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+Project Gutenberg's Wieland; or The Transformation, by Charles Brockden Brown
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Wieland; or The Transformation
+       An American Tale
+
+Author: Charles Brockden Brown
+
+Posting Date: August 7, 2008 [EBook #792]
+Release Date: January, 1997
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIELAND; OR THE TRANSFORMATION ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WIELAND; OR THE TRANSFORMATION
+
+An American Tale
+
+by Charles Brockden Brown
+
+
+
+
+          From Virtue's blissful paths away
+          The double-tongued are sure to stray;
+          Good is a forth-right journey still,
+          And mazy paths but lead to ill.
+
+
+Advertisement.
+
+The following Work is delivered to the world as the first of a series
+of performances, which the favorable reception of this will induce the
+Writer to publish. His purpose is neither selfish nor temporary,
+but aims at the illustration of some important branches of the moral
+constitution of man. Whether this tale will be classed with the ordinary
+or frivolous sources of amusement, or be ranked with the few productions
+whose usefulness secures to them a lasting reputation, the reader must
+be permitted to decide.
+
+The incidents related are extraordinary and rare. Some of them, perhaps,
+approach as nearly to the nature of miracles as can be done by that
+which is not truly miraculous. It is hoped that intelligent readers will
+not disapprove of the manner in which appearances are solved, but that
+the solution will be found to correspond with the known principles of
+human nature. The power which the principal person is said to possess
+can scarcely be denied to be real. It must be acknowledged to be
+extremely rare; but no fact, equally uncommon, is supported by the same
+strength of historical evidence.
+
+Some readers may think the conduct of the younger Wieland impossible. In
+support of its possibility the Writer must appeal to Physicians and to
+men conversant with the latent springs and occasional perversions of
+the human mind. It will not be objected that the instances of similar
+delusion are rare, because it is the business of moral painters to
+exhibit their subject in its most instructive and memorable forms. If
+history furnishes one parallel fact, it is a sufficient vindication of
+the Writer; but most readers will probably recollect an authentic case,
+remarkably similar to that of Wieland.
+
+It will be necessary to add, that this narrative is addressed, in an
+epistolary form, by the Lady whose story it contains, to a small
+number of friends, whose curiosity, with regard to it, had been greatly
+awakened. It may likewise be mentioned, that these events took
+place between the conclusion of the French and the beginning of the
+revolutionary war. The memoirs of Carwin, alluded to at the conclusion
+of the work, will be published or suppressed according to the reception
+which is given to the present attempt.
+
+C. B. B. September 3, 1798.
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+
+I feel little reluctance in complying with your request. You know not
+fully the cause of my sorrows. You are a stranger to the depth of my
+distresses. Hence your efforts at consolation must necessarily fail. Yet
+the tale that I am going to tell is not intended as a claim upon your
+sympathy. In the midst of my despair, I do not disdain to contribute
+what little I can to the benefit of mankind. I acknowledge your right to
+be informed of the events that have lately happened in my family. Make
+what use of the tale you shall think proper. If it be communicated
+to the world, it will inculcate the duty of avoiding deceit. It will
+exemplify the force of early impressions, and show the immeasurable
+evils that flow from an erroneous or imperfect discipline.
+
+My state is not destitute of tranquillity. The sentiment that dictates
+my feelings is not hope. Futurity has no power over my thoughts. To all
+that is to come I am perfectly indifferent. With regard to myself, I
+have nothing more to fear. Fate has done its worst. Henceforth, I am
+callous to misfortune.
+
+I address no supplication to the Deity. The power that governs the
+course of human affairs has chosen his path. The decree that ascertained
+the condition of my life, admits of no recal. No doubt it squares with
+the maxims of eternal equity. That is neither to be questioned nor
+denied by me. It suffices that the past is exempt from mutation. The
+storm that tore up our happiness, and changed into dreariness and desert
+the blooming scene of our existence, is lulled into grim repose; but
+not until the victim was transfixed and mangled; till every obstacle was
+dissipated by its rage; till every remnant of good was wrested from our
+grasp and exterminated.
+
+How will your wonder, and that of your companions, be excited by my
+story! Every sentiment will yield to your amazement. If my testimony
+were without corroborations, you would reject it as incredible. The
+experience of no human being can furnish a parallel: That I, beyond the
+rest of mankind, should be reserved for a destiny without alleviation,
+and without example! Listen to my narrative, and then say what it is
+that has made me deserve to be placed on this dreadful eminence, if,
+indeed, every faculty be not suspended in wonder that I am still alive,
+and am able to relate it. My father's ancestry was noble on the paternal
+side; but his mother was the daughter of a merchant. My grand-father was
+a younger brother, and a native of Saxony. He was placed, when he had
+reached the suitable age, at a German college. During the vacations,
+he employed himself in traversing the neighbouring territory. On one
+occasion it was his fortune to visit Hamburg. He formed an acquaintance
+with Leonard Weise, a merchant of that city, and was a frequent guest
+at his house. The merchant had an only daughter, for whom his guest
+speedily contracted an affection; and, in spite of parental menaces and
+prohibitions, he, in due season, became her husband.
+
+By this act he mortally offended his relations. Thenceforward he was
+entirely disowned and rejected by them. They refused to contribute any
+thing to his support. All intercourse ceased, and he received from them
+merely that treatment to which an absolute stranger, or detested enemy,
+would be entitled.
+
+He found an asylum in the house of his new father, whose temper was
+kind, and whose pride was flattered by this alliance. The nobility of
+his birth was put in the balance against his poverty. Weise conceived
+himself, on the whole, to have acted with the highest discretion, in
+thus disposing of his child. My grand-father found it incumbent on him
+to search out some mode of independent subsistence. His youth had
+been eagerly devoted to literature and music. These had hitherto been
+cultivated merely as sources of amusement. They were now converted into
+the means of gain. At this period there were few works of taste in
+the Saxon dialect. My ancestor may be considered as the founder of the
+German Theatre. The modern poet of the same name is sprung from the same
+family, and, perhaps, surpasses but little, in the fruitfulness of his
+invention, or the soundness of his taste, the elder Wieland. His life
+was spent in the composition of sonatas and dramatic pieces. They were
+not unpopular, but merely afforded him a scanty subsistence. He died
+in the bloom of his life, and was quickly followed to the grave by his
+wife. Their only child was taken under the protection of the merchant.
+At an early age he was apprenticed to a London trader, and passed seven
+years of mercantile servitude.
+
+My father was not fortunate in the character of him under whose care
+he was now placed. He was treated with rigor, and full employment was
+provided for every hour of his time. His duties were laborious and
+mechanical. He had been educated with a view to this profession, and,
+therefore, was not tormented with unsatisfied desires. He did not hold
+his present occupations in abhorrence, because they withheld him from
+paths more flowery and more smooth, but he found in unintermitted
+labour, and in the sternness of his master, sufficient occasions for
+discontent. No opportunities of recreation were allowed him. He spent
+all his time pent up in a gloomy apartment, or traversing narrow and
+crowded streets. His food was coarse, and his lodging humble. His heart
+gradually contracted a habit of morose and gloomy reflection. He could
+not accurately define what was wanting to his happiness. He was not
+tortured by comparisons drawn between his own situation and that
+of others. His state was such as suited his age and his views as to
+fortune. He did not imagine himself treated with extraordinary or
+unjustifiable rigor. In this respect he supposed the condition of
+others, bound like himself to mercantile service, to resemble his own;
+yet every engagement was irksome, and every hour tedious in its lapse.
+
+In this state of mind he chanced to light upon a book written by one of
+the teachers of the Albigenses, or French Protestants. He entertained no
+relish for books, and was wholly unconscious of any power they possessed
+to delight or instruct. This volume had lain for years in a corner of
+his garret, half buried in dust and rubbish. He had marked it as it lay;
+had thrown it, as his occasions required, from one spot to another; but
+had felt no inclination to examine its contents, or even to inquire what
+was the subject of which it treated.
+
+One Sunday afternoon, being induced to retire for a few minutes to his
+garret, his eye was attracted by a page of this book, which, by some
+accident, had been opened and placed full in his view. He was seated on
+the edge of his bed, and was employed in repairing a rent in some part
+of his clothes. His eyes were not confined to his work, but occasionally
+wandering, lighted at length upon the page. The words "Seek and ye
+shall find," were those that first offered themselves to his notice.
+His curiosity was roused by these so far as to prompt him to proceed.
+As soon as he finished his work, he took up the book and turned to
+the first page. The further he read, the more inducement he found to
+continue, and he regretted the decline of the light which obliged him
+for the present to close it.
+
+The book contained an exposition of the doctrine of the sect of
+Camissards, and an historical account of its origin. His mind was in a
+state peculiarly fitted for the reception of devotional sentiments. The
+craving which had haunted him was now supplied with an object. His mind
+was at no loss for a theme of meditation. On days of business, he rose
+at the dawn, and retired to his chamber not till late at night. He now
+supplied himself with candles, and employed his nocturnal and Sunday
+hours in studying this book. It, of course, abounded with allusions to
+the Bible. All its conclusions were deduced from the sacred text. This
+was the fountain, beyond which it was unnecessary to trace the stream of
+religious truth; but it was his duty to trace it thus far.
+
+A Bible was easily procured, and he ardently entered on the study of it.
+His understanding had received a particular direction. All his reveries
+were fashioned in the same mould. His progress towards the formation of
+his creed was rapid. Every fact and sentiment in this book were viewed
+through a medium which the writings of the Camissard apostle had
+suggested. His constructions of the text were hasty, and formed on a
+narrow scale. Every thing was viewed in a disconnected position. One
+action and one precept were not employed to illustrate and restrict
+the meaning of another. Hence arose a thousand scruples to which he had
+hitherto been a stranger. He was alternately agitated by fear and by
+ecstacy. He imagined himself beset by the snares of a spiritual foe, and
+that his security lay in ceaseless watchfulness and prayer.
+
+His morals, which had never been loose, were now modelled by a stricter
+standard. The empire of religious duty extended itself to his looks,
+gestures, and phrases. All levities of speech, and negligences of
+behaviour, were proscribed. His air was mournful and contemplative.
+He laboured to keep alive a sentiment of fear, and a belief of
+the awe-creating presence of the Deity. Ideas foreign to this were
+sedulously excluded. To suffer their intrusion was a crime against the
+Divine Majesty inexpiable but by days and weeks of the keenest agonies.
+
+No material variation had occurred in the lapse of two years. Every day
+confirmed him in his present modes of thinking and acting. It was to
+be expected that the tide of his emotions would sometimes recede, that
+intervals of despondency and doubt would occur; but these gradually were
+more rare, and of shorter duration; and he, at last, arrived at a state
+considerably uniform in this respect.
+
+His apprenticeship was now almost expired. On his arrival of age he
+became entitled, by the will of my grand-father, to a small sum. This
+sum would hardly suffice to set him afloat as a trader in his present
+situation, and he had nothing to expect from the generosity of his
+master. Residence in England had, besides, become almost impossible,
+on account of his religious tenets. In addition to these motives for
+seeking a new habitation, there was another of the most imperious and
+irresistable necessity. He had imbibed an opinion that it was his duty
+to disseminate the truths of the gospel among the unbelieving nations.
+He was terrified at first by the perils and hardships to which the life
+of a missionary is exposed. This cowardice made him diligent in the
+invention of objections and excuses; but he found it impossible wholly
+to shake off the belief that such was the injunction of his duty.
+The belief, after every new conflict with his passions, acquired new
+strength; and, at length, he formed a resolution of complying with what
+he deemed the will of heaven.
+
+The North-American Indians naturally presented themselves as the first
+objects for this species of benevolence. As soon as his servitude
+expired, he converted his little fortune into money, and embarked for
+Philadelphia. Here his fears were revived, and a nearer survey of savage
+manners once more shook his resolution. For a while he relinquished his
+purpose, and purchasing a farm on Schuylkill, within a few miles of the
+city, set himself down to the cultivation of it. The cheapness of land,
+and the service of African slaves, which were then in general use,
+gave him who was poor in Europe all the advantages of wealth. He passed
+fourteen years in a thrifty and laborious manner. In this time new
+objects, new employments, and new associates appeared to have nearly
+obliterated the devout impressions of his youth. He now became
+acquainted with a woman of a meek and quiet disposition, and of slender
+acquirements like himself. He proffered his hand and was accepted.
+
+His previous industry had now enabled him to dispense with personal
+labour, and direct attention to his own concerns. He enjoyed leisure,
+and was visited afresh by devotional contemplation. The reading of the
+scriptures, and other religious books, became once more his favorite
+employment. His ancient belief relative to the conversion of the savage
+tribes, was revived with uncommon energy. To the former obstacles were
+now added the pleadings of parental and conjugal love. The struggle
+was long and vehement; but his sense of duty would not be stifled or
+enfeebled, and finally triumphed over every impediment.
+
+His efforts were attended with no permanent success. His exhortations
+had sometimes a temporary power, but more frequently were repelled with
+insult and derision. In pursuit of this object he encountered the most
+imminent perils, and underwent incredible fatigues, hunger, sickness,
+and solitude. The licence of savage passion, and the artifices of his
+depraved countrymen, all opposed themselves to his progress. His courage
+did not forsake him till there appeared no reasonable ground to hope for
+success. He desisted not till his heart was relieved from the supposed
+obligation to persevere. With his constitution somewhat decayed, he at
+length returned to his family. An interval of tranquillity succeeded. He
+was frugal, regular, and strict in the performance of domestic duties.
+He allied himself with no sect, because he perfectly agreed with none.
+Social worship is that by which they are all distinguished; but this
+article found no place in his creed. He rigidly interpreted that precept
+which enjoins us, when we worship, to retire into solitude, and shut
+out every species of society. According to him devotion was not only a
+silent office, but must be performed alone. An hour at noon, and an hour
+at midnight were thus appropriated.
+
+At the distance of three hundred yards from his house, on the top of a
+rock whose sides were steep, rugged, and encumbered with dwarf cedars
+and stony asperities, he built what to a common eye would have seemed a
+summer-house. The eastern verge of this precipice was sixty feet above
+the river which flowed at its foot. The view before it consisted of a
+transparent current, fluctuating and rippling in a rocky channel, and
+bounded by a rising scene of cornfields and orchards. The edifice was
+slight and airy. It was no more than a circular area, twelve feet in
+diameter, whose flooring was the rock, cleared of moss and shrubs, and
+exactly levelled, edged by twelve Tuscan columns, and covered by an
+undulating dome. My father furnished the dimensions and outlines, but
+allowed the artist whom he employed to complete the structure on his own
+plan. It was without seat, table, or ornament of any kind.
