arrogance. + +Amidst the gossip of the day Constance heard much of Godolphin, and all +spoke of him with interest--even those who could not comprehend his very +intricate and peculiar character. Separated from her by lands and seas, +there seemed no danger in allowing herself the sweet pleasure of hearing +his actions and his mind discussed. She fancied she did not permit +herself to _love_ him; she was too pure not to start at such an idea; but +her mind was not so regulated, so trained and educated in sacred +principle, that she forbade herself the luxury to _remember._ Of his +present mode of life she heard little. He was traced from city to city; +from shore to shore; from the haughty noblesse of Vienna to the gloomy +shrines of Memphis, by occasional report, and seemed to tarry long in no +place. This roving and unsettled life, which secretly assured her of her +power, suffused his image in all tender and remorseful dyes. Ah! where is +that one person to been vied, could we read the heart? + +The actress had heard incidentally from Saville of Godolphin's attachment +to the beautiful countess. She longed to see her; and when, one night at +the theatre, she was informed that Lady Erpingham was in the Lord +Chamberlain's box close before her, she could scarcely command her +self-possession sufficiently to perform with her wonted brilliancy of +effect. + +She was greatly struck by the singular nobleness of Lady Erpingham's face +and person: and Godolphin rose in her estimation, from the justice of the +homage he had rendered to so fair a shrine. What a curious trait, by the +by, that is in women;--their exaggerated anxiety to see one who has been +loved by the man in whom they themselves take interest: and the manner +which the said man rises or falls in their estimation, according as they +admire, or are disappointed in, the object of his love. + +"And so," said Saville, supping one night with the actress, "you think the +world does not overlaud Lady Erpingham?" + +"No: she is what Medea would have been, if innocent--full of majesty, and +yet of sweetness. It is the face of a queen of some three thousand years +back. I could have worshipped her." + +"My little Fanny, you are a strange creature. Methinks you have a dash of +poetry in you." + +"Nobody who has not written poetry could ever read my character," answered +Fanny, with naivete, yet with truth. "Yet you have not much of the ideal +about you, pretty one." + +"No; because I was so early thrown on myself, that I was forced to make +independence my chief good. I soon saw that if I followed my heart to and +fro, wherever it led me, I should be the creature of every breath--the +victim of every accident: I should have been the very soul of romance; +lived on a smile; and died, perhaps, in a ditch at last. Accordingly, I +set to work with my feelings, and pared and cut them down to a convenient +compass. Happy for me that I did so! What would have become of me if, +years go, when I loved Godolphin, I had thrown the whole world of my heart +upon him?" + +"Why, he has generosity; he would not have deserted you." + +"But I should have wearied him," answered Fanny; "and that would have been +quite enough for me. But I did love him well, and purely--(ah! you may +smile!)--and disinterestedly. I was only fortified in my resolution not +to love any one too much, by perceiving that he had _affection_ but no +_sympathy_ for me. His nature was different from mine. I am _woman_ in +everything, and Godolphin is always sighing for a _goddess!_" + +"I should like to sketch your character, Fanny. It is original, though +not strongly marked. I never met with it in any book; yet it is true to +your sex, and to the world." + +"Few people could paint me exactly," answered Fanny. "The danger is that +they would make too much or too little of me. But such as I am, the world +ought to know what is so common, and, as you think, so undescribed." + +And now, beautiful Constance, farewell for the present! I leave you +surrounded by power, and pomp, and adulation. Enjoy as you may that for +which you sacrificed affection! + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE VISIONARY AND HIS DAUGHTER--AN ENGLISHMAN, SUCH AS FOREIGNERS IMAGINE +THE ENGLISH. + +We must now present the reader to characters very diferent from those +which have hitherto passed before his eye. Without the immortal city, +along the Appia Via, there dwelt a singular and romantic visionary, of the +name of Volktman. He was by birth a Dane; and nature had bestowed on him +that frame of mind which might have won him a distinguished career, had +she placed the period of his birth in the eleventh century. Volktman was +essentially a man belonging to the past time: the character of his +enthusiasm was weird and Gothic; with beings of the present day he had no +sympathy; their loves, their hatreds, their politics, their literature, +awoke no echo in his breast. He did not affect to herd with them; his +life was solitude, and its occupation study--and study of that nature +which every day unfitted him more and more for the purposes of existence. +In a word, he was a reader of the stars; a believer in the occult and +dreamy science of astrology. Bred up to the art of sculpture, he had +early in life sought Rome, as the nurse of inspiration; but even then he +had brought with him the dark and brooding temper of his northern tribe. +The images of the classic world; the bright, and cold, and beautiful +divinities, whose natures as well as shapes the marble simulation of life +is so especially adapted to represent; spoke but little to Volktman's +pre-occupied and gloomy imagination. Faithful to the superstitions and +the warriors of the North, the loveliness and majesty of the southern +creations but called forth in him the desire to apply the principles by +which they were formed to the embodying those stern visions which his +haggard and dim fancies only could invoke. This train of inspiration +preserved him, at least, from the deadliest vice in a worshipper of the +arts--commonplace. He was no servile and trite imitator; his very faults +were solemn and commanding. But before he had gained that long experience +which can alone perfect genius, his natural energies were directed to new +channels. In an illness which prevented his applying to his art, he had +accidentally sought entertainment in a certain work upon astrology. The +wild and imposing theories of the science--if science it may be +called--especially charmed and invited him. The clear bright nights of +his fatherland were brought back to his remembrance; he recalled the +mystic and unanalysed impressions with which he had gazed upon the lights +of heaven; and he imagined that the very vagueness of his feelings was a +proof of the certainty of the science. + +The sons of the North are pre-eminently liable to be affected by that +romance of emotion which the hushed and starry aspect of night is +calculated to excite. The long-broken luxurious silence that, in their +frozen climate, reigns from the going down of the sun to its rise; the +wandering and sudden meteors that disport, as with an impish life, along +the noiseless and solemn heaven; the peculiar radiance of the stars; and +even the sterile and severe features of the earth, which those stars light +up with their chill and ghostly serenity, serve to deepen the effect of +the wizard tales which are instilled into the ear of childhood, and to +connect the less known and more visionary impulses of life with the +influences, or at least with the associations, of Night and Heaven. + +To Volktman, more alive than even his countrymen are wont to be, to +superstitious impressions, the science on which he had chanced came with +an all-absorbing interest and fascination. He surrendered himself wholly +to his new pursuit. By degrees the block and the chisel were neglected, +and, though he still worked from time to time, he ceased to consider the +sculptor's art as the vocation of his life and the end of his ambition. +Fortunately, though not rich, Volktman was not without the means of +existence, nor even without the decent and proper comforts: so that he was +enabled, as few men are, to indulge his ardour for unprofitable +speculations, albeit to the exclusion of lucrative pursuits. It may be +noted, that when a man is addicted to an occupation that withdraws him +from the world, any great affliction tends to confirm, without hope of +cure, his inclinations to solitude. The world, distasteful, in that it +gave no pleasure, becomes irremediably hateful when it is coupled with the +remembrance of pain. Volktman had married an Italian, a woman who loved +him entirely, and whom he loved with that strong though uncaressing +affection common to men of his peculiar temper. Of the gay and social +habits and constitution of her country, the Italian was not disposed to +suffer the astrologer to dwell only among the stars. She sought, +playfully and kindly, to attract him towards human society; and Volktman +could not always resist--as what man earth-born can do?--the influence of +the fair presider over his house and hearth. It happened, that on one day +in which she peculiarly wished his attendance at some one of those parties +in which Englishmen think the notion of festivity strange--for it includes +conversation--Volktman had foretold the menace of some great misfortune. +Uncertain, from the character of the prediction, whether to wish his wife +to remain at home or to go abroad, he yielded to her wish, and accompanied +her to her friend's house. A young Englishman lately arrived at Rome, and +already celebrated in the circles of that city for eccentricity of life +and his passion for beauty, was of the party. He appeared struck with the +sculptor's wife; and in his attentions, Volktman, for the first and the +last time, experienced the pangs of jealousy; he hurried his wife away. + +On their return home, whether or not a jewel worn by the signora had +attracted the cupidity of some of the lawless race who live through +gaining, and profiting by, such information, they were attacked by two +robbers in the obscure and ill-lighted suburb. Though Volktman offered no +resistance, the manner of their assailants was rude and violent. The +signora was fearfully alarmed; her shrieks brought a stranger to their +assistance; it was the English youth who had so alarmed the jealousy of +Volktman. Accustomed to danger in his profession of a gallant, the +Englishman seldom, in those foreign lands, went from home at night without +the protection of pistols. At the sight of firearms, the ruffians felt +their courage evaporate; they fled from their prey; and the Englishman +assisted Volktman in conveying the Italian to her home. But the terror of +the encounter operated fatally on a delicate frame; and within three weeks +from that night Volktman was a widower. + +His marriage had been blessed with but one daughter, who at the time of +this catastrophe was about eight years of age. His love for his child in +some measure reconciled Volktman to life; and as the shock of the event +subsided, he returned with a pertinacity which was now subjected to no +interruption, to his beloved occupations and mysterious researches. One +visitor alone found it possible to win frequent ingress to his seclusion; +it was the young English man. A sentiment of remorse at the jealous +feelings he had experienced, and for which his wife, though an Italian, +had never given him even the shadow of a cause, had softened--into a +feeling rendered kind by the associations of the deceased, and a vague +desire to atone to her for an acknowledged error,--the dislike he had at +first conceived against the young man. This was rapidly confirmed by the +gentle and winning manners of the stranger, by his attentions to the +deceased, to whom he had sent an English physician of great skill, and, as +their acquaintance