+
+This was the temple of his Deity. Twice in twenty-four hours he repaired
+hither, unaccompanied by any human being. Nothing but physical inability
+to move was allowed to obstruct or postpone this visit. He did not exact
+from his family compliance with his example. Few men, equally sincere
+in their faith, were as sparing in their censures and restrictions,
+with respect to the conduct of others, as my father. The character of
+my mother was no less devout; but her education had habituated her to
+a different mode of worship. The loneliness of their dwelling prevented
+her from joining any established congregation; but she was punctual in
+the offices of prayer, and in the performance of hymns to her Saviour,
+after the manner of the disciples of Zinzendorf. My father refused
+to interfere in her arrangements. His own system was embraced not,
+accurately speaking, because it was the best, but because it had been
+expressly prescribed to him. Other modes, if practised by other persons,
+might be equally acceptable.
+
+His deportment to others was full of charity and mildness. A sadness
+perpetually overspread his features, but was unmingled with sternness or
+discontent. The tones of his voice, his gestures, his steps were all in
+tranquil unison. His conduct was characterised by a certain forbearance
+and humility, which secured the esteem of those to whom his tenets were
+most obnoxious. They might call him a fanatic and a dreamer, but they
+could not deny their veneration to his invincible candour and invariable
+integrity. His own belief of rectitude was the foundation of his
+happiness. This, however, was destined to find an end.
+
+Suddenly the sadness that constantly attended him was deepened. Sighs,
+and even tears, sometimes escaped him. To the expostulations of his wife
+he seldom answered any thing. When he designed to be communicative, he
+hinted that his peace of mind was flown, in consequence of deviation
+from his duty. A command had been laid upon him, which he had delayed to
+perform. He felt as if a certain period of hesitation and reluctance
+had been allowed him, but that this period was passed. He was no
+longer permitted to obey. The duty assigned to him was transferred, in
+consequence of his disobedience, to another, and all that remained was
+to endure the penalty.
+
+He did not describe this penalty. It appeared to be nothing more for
+some time than a sense of wrong. This was sufficiently acute, and was
+aggravated by the belief that his offence was incapable of expiation. No
+one could contemplate the agonies which he seemed to suffer without the
+deepest compassion. Time, instead of lightening the burthen, appeared to
+add to it. At length he hinted to his wife, that his end was near. His
+imagination did not prefigure the mode or the time of his decease, but
+was fraught with an incurable persuasion that his death was at hand. He
+was likewise haunted by the belief that the kind of death that awaited
+him was strange and terrible. His anticipations were thus far vague and
+indefinite; but they sufficed to poison every moment of his being, and
+devote him to ceaseless anguish.
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+
+Early in the morning of a sultry day in August, he left Mettingen, to go
+to the city. He had seldom passed a day from home since his return from
+the shores of the Ohio. Some urgent engagements at this time existed,
+which would not admit of further delay. He returned in the evening, but
+appeared to be greatly oppressed with fatigue. His silence and dejection
+were likewise in a more than ordinary degree conspicuous. My mother's
+brother, whose profession was that of a surgeon, chanced to spend this
+night at our house. It was from him that I have frequently received an
+exact account of the mournful catastrophe that followed.
+
+As the evening advanced, my father's inquietudes increased. He sat with
+his family as usual, but took no part in their conversation. He appeared
+fully engrossed by his own reflections. Occasionally his countenance
+exhibited tokens of alarm; he gazed stedfastly and wildly at the
+ceiling; and the exertions of his companions were scarcely sufficient
+to interrupt his reverie. On recovering from these fits, he expressed no
+surprize; but pressing his hand to his head, complained, in a tremulous
+and terrified tone, that his brain was scorched to cinders. He would
+then betray marks of insupportable anxiety.
+
+My uncle perceived, by his pulse, that he was indisposed, but in no
+alarming degree, and ascribed appearances chiefly to the workings of his
+mind. He exhorted him to recollection and composure, but in vain. At the
+hour of repose he readily retired to his chamber. At the persuasion of
+my mother he even undressed and went to bed. Nothing could abate his
+restlessness. He checked her tender expostulations with some sternness.
+"Be silent," said he, "for that which I feel there is but one cure,
+and that will shortly come. You can help me nothing. Look to your own
+condition, and pray to God to strengthen you under the calamities that
+await you." "What am I to fear?" she answered. "What terrible disaster
+is it that you think of?" "Peace--as yet I know it not myself, but come
+it will, and shortly." She repeated her inquiries and doubts; but he
+suddenly put an end to the discourse, by a stern command to be silent.
+
+She had never before known him in this mood. Hitherto all was benign in
+his deportment. Her heart was pierced with sorrow at the contemplation
+of this change. She was utterly unable to account for it, or to figure
+to herself the species of disaster that was menaced.
+
+Contrary to custom, the lamp, instead of being placed on the hearth, was
+left upon the table. Over it against the wall there hung a small clock,
+so contrived as to strike a very hard stroke at the end of every sixth
+hour. That which was now approaching was the signal for retiring to the
+fane at which he addressed his devotions. Long habit had occasioned him
+to be always awake at this hour, and the toll was instantly obeyed.
+
+Now frequent and anxious glances were cast at the clock. Not a single
+movement of the index appeared to escape his notice. As the hour verged
+towards twelve his anxiety visibly augmented. The trepidations of my
+mother kept pace with those of her husband; but she was intimidated
+into silence. All that was left to her was to watch every change of his
+features, and give vent to her sympathy in tears.
+
+At length the hour was spent, and the clock tolled. The sound appeared
+to communicate a shock to every part of my father's frame. He rose
+immediately, and threw over himself a loose gown. Even this office
+was performed with difficulty, for his joints trembled, and his teeth
+chattered with dismay. At this hour his duty called him to the rock, and
+my mother naturally concluded that it was thither he intended to repair.
+Yet these incidents were so uncommon, as to fill her with astonishment
+and foreboding. She saw him leave the room, and heard his steps as they
+hastily descended the stairs. She half resolved to rise and pursue him,
+but the wildness of the scheme quickly suggested itself. He was going
+to a place whither no power on earth could induce him to suffer an
+attendant.
+
+The window of her chamber looked toward the rock. The atmosphere was
+clear and calm, but the edifice could not be discovered at that distance
+through the dusk. My mother's anxiety would not allow her to remain
+where she was. She rose, and seated herself at the window. She strained
+her sight to get a view of the dome, and of the path that led to it. The
+first painted itself with sufficient distinctness on her fancy, but
+was undistinguishable by the eye from the rocky mass on which it was
+erected. The second could be imperfectly seen; but her husband had
+already passed, or had taken a different direction.
+
+What was it that she feared? Some disaster impended over her husband or
+herself. He had predicted evils, but professed himself ignorant of what
+nature they were. When were they to come? Was this night, or this hour
+to witness the accomplishment? She was tortured with impatience, and
+uncertainty. All her fears were at present linked to his person, and she
+gazed at the clock, with nearly as much eagerness as my father had done,
+in expectation of the next hour.
+
+An half hour passed away in this state of suspence. Her eyes were fixed
+upon the rock; suddenly it was illuminated. A light proceeding from the
+edifice, made every part of the scene visible. A gleam diffused itself
+over the intermediate space, and instantly a loud report, like the
+explosion of a mine, followed. She uttered an involuntary shriek, but
+the new sounds that greeted her ear, quickly conquered her surprise.
+They were piercing shrieks, and uttered without intermission. The gleams
+which had diffused themselves far and wide were in a moment withdrawn,
+but the interior of the edifice was filled with rays.
+
+The first suggestion was that a pistol was discharged, and that the
+structure was on fire. She did not allow herself time to meditate a
+second thought, but rushed into the entry and knocked loudly at the door
+of her brother's chamber. My uncle had been previously roused by the
+noise, and instantly flew to the window. He also imagined what he saw
+to be fire. The loud and vehement shrieks which succeeded the first
+explosion, seemed to be an invocation of succour. The incident was
+inexplicable; but he could not fail to perceive the propriety of
+hastening to the spot. He was unbolting the door, when his sister's
+voice was heard on the outside conjuring him to come forth.
+
+He obeyed the summons with all the speed in his power. He stopped not
+to question her, but hurried down stairs and across the meadow which lay
+between the house and the rock. The shrieks were no longer to be heard;
+but a blazing light was clearly discernible between the columns of the
+temple. Irregular steps, hewn in the stone, led him to the summit. On
+three sides, this edifice touched the very verge of the cliff. On the
+fourth side, which might be regarded as the front, there was an area
+of small extent, to which the rude staircase conducted you. My uncle
+speedily gained this spot. His strength was for a moment exhausted
+by his haste. He paused to rest himself. Meanwhile he bent the most
+vigilant attention towards the object before him.
+
+Within the columns he beheld what he could no better describe, than
+by saying that it resembled a cloud impregnated with light. It had
+the brightness of flame, but was without its upward motion. It did not
+occupy the whole area, and rose but a few feet above the floor. No
+part of the building was on fire. This appearance was astonishing. He
+approached the temple. As he went forward the light retired, and, when
+he put his feet within the apartment, utterly vanished. The suddenness
+of this transition increased the darkness that succeeded in a tenfold
+degree. Fear and wonder rendered him powerless. An occurrence like this,
+in a place assigned to devotion, was adapted to intimidate the stoutest
+heart.
+
+His wandering thoughts were recalled by the groans of one near him.
+His sight gradually recovered its power, and he was able to discern my
+father stretched on the floor. At that moment, my mother and servants
+arrived with a lanthorn, and enabled my uncle to examine more closely
+this scene. My father, when he left the house, besides a loose upper
+vest and slippers, wore a shirt and drawers. Now he was naked, his skin
+throughout the greater part of his body was scorched and bruised. His
+right arm exhibited marks as of having been struck by some heavy body.
+His clothes had been removed, and it was not immediately perceived that
+they were reduced to ashes. His slippers and his hair were untouched.
+
+He was removed to his chamber, and the requisite attention paid to his
+wounds, which gradually became more painful. A mortification speedily
+shewed itself in the arm, which had been most hurt. Soon after, the
+other wounded parts exhibited the like appearance.
+
+Immediately subsequent to this disaster, my father seemed nearly in
+a state of insensibility. He was passive under every operation. He
+scarcely opened his eyes, and was with difficulty prevailed upon to
+answer the questions that were put to him. By his imperfect account, it
+appeared, that while engaged in silent orisons, with thoughts full
+of confusion and anxiety, a faint gleam suddenly shot athwart the
+apartment. His fancy immediately pictured to itself, a person bearing
+a lamp. It seemed to come from behind. He was in the act of turning to
+examine the visitant, when his right arm received a blow from a heavy
+club. At the same instant, a very bright spark was seen to light upon
+his clothes. In a moment, the whole was reduced to ashes. This was the
+sum of the information which he chose to give. There was somewhat in
+his manner that indicated an imperfect tale. My uncle was inclined to
+believe that half the truth had been suppressed.
+
+Meanwhile, the disease thus wonderfully generated, betrayed more
+terrible symptoms. Fever and delirium terminated in lethargic slumber,
+which, in the course of two hours, gave place to death. Yet not till
+insupportable exhalations and crawling putrefaction had driven from his
+chamber and the house every one whom their duty did not detain.
+
+Such was the end of my father. None surely was ever more mysterious.
+When we recollect his gloomy anticipations and unconquerable anxiety;
+the security from human malice which his character, the place, and the
+condition of the times, might be supposed to confer; the purity and
+cloudlessness of the atmosphere, which rendered it impossible that
+lightning was the cause; what are the conclusions that we must form?
+
+The prelusive gleam, the blow upon his arm, the fatal spark, the
+explosion heard so far, the fiery cloud that environed him, without
+detriment to the structure, though composed of combustible materials,
+the sudden vanishing of this cloud at my uncle's approach--what is the
+inference to be drawn from these facts? Their truth cannot be doubted.
+My uncle's testimony is peculiarly worthy of credit, because no man's
+temper is more sceptical, and his belief is unalterably attached to
+natural causes.
+
+I was at this time a child of six years of age. The impressions that
+were then made upon me, can never be effaced. I was ill qualified to
+judge respecting what was then passing; but as I advanced in age, and
+became more fully acquainted with these facts, they oftener became the
+subject of my thoughts. Their resemblance to recent events revived them
+with new force in my memory, and made me more anxious to explain them.
+Was this the penalty of disobedience? this the stroke of a vindictive
+and invisible hand? Is it a fresh proof that the Divine Ruler interferes
+in human affairs, meditates an end, selects, and commissions his agents,
+and enforces, by unequivocal sanctions, submission to his will? Or, was
+it merely the irregular expansion of the fluid that imparts warmth to
+our heart and our blood, caused by the fatigue of the preceding day, or
+flowing, by established laws, from the condition of his thoughts? [*]
+
+
+     * A case, in its symptoms exactly parallel to this, is
+     published in one of the Journals of Florence. See, likewise,
+     similar cases reported by Messrs. Merille and Muraire, in
+     the "Journal de Medicine," for February and May, 1783. The
+     researches of Maffei and Fontana have thrown some light upon
+     this subject.
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+
+The shock which this disastrous occurrence occasioned to my mother, was
+the foundation of a disease which carried her, in a few months, to the
+grave. My brother and myself were children at this time, and were now
+reduced to the condition of orphans. The property which our parents left
+was by no means inconsiderable. It was entrusted to faithful hands,
+till we should arrive at a suitable age. Meanwhile, our education was
+assigned to a maiden aunt who resided in the city, and whose tenderness
+made us in a short time cease to regret that we had lost a mother.
+
+The years that succeeded were tranquil and happy. Our lives were
+molested by few of those cares that are incident to childhood. By
+accident more than design, the indulgence and yielding temper of our
+aunt was mingled with resolution and stedfastness. She seldom deviated
+into either extreme of rigour or lenity. Our social pleasures were
+subject to no unreasonable restraints. We were instructed in most
+branches of useful knowledge, and were saved from the corruption and
+tyranny of colleges and boarding-schools.
+
+Our companions were chiefly selected from the children of our
+neighbours. Between one of these and my brother, there quickly grew the
+most affectionate intimacy. Her name was Catharine Pleyel. She was rich,
+beautiful, and contrived to blend the most bewitching softness with
+the most exuberant vivacity. The tie by which my brother and she were
+united, seemed to add force to the love which I bore her, and which
+was amply returned. Between her and myself there was every circumstance
+tending to produce and foster friendship. Our sex and age were the same.
+We lived within sight of each other's abode. Our tempers were remarkably
+congenial, and the superintendants of our education not only prescribed
+to us the same pursuits, but allowed us to cultivate them together.
+
+Every day added strength to the triple bonds that united us. We
+gradually withdrew ourselves from the society of others, and found every
+moment irksome that was not devoted to each other. My brother's advance
+in age made no change in our situation. It was determined that his
+profession should be agriculture. His fortune exempted him from the
+necessity of personal labour. The task to be performed by him was
+nothing more than superintendance. The skill that was demanded by this
+was merely theoretical, and was furnished by casual inspection, or
+by closet study. The attention that was paid to this subject did not
+seclude him for any long time from us, on whom time had no other effect
+than to augment our impatience in the absence of each other and of
+him. Our tasks, our walks, our music, were seldom performed but in each
+other's company.
+
+It was easy to see that Catharine and my brother were born for each
+other. The passion which they mutually entertained quickly broke those
+bounds which extreme youth had set to it; confessions were made or
+extorted, and their union was postponed only till my brother had
+passed his minority. The previous lapse of two years was constantly and
+usefully employed.
+
+O my brother! But the task I have set myself let me perform with
+steadiness. The felicity of that period was marred by no gloomy
+anticipations. The future, like the present, was serene. Time was
+supposed to have only new delights in store. I mean not to dwell on
+previous incidents longer than is necessary to illustrate or explain
+the great events that have since happened. The nuptial day at length
+arrived. My brother took possession of the house in which he was born,
+and here the long protracted marriage was solemnized.
+
+My father's property was equally divided between us. A neat dwelling,
+situated on the bank of the river, three quarters of a mile from my
+brother's, was now occupied by me. These domains were called, from the
+name of the first possessor, Mettingen. I can scarcely account for my
+refusing to take up my abode with him, unless it were from a disposition
+to be an economist of pleasure. Self-denial, seasonably exercised, is
+one means of enhancing our gratifications. I was, beside, desirous of
+administering a fund, and regulating an household, of my own. The short
+distance allowed us to exchange visits as often as we pleased. The
+walk from one mansion to the other was no undelightful prelude to our
+interviews. I was sometimes their visitant, and they, as frequently,
+were my guests.
+
+Our education had been modelled by no religious standard. We were left
+to the guidance of our own understanding, and the casual impressions
+which society might make upon us. My friend's temper, as well as my own,
+exempted us from much anxiety on this account. It must not be supposed
+that we were without religion, but with us it was the product of
+lively feelings, excited by reflection on our own happiness, and by the
+grandeur of external nature. We sought not a basis for our faith, in
+the weighing of proofs, and the dissection of creeds. Our devotion was
+a mixed and casual sentiment, seldom verbally expressed, or solicitously
+sought, or carefully retained. In the midst of present enjoyment,
+no thought was bestowed on the future. As a consolation in calamity
+religion is dear. But calamity was yet at a distance, and its only
+tendency was to heighten enjoyments which needed not this addition to
+satisfy every craving.
+
+My brother's situation was somewhat different. His deportment was grave,
+considerate, and thoughtful. I will not say whether he was indebted to
+sublimer views for this disposition. Human life, in his opinion, was
+made up of changeable elements, and the principles of duty were not
+easily unfolded. The future, either as anterior, or subsequent to death,
+was a scene that required some preparation and provision to be made for
+it. These positions we could not deny, but what distinguished him was a
+propensity to ruminate on these truths. The images that visited us were
+blithsome and gay, but those with which he was most familiar were of
+an opposite hue. They did not generate affliction and fear, but they
+diffused over his behaviour a certain air of forethought and sobriety.
+The principal effect of this temper was visible in his features and
+tones. These, in general, bespoke a sort of thrilling melancholy. I
+scarcely ever knew him to laugh. He never accompanied the lawless mirth
+of his companions with more than a smile, but his conduct was the same
+as ours.
+
+He partook of our occupations and amusements with a zeal not less than
+ours, but of a different kind. The diversity in our temper was never
+the parent of discord, and was scarcely a topic of regret. The scene
+was variegated, but not tarnished or disordered by it. It hindered the
+element in which we moved from stagnating. Some agitation and concussion
+is requisite to the due exercise of human understanding. In his studies,
+he pursued an austerer and more arduous path. He was much conversant
+with the history of religious opinions, and took pains to ascertain
+their validity. He deemed it indispensable to examine the ground of
+his belief, to settle the relation between motives and actions, the
+criterion of merit, and the kinds and properties of evidence.
+
+There was an obvious resemblance between him and my father, in their
+conceptions of the importance of certain topics, and in the light in
+which the vicissitudes of human life were accustomed to be viewed.
+Their characters were similar, but the mind of the son was enriched by
+science, and embellished with literature.
+
+The temple was no longer assigned to its ancient use. From an Italian
+adventurer, who erroneously imagined that he could find employment
+for his skill, and sale for his sculptures in America, my brother had
+purchased a bust of Cicero. He professed to have copied this piece from
+an antique dug up with his own hands in the environs of Modena. Of the
+truth of his assertions we were not qualified to judge; but the marble
+was pure and polished, and we were contented to admire the performance,
+without waiting for the sanction of connoisseurs. We hired the same
+artist to hew a suitable pedestal from a neighbouring quarry. This was
+placed in the temple, and the bust rested upon it. Opposite to this was
+a harpsichord, sheltered by a temporary roof from the weather. This was
+the place of resort in the evenings of summer. Here we sung, and talked,
+and read, and occasionally banqueted. Every joyous and tender scene most
+dear to my memory, is connected with this edifice. Here the performances
+of our musical and poetical ancestor were rehearsed. Here my brother's
+children received the rudiments of their education; here a thousand
+conversations, pregnant with delight and improvement, took place; and
+here the social affections were accustomed to expand, and the tear of
+delicious sympathy to be shed.
+
+My brother was an indefatigable student. The authors whom he read were
+numerous, but the chief object of his veneration was Cicero. He was
+never tired of conning and rehearsing his productions. To understand
+them was not sufficient. He was anxious to discover the gestures and
+cadences with which they ought to be delivered. He was very scrupulous
+in selecting a true scheme of pronunciation for the Latin tongue, and in
+adapting it to the words of his darling writer. His favorite occupation
+consisted in embellishing his rhetoric with all the proprieties of
+gesticulation and utterance.
+
+Not contented with this, he was diligent in settling and restoring the
+purity of the text. For this end, he collected all the editions and
+commentaries that could be procured, and employed months of severe study
+in exploring and comparing them. He never betrayed more satisfaction
+than when he made a discovery of this kind.
+
+It was not till the addition of Henry Pleyel, my friend's only brother,
+to our society, that his passion for Roman eloquence was countenanced
+and fostered by a sympathy of tastes. This young man had been some years
+in Europe. We had separated at a very early age, and he was now returned
+to spend the remainder of his days among us.
+
+Our circle was greatly enlivened by the accession of a new member. His
+conversation abounded with novelty. His gaiety was almost boisterous,
+but was capable of yielding to a grave deportment when the occasion
+required it. His discernment was acute, but he was prone to view every
+object merely as supplying materials for mirth. His conceptions
+were ardent but ludicrous, and his memory, aided, as he honestly
+acknowledged, by his invention, was an inexhaustible fund of
+entertainment.
+
+His residence was at the same distance below the city as ours was above,
+but there seldom passed a day without our being favoured with a visit.
+My brother and he were endowed with the same attachment to the Latin
+writers; and Pleyel was not behind his friend in his knowledge of the
+history and metaphysics of religion. Their creeds, however, were in many
+respects opposite. Where one discovered only confirmations of his faith,
+the other could find nothing but reasons for doubt. Moral necessity,
+and calvinistic inspiration, were the props on which my brother thought
+proper to repose. Pleyel was the champion of intellectual liberty, and
+rejected all guidance but that of his reason. Their discussions were
+frequent, but, being managed with candour as well as with skill, they
+were always listened to by us with avidity and benefit.
+
+Pleyel, like his new friends, was fond of music and poetry. Henceforth
+our concerts consisted of two violins, an harpsichord, and three voices.
+We were frequently reminded how much happiness depends upon society.
+This new friend, though, before his arrival, we were sensible of no
+vacuity, could not now be spared. His departure would occasion a void
+which nothing could fill, and which would produce insupportable regret.
+Even my brother, though his opinions were hourly assailed, and even the
+divinity of Cicero contested, was captivated with his friend, and laid
+aside some part of his ancient gravity at Pleyel's approach.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+
+Six years of uninterrupted happiness had rolled away, since my brother's
+marriage. The sound of war had been heard, but it was at such a distance
+as to enhance our enjoyment by affording objects of comparison. The
+Indians were repulsed on the one side, and Canada was conquered on the
+other. Revolutions and battles, however calamitous to those who occupied
+the scene, contributed in some sort to our happiness, by agitating our
+minds with curiosity, and furnishing causes of patriotic exultation.
+Four children, three of whom were of an age to compensate, by their
+personal and mental progress, the cares of which they had been, at a
+more helpless age, the objects, exercised my brother's tenderness. The
+fourth was a charming babe that promised to display the image of her
+mother, and enjoyed perfect health. To these were added a sweet girl
+fourteen years old, who was loved by all of us, with an affection more
+than parental.
+
+Her mother's story was a mournful one. She had come hither from England
+when this child was an infant, alone, without friends, and without
+money. She appeared to have embarked in a hasty and clandestine
+manner. She passed three years of solitude and anguish under my aunt's
+protection, and died a martyr to woe; the source of which she could, by
+no importunities, be prevailed upon to unfold. Her education and manners
+bespoke her to be of no mean birth. Her last moments were rendered
+serene, by the assurances she received from my aunt, that her daughter
+should experience the same protection that had been extended to herself.
+
+On my brother's marriage, it was agreed that she should make a part of
+his family. I cannot do justice to the attractions of this girl. Perhaps
+the tenderness she excited might partly originate in her personal
+resemblance to her mother, whose character and misfortunes were
+still fresh in our remembrance. She was habitually pensive, and this
+circumstance tended to remind the spectator of her friendless condition;
+and yet that epithet was surely misapplied in this case. This being was
+cherished by those with whom she now resided, with unspeakable fondness.
+Every exertion was made to enlarge and improve her mind. Her safety
+was the object of a solicitude that almost exceeded the bounds of
+discretion. Our affection indeed could scarcely transcend her merits.
+She never met my eye, or occurred to my reflections, without exciting
+a kind of enthusiasm. Her softness, her intelligence, her equanimity,
+never shall I see surpassed. I have often shed tears of pleasure at her
+approach, and pressed her to my bosom in an agony of fondness.
+
+While every day was adding to the charms of her person, and the stores
+of her mind, there occurred an event which threatened to deprive us
+of her. An officer of some rank, who had been disabled by a wound
+at Quebec, had employed himself, since the ratification of peace, in
+travelling through the colonies. He remained a considerable period at
+Philadelphia, but was at last preparing for his departure. No one had
+been more frequently honoured with his visits than Mrs. Baynton, a
+worthy lady with whom our family were intimate. He went to her house
+with a view to perform a farewell visit, and was on the point of taking
+his leave, when I and my young friend entered the apartment. It is
+impossible to describe the emotions of the stranger, when he fixed his
+eyes upon my companion. He was motionless with surprise. He was unable
+to conceal his feelings, but sat silently gazing at the spectacle before
+him. At length he turned to Mrs. Baynton, and more by his looks and
+gestures than by words, besought her for an explanation of the scene.
+He seized the hand of the girl, who, in her turn, was surprised by his
+behaviour, and drawing her forward, said in an eager and faultering
+tone, Who is she? whence does she come? what is her name?
+
+The answers that were given only increased the confusion of his
+thoughts. He was successively told, that she was the daughter of one
+whose name was Louisa Conway, who arrived among us at such a time, who
+sedulously concealed her parentage, and the motives of her flight, whose
+incurable griefs had finally destroyed her, and who had left this child
+under the protection of her friends. Having heard the tale, he melted
+into tears, eagerly clasped the young lady in his arms, and called
+himself her father. When the tumults excited in his breast by this
+unlooked-for meeting were somewhat subsided, he gratified our curiosity
+by relating the following incidents.
+
+"Miss Conway was the only daughter of a banker in London, who discharged
+towards her every duty of an affectionate father. He had chanced to fall
+into her company, had been subdued by her attractions, had tendered her
+his hand, and been joyfully accepted both by parent and child. His wife
+had given him every proof of the fondest attachment. Her father, who
+possessed immense wealth, treated him with distinguished respect,
+liberally supplied his wants, and had made one condition of his consent
+to their union, a resolution to take up their abode with him.
+
+"They had passed three years of conjugal felicity, which had been
+augmented by the birth of this child; when his professional duty called
+him into Germany. It was not without an arduous struggle, that she was
+persuaded to relinquish the design of accompanying him through all the
+toils and perils of war. No parting was ever more distressful. They
+strove to alleviate, by frequent letters, the evils of their lot. Those
+of his wife, breathed nothing but anxiety for his safety, and impatience
+of his absence. At length, a new arrangement was made, and he was
+obliged to repair from Westphalia to Canada. One advantage attended this
+change. It afforded him an opportunity of meeting his family. His
+wife anticipated this interview, with no less rapture than himself. He
+hurried to London, and the moment he alighted from the stage-coach, ran
+with all speed to Mr. Conway's house.
+
+"It was an house of mourning. His father was overwhelmed with grief, and
+incapable of answering his inquiries. The servants, sorrowful and mute,
+were equally refractory. He explored the house, and called on the names
+of his wife and daughter, but his summons was fruitless. At length,
+this new disaster was explained. Two days before his arrival, his wife's
+chamber was found empty. No search, however diligent and anxious, could
+trace her steps. No cause could be assigned for her disappearance. The
+mother and child had fled away together.
+
+"New exertions were made, her chamber and cabinets were ransacked, but
+no vestige was found serving to inform them as to the motives of her
+flight, whether it had been voluntary or otherwise, and in what corner
+of the kingdom or of the world she was concealed. Who shall describe the
+sorrow and amazement of the husband? His restlessness, his vicissitudes
+of hope and fear, and his ultimate despair? His duty called him to
+America. He had been in this city, and had frequently passed the door of
+the house in which his wife, at that moment, resided. Her father had not
+remitted his exertions to elucidate this painful mystery, but they had
+failed. This disappointment hastened his death; in consequence of which,
+Louisa's father became possessor of his immense property."