expanded, by the animated interest which he testified +in the darling theories of the astrologer. + +It happened also that Volktman's mother had been the daughter of Scotch +parents. She had taught him the English tongue; and it was the only +language, save his own, which he spoke as a native. This circumstance +tended greatly to facilitate his intercourse with the traveller; and he +found in the society of a man ardent, sensitive, melancholy, and addicted +to all abstract contemplation, a pleasure which, among the keen, but +uncultivated intellects of Italy, he had never enjoyed. + +Frequently, then, came the young Englishman to the lone house on the Appia +Via; and the mysterious and unearthly conversation of the starry visionary +afforded to him, who had early learned to scrutinise the varieties of his +kind, a strange delight, heightened by the contrast it presented to the +worldly natures with which he usually associated, and the commonplace +occupations of a life in pursuit of pleasure. + +And there was one who, child as she was, watched the coming of that young +and beautiful stranger with emotion beyond her years. Brought up alone; +mixing, since her mother's death, with no companions of her age; catching +dim and solemn glimpses of her father's wild but lofty speculations; his +books, filled with strange characters and imposing "words of mighty +sound," open for ever to her young and curious gaze; it can scarce be +matter of wonder that something strange and unworldly mingled with the +elements of character which Lucilla Volktman early developed--a character +that was nature itself, yet of a nature erratic and bizarre. Her impulses +she obeyed spontaneously, but none fathomed their origin. She was not of +a quiet and meek order of mind; but passionate, changeful, and restless. +She would laugh and weep without apparent cause; and the colour on her +cheek never seemed for two minutes the same; and the most fitful changes +of an April heaven were immutability itself compared with the play and +lustre of expression that undulated in her features and her wild, deep, +eloquent eyes. + +Her person resembled her mind; it was beautiful; but the beauty struck you +less than the singularity of its character. Her eyes were of a darkness +that at night seemed black; but her hair was of the brightest and purest +auburn; her complexion, sometimes pale, sometimes radiant even to the +flush of a fever, was delicate and clear; her teeth and mouth were lovely +beyond all words; her hands and feet were small to a fault; and as she +grew up (for we have forestalled her age in this description) her shape, +though wanting in height, was in such harmony and proportion, that the +mind of the sculptor would sometimes escape from the absorption of the +astrologer and Volktman would gaze upon her with the same admiration that +he would have bestowed, in spite of the subject, on the goddess-forms of +Phidias or Canova. But then, this beauty was accompanied with such +endless variety of gesture, often so wild, though always necessarily +graceful, that the eye ached for that repose requisite for prolonged +admiration. + +When she was spoken to, she did not often answer to the purpose, but +rather appeared to reply as to some interrogatory of her own; in the midst +of one occupation, she would start up to another; leave that, in turn, +undone, and sit down in silence lasting for hours. Her voice, in singing, +was exquisitely melodious; she had too, an intuitive talent for painting; +and she read all the books that came in her way with an avidity that +bespoke at once the restlessness and the genius of her mind. + +This description of Lucilla must, I need scarcely repeat, be considered as +applicable to her at some years distant from the time in which the young +Englishman first attracted her childish but ardent imagination. To her, +that face, with its regular and harmonious features, its golden hair, and +soft, shy, melancholy aspect, seemed as belonging to a higher and brighter +order of beings than those who, with exaggerated lineaments and swarthy +hues, surrounded and displeased her. She took a strange and thrilling +pleasure in creeping to his side, and looking up, when unobserved, at the +countenance which, in his absence, she loved to imitate with her pencil by +day; and to recall in her dreams at night. But she seldom spoke to him, +and she shrank, covered with painful blushes, from his arms, whenever he +attempted to bestow on her those caresses which children are wont to claim +as an attention. Once, however, she summoned courage to ask him to teach +her English, and he complied. She learned that language with surprising +facility; and as Volktman loved its sound she grew familiar with its +difficulties, by always addressing her father in a tongue which became +inexpressibly dear to her. And the young stranger delighted to hear that +soft and melodious voice, with its trembling, Italian accent, make music +from the nervous and masculine language of his native land. Scarce +accountably to himself, a certain tender and peculiar interest in the +fortunes of this singular and bewitching child grew up within +him--peculiar and not easily accounted for, in that it was not wholly the +interest we feel in an engaging child, and yet was of no more interested +nor sinister order. Were there truth in the science of the stars, I +should say that they had told him her fate was to have affinity with his; +and with that persuasion, something mysterious and more than ordinarily +tender, entered into the affection he felt for the daughter of his friend. + +The Englishman was himself of a romantic character. He had been +self-taught; and his studies, irregular though often deep, had given +directions to his intellect frequently enthusiastic and unsound. His +imagination preponderated over his judgment; and any pursuit that +attracted his imagination won his entire devotion, until his natural +sagacity proved it deceitful. If at times, living as he did in that daily +world which so sharpens our common sense, he smiled at the persevering +fervour of the astrologer, he more often shared it; and he became his +pupil in "the poetry of heaven," with a secret but deep belief in the +mysteries cultivated by his master. Carrying the delusion to its height, +I fear that the enthusiast entered upon ground still more shadowy and +benighted;--the old secrets of the alchymist, and perhaps even of those +arcana yet more gloomy and less rational, were subjected to their serious +contemplation; and night after night, they delivered themselves wholly up +to that fearful and charmed fascination which the desire and effort to +overleap our mortal boundaries produce even in the hardest and best +regulated minds. The train of thought so long nursed by the abstruse and +solitary Dane was, perhaps, a better apology for the weakness of +credulity, than the youth and wandering fancy of the Englishman. But the +scene around--not alluring to the one--fed to overflowing the romantic +aspirations of the other. + +On his way home, as the stars (which night had been spent in reading) +began to wink and fade, the Englishman crossed the haunted Almo, renowned +of yore for its healing virtues, and in whose stream the far-famed +simulacrum, (the image of Cybele), which fell from heaven, was wont to be +laved with every coming spring: and around his steps, till he gained his +home, were the relics and monuments of that superstition which sheds so +much beauty over all that, in harsh reasoning, it may be said to degrade; +so that his mind, always peculiarly alive to external impressions, was +girt, as it were, with an atmosphere favourable both to the lofty +speculation and the graceful credulities of romance. + +The Englishman remained at Rome, with slight intervals of absence, for +nearly three years. On the night before the day in which he received +intelligence of an event that recalled him to his native country, he +repaired at an hour accidentally later than usual to the astrologer's +abode. + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A CONVERSATION LITTLE APPERTAINING TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.--RESEARCHES +INTO HUMAN FATE._-THE PREDICTION. + +On entering the apartment he found Lucilla seated on a low stool beside +the astrologer. She looked up when she heard his footsteps; but her +countenance seemed so dejected, that he turned involuntarily to that of +Volktman for explanation. Volktman met his gaze with a steadfast and +mournful aspect. + +"What has happened?" asked the Englishman: "you seem sad,--you do not +greet me as usual." + +"I have been with the stars," replied the visionary. + +"They seem but poor company," rejoined the Englishman; "and do not appear +to have much heightened your spirits." + +"Jest not, my friend," said Volktman; it was for the loss of thee I looked +sorrowful. I perceive that thou wilt take a journey soon, and that it +will be of no pleasant nature." + +"Indeed!" answered the Englishman, smilingly. "I ask leave to question +the fact: you know better than any man how often, through an error in our +calculations, through haste, even through an over-attention, astrological +predictions are exposed to falsification; and at present I foresee so +little chance of my quitting Rome, that I prefer the earthly probabilities +to the celestial." + +"My schemes are just, and the Heavens wrote their decrees in their +clearest language," answered the astrologer. "Thou art on the eve of +quitting Rome." + +"On what occasion?" + +The astrologer hesitated--the young visitor pressed the question. + +"The lord of the fourth house," said Volktman, reluctantly, "is located in +the eleventh house. Thou knowest to whom the position portends disaster." + +"My father!" said the Englishman, anxiously, and turning pale; "I think +that position would relate to him." + +"It doth," said the astrologer, slowly. + +"Impossible! I heard from him to-day; he is well--let me see the +figures." + +The young man looked over the mystic hieroglyphics of the art, inscribed +on a paper that was placed before the visionary, with deep and +scrutinising attention. Without bewildering the reader with those words +and figures of weird sound and import which perplex the uninitiated, and +entangle the disciple of astrology, I shall merely observe that there was +one point in which the judgment appeared to admit doubt as to the +signification. The Englishman insisted on the doubt; and a very learned +and edifying debate was carried on between pupil and master, in the heat +of which all recollection of the point in dispute (as is usual in such +cases) evaporated. + +"I know not how it is," said the Englishman, "that I should give any +credence to a faith which (craving your forgiveness) most men out of +Bedlam concur, at this day, in condemning as wholly idle and absurd. For +it may be presumed that men only incline to some unpopular theory in +proportion as it flatters or favours them; and as for this theory of +yours--of ours, if you will--it has foretold me nothing but misfortune." + +"Thy horoscope," replied the astrologer, "is indeed singular and ominous: +but, like my daughter, the exact minute (within almost a whole hour) of +thy birth seems unknown; and however ingeniously we, following the +ancients, have contrived means for correcting nativities, our predictions +(so long as the exact period of birth is not ascertained) remain, in my +mind, always liable to some uncertainty. Indeed, the surest method of +reducing the supposed time to the true--that of 'Accidents,' is but +partially given, as in thy case; for, with a negligence that cannot be too +severely blamed or too deeply lamented, thou hast omitted to mark down, or +remember, the days on which accidents--fevers, broken limbs, &c.