+
+This tale was a copious theme of speculation. A thousand questions were
+started and discussed in our domestic circle, respecting the motives
+that influenced Mrs. Stuart to abandon her country. It did not appear
+that her proceeding was involuntary. We recalled and reviewed every
+particular that had fallen under our own observation. By none of these
+were we furnished with a clue. Her conduct, after the most rigorous
+scrutiny, still remained an impenetrable secret. On a nearer view, Major
+Stuart proved himself a man of most amiable character. His attachment
+to Louisa appeared hourly to increase. She was no stranger to the
+sentiments suitable to her new character. She could not but readily
+embrace the scheme which was proposed to her, to return with her father
+to England. This scheme his regard for her induced him, however, to
+postpone. Some time was necessary to prepare her for so great a change
+and enable her to think without agony of her separation from us.
+
+I was not without hopes of prevailing on her father entirely to
+relinquish this unwelcome design. Meanwhile, he pursued his travels
+through the southern colonies, and his daughter continued with us.
+Louisa and my brother frequently received letters from him, which
+indicated a mind of no common order. They were filled with amusing
+details, and profound reflections. While here, he often partook of
+our evening conversations at the temple; and since his departure, his
+correspondence had frequently supplied us with topics of discourse.
+
+One afternoon in May, the blandness of the air, and brightness of the
+verdure, induced us to assemble, earlier than usual, in the temple.
+We females were busy at the needle, while my brother and Pleyel were
+bandying quotations and syllogisms. The point discussed was the merit of
+the oration for Cluentius, as descriptive, first, of the genius of the
+speaker; and, secondly, of the manners of the times. Pleyel laboured to
+extenuate both these species of merit, and tasked his ingenuity, to shew
+that the orator had embraced a bad cause; or, at least, a doubtful one.
+He urged, that to rely on the exaggerations of an advocate, or to
+make the picture of a single family a model from which to sketch the
+condition of a nation, was absurd. The controversy was suddenly diverted
+into a new channel, by a misquotation. Pleyel accused his companion of
+saying "polliciatur" when he should have said "polliceretur." Nothing
+would decide the contest, but an appeal to the volume. My brother was
+returning to the house for this purpose, when a servant met him with
+a letter from Major Stuart. He immediately returned to read it in our
+company.
+
+Besides affectionate compliments to us, and paternal benedictions
+on Louisa, his letter contained a description of a waterfall on the
+Monongahela. A sudden gust of rain falling, we were compelled to remove
+to the house. The storm passed away, and a radiant moon-light succeeded.
+There was no motion to resume our seats in the temple. We therefore
+remained where we were, and engaged in sprightly conversation. The
+letter lately received naturally suggested the topic. A parallel was
+drawn between the cataract there described, and one which Pleyel had
+discovered among the Alps of Glarus. In the state of the former, some
+particular was mentioned, the truth of which was questionable. To settle
+the dispute which thence arose, it was proposed to have recourse to the
+letter. My brother searched for it in his pocket. It was no where to be
+found. At length, he remembered to have left it in the temple, and he
+determined to go in search of it. His wife, Pleyel, Louisa, and myself,
+remained where we were.
+
+In a few minutes he returned. I was somewhat interested in the dispute,
+and was therefore impatient for his return; yet, as I heard him
+ascending the stairs, I could not but remark, that he had executed his
+intention with remarkable dispatch. My eyes were fixed upon him on his
+entrance. Methought he brought with him looks considerably different
+from those with which he departed. Wonder, and a slight portion of
+anxiety were mingled in them. His eyes seemed to be in search of some
+object. They passed quickly from one person to another, till they rested
+on his wife. She was seated in a careless attitude on the sofa, in the
+same spot as before. She had the same muslin in her hand, by which her
+attention was chiefly engrossed.
+
+The moment he saw her, his perplexity visibly increased. He quietly
+seated himself, and fixing his eyes on the floor, appeared to be
+absorbed in meditation. These singularities suspended the inquiry which
+I was preparing to make respecting the letter. In a short time, the
+company relinquished the subject which engaged them, and directed their
+attention to Wieland. They thought that he only waited for a pause in
+the discourse, to produce the letter. The pause was uninterrupted by
+him. At length Pleyel said, "Well, I suppose you have found the letter."
+
+"No," said he, without any abatement of his gravity, and looking
+stedfastly at his wife, "I did not mount the hill."--"Why
+not?"--"Catharine, have you not moved from that spot since I left the
+room?"--She was affected with the solemnity of his manner, and laying
+down her work, answered in a tone of surprise, "No; Why do you ask that
+question?"--His eyes were again fixed upon the floor, and he did not
+immediately answer. At length, he said, looking round upon us, "Is it
+true that Catharine did not follow me to the hill? That she did not just
+now enter the room?"--We assured him, with one voice, that she had not
+been absent for a moment, and inquired into the motive of his questions.
+
+"Your assurances," said he, "are solemn and unanimous; and yet I must
+deny credit to your assertions, or disbelieve the testimony of my
+senses, which informed me, when I was half way up the hill, that
+Catharine was at the bottom."
+
+We were confounded at this declaration. Pleyel rallied him with great
+levity on his behaviour. He listened to his friend with calmness, but
+without any relaxation of features.
+
+"One thing," said he with emphasis, "is true; either I heard my
+wife's voice at the bottom of the hill, or I do not hear your voice at
+present."
+
+"Truly," returned Pleyel, "it is a sad dilemma to which you have reduced
+yourself. Certain it is, if our eyes can give us certainty that your
+wife has been sitting in that spot during every moment of your absence.
+You have heard her voice, you say, upon the hill. In general, her voice,
+like her temper, is all softness. To be heard across the room, she is
+obliged to exert herself. While you were gone, if I mistake not, she did
+not utter a word. Clara and I had all the talk to ourselves. Still it
+may be that she held a whispering conference with you on the hill; but
+tell us the particulars."
+
+"The conference," said he, "was short; and far from being carried on in
+a whisper. You know with what intention I left the house. Half way to
+the rock, the moon was for a moment hidden from us by a cloud. I never
+knew the air to be more bland and more calm. In this interval I glanced
+at the temple, and thought I saw a glimmering between the columns. It
+was so faint, that it would not perhaps have been visible, if the moon
+had not been shrowded. I looked again, but saw nothing. I never visit
+this building alone, or at night, without being reminded of the fate
+of my father. There was nothing wonderful in this appearance; yet it
+suggested something more than mere solitude and darkness in the same
+place would have done.
+
+"I kept on my way. The images that haunted me were solemn; and I
+entertained an imperfect curiosity, but no fear, as to the nature of
+this object. I had ascended the hill little more than half way, when a
+voice called me from behind. The accents were clear, distinct, powerful,
+and were uttered, as I fully believed, by my wife. Her voice is
+not commonly so loud. She has seldom occasion to exert it, but,
+nevertheless, I have sometimes heard her call with force and eagerness.
+If my ear was not deceived, it was her voice which I heard.
+
+"Stop, go no further. There is danger in your path." The suddenness
+and unexpectedness of this warning, the tone of alarm with which it was
+given, and, above all, the persuasion that it was my wife who spoke,
+were enough to disconcert and make me pause. I turned and listened to
+assure myself that I was not mistaken. The deepest silence succeeded. At
+length, I spoke in my turn. Who calls? is it you, Catharine? I stopped
+and presently received an answer. "Yes, it is I; go not up; return
+instantly; you are wanted at the house." Still the voice was
+Catharine's, and still it proceeded from the foot of the stairs.
+
+"What could I do? The warning was mysterious. To be uttered by Catharine
+at a place, and on an occasion like these, enhanced the mystery. I could
+do nothing but obey. Accordingly, I trod back my steps, expecting that
+she waited for me at the bottom of the hill. When I reached the
+bottom, no one was visible. The moon-light was once more universal and
+brilliant, and yet, as far as I could see no human or moving figure
+was discernible. If she had returned to the house, she must have used
+wondrous expedition to have passed already beyond the reach of my eye.
+I exerted my voice, but in vain. To my repeated exclamations, no answer
+was returned.
+
+"Ruminating on these incidents, I returned hither. There was no room
+to doubt that I had heard my wife's voice; attending incidents were not
+easily explained; but you now assure me that nothing extraordinary has
+happened to urge my return, and that my wife has not moved from her
+seat."
+
+Such was my brother's narrative. It was heard by us with different
+emotions. Pleyel did not scruple to regard the whole as a deception of
+the senses. Perhaps a voice had been heard; but Wieland's imagination
+had misled him in supposing a resemblance to that of his wife, and
+giving such a signification to the sounds. According to his custom
+he spoke what he thought. Sometimes, he made it the theme of grave
+discussion, but more frequently treated it with ridicule. He did not
+believe that sober reasoning would convince his friend, and gaiety, he
+thought, was useful to take away the solemnities which, in a mind like
+Wieland's, an accident of this kind was calculated to produce.
+
+Pleyel proposed to go in search of the letter. He went and speedily
+returned, bearing it in his hand. He had found it open on the pedestal;
+and neither voice nor visage had risen to impede his design.
+
+Catharine was endowed with an uncommon portion of good sense; but her
+mind was accessible, on this quarter, to wonder and panic. That her
+voice should be thus inexplicably and unwarrantably assumed, was a
+source of no small disquietude. She admitted the plausibility of the
+arguments by which Pleyel endeavoured to prove, that this was no more
+than an auricular deception; but this conviction was sure to be shaken,
+when she turned her eyes upon her husband, and perceived that Pleyel's
+logic was far from having produced the same effect upon him.
+
+As to myself, my attention was engaged by this occurrence. I could not
+fail to perceive a shadowy resemblance between it and my father's death.
+On the latter event, I had frequently reflected; my reflections never
+conducted me to certainty, but the doubts that existed were not of a
+tormenting kind. I could not deny that the event was miraculous, and
+yet I was invincibly averse to that method of solution. My wonder was
+excited by the inscrutableness of the cause, but my wonder was unmixed
+with sorrow or fear. It begat in me a thrilling, and not unpleasing
+solemnity. Similar to these were the sensations produced by the recent
+adventure.
+
+But its effect upon my brother's imagination was of chief moment.
+All that was desirable was, that it should be regarded by him with
+indifference. The worst effect that could flow, was not indeed very
+formidable. Yet I could not bear to think that his senses should be the
+victims of such delusion. It argued a diseased condition of his frame,
+which might show itself hereafter in more dangerous symptoms. The will
+is the tool of the understanding, which must fashion its conclusions
+on the notices of sense. If the senses be depraved, it is impossible to
+calculate the evils that may flow from the consequent deductions of the
+understanding.
+
+I said, this man is of an ardent and melancholy character. Those ideas
+which, in others, are casual or obscure, which are entertained in
+moments of abstraction and solitude, and easily escape when the scene is
+changed, have obtained an immoveable hold upon his mind. The conclusions
+which long habit has rendered familiar, and, in some sort, palpable to
+his intellect, are drawn from the deepest sources. All his actions and
+practical sentiments are linked with long and abstruse deductions
+from the system of divine government and the laws of our intellectual
+constitution. He is, in some respects, an enthusiast, but is fortified
+in his belief by innumerable arguments and subtilties.
+
+His father's death was always regarded by him as flowing from a direct
+and supernatural decree. It visited his meditations oftener than it did
+mine. The traces which it left were more gloomy and permanent. This new
+incident had a visible effect in augmenting his gravity. He was less
+disposed than formerly to converse and reading. When we sifted his
+thoughts, they were generally found to have a relation, more or less
+direct, with this incident. It was difficult to ascertain the exact
+species of impression which it made upon him. He never introduced the
+subject into conversation, and listened with a silent and half-serious
+smile to the satirical effusions of Pleyel.
+
+One evening we chanced to be alone together in the temple. I seized that
+opportunity of investigating the state of his thoughts. After a pause,
+which he seemed in no wise inclined to interrupt, I spoke to him--"How
+almost palpable is this dark; yet a ray from above would dispel it."
+"Ay," said Wieland, with fervor, "not only the physical, but moral night
+would be dispelled." "But why," said I, "must the Divine Will address
+its precepts to the eye?" He smiled significantly. "True," said he, "the
+understanding has other avenues." "You have never," said I, approaching
+nearer to the point--"you have never told me in what way you considered
+the late extraordinary incident." "There is no determinate way in which
+the subject can be viewed. Here is an effect, but the cause is utterly
+inscrutable. To suppose a deception will not do. Such is possible, but
+there are twenty other suppositions more probable. They must all be set
+aside before we reach that point." "What are these twenty suppositions?"
+"It is needless to mention them. They are only less improbable than
+Pleyel's. Time may convert one of them into certainty. Till then it is
+useless to expatiate on them."
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+
+Some time had elapsed when there happened another occurrence, still more
+remarkable. Pleyel, on his return from Europe, brought information of
+considerable importance to my brother. My ancestors were noble Saxons,
+and possessed large domains in Lusatia. The Prussian wars had destroyed
+those persons whose right to these estates precluded my brother's.
+Pleyel had been exact in his inquiries, and had discovered that, by the
+law of male-primogeniture, my brother's claims were superior to those
+of any other person now living. Nothing was wanting but his presence in
+that country, and a legal application to establish this claim.
+
+Pleyel strenuously recommended this measure. The advantages he thought
+attending it were numerous, and it would argue the utmost folly to
+neglect them. Contrary to his expectation he found my brother averse
+to the scheme. Slight efforts, he, at first, thought would subdue his
+reluctance; but he found this aversion by no means slight. The interest
+that he took in the happiness of his friend and his sister, and his own
+partiality to the Saxon soil, from which he had likewise sprung, and
+where he had spent several years of his youth, made him redouble his
+exertions to win Wieland's consent. For this end he employed every
+argument that his invention could suggest. He painted, in attractive
+colours, the state of manners and government in that country, the
+security of civil rights, and the freedom of religious sentiments. He
+dwelt on the privileges of wealth and rank, and drew from the servile
+condition of one class, an argument in favor of his scheme, since the
+revenue and power annexed to a German principality afford so large a
+field for benevolence. The evil flowing from this power, in malignant
+hands, was proportioned to the good that would arise from the virtuous
+use of it. Hence, Wieland, in forbearing to claim his own, withheld all
+the positive felicity that would accrue to his vassals from his success,
+and hazarded all the misery that would redound from a less enlightened
+proprietor.