--occurred +to thee; and this omission leaves a cloud over the bright chapters of +fate----" + +"Which," interrupted the young man, "is so much the happier for me, in +that it allows me some loophole for hope." + +"Yet," renewed the astrologer, as if resolved to deny his friend any +consolation, "thy character, and the bias of thy habits, as well as the +peculiarities of thy person--nay even the moles upon thy skin--accord with +thy proposed horoscope." + +"Be it so!" said the Englishman, gaily. "You grant me, at least, the +fairest of earthly gifts--the happiness of pleasing that sex which alone +sweetens our human misfortunes. That gift I would sooner have, even +accompanied as it is, than all the benign influences without it." + +"Yet," said the astrologer, "shalt thou even there be met with affliction; +for Saturn had the power to thwart the star Venus, that was disposed to +favour thee, and evil may be the result of the love thou inspirest. There +is one thing remarkable in our science, which is especially worthy of +notice in thy lot. The ancients, unacquainted with the star of Herschel, +seem also scarcely acquainted with the character which the influence of +that wayward and melancholy orb creates. Thus, the aspect of Herschel +neutralises, in great measure, the boldness and ambition, and pride of +heart, thou wouldst otherwise have drawn from the felicitous configuration +of the stars around the Moon and Mercury at thy birth. That yearning for +something beyond the narrow bounds of the world, that love for reverie, +that passionate romance, yea, thy very leaning, despite thy worldly sense, +to these occult and starry mysteries;--all are bestowed on thee by this +new and potential planet." + +"And hence, I suppose," said the Englishman, interested (as the astrologer +had declared) in spite of himself, "hence that opposition in my nature of +the worldly and romantic; hence, with you, I am the dreaming enthusiast; +but the instant I regain the living and motley crowd, I shake off the +influence with ease, and become the gay pursuer of social pleasures." + +"Never _at heart gay,_" muttered the astrologer; "Saturn and Herschel make +not sincere mirth-makers." The Englishman did not hear or seem to hear +him. + +"No," resumed the young man, musingly, "no! it is true that there is some +counteraction of what, at times, I should have called my natural bent. +Thus, I am bold enough, and covetous of knowledge, and not deaf to vanity; +and yet I have no ambition. The desire to rise seems to me wholly +unalluring: I scorn and contemn it as a weakness. But what matters it? so +much the happier for me if, as you predict, my life be short. But how, if +so unambitious and so quiet of habit, how can I imagine that my death will +be violent as well as premature?" + +It was as he spoke that the young Lucilla, who, with fixed eyes and lips +apart, had been drinking in their conversation suddenly rose and left the +room. They were used to her comings in and her goings out without cause +or speech, and continued their conversation. + +"Alas!" said the visionary; "can tranquillity of life, or care, or +prudence, preserve us from our destiny? No sign is more deadly, whether +by accident or murder, than that which couples Hyleg with Orion and +Saturn. Yet, thou mayest pass the year in which that danger is foretold +thee; and, beyond that time, peace, honour, good fortune, await thee. +Better to have the menace of ill in early life than in its decline. Youth +bears up against misfortune; but it withers the heart, and crushes the +soul of age!" + +"After all," said the young guest, haughtily, "we must do our best to +contradict the starry evils by our own internal philosophy. We can make +ourselves independent of fate; that independence is better than +prosperity!" Then, changing his tone, he added,--"But you imagine that, +by the power of other arts, we may control and counteract the prophecies +of the stars----" + +"How meanest thou?" said the astrologer, hastily. "Thou dost not suppose +that alchymy, which is the servant of the heavenly host, is their +opponent?" + +"Nay," answered the disciple, "but you allow that we may be enabled to +ward off evils, and to cure diseases, otherwise fatal to us, by the gift +of Uriel and the charm of the Cabala?" + +"Surely," replied the visionary; "but then I opine that the discovery of +these precious secrets was foretold to us by the Omniscient Book at our +nativity; and, therefore, though the menace of evils be held out to us, so +also is the probability of their correction or our escape. And I must own +(pursued the enthusiast) that, to me, the very culture of those divine +arts hath given a consolation amidst the evils to which I have been fated; +so true seems it, that it is not in the outer nature, in the great +elements, and in the bowels of the earth, but also within ourselves that +we must look for the preparations whereby we are to achieve the wisdom of +Zoroaster and Hermes. We must abstract ourselves from passion and earthly +desires. Lapped in a celestial reverie, we must work out, by +contemplation, the essence from the matter of things: nor can we dart into +the soul of the Mystic World until we ourselves have forgotten the body; +and by fast, by purity, and by thought, have become, in the flesh itself, +a living soul." + +Much more, and with an equal wildness of metaphysical eloquence, did the +astrologer declare in praise of those arts condemned by the old Church; +and it doth indeed appear from reference to the numerous works of the +alchymists and magians yet extant, somewhat hastily and unjustly. For +those books all unite in dwelling on the necessity of virtue, subdued +passions and a clear mind, in order to become a fortunate and accomplished +cabalist--a precept, by the way, not without its policy; for, if the +disciple failed, the failure might be attributed to his own fleshly +imperfections, not to any deficiency in the truth of the science. + +The young man listened to the visionary with an earnest and fascinated +attention. Independent of the dark interest always attached to discourses +of supernatural things more especially, we must allow, in the mouth of a +fervent and rapt believer, there was that in the language and very person +of the astrologer which inexpressibly enhanced the effect of the theme. +Like most men acquainted with the literature of a country, but not +accustomed to daily conversation with its natives, the English words and +fashion of periods that occurred to Volktman were rather those used in +books than in colloquy; and a certain solemnity and slowness of tone +accompanied with the frequent, almost constant use of the pronoun +singular--the thou and the thee, gave a strangeness and unfamiliar majesty +to his dialect that suited well with the subjects on which he so loved to +dwell. He himself was lean, gaunt, and wan; his cheeks were drawn and +hollow; and thin locks, prematurely bleached to grey, fell in disorder +round high, bare temples, in which the thought that is not of this world +had paled the hue and furrowed the surface. But, as may be noted in many +imaginative men, the life that seemed faint and chill in the rest of the +frame, collected itself, as in a citadel, within the eye. Bright, wild, +and deep, the expression of those blue large orbs told the intense +enthusiasm of the mind within; and, even somewhat thrillingly, +communicated a part of that emotion to those on whom they dwelt. No +painter could have devised, nor even Volktman himself, in the fulness of +his northern phantasy, have sculptured forth a better image of those pale +and unearthly students who, in the darker ages, applied life and learning +to one unhallowed vigil, the Hermes or the Gebir of the alchymist's empty +science--dreamers, and the martyrs of their dreams. + +In the discussion of mysteries which to detail would only weary while it +perplexed the reader, the enthusiasts passed the greater portion of the +night; and when at length the Englishman rose to depart, it cannot be +denied that a solemn and boding emotion agitated his breast. + +"We have talked," said he, attempting a smile, "of things above this +nether life; and here we are lost, uncertain. On one thing, however, we +can decide; life itself is encompassed with gloom; sorrow and anxiety +await even those upon whom the stars shed their most golden influence. We +know not one day what the next shall bring!--no; I repeat it; no--in spite +of your scheme, and your ephemeris, and your election of happy moments. +But, come what will, Volktman, come all that you foretell to me; crosses +in my love, disappointment in my life, melancholy in my blood, and a +violent death in the very flush of my manhood,--Me: at least, Me! my soul, +my heart, my better part, you shall never cast down, nor darken, nor +deject. I move in a certain and serene circle; ambition cannot tempt me +above it, nor misfortune cast me below!" + +Volktman looked at the speaker with surprise and admiration; the +enthusiasm of a brave mind is the only fire broader and brighter than that +of a fanatical one. + +"Alas! my young friend," he said, as he clashed the hand of his guest, "I +would to Heaven that my predictions may be wrong: often and often they +have been erroneous," added he bowing his head humbly; "they may be so in +their reference to thee. So young, so brilliant, so beautiful too; so +brave, yet so romantic of heart, I feel for all that may happen to +thee--ay, far, far more deeply than aught which may be fated to myself; +for I am an old man now, and long inured to disappointment; all the +greenness of my life is gone: even could I attain to the Grand Secret the +knowledge methinks would be too late. And, at my birth, my lot was +portioned out unto me in characters so clear, that, while I have had time +to acquiesce in it, I have had no hope to correct and change it. For +Jupiter in Cancer, removed from the Ascendant, and not impedited of any +other star, betokened me indeed some expertness in science, but a life of +seclusion, and one that should bring not forth the fruits that its labour +deserved. But there is so much in thy fate that ought to be bright and +glorious, that it will be no common destiny marred, should the evil +influences and the ominous seasons prevail against thee. But thou +speakest boldly--boldly, and as one of a high soul, though it be sometimes +clouded and led astray. And I, therefore, again and again impress upon +thee, it is from thine own self, thine own character, thine own habits, +that all evil, save that of death, will come. Wear, then, I implore thee, +wear in thy memory, as a jewel, the first great maxim of alchymist and +magian:--'Search thyself--correct thyself--subdue thyself:' it is only +through the lamp of crystal that the light will shine duly out." + +"It is more likely that the stars should err," returned the Englishman, +"than that the human heart should correct itself of error: adieu!" + +He left the room, and proceeded along a passage that led to the outer +door. Ere he reached it, another door opened suddenly, and the face of +Lucilla broke forth upon him. She held a light in her hand; and as she +gazed on the Englishman, he saw that her face was very pale, and that she +had been weeping. She looked at him long and earnestly, and the look +affected him strangely; he broke silence, which at first it appeared to +him difficult to do. + +"Good night, my pretty friend," said he: "shall I bring you some flowers +to-morrow?" + +Lucilla burst into a wild eltritch laugh; and abruptly closing the door, +left him in darkness. + +The cool air of the breaking dawn came freshly to the cheek of our +countryman; yet, still, an unpleasant and heavy sensation sat at his +heart. His nerves, previously weakened by his long commune with the +visionary, and the effect it had produced, yet tingled and thrilled with +the abrupt laugh and meaning countenance of that strange girl, who +differed so widely from all others of her years. The stars were growing +pale and ghostly, and