+
+It was easy for my brother to repel these arguments, and to shew that no
+spot on the globe enjoyed equal security and liberty to that which he
+at present inhabited. That if the Saxons had nothing to fear from
+mis-government, the external causes of havoc and alarm were numerous and
+manifest. The recent devastations committed by the Prussians furnished
+a specimen of these. The horrors of war would always impend over them,
+till Germany were seized and divided by Austrian and Prussian tyrants;
+an event which he strongly suspected was at no great distance. But
+setting these considerations aside, was it laudable to grasp at wealth
+and power even when they were within our reach? Were not these the two
+great sources of depravity? What security had he, that in this change
+of place and condition, he should not degenerate into a tyrant and
+voluptuary? Power and riches were chiefly to be dreaded on account of
+their tendency to deprave the possessor. He held them in abhorrence, not
+only as instruments of misery to others, but to him on whom they
+were conferred. Besides, riches were comparative, and was he not rich
+already? He lived at present in the bosom of security and luxury. All
+the instruments of pleasure, on which his reason or imagination set any
+value, were within his reach. But these he must forego, for the sake of
+advantages which, whatever were their value, were as yet uncertain. In
+pursuit of an imaginary addition to his wealth, he must reduce himself
+to poverty, he must exchange present certainties for what was distant
+and contingent; for who knows not that the law is a system of expence,
+delay and uncertainty? If he should embrace this scheme, it would lay
+him under the necessity of making a voyage to Europe, and remaining for
+a certain period, separate from his family. He must undergo the perils
+and discomforts of the ocean; he must divest himself of all domestic
+pleasures; he must deprive his wife of her companion, and his children
+of a father and instructor, and all for what? For the ambiguous
+advantages which overgrown wealth and flagitious tyranny have to bestow?
+For a precarious possession in a land of turbulence and war? Advantages,
+which will not certainly be gained, and of which the acquisition, if it
+were sure, is necessarily distant.
+
+Pleyel was enamoured of his scheme on account of its intrinsic benefits,
+but, likewise, for other reasons. His abode at Leipsig made that country
+appear to him like home. He was connected with this place by many social
+ties. While there he had not escaped the amorous contagion. But the
+lady, though her heart was impressed in his favor, was compelled to
+bestow her hand upon another. Death had removed this impediment, and
+he was now invited by the lady herself to return. This he was of course
+determined to do, but was anxious to obtain the company of Wieland;
+he could not bear to think of an eternal separation from his present
+associates. Their interest, he thought, would be no less promoted by the
+change than his own. Hence he was importunate and indefatigable in his
+arguments and solicitations.
+
+He knew that he could not hope for mine or his sister's ready
+concurrence in this scheme. Should the subject be mentioned to us, we
+should league our efforts against him, and strengthen that reluctance
+in Wieland which already was sufficiently difficult to conquer. He,
+therefore, anxiously concealed from us his purpose. If Wieland were
+previously enlisted in his cause, he would find it a less difficult task
+to overcome our aversion. My brother was silent on this subject, because
+he believed himself in no danger of changing his opinion, and he was
+willing to save us from any uneasiness. The mere mention of such
+a scheme, and the possibility of his embracing it, he knew, would
+considerably impair our tranquillity.
+
+One day, about three weeks subsequent to the mysterious call, it was
+agreed that the family should be my guests. Seldom had a day been passed
+by us, of more serene enjoyment. Pleyel had promised us his company, but
+we did not see him till the sun had nearly declined. He brought with
+him a countenance that betokened disappointment and vexation. He did not
+wait for our inquiries, but immediately explained the cause. Two days
+before a packet had arrived from Hamburgh, by which he had flattered
+himself with the expectation of receiving letters, but no letters had
+arrived. I never saw him so much subdued by an untoward event. His
+thoughts were employed in accounting for the silence of his friends.
+He was seized with the torments of jealousy, and suspected nothing less
+than the infidelity of her to whom he had devoted his heart. The silence
+must have been concerted. Her sickness, or absence, or death, would have
+increased the certainty of some one's having written. No supposition
+could be formed but that his mistress had grown indifferent, or that she
+had transferred her affections to another. The miscarriage of a letter
+was hardly within the reach of possibility. From Leipsig to Hamburgh,
+and from Hamburgh hither, the conveyance was exposed to no hazard.
+
+He had been so long detained in America chiefly in consequence of
+Wieland's aversion to the scheme which he proposed. He now became more
+impatient than ever to return to Europe. When he reflected that, by his
+delays, he had probably forfeited the affections of his mistress, his
+sensations amounted to agony. It only remained, by his speedy departure,
+to repair, if possible, or prevent so intolerable an evil. Already he
+had half resolved to embark in this very ship which, he was informed,
+would set out in a few weeks on her return.
+
+Meanwhile he determined to make a new attempt to shake the resolution of
+Wieland. The evening was somewhat advanced when he invited the latter
+to walk abroad with him. The invitation was accepted, and they left
+Catharine, Louisa and me, to amuse ourselves by the best means in our
+power. During this walk, Pleyel renewed the subject that was nearest
+his heart. He re-urged all his former arguments, and placed them in more
+forcible lights.
+
+They promised to return shortly; but hour after hour passed, and they
+made not their appearance. Engaged in sprightly conversation, it was not
+till the clock struck twelve that we were reminded of the lapse of time.
+The absence of our friends excited some uneasy apprehensions. We were
+expressing our fears, and comparing our conjectures as to what might be
+the cause, when they entered together. There were indications in their
+countenances that struck me mute. These were unnoticed by Catharine, who
+was eager to express her surprize and curiosity at the length of their
+walk. As they listened to her, I remarked that their surprize was not
+less than ours. They gazed in silence on each other, and on her. I
+watched their looks, but could not understand the emotions that were
+written in them.
+
+These appearances diverted Catharine's inquiries into a new channel.
+What did they mean, she asked, by their silence, and by their thus
+gazing wildly at each other, and at her? Pleyel profited by this hint,
+and assuming an air of indifference, framed some trifling excuse, at the
+same time darting significant glances at Wieland, as if to caution him
+against disclosing the truth. My brother said nothing, but delivered
+himself up to meditation. I likewise was silent, but burned with
+impatience to fathom this mystery. Presently my brother and his wife,
+and Louisa, returned home. Pleyel proposed, of his own accord, to be
+my guest for the night. This circumstance, in addition to those which
+preceded, gave new edge to my wonder.
+
+As soon as we were left alone, Pleyel's countenance assumed an air of
+seriousness, and even consternation, which I had never before beheld in
+him. The steps with which he measured the floor betokened the trouble of
+his thoughts. My inquiries were suspended by the hope that he would give
+me the information that I wanted without the importunity of questions.
+I waited some time, but the confusion of his thoughts appeared in no
+degree to abate. At length I mentioned the apprehensions which their
+unusual absence had occasioned, and which were increased by their
+behaviour since their return, and solicited an explanation. He stopped
+when I began to speak, and looked stedfastly at me. When I had done,
+he said, to me, in a tone which faultered through the vehemence of his
+emotions, "How were you employed during our absence?" "In turning over
+the Della Crusca dictionary, and talking on different subjects; but
+just before your entrance, we were tormenting ourselves with omens and
+prognosticks relative to your absence." "Catherine was with you the
+whole time?" "Yes." "But are you sure?" "Most sure. She was not absent a
+moment." He stood, for a time, as if to assure himself of my sincerity.
+Then, clinching his hands, and wildly lifting them above his head, "Lo,"
+cried he, "I have news to tell you. The Baroness de Stolberg is dead?"
+
+This was her whom he loved. I was not surprised at the agitations which
+he betrayed. "But how was the information procured? How was the truth
+of this news connected with the circumstance of Catharine's remaining in
+our company?" He was for some time inattentive to my questions. When he
+spoke, it seemed merely a continuation of the reverie into which he had
+been plunged.
+
+"And yet it might be a mere deception. But could both of us in that
+case have been deceived? A rare and prodigious coincidence! Barely not
+impossible. And yet, if the accent be oracular--Theresa is dead. No,
+no," continued he, covering his face with his hands, and in a tone half
+broken into sobs, "I cannot believe it. She has not written, but if
+she were dead, the faithful Bertrand would have given me the earliest
+information. And yet if he knew his master, he must have easily guessed
+at the effect of such tidings. In pity to me he was silent."
+
+"Clara, forgive me; to you, this behaviour is mysterious. I will explain
+as well as I am able. But say not a word to Catharine. Her strength of
+mind is inferior to your's. She will, besides, have more reason to be
+startled. She is Wieland's angel."
+
+Pleyel proceeded to inform me, for the first time, of the scheme which
+he had pressed, with so much earnestness, on my brother. He enumerated
+the objections which had been made, and the industry with which he
+had endeavoured to confute them. He mentioned the effect upon his
+resolutions produced by the failure of a letter. "During our late walk,"
+continued he, "I introduced the subject that was nearest my heart.
+I re-urged all my former arguments, and placed them in more forcible
+lights. Wieland was still refractory. He expatiated on the perils of
+wealth and power, on the sacredness of conjugal and parental duties, and
+the happiness of mediocrity.
+
+"No wonder that the time passed, unperceived, away. Our whole souls were
+engaged in this cause. Several times we came to the foot of the rock;
+as soon as we perceived it, we changed our course, but never failed to
+terminate our circuitous and devious ramble at this spot. At length your
+brother observed, 'We seem to be led hither by a kind of fatality. Since
+we are so near, let us ascend and rest ourselves a while. If you are not
+weary of this argument we will resume it there.'
+
+"I tacitly consented. We mounted the stairs, and drawing the sofa in
+front of the river, we seated ourselves upon it. I took up the thread of
+our discourse where we had dropped it. I ridiculed his dread of the sea,
+and his attachment to home. I kept on in this strain, so congenial with
+my disposition, for some time, uninterrupted by him. At length, he said
+to me, "Suppose now that I, whom argument has not convinced, should
+yield to ridicule, and should agree that your scheme is eligible; what
+will you have gained? Nothing. You have other enemies beside myself to
+encounter. When you have vanquished me, your toil has scarcely begun.
+There are my sister and wife, with whom it will remain for you to
+maintain the contest. And trust me, they are adversaries whom all your
+force and stratagem will never subdue." I insinuated that they would
+model themselves by his will: that Catharine would think obedience her
+duty. He answered, with some quickness, "You mistake. Their concurrence
+is indispensable. It is not my custom to exact sacrifices of this kind.
+I live to be their protector and friend, and not their tyrant and foe.
+If my wife shall deem her happiness, and that of her children, most
+consulted by remaining where she is, here she shall remain." "But," said
+I, "when she knows your pleasure, will she not conform to it?" Before
+my friend had time to answer this question, a negative was clearly and
+distinctly uttered from another quarter. It did not come from one side
+or the other, from before us or behind. Whence then did it come? By
+whose organs was it fashioned?
+
+"If any uncertainty had existed with regard to these particulars, it
+would have been removed by a deliberate and equally distinct repetition
+of the same monosyllable, "No." The voice was my sister's. It appeared
+to come from the roof. I started from my seat. Catharine, exclaimed I,
+where are you? No answer was returned. I searched the room, and the
+area before it, but in vain. Your brother was motionless in his seat.
+I returned to him, and placed myself again by his side. My astonishment
+was not less than his."
+
+"Well," said he, at length, "What think you of this? This is the
+self-same voice which I formerly heard; you are now convinced that my
+ears were well informed."
+
+"Yes," said I, "this, it is plain, is no fiction of the fancy." We again
+sunk into mutual and thoughtful silence. A recollection of the hour, and
+of the length of our absence, made me at last propose to return. We
+rose up for this purpose. In doing this, my mind reverted to the
+contemplation of my own condition. "Yes," said I aloud, but without
+particularly addressing myself to Wieland, "my resolution is taken. I
+cannot hope to prevail with my friends to accompany me. They may doze
+away their days on the banks of Schuylkill, but as to me, I go in the
+next vessel; I will fly to her presence, and demand the reason of this
+extraordinary silence."
+
+"I had scarcely finished the sentence, when the same mysterious voice
+exclaimed, "You shall not go. The seal of death is on her lips. Her
+silence is the silence of the tomb." Think of the effects which accents
+like these must have had upon me. I shuddered as I listened. As soon as
+I recovered from my first amazement, "Who is it that speaks?" said I,
+"whence did you procure these dismal tidings?" I did not wait long for
+an answer. "From a source that cannot fail. Be satisfied. She is dead."
+You may justly be surprised, that, in the circumstances in which I heard
+the tidings, and notwithstanding the mystery which environed him by whom
+they were imparted, I could give an undivided attention to the facts,
+which were the subject of our dialogue. I eagerly inquired, when and
+where did she die? What was the cause of her death? Was her death
+absolutely certain? An answer was returned only to the last of these
+questions. "Yes," was pronounced by the same voice; but it now sounded
+from a greater distance, and the deepest silence was all the return made
+to my subsequent interrogatories.
+
+"It was my sister's voice; but it could not be uttered by her; and yet,
+if not by her, by whom was it uttered? When we returned hither, and
+discovered you together, the doubt that had previously existed was
+removed. It was manifest that the intimation came not from her. Yet if
+not from her, from whom could it come? Are the circumstances attending
+the imparting of this news proof that the tidings are true? God forbid
+that they should be true."
+
+Here Pleyel sunk into anxious silence, and gave me leisure to ruminate
+on this inexplicable event. I am at a loss to describe the sensations
+that affected me. I am not fearful of shadows. The tales of apparitions
+and enchantments did not possess that power over my belief which could
+even render them interesting. I saw nothing in them but ignorance and
+folly, and was a stranger even to that terror which is pleasing. But
+this incident was different from any that I had ever before known. Here
+were proofs of a sensible and intelligent existence, which could not
+be denied. Here was information obtained and imparted by means
+unquestionably super-human.
+
+That there are conscious beings, beside ourselves, in existence, whose
+modes of activity and information surpass our own, can scarcely be
+denied. Is there a glimpse afforded us into a world of these superior
+beings? My heart was scarcely large enough to give admittance to
+so swelling a thought. An awe, the sweetest and most solemn that
+imagination can conceive, pervaded my whole frame. It forsook me not
+when I parted from Pleyel and retired to my chamber. An impulse was
+given to my spirits utterly incompatible with sleep. I passed the night
+wakeful and full of meditation. I was impressed with the belief of
+mysterious, but not of malignant agency. Hitherto nothing had occurred
+to persuade me that this airy minister was busy to evil rather than to
+good purposes. On the contrary, the idea of superior virtue had always
+been associated in my mind with that of superior power. The warnings
+that had thus been heard appeared to have been prompted by beneficent
+intentions. My brother had been hindered by this voice from ascending
+the hill. He was told that danger lurked in his path, and his obedience
+to the intimation had perhaps saved him from a destiny similar to that
+of my father.