there was a mournful and dim haze around the moon. + +"Ye look ominously upon me," said he, half aloud, as his eyes fixed their +gaze above; and the excitement of his spirit spread to his language: "ye +on whom, if our lore be faithful, the Most High hath written the letters +of our mortal doom. And if ye rule the tides of the great deep, and the +changes of the rolling year, what is there out of reason or nature in our +belief that ye hold the same sympathetic and unseen influence over the +blood and heart, which are the character (and the character makes the +conduct) of man?" Pursuing his soliloquy of thought, and finding reasons +for a credulity that afforded to him but little cause for pleasure or +hope, the Englishman took his way to St. Sebastian's gate. + +There was, in truth, much in the traveller's character that corresponded +with that which was attributed and destined to one to whom the heavens had +given a horoscope answering to his own; and it was this conviction rather +than any accidental coincidence in events, which had first led him to pore +with a deep attention over the vain but imposing prophecies of judicial +astrology. Possessed of all the powers that enable men to rise; ardent, +yet ordinarily shrewd; eloquent, witty, brave, and, though not what may be +termed versatile, possessing that rare art of concentrating the faculties +which enables the possessor rapidly and thoroughly to master whatsoever +once arrests the attention, be yet despised all that would have brought +these endowments into full and legitimate display. He lived only for +enjoyment. A passionate lover of women, music, letters, and the arts, it +was society, not the world, which made the sphere and end of his +existence. Yet was he no vulgar and commonplace epicurean: he lived for +enjoyment; but that enjoyment was mainly formed from elements wearisome to +more ordinary natures. Reverie, contemplation, loneliness, were at times +dearer to him than the softer and more Aristippean delights. His energies +were called forth in society, but he was scarcely social. Trained from +his early boyhood to solitude, he was seldom weary of being alone. He +sought the crowd, not to amuse himself, but to observe others. The world +to him was less as a theatre on which he was to play a part, than as a +book in which he loved to decipher the enigmas of wisdom. He observed all +that passed around him. No sprightly cavalier at any time; the charm that +he exercised at will over his companions was that of softness, not +vivacity. But amidst that silken blandness of demeanour, the lynx eye of +Remark never slept. He penetrated character at a glance, but he seldom +made use of his knowledge. He found a pleasure in reading men, but a +fatigue in governing them. And thus, consummately skilled as he was in +the science du monde, he often allowed himself to appear ignorant of its +practice. Forming in his mind a beau ideal of friendship and of love, he +never found enough in the realities long to engage his affection. Thus, +with women he was considered fickle, and with men he had no intimate +companionship. This trait of character is common with persons of genius; +and, owing to too large an overflow of heart, they are frequently +considered heartless. There is always, however, danger that a character +of this kind should become with years what it seems; what it soon learns +to despise. Nothing steels the affections like contempt. + +The next morning an express from England reached the young traveller. His +father was dangerously ill; nor was it expected that the utmost diligence +would enable the young man to receive his last blessing. The Englishman, +appalled and terror-stricken, recalled his interview with the astrologer. +Nothing so effectually dismays us, as to feel a confirmation of some idea +of supernatural dread that has already found entrance within our reason; +and of all supernatural belief, that of being compelled by a predecree, +and thus being the mere tools and puppets of a dark and relentless fate, +seems the most fraught at once with abasement and with horror. + +The Englishman left Rome that morning, and sent only a verbal and hasty +message to the astrologer, announcing the cause of his departure. +Volktman was a man of excellent heart; but one would scarcely like to +inquire whether exultation at the triumph of his prediction was not with +him a far more powerful sentiment than grief at the misfortune to his +friend! + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE YOUTH OF LUCILLA VOLKTMAN.--A MYSTERIOUS CONVERSATION.--THE RETURN OF +ONE UNLOOKED FOR. + +Time went slowly on, and Lucilla grew up in beauty. The stranger traits +of her character increased in strength, but perhaps in the natural +bashfulness of maidenhood they became more latent. At the age of fifteen, +her elastic shape had grown round and full, and the wild girl had already +ripened to the woman. An expression of thought, when the play of her +features was in repose, that dwelt upon her lip and forehead, gave her the +appearance of being two or three years older than she was; but again, +when her natural vivacity returned,--when the clear and buoyant music of +her gay laugh rang out, or when the cool air and bright sky of morning +sent the blood to her cheek and the zephyr to her step, her face became as +the face of childhood, and contrasted with a singular and dangerous +loveliness the rich development of her form. + +And still was Lucilla Volktman a stranger to all that savoured of the +world; the company of others of her sex and age never drew forth her +emotions from their resting-place:-- + + "And Nature said, a lovelier flower + On earth was never sown + * * * * * + Myself will to my darling be + Both law and impulse; and with me + The girl, in rock and plain, + In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, + Shall feel an overseeing power + To kindle or restrain. + + The stars of midnight shall be dear + To her; and she shall lean her ear + In many a secret place; + Where rivulets dance their wayward round, + And beauty, born of murmuring sound, + Shall pass into her face." + + WORDSWORTH. + +These lines have occurred to me again and again, as I looked on the face +of her to whom I have applied them. And, remembering as I do its radiance +and glory in her happier moments, I can scarcely persuade myself to notice +the faults and heats of temper which at times dashed away all its lustre +and gladness. Unrestrained and fervid, she gave way to the irritation of +grief of the moment with a violence that would have terrified any one who +beheld her at such times. But it rarely happened that the scene had its +witness even in her father, for she fled to the loneliest spot she could +find to indulge these emotions; and perhaps even the agony they +occasioned--an agony convulsing the heart and whole of her impassioned +frame--took a sort of luxury from the solitary and unchecked nature of its +indulgence. + +Volktman continued his pursuits with an ardour that increased--as do all +species of monomania--with increasing years; and in the accidental truth +of some of his predictions, he forgot the erroneous result of the rest. He +corresponded at times with the Englishman, who, after a short sojourn in +England, had returned to the Continent, and was now making a prolonged +tour through its northern capitals. + +Very different, indeed, from the astrologer's occupations were those of +the wanderer; and time, dissipation, and a maturer intellect had cured the +latter of his boyish tendency to studies so idle and so vain. Yet he +always looked back with an undefined and unconquered interest to the +period of his acquaintance with the astrologer; to their long and +thrilling watches in the night season; to the contagious fervour of faith +breathing from the visionary; his dark and restless excursions into that +remote science associated with the legends of eldest time, and of + + "The crew, who, under names of old renown, + Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train, + With monstrous shapes and sorceries, abused + Fanatic Egypt and her priests." + +One night, four years after the last scene we have described in the +astrologer's house, Volktman was sitting alone in his favourite room. +Before him was a calculation on which the ink was scarcely dry. His face +leant on his breast, and he seemed buried in thought. His health had been +of late gradually declining; and it might be seen upon his worn brow and +attenuated frame, that death was already preparing to withdraw the +visionary from a world whose substantial enjoyments he had so sparingly +tasted. + +Lucilla had been banished from his chamber during the day. She now knew +that his occupation was over, and entered the room with his evening +repast; that frugal meal, common with the Italians--the polenta (made of +Indian corn), the bread and the fruits, which after the fashion of +students he devoured unconsciously, and would not have remembered one hour +after whether or not it had been tasted! + +"Sit thee down, child," said he to Lucilla, kindly;--"sit thee down." + +Lucilla obeyed, and took her seat upon the very stool on which she had +been seated the last night on which the Englishman had seen her. + +"I have been thinking," said Volktman, as he placed his hand on his +daughter's head, "that I shall soon leave thee; and I should like to see +thee protected by another before my own departure." + +"Ah, father," said Lucilla, as the tears rushed to her eyes, "do not talk +thus! indeed, indeed, you must not indulge in this perpetual gloom and +seclusion of life. You promised to take me with you, some day this week, +to the Vatican. Do let it be to-morrow; the weather has been so fine +lately; and who knows how long it may last?" + +"True," said Volktman; "and to-morrow will not, I think, be unfavourable +to our stirring abroad, for the moon will be of the same age as at my +birth--an accident that thou wilt note, my child, to be especially +auspicious towards any enterprise." + +The poor astrologer so rarely stirred from his home, that he did well to +consider a walk of a mile or two in the light of an enterprise.--"I have +wished," continued he, after a pause, "that I might see our English friend +once more--that is, ere long. For, to tell thee the truth, Lucilla, +certain events happening unto him do, strangely enough, occur about the +same time as that in which events, equally boding, will befall thee. This +coincidence it was which contributed to make me assume so warm an interest +in the lot of a stranger. I would I might see him soon." + +Lucilla's beautiful breast heaved, and her face was covered with blushes: +these were symptoms of a disorder that never occurred to the recluse. + +"Thou rememberest the foreigner?" asked Volktman, after a pause. + +"Yes," said Lucilla, half inaudibly. + +"I have not heard from him of late: I will make question concerning him +ere the cock crow." + +"Nay my father!" said Lucilla, quickly: "not tonight: you want rest, your +eyes are heavy." + +"Girl," said the mystic, "the soul sleepeth not, nor wanteth sleep: even +as the stars, to which (as the Arabian saith) there is also a soul, +wherewith an intent passion of our own doth make a union--so that we, by +an unslumbering diligence, do constitute ourselves a part of the heaven +itself!