+
+Pleyel had been rescued from tormenting uncertainty, and from the
+hazards and fatigues of a fruitless voyage, by the same interposition.
+It had assured him of the death of his Theresa.
+
+This woman was then dead. A confirmation of the tidings, if true, would
+speedily arrive. Was this confirmation to be deprecated or desired?
+By her death, the tie that attached him to Europe, was taken away.
+Henceforward every motive would combine to retain him in his native
+country, and we were rescued from the deep regrets that would accompany
+his hopeless absence from us. Propitious was the spirit that imparted
+these tidings. Propitious he would perhaps have been, if he had been
+instrumental in producing, as well as in communicating the tidings of
+her death. Propitious to us, the friends of Pleyel, to whom has thereby
+been secured the enjoyment of his society; and not unpropitious to
+himself; for though this object of his love be snatched away, is there
+not another who is able and willing to console him for her loss?
+
+Twenty days after this, another vessel arrived from the same port. In
+this interval, Pleyel, for the most part, estranged himself from his old
+companions. He was become the prey of a gloomy and unsociable grief.
+His walks were limited to the bank of the Delaware. This bank is an
+artificial one. Reeds and the river are on one side, and a watery marsh
+on the other, in that part which bounded his lands, and which extended
+from the mouth of Hollander's creek to that of Schuylkill. No scene can
+be imagined less enticing to a lover of the picturesque than this. The
+shore is deformed with mud, and incumbered with a forest of reeds. The
+fields, in most seasons, are mire; but when they afford a firm footing,
+the ditches by which they are bounded and intersected, are mantled with
+stagnating green, and emit the most noxious exhalations. Health is no
+less a stranger to those seats than pleasure. Spring and autumn are sure
+to be accompanied with agues and bilious remittents.
+
+The scenes which environed our dwellings at Mettingen constituted the
+reverse of this. Schuylkill was here a pure and translucid current,
+broken into wild and ceaseless music by rocky points, murmuring on a
+sandy margin, and reflecting on its surface, banks of all varieties of
+height and degrees of declivity. These banks were chequered by patches
+of dark verdure and shapeless masses of white marble, and crowned by
+copses of cedar, or by the regular magnificence of orchards, which, at
+this season, were in blossom, and were prodigal of odours. The ground
+which receded from the river was scooped into valleys and dales. Its
+beauties were enhanced by the horticultural skill of my brother, who
+bedecked this exquisite assemblage of slopes and risings with every
+species of vegetable ornament, from the giant arms of the oak to the
+clustering tendrils of the honey-suckle.
+
+To screen him from the unwholesome airs of his own residence, it had
+been proposed to Pleyel to spend the months of spring with us. He had
+apparently acquiesced in this proposal; but the late event induced him
+to change his purpose. He was only to be seen by visiting him in his
+retirements. His gaiety had flown, and every passion was absorbed in
+eagerness to procure tidings from Saxony. I have mentioned the arrival
+of another vessel from the Elbe. He descried her early one morning as
+he was passing along the skirt of the river. She was easily recognized,
+being the ship in which he had performed his first voyage to Germany.
+He immediately went on board, but found no letters directed to him.
+This omission was, in some degree, compensated by meeting with an old
+acquaintance among the passengers, who had till lately been a resident
+in Leipsig. This person put an end to all suspense respecting the fate
+of Theresa, by relating the particulars of her death and funeral.
+
+Thus was the truth of the former intimation attested. No longer devoured
+by suspense, the grief of Pleyel was not long in yielding to the
+influence of society. He gave himself up once more to our company. His
+vivacity had indeed been damped; but even in this respect he was a more
+acceptable companion than formerly, since his seriousness was neither
+incommunicative nor sullen.
+
+These incidents, for a time, occupied all our thoughts. In me they
+produced a sentiment not unallied to pleasure, and more speedily than in
+the case of my friends were intermixed with other topics. My brother was
+particularly affected by them. It was easy to perceive that most of his
+meditations were tinctured from this source. To this was to be ascribed
+a design in which his pen was, at this period, engaged, of collecting
+and investigating the facts which relate to that mysterious personage,
+the Daemon of Socrates.
+
+My brother's skill in Greek and Roman learning was exceeded by that of
+few, and no doubt the world would have accepted a treatise upon this
+subject from his hand with avidity; but alas! this and every other
+scheme of felicity and honor, were doomed to sudden blast and hopeless
+extermination.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+
+I now come to the mention of a person with whose name the most turbulent
+sensations are connected. It is with a shuddering reluctance that I
+enter on the province of describing him. Now it is that I begin to
+perceive the difficulty of the task which I have undertaken; but it
+would be weakness to shrink from it. My blood is congealed: and my
+fingers are palsied when I call up his image. Shame upon my cowardly and
+infirm heart! Hitherto I have proceeded with some degree of composure,
+but now I must pause. I mean not that dire remembrance shall subdue my
+courage or baffle my design, but this weakness cannot be immediately
+conquered. I must desist for a little while.
+
+I have taken a few turns in my chamber, and have gathered strength
+enough to proceed. Yet have I not projected a task beyond my power to
+execute? If thus, on the very threshold of the scene, my knees faulter
+and I sink, how shall I support myself, when I rush into the midst of
+horrors such as no heart has hitherto conceived, nor tongue related? I
+sicken and recoil at the prospect, and yet my irresolution is momentary.
+I have not formed this design upon slight grounds, and though I may at
+times pause and hesitate, I will not be finally diverted from it.
+
+And thou, O most fatal and potent of mankind, in what terms shall I
+describe thee? What words are adequate to the just delineation of thy
+character? How shall I detail the means which rendered the secrecy of
+thy purposes unfathomable? But I will not anticipate. Let me recover
+if possible, a sober strain. Let me keep down the flood of passion that
+would render me precipitate or powerless. Let me stifle the agonies that
+are awakened by thy name. Let me, for a time, regard thee as a being
+of no terrible attributes. Let me tear myself from contemplation of
+the evils of which it is but too certain that thou wast the author, and
+limit my view to those harmless appearances which attended thy entrance
+on the stage.
+
+One sunny afternoon, I was standing in the door of my house, when I
+marked a person passing close to the edge of the bank that was in
+front. His pace was a careless and lingering one, and had none of that
+gracefulness and ease which distinguish a person with certain advantages
+of education from a clown. His gait was rustic and aukward. His form was
+ungainly and disproportioned. Shoulders broad and square, breast sunken,
+his head drooping, his body of uniform breadth, supported by long and
+lank legs, were the ingredients of his frame. His garb was not ill
+adapted to such a figure. A slouched hat, tarnished by the weather, a
+coat of thick grey cloth, cut and wrought, as it seemed, by a country
+tailor, blue worsted stockings, and shoes fastened by thongs, and deeply
+discoloured by dust, which brush had never disturbed, constituted his
+dress.
+
+There was nothing remarkable in these appearances; they were frequently
+to be met with on the road, and in the harvest field. I cannot tell why
+I gazed upon them, on this occasion, with more than ordinary attention,
+unless it were that such figures were seldom seen by me, except on the
+road or field. This lawn was only traversed by men whose views were
+directed to the pleasures of the walk, or the grandeur of the scenery.
+
+He passed slowly along, frequently pausing, as if to examine the
+prospect more deliberately, but never turning his eye towards the house,
+so as to allow me a view of his countenance. Presently, he entered a
+copse at a small distance, and disappeared. My eye followed him while
+he remained in sight. If his image remained for any duration in my fancy
+after his departure, it was because no other object occurred sufficient
+to expel it.
+
+I continued in the same spot for half an hour, vaguely, and by fits,
+contemplating the image of this wanderer, and drawing, from outward
+appearances, those inferences with respect to the intellectual history
+of this person, which experience affords us. I reflected on the
+alliance which commonly subsists between ignorance and the practice
+of agriculture, and indulged myself in airy speculations as to the
+influence of progressive knowledge in dissolving this alliance, and
+embodying the dreams of the poets. I asked why the plough and the hoe
+might not become the trade of every human being, and how this
+trade might be made conducive to, or, at least, consistent with the
+acquisition of wisdom and eloquence.
+
+Weary with these reflections, I returned to the kitchen to perform some
+household office. I had usually but one servant, and she was a girl
+about my own age. I was busy near the chimney, and she was employed near
+the door of the apartment, when some one knocked. The door was opened by
+her, and she was immediately addressed with "Pry'thee, good girl, canst
+thou supply a thirsty man with a glass of buttermilk?" She answered
+that there was none in the house. "Aye, but there is some in the dairy
+yonder. Thou knowest as well as I, though Hermes never taught thee, that
+though every dairy be an house, every house is not a dairy." To
+this speech, though she understood only a part of it, she replied
+by repeating her assurances, that she had none to give. "Well then,"
+rejoined the stranger, "for charity's sweet sake, hand me forth a cup
+of cold water." The girl said she would go to the spring and fetch it.
+"Nay, give me the cup, and suffer me to help myself. Neither manacled
+nor lame, I should merit burial in the maw of carrion crows, if I laid
+this task upon thee." She gave him the cup, and he turned to go to the
+spring.
+
+I listened to this dialogue in silence. The words uttered by the person
+without, affected me as somewhat singular, but what chiefly rendered
+them remarkable, was the tone that accompanied them. It was wholly new.
+My brother's voice and Pleyel's were musical and energetic. I had fondly
+imagined, that, in this respect, they were surpassed by none. Now my
+mistake was detected. I cannot pretend to communicate the impression
+that was made upon me by these accents, or to depict the degree in which
+force and sweetness were blended in them. They were articulated with a
+distinctness that was unexampled in my experience. But this was not all.
+The voice was not only mellifluent and clear, but the emphasis was so
+just, and the modulation so impassioned, that it seemed as if an heart
+of stone could not fail of being moved by it. It imparted to me an
+emotion altogether involuntary and incontroulable. When he uttered the
+words "for charity's sweet sake," I dropped the cloth that I held in
+my hand, my heart overflowed with sympathy, and my eyes with unbidden
+tears.
+
+This description will appear to you trifling or incredible. The
+importance of these circumstances will be manifested in the sequel.
+The manner in which I was affected on this occasion, was, to my own
+apprehension, a subject of astonishment. The tones were indeed such as
+I never heard before; but that they should, in an instant, as it were,
+dissolve me in tears, will not easily be believed by others, and can
+scarcely be comprehended by myself.
+
+It will be readily supposed that I was somewhat inquisitive as to the
+person and demeanour of our visitant. After a moment's pause, I stepped
+to the door and looked after him. Judge my surprize, when I beheld the
+self-same figure that had appeared an half hour before upon the bank. My
+fancy had conjured up a very different image. A form, and attitude, and
+garb, were instantly created worthy to accompany such elocution; but
+this person was, in all visible respects, the reverse of this phantom.
+Strange as it may seem, I could not speedily reconcile myself to this
+disappointment. Instead of returning to my employment, I threw myself
+in a chair that was placed opposite the door, and sunk into a fit of
+musing.
+
+My attention was, in a few minutes, recalled by the stranger, who
+returned with the empty cup in his hand. I had not thought of the
+circumstance, or should certainly have chosen a different seat. He no
+sooner shewed himself, than a confused sense of impropriety, added to
+the suddenness of the interview, for which, not having foreseen it,
+I had made no preparation, threw me into a state of the most painful
+embarrassment. He brought with him a placid brow; but no sooner had he
+cast his eyes upon me, than his face was as glowingly suffused as
+my own. He placed the cup upon the bench, stammered out thanks, and
+retired.
+
+It was some time before I could recover my wonted composure. I had
+snatched a view of the stranger's countenance. The impression that it
+made was vivid and indelible. His cheeks were pallid and lank, his eyes
+sunken, his forehead overshadowed by coarse straggling hairs, his teeth
+large and irregular, though sound and brilliantly white, and his chin
+discoloured by a tetter. His skin was of coarse grain, and sallow hue.
+Every feature was wide of beauty, and the outline of his face reminded
+you of an inverted cone.
+
+And yet his forehead, so far as shaggy locks would allow it to be seen,
+his eyes lustrously black, and possessing, in the midst of haggardness,
+a radiance inexpressibly serene and potent, and something in the rest of
+his features, which it would be in vain to describe, but which served to
+betoken a mind of the highest order, were essential ingredients in the
+portrait. This, in the effects which immediately flowed from it, I count
+among the most extraordinary incidents of my life. This face, seen for
+a moment, continued for hours to occupy my fancy, to the exclusion of
+almost every other image. I had purposed to spend the evening with my
+brother, but I could not resist the inclination of forming a sketch
+upon paper of this memorable visage. Whether my hand was aided by any
+peculiar inspiration, or I was deceived by my own fond conceptions, this
+portrait, though hastily executed, appeared unexceptionable to my own
+taste.
+
+I placed it at all distances, and in all lights; my eyes were rivetted
+upon it. Half the night passed away in wakefulness and in contemplation
+of this picture. So flexible, and yet so stubborn, is the human mind.
+So obedient to impulses the most transient and brief, and yet so
+unalterably observant of the direction which is given to it! How little
+did I then foresee the termination of that chain, of which this may be
+regarded as the first link?
+
+Next day arose in darkness and storm. Torrents of rain fell during
+the whole day, attended with incessant thunder, which reverberated in
+stunning echoes from the opposite declivity. The inclemency of the air
+would not allow me to walk-out. I had, indeed, no inclination to leave
+my apartment. I betook myself to the contemplation of this portrait,
+whose attractions time had rather enhanced than diminished. I laid aside
+my usual occupations, and seating myself at a window, consumed the day
+in alternately looking out upon the storm, and gazing at the picture
+which lay upon a table before me. You will, perhaps, deem this conduct
+somewhat singular, and ascribe it to certain peculiarities of temper. I
+am not aware of any such peculiarities. I can account for my devotion to
+this image no otherwise, than by supposing that its properties were
+rare and prodigious. Perhaps you will suspect that such were the
+first inroads of a passion incident to every female heart, and
+which frequently gains a footing by means even more slight, and more
+improbable than these. I shall not controvert the reasonableness of the
+suspicion, but leave you at liberty to draw, from my narrative, what
+conclusions you please.