--even, I say, as the stars may vanish from the human eye, nor be +seen in the common day--though all the while their course is stopped not, +nor their voices dumb--even so doth the soul of man retire, as it were, +into a seeming sleep and torpor, yet it worketh all the same--and perhaps +with a less impeded power, in that it is more free from common obstruction +and trivial hindrance. And if I purpose to confer this night with the +'Intelligence' that ruleth earth and earth's beings, concerning this +stranger, it will not be by the vigil and the scheme, but by the very +sleep which thou imaginest, in thy mental darkness, would deprive me of +the resources of my art." + +"Can you really, then, my father," said Lucilla, in a tone half anxious, +half timid,--"can you really, at will, conjure up in your dreams the +persons you wish to see; or draw, from sleep, any oracle concerning their +present state?" + +"Of a surety," answered the astrologer; "it is one of the great--though +not perchance the most gifted--of our endowments." + +"Can you teach me the method?" asked Lucilla, gravely. + +"All that relates to the art I can," rejoined the mystic: "but the chief +and main power rests with thyself. For know, my daughter, that one who +seeks the wisdom that is above the earth must cultivate and excite, with +long labour and deep thought, his least earthly faculty." + +Here the visionary, observing that the countenance of Lucilla was stamped +with a fixed attention, which she did not often bestow upon his +metaphysical exordiums; paused for a moment; and then pursued the theme +with the tone of one desirous of making himself at once as clear and +impressive as the nature of an abstruse science would allow. + +"There are two things in the outer creation, which, according to the great +Hermes, suffice for the operation of all that is wonderful and +glorious--Fire and Earth. Even so, my child, there are in the human mind +two powers that affect all of which our nature is capable--reason and +imagination. Now mankind,--less wise in themselves than in the outer +world--have cultivated, for the most part, but one of these faculties; and +that the inferior and more passive, reason. They have tilled the earth of +the human heart, but suffered its fire to remain dormant, or waste itself +in chance and frivolous directions. Hence the insufficiency of human +knowledge. Inventions founded only on reason move within a circle from +which their escape is momentary and trivial. When some few, endowed with +a just instinct, have had recourse to the diviner element, imagination, +thou wilt observe, that they have used it only in the service of the +lighter arts, and those chiefly disconnected from reason. Such is poetry +and music, and other delicious fabrications of genius, that amuse men, +soften men, but _advance_ them not. They have--with but rare +exceptions--left this glorious and winged faculty utterly passive in the +service of Philosophy. There, reason alone has been admitted, and +imagination hath been carefully banished, as an erratic and deceitful +meteor. Now mark me, child: I, noting this our error in early youth, did +resolve to see what might be effected by the culture of this renounced and +maltreated element; and finding, as I proceeded in the studies that grew +from this desire, by the occult yet guiding writings of the great +philosophers of old, that they had forestalled me in this discovery, I +resolved to learn, from their experience, by what means the imagination is +best fostered, and, as it were, sublimed. + +"Anxiously following their precepts--the truth of which soon appeared--I +found that solitude, fast, intense reverie upon the one theme on which we +desired knowledge, were the true elements and purifiers of this glorious +faculty. It was by these means, and by this power, that men so far behind +us in lesser lore achieved, on the mooned plains of Chaldea and by the +dark waters of Egypt, their penetration into the womb of Event;--by these +means, and this power, the solitaries of the Gothic time not only attained +to the most intricate arcana of the stars, but to the empire of the +spirits about, above, and beneath the earth; a power, indeed, disputed by +the presumptuous sophists of the present time, but of which their writings +yet contain ample proof. Nay, by the constant feeding, and impressing and +moulding, and refining, and heightening, the imaginative power, I do +conceive that even the false prophets and the evil practitioners of the +blacker cabala clomb into the power seemingly inconceivable--the power of +accomplishing miracles and prodigies, and to appearance belie, but in +truth verify, the course of nature. By this spirit within the flesh, we +grow _from_ the flesh, and may see, and at length invoke, the souls of the +dead, and receive warnings, and hear omens, and girdle our sleep with +dreams. + +"Not unto me," continued the cabalist, in a lowlier tone, "have been +vouchsafed all these gifts; for I began the art when the first fire of +youth was dim within me; and it was therefore with duller and already +earth-clogged pinions that I sought to rise. Something, however, I have +won as a recompense for austere abstinence and much labour; and this power +over the land of dreams is at least within my command." + +"Then," said Lucilla, in a disappointed tone, "it is only by a long course +of indulgence to the fervour of the imagination, and not by spell or +charm, that one can gain a similar power?" + +"Not wholly so, my daughter," replied the mystic; "they who do so excite, +and have so raised the diviner faculty, can alone possess the certain and +invariable power over dreams, even without charms and talismans; but the +most dull or idle may hope to do so with just confidence (though not +certainty) by help of skill, and by directing the full force of their +half-roused fancy towards the person or object they wish to see reflected +in the glass of Sleep." + +"And what means should the uninitiated employ?" asked Lucilla, in a tone +betokening her interest. + +"I will tell thee," answered the astrologer. "Thou must inscribe on a +white parchment an image of the sun." + +"As how?" interrupted Lucilla. + +"Thus!" said the astrologer, drawing from among his papers one inscribed +with the figure of a man asleep on the bosom of an angel. "This was made +at the potential and appointed time, when the sun was in the Ninth of the +Celestial Houses, and the Lion shook his bright mane as he ascended the +blue mount. Observe, that on the figure must be written thy desire--the +name of the person thou wishest to see, or the thing thou wouldst have +foreshown: then having prepared and brought the mind to a faith in the +effect--for without faith the imagination lies inert and lifeless--this +image will be placed under the head of the invoker, and when the moon +goeth through the sign which was in the Ninth House of his nativity, the +Dream will glide into him, and his soul walk with the spirit of the +vision." + +"Give me the image," said Lucilla, eagerly. + +The mystic hesitated--"No, Lucilla," said he, at length; "no, it is a dark +and comfortless path, that of prescience and unearthly knowledge, save to +the few that walk it with a gifted light and a fearless soul. It is not +for women or children--nay, for few amongst men: it withers up the sap of +life, and makes the hair grey before its time. No, no; take the broad +sunshine, and the brief but sweet flowers of earth; they are better for +thee, my child, and for thy years than the fever and hope of the +night-dream and the planetary influence." + +So saying, the astrologer replaced the image within the leaves of one of +his books; and with prudence not common to him, thrust the volume into a +drawer, which he locked. The fair face of Lucilla became clouded, but the +ill health of her father imposed a restraint on her wild temper. + +Just at that moment the door slowly opened, and the Englishman stood +before the daughter and sire. They did not note him at first. The +solitary servant of the sage had admitted him; he had proceeded, without +ceremony, to the well-remembered apartment. + +As he now stood gazing on the pair, he observed with an inward smile, how +exactly their present attitudes (as well as the old aspect of the scene) +resembled those in which he had broken upon them on the last evening he +had visited that chamber; the father bending over the old, worn, quaint, +table; and the daughter seated beside him on the same low stool. The +character of their countenances struck him, too, as wearing the same +ominous expression as when those countenances had chilled him on that +evening. For Volktman's features were impressed with the sadness that +breathed from, and caused, his prohibition to his daughter; and that +prohibition had given to her features an abstraction and shadow similar to +the dejection they had worn on the night we recur to. + +This remembered coincidence did not cheer the spirits of the young +traveller; he muttered to himself; and then, as if anxious to break the +silence, moved forward with a heavy step. + +Volktman started at the sound; and looking up, seemed literally +electrified by this sudden apparition of one whom he had so lately +expressed his desire to see. His lips muttered the intruder's name, one +well known to the reader (it was the name of Godolphin) and then closed; +but Lucilla sprang from her seat, and, clasping her hands joyously +together, darted forward till she came within a foot of the unexpected +visitor. There she abruptly arrested herself, blushed deeply, and stood +before him humbled, agitated, but all vivid with delight. + +"What, is this Lucilla?" said Godolphin admiringly: "how beautiful she is +grown!" and advancing, he saluted, with a light and fraternal kiss, her +girlish and damask cheek: then, without heeding her confusion, he turned +to the astrologer, who by this time had a little recovered from his amaze. + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE EFFECT OF YEARS AND EXPERIENCE.--THE ITALIAN CHARACTER. + +Godolphin now came almost daily to the astrologer's abode. He was shocked +to perceive the physical alteration four years had wrought in his singular +friend; and, with the warmth of a heart naturally kind, he sought to +contribute to the comfort and enjoyment of a life that was evidently +drawing to a close. + +Godolphin's company seemed to give Volktman a pleasure which nothing else +could afford him. He loved to converse on the various incidents that had +occurred to each since they met; and, in whatsoever Godolphin communicated +to him, the mystic sought to impress upon his friend's attention the +fulfilment of an astrological prediction. + +Godolphin, though no longer impressed with a belief in the visionary's +science, did not affect to combat his assertions. He had not, in his +progress through life, found much to shake his habitual indolence in +ordinary affairs; and it was no easy matter to provoke one of his quiet +temper and self-indulging wisdom into conversational dispute. Besides, +who argues with fanaticism? + +Since the young idealist had left England, the elements of his character +had been slowly performing the ordination of time, and working their due +change in its general aspect. The warm fountains of youth flowed not so +freely as before the selfishness that always comes, sooner or later, to +solitary men of the world, had gradually mingled itself with all the +channels of his heart. The brooding and thoughtful disposition of his +faculties having turned from romance to what he deemed philosophy, that +which once was enthusiasm had hardened into wisdom. He neither hated men +nor loved them with a sanguine philanthropy; he viewed them with cool and +discerning eyes. He did not think it within the power of governments to +make the mass, in any country, much happier or more elevated than they +are. Republics, he was wont to say, favoured aristocratic virtues, and +despotisms extinguished them: but, whether in a monarchy or republic, the +hewers of wood and the drawers of the water, the multitude, still remained +intrinsically the same. + +This theory heightened his indifference to ambition. The watchwords of +party appeared to him ridiculous; and politics in general--what a great +moralist termed one question in particular--a shuttlecock kept up by the +contention of noisy children. His mind thus rested as to all public +matters in a state of quietude, and covered over with the mantle of a most +false, a most perilous philosophy. His appetites to pleasure had grown +somewhat dulled by experience, but he was as yet neither sated nor +discontented. One feeling at his breast still remained scarcely +diminished of its effect, when the string was touched--his tender +remembrance of Constance; and this had prevented any subsequent but +momentary attachment deepening into love. Thus, at the age of seven and +twenty, Percy Godolphin reappears on our stage. + +There was a great deal in the Italian character that our traveller liked: +its love of ease, reduced into a system; its courtesy; its content with +the world as it is; its moral apathy as regards all that agitates life, +save one passion--and the universal tenderness, ardour, and delicacy +which, in that passion, it ennobles itself in displaying. The commonest +peasant of Rome or Naples, though not perhaps in the freer land of +Tuscany, can comprehend all the romance and mystery of the most subtle +species of love; all that it requires in England the idle habits of +aristocracy, or the sensitive fibre of genius, even to conceive. And what +is yet stranger, the worn-out debauches, sage with an experience and +variety of licentiousness, which come not within the compass of a northern +profligacy, remains alive to the earliest and most innocent sentiments of +the passion. And if Platonism in its coldest purity exist on earth, it is +among the Aretins of southern Italy. + +This unworldly refinement, amidst so much worldly callousness, was a +peculiarity that afforded perpetual amusement to the nice eye and subtle +judgment of Godolphin. He loved not to note the common elements of +character; whatever was most abstract and difficult to analyse, pleased +him most. He mixed then much with the Romans, and was a favourite amongst +them; but, during his present visit to the Immortal City, he did not, how +distantly soever, associate with the English. His carelessness of show, +and the independence of a single man from burdensome connexions, rendered +his income fully competent to his wants; but, like many proud men, he was +not willing to make it seem even to himself, as a comparative poverty, +beside the lavish expenses of his ostentatious countrymen. Travel, +moreover, had augmented those stores of reflection which rob solitude of +ennui. + +CHAPTER XXX. + +MAGNETISM.--SYMPATHY.--THE RETURN OF ELEMENTS TO ELEMENTS. + +Daily did the health of Volktman decline; Lucilla was the only one +ignorant of his danger. She had never seen the gradual approaches of +death: her mother's abrupt and rapid illness made the whole of her +experience of disease. Physicians and dark rooms were necessarily coupled +in her mind with all graver maladies; and as the astrologer, wrapt in his +calculations, altered not any of his habits, and was insensible to pain, +she fondly attributed his occasional complaints to the melancholy induced +by seclusion. With sedentary men, diseases being often those connected +with the Organisation of the heart, do not usually terminate suddenly: it +was so with Volktman. + +One day he was alone with Godolphin, and their conversation turned upon +one of the doctrines of the old Magnetism, a doctrine which, depending as +it does so much upon a seeming reference to experience, survived the rest +of its associates, and is still not wholly out of repute among the wild +imaginations of Germany. + +"One of the most remarkable and abstruse points in what students call +metaphysics," said Volktman, "is sympathy! the first principle, according +to some, of all human virtue. It is this, say they, which makes men just, +humane, charitable. When one who has never heard of the duty of assisting +his neighbour, sees another drowning, he plunges into the water and saves +him. Why? because involuntarily, and at once, his imagination places +himself in the situation of the stranger: the pain he would experience in +the watery death glances across him: from this pain he hastens,--without +analysing its cause, to deliver himself. + +"Humanity is thus taught him by sympathy: where is this sympathy +placed?--in the nerves: the nerves are the communicants with outward +nature; the more delicate the nerves, the finer the sympathies; hence, +women and children are more alive to sympathy than men. Well, mark me: do +not these nerves have attraction and sympathy---not only with human +suffering, but with the powers of what is falsely termed inanimate nature? +Do not the wind, the influences of the weather and the seasons, act +confessedly upon them? and if one part of nature, why not another, +inseparably connected too with that part? If the weather and seasons have +sympathy with the nerves, why not the moon and the stars, by which the +weather and the seasons are influenced and changed? Ye of the schools may +allow that sympathy originates some of our actions; I say it governs the +whole world--the whole creation! Before the child is born, it is this +secret affinity which can mark and stamp him with the witness of his +mother's terror or his mother's desire." + +"Yet," said Godolphin, "you would scarcely, in your zeal for sympathy, +advocate the same cause as Edricius Mohynnus, who cured wounds by a +powder, not applied to the wound, but to the towel that had been dipped in +its blood?" + +"No," answered Volktman: "it is these quacks and pretenders that have +wronged all sciences, by clamouring for false deductions. But I do +believe of sympathy, that it has a power to transport ourselves out of the +body and reunite us with the absent. Hence, trances, and raptures, in +which the patient, being sincere, will tell thee, in grave earnestness, +and with minute detail, of all that he saw, and heard, and encountered, +afar off, in other parts of the earth, or even above the earth. As thou +knowest the accredited story of the youth, who, being transported with a +vehement and long-nursed desire to see his mother, did, through that same +desire, become as it were rapt, and beheld her, being at the distance of +many miles, and giving and exchanging signs of their real and bodily +conference." + +Godolphin turned aside to conceal an involuntary smile at this grave +affirmation; but the mystic, perhaps perceiving it, continued yet more +eagerly:-- + +"Nay, I myself, at times, have experienced such trance, if trance it be; +and have conversed with them who have passed from the outward earth--with +my father and my wife. And," continued he, after a moment's pause, "I do +believe that we may, by means of this power of attraction--this elementary +and all-penetrative sympathy, pass away, in our last moments, at once into +the bosom of those we love. For, by the intent and rapt longing to behold +the Blest and to be amongst them, we may be drawn insensibly into their +presence, and the hour being come when the affinity between the spirit and +the body shall be dissolved, the mind and desire, being so drawn upward, +can return to earth no more. And this sympathy, refined and extended, +will make, I imagine, our powers, our very being, in a future state. Our +sympathy being only, then, with what is immortal, we shall partake +necessarily of that nature which attracts us; and the body no longer +clogging the intenseness of our desires, we shall be able by a wish to +transport ourselves wheresoever we please,--from star to star, from glory +to glory, charioted and winged by our wishes." + +Godolphin did not reply, for he was struck with the growing paleness of +the mystic, and with a dreaming and intent fixedness that seemed creeping +over his eyes, which were usually bright and restless. The day was now +fast declining, Lucilla entered the room, and came caressingly to her +father's side. + +"Is the evening warm, my child?" said the astrologer. + +"Very mild and warm," answered Lucilla. + +"Give me your arm then," said he; "I will sit a little while without the +threshold." + +The Romans live in flats, as at Edinburgh, and with a common stair. +Volktman's abode was in the secondo piano. He descended the stairs with +a step lighter than it had been of late; and sinking into a seat without +the house, seemed silently and gratefully to inhale the soft and purple +air of an Italian sunset. + +By and by the sun had entirely vanished: and that most brief but most +delicious twilight, common to the clime, had succeeded. Veil-like and +soft, the mist that floats at that hour between earth and heaven, lent its +transparent shadow to the scene around them: it seemed to tremble as for a +moment, and then was gone. The moon arose, and cast its light over +Volktman's earnest countenance,--over the rich bloom and watchful eye of +Lucilla,--over the contemplative brow and motionless figure of Godolphin. +It was a group of indefinable interest: the Earth was so still, that the +visionary might well have fancied it had hushed itself, to drink within +its quiet heart the voices of that Heaven in whose oracles he believed. +Not one of the group spoke,--the astrologer's mind and gaze were riveted +above; and neither of his companions wished to break the meditations of +the old and dreaming man. + +Godolphin, with folded arms and downcast eyes, was pursuing his own +thoughts; and Lucilla, to whom Godolphin's presence was a subtle and +subduing intoxication, looked indeed upward to the soft and tender +heavens, but with the soul of the loving daughter of earth. + +Slowly, nor marked by his companions, the gaze of the mystic deepened and +deepened in its fixedness. + +The minutes went on; and the evening waned, till a chill breeze, floating +down from the Latian Hills, recalled Lucilla's attention to her father. +She covered him tenderly with her own mantle, and whispered gently in his +ear her admonition to shun the coldness of the coming night. He did not +answer; and on raising her voice a little higher, with the same result, +she looked appealingly to Godolphin. He laid his hand on Volktman's +shoulder; and, bending forward to address him,--was struck dumb by the +glazed and fixed expression of the mystic's eyes. The certainty flashed +across him; he hastily felt Volktman's pulse--it was still. There was no +doubt left on his mind; and yet the daughter, looking at him all the +while, did not even dream of this sudden and awful stroke. In silence, +and unconsciously, the strange and solitary spirit of the mystic had +passed from its home--in what exact instant of time, or by what last +contest of nature, was not known. + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +A SCENE.--LUCILLA'S STRANGE CONDUCT-GODOLPHIN PASSES THROUGH A SEVERE +ORDEAL.