+
+Night at length returned, and the storm ceased. The air was once more
+clear and calm, and bore an affecting contrast to that uproar of the
+elements by which it had been preceded. I spent the darksome hours, as
+I spent the day, contemplative and seated at the window. Why was my mind
+absorbed in thoughts ominous and dreary? Why did my bosom heave with
+sighs, and my eyes overflow with tears? Was the tempest that had just
+past a signal of the ruin which impended over me? My soul fondly dwelt
+upon the images of my brother and his children, yet they only increased
+the mournfulness of my contemplations. The smiles of the charming babes
+were as bland as formerly. The same dignity sat on the brow of their
+father, and yet I thought of them with anguish. Something whispered
+that the happiness we at present enjoyed was set on mutable foundations.
+Death must happen to all. Whether our felicity was to be subverted by it
+to-morrow, or whether it was ordained that we should lay down our heads
+full of years and of honor, was a question that no human being could
+solve. At other times, these ideas seldom intruded. I either forbore to
+reflect upon the destiny that is reserved for all men, or the reflection
+was mixed up with images that disrobed it of terror; but now the
+uncertainty of life occurred to me without any of its usual and
+alleviating accompaniments. I said to myself, we must die. Sooner or
+later, we must disappear for ever from the face of the earth. Whatever
+be the links that hold us to life, they must be broken. This scene
+of existence is, in all its parts, calamitous. The greater number is
+oppressed with immediate evils, and those, the tide of whose fortunes is
+full, how small is their portion of enjoyment, since they know that it
+will terminate.
+
+For some time I indulged myself, without reluctance, in these gloomy
+thoughts; but at length, the dejection which they produced became
+insupportably painful. I endeavoured to dissipate it with music. I had
+all my grand-father's melody as well as poetry by rote. I now lighted
+by chance on a ballad, which commemorated the fate of a German Cavalier,
+who fell at the siege of Nice under Godfrey of Bouillon. My choice was
+unfortunate, for the scenes of violence and carnage which were here
+wildly but forcibly pourtrayed, only suggested to my thoughts a new
+topic in the horrors of war.
+
+I sought refuge, but ineffectually, in sleep. My mind was thronged by
+vivid, but confused images, and no effort that I made was sufficient to
+drive them away. In this situation I heard the clock, which hung in
+the room, give the signal for twelve. It was the same instrument which
+formerly hung in my father's chamber, and which, on account of its
+being his workmanship, was regarded, by every one of our family, with
+veneration. It had fallen to me, in the division of his property, and
+was placed in this asylum. The sound awakened a series of reflections,
+respecting his death. I was not allowed to pursue them; for scarcely
+had the vibrations ceased, when my attention was attracted by a whisper,
+which, at first, appeared to proceed from lips that were laid close to
+my ear.
+
+No wonder that a circumstance like this startled me. In the first
+impulse of my terror, I uttered a slight scream, and shrunk to the
+opposite side of the bed. In a moment, however, I recovered from my
+trepidation. I was habitually indifferent to all the causes of fear,
+by which the majority are afflicted. I entertained no apprehension
+of either ghosts or robbers. Our security had never been molested by
+either, and I made use of no means to prevent or counterwork their
+machinations. My tranquillity, on this occasion, was quickly retrieved.
+The whisper evidently proceeded from one who was posted at my bed-side.
+The first idea that suggested itself was, that it was uttered by the
+girl who lived with me as a servant. Perhaps, somewhat had alarmed her,
+or she was sick, and had come to request my assistance. By whispering in
+my ear, she intended to rouse without alarming me.
+
+Full of this persuasion, I called; "Judith," said I, "is it you? What
+do you want? Is there any thing the matter with you?" No answer was
+returned. I repeated my inquiry, but equally in vain. Cloudy as was the
+atmosphere, and curtained as my bed was, nothing was visible. I withdrew
+the curtain, and leaning my head on my elbow, I listened with the
+deepest attention to catch some new sound. Meanwhile, I ran over in my
+thoughts, every circumstance that could assist my conjectures.
+
+My habitation was a wooden edifice, consisting of two stories. In each
+story were two rooms, separated by an entry, or middle passage, with
+which they communicated by opposite doors. The passage, on the lower
+story, had doors at the two ends, and a stair-case. Windows answered to
+the doors on the upper story. Annexed to this, on the eastern side, were
+wings, divided, in like manner, into an upper and lower room; one of
+them comprized a kitchen, and chamber above it for the servant, and
+communicated, on both stories, with the parlour adjoining it below,
+and the chamber adjoining it above. The opposite wing is of smaller
+dimensions, the rooms not being above eight feet square. The lower of
+these was used as a depository of household implements, the upper was a
+closet in which I deposited my books and papers. They had but one inlet,
+which was from the room adjoining. There was no window in the lower one,
+and in the upper, a small aperture which communicated light and air, but
+would scarcely admit the body. The door which led into this, was close
+to my bed-head, and was always locked, but when I myself was within. The
+avenues below were accustomed to be closed and bolted at nights.
+
+The maid was my only companion, and she could not reach my chamber
+without previously passing through the opposite chamber, and the middle
+passage, of which, however, the doors were usually unfastened. If she
+had occasioned this noise, she would have answered my repeated calls.
+No other conclusion, therefore, was left me, but that I had mistaken the
+sounds, and that my imagination had transformed some casual noise into
+the voice of a human creature. Satisfied with this solution, I was
+preparing to relinquish my listening attitude, when my ear was again
+saluted with a new and yet louder whispering. It appeared, as before,
+to issue from lips that touched my pillow. A second effort of attention,
+however, clearly shewed me, that the sounds issued from within the
+closet, the door of which was not more than eight inches from my pillow.
+
+This second interruption occasioned a shock less vehement than the
+former. I started, but gave no audible token of alarm. I was so much
+mistress of my feelings, as to continue listening to what should be
+said. The whisper was distinct, hoarse, and uttered so as to shew that
+the speaker was desirous of being heard by some one near, but, at the
+same time, studious to avoid being overheard by any other.
+
+"Stop, stop, I say; madman as you are! there are better means than that.
+Curse upon your rashness! There is no need to shoot."
+
+Such were the words uttered in a tone of eagerness and anger, within so
+small a distance of my pillow. What construction could I put upon
+them? My heart began to palpitate with dread of some unknown danger.
+Presently, another voice, but equally near me, was heard whispering in
+answer. "Why not? I will draw a trigger in this business, but perdition
+be my lot if I do more." To this, the first voice returned, in a tone
+which rage had heightened in a small degree above a whisper, "Coward!
+stand aside, and see me do it. I will grasp her throat; I will do her
+business in an instant; she shall not have time so much as to groan."
+What wonder that I was petrified by sounds so dreadful! Murderers
+lurked in my closet. They were planning the means of my destruction. One
+resolved to shoot, and the other menaced suffocation. Their means being
+chosen, they would forthwith break the door. Flight instantly suggested
+itself as most eligible in circumstances so perilous. I deliberated not
+a moment; but, fear adding wings to my speed, I leaped out of bed, and
+scantily robed as I was, rushed out of the chamber, down stairs, and
+into the open air. I can hardly recollect the process of turning
+keys, and withdrawing bolts. My terrors urged me forward with almost a
+mechanical impulse. I stopped not till I reached my brother's door.
+I had not gained the threshold, when, exhausted by the violence of my
+emotions, and by my speed, I sunk down in a fit.
+
+How long I remained in this situation I know not. When I recovered, I
+found myself stretched on a bed, surrounded by my sister and her
+female servants. I was astonished at the scene before me, but gradually
+recovered the recollection of what had happened. I answered their
+importunate inquiries as well as I was able. My brother and Pleyel,
+whom the storm of the preceding day chanced to detain here, informing
+themselves of every particular, proceeded with lights and weapons to my
+deserted habitation. They entered my chamber and my closet, and found
+every thing in its proper place and customary order. The door of the
+closet was locked, and appeared not to have been opened in my absence.
+They went to Judith's apartment. They found her asleep and in safety.
+Pleyel's caution induced him to forbear alarming the girl; and finding
+her wholly ignorant of what had passed, they directed her to return to
+her chamber. They then fastened the doors, and returned.
+
+My friends were disposed to regard this transaction as a dream. That
+persons should be actually immured in this closet, to which, in the
+circumstances of the time, access from without or within was apparently
+impossible, they could not seriously believe. That any human beings
+had intended murder, unless it were to cover a scheme of pillage, was
+incredible; but that no such design had been formed, was evident
+from the security in which the furniture of the house and the closet
+remained.
+
+I revolved every incident and expression that had occurred. My
+senses assured me of the truth of them, and yet their abruptness and
+improbability made me, in my turn, somewhat incredulous. The adventure
+had made a deep impression on my fancy, and it was not till after a
+week's abode at my brother's, that I resolved to resume the possession
+of my own dwelling. There was another circumstance that enhanced the
+mysteriousness of this event. After my recovery it was obvious to
+inquire by what means the attention of the family had been drawn to my
+situation. I had fallen before I had reached the threshold, or was able
+to give any signal. My brother related, that while this was transacting
+in my chamber, he himself was awake, in consequence of some slight
+indisposition, and lay, according to his custom, musing on some favorite
+topic. Suddenly the silence, which was remarkably profound, was broken
+by a voice of most piercing shrillness, that seemed to be uttered by one
+in the hall below his chamber. "Awake! arise!" it exclaimed: "hasten to
+succour one that is dying at your door."
+
+This summons was effectual. There was no one in the house who was not
+roused by it. Pleyel was the first to obey, and my brother overtook him
+before he reached the hall. What was the general astonishment when your
+friend was discovered stretched upon the grass before the door, pale,
+ghastly, and with every mark of death!
+
+This was the third instance of a voice, exerted for the benefit of this
+little community. The agent was no less inscrutable in this, than in the
+former case. When I ruminated upon these events, my soul was suspended
+in wonder and awe. Was I really deceived in imagining that I heard the
+closet conversation? I was no longer at liberty to question the reality
+of those accents which had formerly recalled my brother from the hill;
+which had imparted tidings of the death of the German lady to Pleyel;
+and which had lately summoned them to my assistance.
+
+But how was I to regard this midnight conversation? Hoarse and manlike
+voices conferring on the means of death, so near my bed, and at such
+an hour! How had my ancient security vanished! That dwelling, which had
+hitherto been an inviolate asylum, was now beset with danger to my
+life. That solitude, formerly so dear to me, could no longer be endured.
+Pleyel, who had consented to reside with us during the months of spring,
+lodged in the vacant chamber, in order to quiet my alarms. He treated
+my fears with ridicule, and in a short time very slight traces of them
+remained: but as it was wholly indifferent to him whether his nights
+were passed at my house or at my brother's, this arrangement gave
+general satisfaction.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+
+I will not enumerate the various inquiries and conjectures which these
+incidents occasioned. After all our efforts, we came no nearer to
+dispelling the mist in which they were involved; and time, instead of
+facilitating a solution, only accumulated our doubts. In the midst of
+thoughts excited by these events, I was not unmindful of my interview
+with the stranger. I related the particulars, and shewed the portrait to
+my friends. Pleyel recollected to have met with a figure resembling
+my description in the city; but neither his face or garb made the same
+impression upon him that it made upon me. It was a hint to rally me upon
+my prepossessions, and to amuse us with a thousand ludicrous anecdotes
+which he had collected in his travels. He made no scruple to charge me
+with being in love; and threatened to inform the swain, when he met him,
+of his good fortune.
+
+Pleyel's temper made him susceptible of no durable impressions. His
+conversation was occasionally visited by gleams of his ancient vivacity;
+but, though his impetuosity was sometimes inconvenient, there was
+nothing to dread from his malice. I had no fear that my character or
+dignity would suffer in his hands, and was not heartily displeased when
+he declared his intention of profiting by his first meeting with the
+stranger to introduce him to our acquaintance.
+
+Some weeks after this I had spent a toilsome day, and, as the sun
+declined, found myself disposed to seek relief in a walk. The river
+bank is, at this part of it, and for some considerable space upward,
+so rugged and steep as not to be easily descended. In a recess of this
+declivity, near the southern verge of my little demesne, was placed a
+slight building, with seats and lattices. From a crevice of the rock,
+to which this edifice was attached, there burst forth a stream of the
+purest water, which, leaping from ledge to ledge, for the space of sixty
+feet, produced a freshness in the air, and a murmur, the most delicious
+and soothing imaginable. These, added to the odours of the cedars
+which embowered it, and of the honey-suckle which clustered among the
+lattices, rendered this my favorite retreat in summer.
+
+On this occasion I repaired hither. My spirits drooped through the
+fatigue of long attention, and I threw myself upon a bench, in a state,
+both mentally and personally, of the utmost supineness. The lulling
+sounds of the waterfall, the fragrance and the dusk combined to becalm
+my spirits, and, in a short time, to sink me into sleep. Either the
+uneasiness of my posture, or some slight indisposition molested my
+repose with dreams of no cheerful hue. After various incoherences
+had taken their turn to occupy my fancy, I at length imagined myself
+walking, in the evening twilight, to my brother's habitation. A pit,
+methought, had been dug in the path I had taken, of which I was not
+aware. As I carelessly pursued my walk, I thought I saw my brother,
+standing at some distance before me, beckoning and calling me to make
+haste. He stood on the opposite edge of the gulph. I mended my pace, and
+one step more would have plunged me into this abyss, had not some
+one from behind caught suddenly my arm, and exclaimed, in a voice of
+eagerness and terror, "Hold! hold!"
+
+The sound broke my sleep, and I found myself, at the next moment,
+standing on my feet, and surrounded by the deepest darkness. Images
+so terrific and forcible disabled me, for a time, from distinguishing
+between sleep and wakefulness, and withheld from me the knowledge of my
+actual condition. My first panics were succeeded by the perturbations of
+surprize, to find myself alone in the open air, and immersed in so deep
+a gloom. I slowly recollected the incidents of the afternoon, and how
+I came hither. I could not estimate the time, but saw the propriety of
+returning with speed to the house. My faculties were still too confused,
+and the darkness too intense, to allow me immediately to find my way up
+the steep. I sat down, therefore, to recover myself, and to reflect upon
+my situation.
+
+This was no sooner done, than a low voice was heard from behind the
+lattice, on the side where I sat. Between the rock and the lattice was a
+chasm not wide enough to admit a human body; yet, in this chasm he that
+spoke appeared to be stationed. "Attend! attend! but be not terrified."
+
+I started and exclaimed, "Good heavens! what is that? Who are you?"
+
+"A friend; one come, not to injure, but to save you; fear nothing."