--EGERIA'S GROTTO, AND WHAT THERE HAPPENS. + +Let us pass over Godolphin's most painful task. What Lucilla's feelings +were, the reader may imagine; and yet, her wayward and unanalysed temper +mocked at once imagination and expression to depict its sufferings or its +joys. + +The brother of Volktman's wife was sent for: he and his wife took +possession of the abode of death. This, if possible, heightened Lucilla's +anguish. The apathetic and vain character of the middle classes in Rome, +which her relations shared, stung her heart by contrasting its own +desolate abandonment to grief. Above all, she was revolted by the +unnatural ceremonies of a Roman funeral. The corpse exposed--the cheeks +painted--the parading procession, all shocked the delicacy of her real and +reckless affliction. But when this was over--when the rite of death was +done, and when, in the house wherein her sire had presided, and she +herself had been left to a liberty wholly unrestricted, she saw strangers +(for such comparatively her relatives were to her) settling themselves +down, with vacant countenances and light words, to the common occupations +of life,--when she saw them move, alter (nay, talk calmly, and sometimes +with jests, of selling), those little household articles of furniture +which, homely and worn as they were, were hallowed to her by a thousand +dear, and infantine, and filial recollections;--when, too, she found +herself treated as a child, and, in some measure, as a dependant,--when +she, the wild, the free, saw herself subjected to restraint--nay, heard +the commonest actions of her life chidden and reproved,--when she saw the +trite and mean natures which thus presumed to lord it over her, and assume +empire in the house of one, of whose wild and lofty, though erring +speculations--of whose generous though abstract elements of character, she +could comprehend enough to respect, while what she did not comprehend +heightened the respect into awe;--then, the more vehement and indignant +passions of her mind broke forth! her flashing eye, her scornful gesture, +her mysterious threat, and her open defiance, astonished always, sometimes +amused, but more often terrified, the apathetic and superstitious +Italians. + +Godolphin, moved by interest and pity for the daughter of his friend, +called once or twice after the funeral at the house; and commended, with +promises and gifts, the desolate girl to the tenderness and commiseration +of her relations. There is nothing an Italian will not promise, nothing +he will not sell; and Godolphin thus purchased, in reality, a forbearance +to Lucilla's strange temper (as it was considered) which otherwise, +assuredly, would not have been displayed. + +More than a month had elapsed since the astrologer's decease; and, the +season of the malaria verging to its commencement, Godolphin meditated a +removal to Naples. He strolled, two days prior to his departure, to the +house on the Appia Via, in order to take leave of Lucilla, and bequeath to +her relations his parting injunctions. + +It was a strange and harsh face that peered forth on him through the iron +grating of the door before he obtained admittance; and when he entered, he +heard the sound of voices in loud altercation. Among the rest, the +naturally dulcet and silver tones of Lucilla were strained beyond their +wonted key, and breathed the accents of passion and disdain. + +He entered the room whence the sounds of dispute proceeded, and the first +face that presented itself to him was that of Lucilla. It was flushed +with anger; the veins in the smooth forehead were swelled; the short lip +breathed beautiful contempt. She stood at some little distance from the +rest of the inmates of the room, who were seated; and her posture was +erect and even stately, though in wrath: her arms were folded upon her +bosom, and the composed excitement of her figure contrasted with the play, +and fire, and energy of her features. + +At Godolphin's appearance, a sudden silence fell upon the conclave; the +uncle and the aunt (the latter of whom had seemed the noisiest) subsided +into apologetic respect to the rich (he was rich to them) young +Englishman; and Lucilla sank into a seat, covered her face with her small +and beautiful hands, and--humbled from her anger and her vehemence--burst +into tears. + +"And what is this?" said Godolphin, pityingly. + +The Italians hastened to inform him. Lucilla had chosen to absent herself +from home every evening; she had been seen, the last night on the +Corso,--crowded as that street was with the young, the profligate, and the +idle. They could not but reprove "the dear girl" for this indiscretion +(Italians, indifferent as to the conduct of the married, are generally +attentive to that of their single, women); and she announced her +resolution to persevere in it. + +"Is this true, my pupil?" said Godolphin, turning to Lucilla: the poor +girl sobbed on, but returned no answer. "Leave me to reprimand and +admonish her," said he to the aunt and uncle; and they, without appearing +to notice the incongruity of reprimand in the mouth of a man of +seven-and-twenty to a girl of fifteen, chattered forth a Babel of +conciliation and left the apartment. + +Godolphin, young as he might be, was not unfitted for his task. There was +a great deal of quiet dignity mingled with the kindness of his manner; and +his affection for Lucilla had hitherto been so pure, that he felt no +embarrassment in addressing her as a brother. He approached the corner of +the room in which she sat; he drew a chair near to her; and took her +reluctant and trembling hand with a gentleness that made her weep with a +yet wilder vehemence. + +"My dear Lucilla," said he, "you know your father honoured me with his +regard: let me presume on that regard, and on my long acquaintance with +yourself, to address you as your friend--as your brother." Lucilla drew +away her hand; but again, as if ashamed of the impulse, extended it +towards him. + +"You cannot know the world as I do, dear Lucilla," continued Godolphin; +"for experience in its affairs is bought at some little expense, which I +pray that it may never cost you. In all countries, Lucilla, an unmarried +female is exposed to dangers which, without any actual fault of her own, +may embitter her future life. One of the greatest of these dangers lies +in deviating from custom. With the woman who does this, every man thinks +himself entitled to give his thoughts--his words--nay, even his actions, a +license which you cannot but dread to incur. Your uncle and aunt, +therefore, do right to advise your not going alone, to the public streets +of Rome more especially, except in the broad daylight; and though their +advice be irksomely intruded, and ungracefully couched, it is good in its +principle, and--yes, dearest Lucilla, even necessary for you to follow." + +"But," said Lucilla, through her tears, "you cannot guess what insults, +what unkindness, I have been forced to submit to from them. I, who never +knew, till now, what insult and unkindness were! I, who----" here sobs +checked her utterance. + +"But how, my young and fair friend, how can you mend their manners by +destroying their esteem for you? Respect yourself, Lucilla, if you wish +others to respect you. But, perhaps,"--and such a thought for the first +time flashed across Godolphin--"perhaps you did not seek the Corso for +the _crowd_ but for _one;_ perhaps you went there to meet--dare I guess +the fact?--an admirer, a lover." + +"Now _you_ insult me!" cried Lucilla, angrily. + +"I thank you for your anger; I accept it as a contradiction," said +Godolphin. "But listen yet a while, and for give frankness. If there be +any one, among the throng of Italian youths, whom you have seen, and could +be happy with; one who loves you and whom you do not hate;--remember that +I am your father's friend; that I am rich; that I can----" + +"Cruel, cruel!" interrupted Lucilla and withdrawing herself from +Godolphin, she walked to and fro with great and struggling agitation. + +"Is it not so, then?" said Godolphin, doubtingly. + +"No, sir: no!" + +"Lucilla Volktman," said Godolphin, with a colder gravity than he had yet +called forth, "I claim some attention from you, some confidence, nay, some +esteem;--for the sake of your father--for the sake of your early years, +when I assisted to teach you my native tongue, and loved you as a brother. +Promise me that you will not commit this indiscretion any more--at least +till we meet again; nay, that you will not stir abroad, save with one of +your relations." + +"Impossible! impossible!" cried Lucilla, vehemently; "it were to take +away the only solace I have: it were to make life a privation--a curse." + +"Not so, Lucilla; it is to make life respectable and safe. I, on the +other hand, will engage that all within these walls shall behave to you +with indulgence and kindness." + +"I care not for their kindness!--for the kindness of any one; save----" + +"Whom?" asked Godolphin, perceiving she would not proceed: but as she was +still silent, he did not press the question. "Come!" said he, +persuasively: "come, promise, and be friends with me; do not let us part +angrily: I am about to take my leave of you for many months. + +"Part!--you!--months!--O God, do not say so!" + +With these words, she was by his side; and gazing on him with her large +and pleading eyes, wherein was stamped a wildness, a terror, the cause of +which he did not as yet decipher. + +"No, no," said she, with a faint smile: "no! you mean to frighten me, to +extort my promise. You are not going to desert me!" + +"But, Lucilla, I will not leave you to unkindness; they shall not--they +dare not wound you again." + +"Say to me that you are not going from Rome--speak; quick!" + +"I go in two days." + +"Then let me die!" said Lucilla, in a tone of such deep despair, that it +chilled and appalled Godolphin, who did not, however, attribute her grief +(the grief of this mere child--a child so wayward and eccentric) to any +other cause than that feeling of abandonment which the young so bitterly +experience at being left utterly alone with persons unfamiliar to their +habits and opposed to their liking. + +He sought to soothe her, but she repelled him. Her features worked +convulsively: she walked twice across the room; then stopped opposite to +him, and a certain strained composure on her brow seemed to denote that +she had arrived at some sudden resolution. + +"Wouldst thou ask me," she said, "what cause took me into the streets as +the shadows darkened, and enabled me lightly to bear threats at home and +risk abroad?" + +"Ay, Lucilla: will you tell me?" + +"Thou wast the cause!" she said, in a low voice, trembling with emotion, +and the next moment sank on her knees before him. + +With a confusion that ill became so practised and favoured a gallant, +Godolphin sought to raise her. "No! no!" she said; "you will despise me +now: let me lie here, and die thinking of thee. Yes!" she continued, with +an inward but rapid voice, as he lifted her reluctant frame from the +earth, and hung over her with a cold and uncaressing attention: "yes! you +I loved--I adored--from my very childhood. When you were by, life seemed +changed to me; when absent, I longed for night, that I might dream of you. +The spot you had touched I marked out in silence, that I might kiss it and +address it when you were gone. You left us; four years passed away: and +the recollection of you made and shaped my very nature. I loved solitude; +for in solitude I saw you--in imagination I spoke to you--and methought +you answered and did not chide. You returned--and--and--but no matter: to +see you, at the hour you usually leave home; to see you, I wandered forth +with the evening. I tracked you, myself unseen; I followed you at a +distance: I marked you disappear within some of the proud palaces that +never know what love is. I returned home weeping, but happy. And do you +think--do you dare to think--that I should have told you this, had you not +driven me mad!--had you not left me reckless of what henceforth was +thought of me--became of me! What will life be to me when you are gone? +And now I have said all! Go! You do not love me: I know it: but do not +say so. Go--leave me; why do you not leave me?" + +Does there live one man who can hear a woman, young and beautiful, confess +attachment to him, and not catch the contagion? Affected, flattered, and +almost melted into love himself, Godolphin felt all the danger of the +moment but this young, inexperienced girl--the daughter of his friend--no! +her he could not--loving, willing as she was, betray. + +Yet it was some moments before he could command himself sufficiently to +answer her:--"Listen to me calmly," at length he said; "we are at least to +each other dear friends nay, listen, I beseech you. I, Lucilla, am a man +whose heart is forestalled--exhausted before its time; I have loved, +deeply, and passionately: that love is over, but it has unfitted me for +any species of love resembling itself--any which I could offer to you. +Dearest Lucilla, I will not disguise the truth from you. Were I to love +you, it would be--not in the eyes of _your_ countrymen (with whom such +connexions are common), but in the eyes of mine--it would be dishonour. +Shall I confer even this partial dishonour on you? No! Lucilla, this +feeling of yours towards me is (pardon me) but a young and childish +phantasy: you will smile at it some years hence. I am not worthy of so +pure and fresh a heart: but at least" (here he spoke in a lower voice, and +as to himself)--"at least I am not so unworthy as to wrong it." + +"Go!" said Lucilla; "go, I implore you." She spoke, and stood hueless and +motionless, as if the life (life's life was indeed gone!) had departed +from her. Her features were set and rigid; the tears that stole in large +drops down her cheeks were unfelt; a slight quivering of her lips only +bespoke what passed within her. + +"Ah!" cried Godolphin, stung from his usual calm--stung from the quiet +kindness he had sought, from principle, to assume--"can I withstand this +trial?--I, whose dream of life has been the love that I might now find! +I, who have never before known an obstacle to a wish which I have not +contended against, if not conquered: and, weakened as I am with the +habitual indulgence to temptation, which has never been so strong as +now;--but no! I will--I will deserve this attachment by self-restraint, +self-sacrifice." + +He moved away; and then returning, dropped on his knee before Lucilla. + +"Spare me!" said he in an agitated voice, which brought back all the blood +to that young and transparent cheek, which was now half averted from +him--"spare me--spare yourself! Look around, when I am gone, for some one +to replace my image: thousands younger, fairer, warmer of heart, will +aspire to your love; that love for them will be exposed to no peril--no +shame: forget me; select another; be happy and respected. Permit me alone +to fill the place of your friend--your brother. I will provide for your +comforts, your liberty: you shall be restrained, offended no more. God +bless you, dear, dear Lucilla; and believe," (he said almost in a +whisper), "that, in thus flying you, I have acted generously, and with an +effort worthy of your loveliness and your love." + +He said, and hurried from the apartment. Lucilla turned slowly round as +the door closed and then fell motionless on the ground. + +Meanwhile Godolphin, mastering his emotion, sought the host and hostess; +and begging them to visit his lodging that evening, to receive certain +directions and rewards, hastily left the house. + +But instead of returning home, the desire for a brief solitude and +self-commune, which usually follows strong excitement, (and which, in all +less ordinary events, suggested his sole counsellors or monitors to the +musing Godolphin), led his steps in an opposite direction. Scarcely +conscious whither he was wandering, he did not pause till he found himself +in that green and still valley in which the pilgrim beholds the grotto of +Egeria. + +It was noon, and the day warm, but not overpowering. The leaf slept on +the old trees that are scattered about that little valley; and amidst the +soft and rich turf the wanderer's step disturbed the lizard, basking its +brilliant hues in the noontide, and glancing rapidly through the herbage +as it retreated. And from the trees, and through the air, the occasional +song of the birds (for in Italy their voices are rare) floated with a +peculiar clearness, and even noisiness of music, along the deserted haunts +of the Nymph. + +The scene, rife with its beautiful associations, recalled Godolphin from +his reverie. "And here," thought he, "Fable has thrown its most lovely +enduring enchantment: here, every one who has tasted the loves of earth, +and sickened for the love that is ideal, finds a spell more attractive to +his steps--more fraught with contemplation to his spirit, than aught +raised by the palace of the Caesars or the tomb of the Scipios." + +Thus meditating, and softened by the late scene with Lucilla, (to which +his thoughts again recurred), he sauntered onward to the steep side of the +bank, in which faith and tradition have hollowed out the grotto of the +goddess. He entered the silent cavern, and bathed his temples in the +delicious waters of the fountain. + +It was perhaps well that it was not at that moment Lucilla made to him her +strange and unlooked-for confession: again and again he said to himself +(as if seeking for a justification of his self-sacrifice), "Her father was +not Italian, and possessed feeling and honour: let me not forget that he +loved me!" In truth, the avowal of this wild girl; an avowal made indeed +with the ardour--but also breathing of the innocence, the inexperience--of +her character--had opened to his fancy new and not undelicious prospects. +He had never loved her, save with a lukewarm kindness, before that last +hour; but now, in recalling her beauty, her tears, her passionate +abandonment can we wonder that he felt a strange beating at his heart, and +that he indulged that dissolved and luxurious vein of tender meditation +which is the prelude to all love? We must recall, too, the recollection +of his own temper, so constantly yearning for the unhackneyed, the +untasted; and his deep and soft order of imagination, by which he +involuntarily conjured up the delight of living with one, watching one, so +different from the rest of the world, and whose thoughts and passions +(wild as they might be) were all devoted to him! + +And in what spot were these imaginings fed and coloured? In a spot which +in the nature of its divine fascination could be found only beneath one +sky, that sky the most balmy and loving upon earth! Who could think of +love within the haunt and temple of + + "That Nympholepsy of some fond despair," + +and not feel that love enhanced, deepened, modulated, into at once a dream +and a desire? + +It was long that Godolphin indulged himself in recalling the image of +Lucilla; but nerved at length and gradually, by harder, and we may hope +better, sentiments than those of a love which he could scarcely indulge +without criminality on the one hand, or, what must have appeared to the +man of the world, derogatory folly on the other; he turned his thoughts +into a less voluptuous channel, and prepared, though with a reluctant +step, to depart homewards. But what was his amaze, his confusion, when, +on reaching the mouth of the cave, he saw within a few steps of him +Lucilla herself! + +She was walking alone and slowly, her eyes bent upon the ground, and did +not perceive him. According to a common custom with the middle classes of +Rome, her rich hair, save by a single band, was uncovered; and as her +slight and exquisite form moved along the velvet sod, so beautiful a +shape, and a face so rare in its character, and delicate in its +expression, were in harmony with the sweet superstition of the spot, and +seemed almost to restore to the deserted cave and the mourning stream +their living Egeria. + +Godolphin stood transfixed to the earth; and Lucilla, who was walking in +the direction of the grotto, did not perceive, till she was almost +immediately before him. She gave a faint scream as she lifted her eyes; +and the first and most natural sentiment of the woman breaking forth +involuntarily,--she attempted to falter out her disavowal of all +expectation of meeting him there. + +"Indeed, indeed, I did not know--that is--I--I--" she could achieve no +more. + +"Is this a favourite spot with you?" said he, with the vague +embarrassment of one at a loss for words. + +"Yes," said Lucilla, faintly. + +And so, in truth, it was: for its vicinity to her home, the beauty of the +little valley, and the interest attached to it--an interest not the less +to her in that she was but imperfectly acquainted with the true legend of +the Nymph and her royal lover--had made it, even from her childhood, a +chosen and beloved retreat, especially in that dangerous summer time, +which drives the visitor from the spot, and leaves the scene, in great +measure, to the solitude which befits it. Associated as the place was +with the recollection of her earlier griefs, it was thither that her first +instinct made her fly from the rude contact and displeasing companionship +of her relations, to give vent to the various and conflicting passions +which the late scene with Godolphin had called forth. + +They now stood for a few moments silent and embarrassed, till Godolphin, +resolved to end a scene which he began to feel was dangerous, said in a +hurried tone:-- + +"Farewell, my sweet pupil!--farewell!--May God bless you!" + +He extended his hand, Lucilla seized it, as if by impulse; and conveying +it suddenly to her lips, bathed it with tears. "I feel," said this wild +and unregulated girl, "I feel, from your manner, that I ought to be +grateful to you: yet I scarcely know why: you confessed you cannot love +me, that my affection distresses you--you fly--you desert me. Ah, if you +felt one particle even of friendship for me, could you do so?" + +"Lucilla, what can I say?--I cannot marry you." + +"Do I wish it?--I ask thee but to let me go with thee wherever thou +goest." + +"Poor child!" said Godolphin, gazing on her; "art thou not aware that thou +askest thine own dishonour?" + +Lucilla seemed surprised:--"Is it dishonour to love? They do not think so +in Italy. It is wrong for a maiden to confess it; but that thou hast +forgiven me. And if to follow thee--to sit with thee--to be near +thee--bring aught of evil to myself, not thee,--let me incur the evil: it +can be nothing compared to the agony of thy absence!" + +She looked up timidly as she spoke, and saw, with a sort of terror, that +his face worked with emotions which seemed to choke his answer. "If," she +cried passionately, "if I have said what pains thee--if I have asked what +would give dishonour, as thou callest it, or harm, to thyself, for give +me--I knew it not--and leave me. But if it were not of thyself that thou +didst speak, believe that thou hast done me but a cruel mercy. Let me go +with thee, I implore! I have no friend here: no one loves me. I hate the +faces I gaze upon; I loathe the voices I hear. And, were it for nothing +else, thou remindest me of him who is gone:--thou art familiar to +me--every look of thee breathes of my home, of my household recollections. +Take me with thee, beloved stranger!--or leave me to die--I will not +survive thy loss!" + +"You speak of your father: know you that, were I to grant what you, in +your childish innocence, so unthinkingly request, he might curse me from +his grave?" + +"O God, not so!--mine is the prayer--be mine the guilt, if guilt there be. +But is it not unkinder in thee to desert his daughter than to protect +her?" + +There was a great, a terrible struggle in Godolphin's breast. "What," +said he, scarcely knowing what he said,--"what will the world think of you +if you fly with a stranger?" + +"There is no world to me but thee!" + +"What will your uncle--your relations say?" + +"I care not; for I shall not hear them." + +"No, no; this must not be!" said Godolphin proudly, and once more +conquering himself. "Lucilla, I would give up every other dream or hope +in life to feel that I might requite this devotion by passing my life with +thee: to feel that I might grant what thou askest without wronging thy +innocence; but--but--" + +"You love me then! You love me!" cried Lucilla, joyously, and alive to +no other interpretation of his words. Godolphin was transported beyond +himself; and clasping Lucilla in his arms he covered her cheeks, her lips, +with impassioned and burning kisses; then suddenly, as if stung by some +irresistible impulse, he tore himself away; and fled from the spot. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GODOLPHIN, BY LYTTON, V3 *** + +****** This file should be named 7752.txt or 7752.zip ******* + +This eBook was produced by Andrew Heath +and David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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