+
+This voice was immediately recognized to be the same with one of
+those which I had heard in the closet; it was the voice of him who had
+proposed to shoot, rather than to strangle, his victim. My terror made
+me, at once, mute and motionless. He continued, "I leagued to murder
+you. I repent. Mark my bidding, and be safe. Avoid this spot. The snares
+of death encompass it. Elsewhere danger will be distant; but this spot,
+shun it as you value your life. Mark me further; profit by this warning,
+but divulge it not. If a syllable of what has passed escape you, your
+doom is sealed. Remember your father, and be faithful."
+
+Here the accents ceased, and left me overwhelmed with dismay. I was
+fraught with the persuasion, that during every moment I remained here,
+my life was endangered; but I could not take a step without hazard of
+falling to the bottom of the precipice. The path, leading to the summit,
+was short, but rugged and intricate. Even star-light was excluded by the
+umbrage, and not the faintest gleam was afforded to guide my steps. What
+should I do? To depart or remain was equally and eminently perilous.
+
+In this state of uncertainty, I perceived a ray flit across the gloom
+and disappear. Another succeeded, which was stronger, and remained for
+a passing moment. It glittered on the shrubs that were scattered at the
+entrance, and gleam continued to succeed gleam for a few seconds, till
+they, finally, gave place to unintermitted darkness.
+
+The first visitings of this light called up a train of horrors in my
+mind; destruction impended over this spot; the voice which I had lately
+heard had warned me to retire, and had menaced me with the fate of my
+father if I refused. I was desirous, but unable, to obey; these gleams
+were such as preluded the stroke by which he fell; the hour, perhaps,
+was the same--I shuddered as if I had beheld, suspended over me, the
+exterminating sword.
+
+Presently a new and stronger illumination burst through the lattice
+on the right hand, and a voice, from the edge of the precipice above,
+called out my name. It was Pleyel. Joyfully did I recognize his accents;
+but such was the tumult of my thoughts that I had not power to answer
+him till he had frequently repeated his summons. I hurried, at length,
+from the fatal spot, and, directed by the lanthorn which he bore,
+ascended the hill.
+
+Pale and breathless, it was with difficulty I could support myself. He
+anxiously inquired into the cause of my affright, and the motive of my
+unusual absence. He had returned from my brother's at a late hour, and
+was informed by Judith, that I had walked out before sun-set, and had
+not yet returned. This intelligence was somewhat alarming. He waited
+some time; but, my absence continuing, he had set out in search of me.
+He had explored the neighbourhood with the utmost care, but, receiving
+no tidings of me, he was preparing to acquaint my brother with this
+circumstance, when he recollected the summer-house on the bank, and
+conceived it possible that some accident had detained me there. He again
+inquired into the cause of this detention, and of that confusion and
+dismay which my looks testified.
+
+I told him that I had strolled hither in the afternoon, that sleep had
+overtaken me as I sat, and that I had awakened a few minutes before
+his arrival. I could tell him no more. In the present impetuosity of my
+thoughts, I was almost dubious, whether the pit, into which my brother
+had endeavoured to entice me, and the voice that talked through the
+lattice, were not parts of the same dream. I remembered, likewise, the
+charge of secrecy, and the penalty denounced, if I should rashly divulge
+what I had heard. For these reasons, I was silent on that subject, and
+shutting myself in my chamber, delivered myself up to contemplation.
+
+What I have related will, no doubt, appear to you a fable. You will
+believe that calamity has subverted my reason, and that I am amusing
+you with the chimeras of my brain, instead of facts that have really
+happened. I shall not be surprized or offended, if these be your
+suspicions. I know not, indeed, how you can deny them admission. For, if
+to me, the immediate witness, they were fertile of perplexity and doubt,
+how must they affect another to whom they are recommended only by
+my testimony? It was only by subsequent events, that I was fully and
+incontestibly assured of the veracity of my senses.
+
+Meanwhile what was I to think? I had been assured that a design had been
+formed against my life. The ruffians had leagued to murder me. Whom had
+I offended? Who was there with whom I had ever maintained intercourse,
+who was capable of harbouring such atrocious purposes?
+
+My temper was the reverse of cruel and imperious. My heart was touched
+with sympathy for the children of misfortune. But this sympathy was not
+a barren sentiment. My purse, scanty as it was, was ever open, and my
+hands ever active, to relieve distress. Many were the wretches whom
+my personal exertions had extricated from want and disease, and who
+rewarded me with their gratitude. There was no face which lowered at my
+approach, and no lips which uttered imprecations in my hearing. On the
+contrary, there was none, over whose fate I had exerted any influence,
+or to whom I was known by reputation, who did not greet me with smiles,
+and dismiss me with proofs of veneration; yet did not my senses assure
+me that a plot was laid against my life?
+
+I am not destitute of courage. I have shewn myself deliberative and calm
+in the midst of peril. I have hazarded my own life, for the preservation
+of another, but now was I confused and panic struck. I have not lived
+so as to fear death, yet to perish by an unseen and secret stroke, to be
+mangled by the knife of an assassin was a thought at which I shuddered;
+what had I done to deserve to be made the victim of malignant passions?
+
+But soft! was I not assured, that my life was safe in all places but
+one? And why was the treason limited to take effect in this spot? I
+was every where equally defenceless. My house and chamber were, at all
+times, accessible. Danger still impended over me; the bloody purpose was
+still entertained, but the hand that was to execute it, was powerless in
+all places but one!
+
+Here I had remained for the last four or five hours, without the means
+of resistance or defence, yet I had not been attacked. A human being was
+at hand, who was conscious of my presence, and warned me hereafter to
+avoid this retreat. His voice was not absolutely new, but had I never
+heard it but once before? But why did he prohibit me from relating
+this incident to others, and what species of death will be awarded if I
+disobey?
+
+He talked of my father. He intimated, that disclosure would pull upon my
+head, the same destruction. Was then the death of my father, portentous
+and inexplicable as it was, the consequence of human machinations? It
+should seem, that this being is apprised of the true nature of this
+event, and is conscious of the means that led to it. Whether it shall
+likewise fall upon me, depends upon the observance of silence. Was it
+the infraction of a similar command, that brought so horrible a penalty
+upon my father?
+
+Such were the reflections that haunted me during the night, and which
+effectually deprived me of sleep. Next morning, at breakfast, Pleyel
+related an event which my disappearance had hindered him from mentioning
+the night before. Early the preceding morning, his occasions called him
+to the city; he had stepped into a coffee-house to while away an hour;
+here he had met a person whose appearance instantly bespoke him to be
+the same whose hasty visit I have mentioned, and whose extraordinary
+visage and tones had so powerfully affected me. On an attentive survey,
+however, he proved, likewise, to be one with whom my friend had had some
+intercourse in Europe. This authorised the liberty of accosting him, and
+after some conversation, mindful, as Pleyel said, of the footing which
+this stranger had gained in my heart, he had ventured to invite him
+to Mettingen. The invitation had been cheerfully accepted, and a visit
+promised on the afternoon of the next day.
+
+This information excited no sober emotions in my breast. I was, of
+course, eager to be informed as to the circumstances of their ancient
+intercourse. When, and where had they met? What knew he of the life and
+character of this man?
+
+In answer to my inquiries, he informed me that, three years before,
+he was a traveller in Spain. He had made an excursion from Valencia to
+Murviedro, with a view to inspect the remains of Roman magnificence,
+scattered in the environs of that town. While traversing the scite
+of the theatre of old Saguntum, he lighted upon this man, seated on a
+stone, and deeply engaged in perusing the work of the deacon Marti. A
+short conversation ensued, which proved the stranger to be English. They
+returned to Valencia together.
+
+His garb, aspect, and deportment, were wholly Spanish. A residence of
+three years in the country, indefatigable attention to the language,
+and a studious conformity with the customs of the people, had made him
+indistinguishable from a native, when he chose to assume that character.
+Pleyel found him to be connected, on the footing of friendship and
+respect, with many eminent merchants in that city. He had embraced the
+catholic religion, and adopted a Spanish name instead of his own, which
+was CARWIN, and devoted himself to the literature and religion of his
+new country. He pursued no profession, but subsisted on remittances from
+England.
+
+While Pleyel remained in Valencia, Carwin betrayed no aversion to
+intercourse, and the former found no small attractions in the society of
+this new acquaintance. On general topics he was highly intelligent and
+communicative. He had visited every corner of Spain, and could furnish
+the most accurate details respecting its ancient and present state.
+On topics of religion and of his own history, previous to his
+TRANSFORMATION into a Spaniard, he was invariably silent. You could
+merely gather from his discourse that he was English, and that he was
+well acquainted with the neighbouring countries.
+
+His character excited considerable curiosity in this observer. It was
+not easy to reconcile his conversion to the Romish faith, with those
+proofs of knowledge and capacity that were exhibited by him on different
+occasions. A suspicion was, sometimes, admitted, that his belief was
+counterfeited for some political purpose. The most careful observation,
+however, produced no discovery. His manners were, at all times, harmless
+and inartificial, and his habits those of a lover of contemplation and
+seclusion. He appeared to have contracted an affection for Pleyel, who
+was not slow to return it.
+
+My friend, after a month's residence in this city, returned into France,
+and, since that period, had heard nothing concerning Carwin till his
+appearance at Mettingen.
+
+On this occasion Carwin had received Pleyel's greeting with a certain
+distance and solemnity to which the latter had not been accustomed. He
+had waved noticing the inquiries of Pleyel respecting his desertion
+of Spain, in which he had formerly declared that it was his purpose to
+spend his life. He had assiduously diverted the attention of the latter
+to indifferent topics, but was still, on every theme, as eloquent and
+judicious as formerly. Why he had assumed the garb of a rustic, Pleyel
+was unable to conjecture. Perhaps it might be poverty, perhaps he was
+swayed by motives which it was his interest to conceal, but which were
+connected with consequences of the utmost moment.
+
+Such was the sum of my friend's information. I was not sorry to be left
+alone during the greater part of this day. Every employment was irksome
+which did not leave me at liberty to meditate. I had now a new subject
+on which to exercise my thoughts. Before evening I should be ushered
+into his presence, and listen to those tones whose magical and thrilling
+power I had already experienced. But with what new images would he then
+be accompanied?
+
+Carwin was an adherent to the Romish faith, yet was an Englishman by
+birth, and, perhaps, a protestant by education. He had adopted Spain for
+his country, and had intimated a design to spend his days there, yet now
+was an inhabitant of this district, and disguised by the habiliments of
+a clown! What could have obliterated the impressions of his youth, and
+made him abjure his religion and his country? What subsequent events had
+introduced so total a change in his plans? In withdrawing from Spain,
+had he reverted to the religion of his ancestors; or was it true, that
+his former conversion was deceitful, and that his conduct had been
+swayed by motives which it was prudent to conceal?
+
+Hours were consumed in revolving these ideas. My meditations were
+intense; and, when the series was broken, I began to reflect with
+astonishment on my situation. From the death of my parents, till the
+commencement of this year, my life had been serene and blissful, beyond
+the ordinary portion of humanity; but, now, my bosom was corroded by
+anxiety. I was visited by dread of unknown dangers, and the future was
+a scene over which clouds rolled, and thunders muttered. I compared the
+cause with the effect, and they seemed disproportioned to each other.
+All unaware, and in a manner which I had no power to explain, I was
+pushed from my immoveable and lofty station, and cast upon a sea of
+troubles.
+
+I determined to be my brother's visitant on this evening, yet my
+resolves were not unattended with wavering and reluctance. Pleyel's
+insinuations that I was in love, affected, in no degree, my belief, yet
+the consciousness that this was the opinion of one who would, probably,
+be present at our introduction to each other, would excite all that
+confusion which the passion itself is apt to produce. This would confirm
+him in his error, and call forth new railleries. His mirth, when exerted
+upon this topic, was the source of the bitterest vexation. Had he been
+aware of its influence upon my happiness, his temper would not have
+allowed him to persist; but this influence, it was my chief endeavour
+to conceal. That the belief of my having bestowed my heart upon another,
+produced in my friend none but ludicrous sensations, was the true cause
+of my distress; but if this had been discovered by him, my distress
+would have been unspeakably aggravated.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+
+As soon as evening arrived, I performed my visit. Carwin made one of the
+company, into which I was ushered. Appearances were the same as when I
+before beheld him. His garb was equally negligent and rustic. I gazed
+upon his countenance with new curiosity. My situation was such as to
+enable me to bestow upon it a deliberate examination. Viewed at more
+leisure, it lost none of its wonderful properties. I could not deny my
+homage to the intelligence expressed in it, but was wholly uncertain,
+whether he were an object to be dreaded or adored, and whether his
+powers had been exerted to evil or to good.
+
+He was sparing in discourse; but whatever he said was pregnant with
+meaning, and uttered with rectitude of articulation, and force of
+emphasis, of which I had entertained no conception previously to my
+knowledge of him. Notwithstanding the uncouthness of his garb, his
+manners were not unpolished. All topics were handled by him with skill,
+and without pedantry or affectation. He uttered no sentiment calculated
+to produce a disadvantageous impression: on the contrary, his
+observations denoted a mind alive to every generous and heroic feeling.
+They were introduced without parade, and accompanied with that degree of
+earnestness which indicates sincerity.
+
+He parted from us not till late, refusing an invitation to spend the
+night here, but readily consented to repeat his visit. His visits
+were frequently repeated. Each day introduced us to a more intimate
+acquaintance with his sentiments, but left us wholly in the dark,
+concerning that about which we were most inquisitive. He studiously
+avoided all mention of his past or present situation. Even the place of
+his abode in the city he concealed from us.
+
+Our sphere, in this respect, being somewhat limited, and the
+intellectual endowments of this man being indisputably great, his
+deportment was more diligently marked, and copiously commented on by
+us, than you, perhaps, will think the circumstances warranted. Not a
+gesture, or glance, or accent, that was not, in our private assemblies,
+discussed, and inferences deduced from it. It may well be thought that
+he modelled his behaviour by an uncommon standard, when, with all our
+opportunities and accuracy of observation, we were able, for a long
+time, to gather no satisfactory information. He afforded us no ground on
+which to build even a plausible conjecture.
+
+There is a degree of familiarity which takes place between constant
+associates, that justifies the negligence of many rules of which, in
+an earlier period of their intercourse, politeness requires the exact
+observance. Inquiries into our condition are allowable when they are
+prompted by a disinterested concern for our welfare; and this solicitude
+is not only pardonable, but may justly be demanded from those who chuse
+us for their companions. This state of things was more slow to arrive
+on this occasion than on most others, on account of the gravity and
+loftiness of this man's behaviour.
+
+Pleyel, however, began, at length, to employ regular means for this end.
+He occasionally alluded to the circumstances in which they had formerly
+met, and remarked the incongruousness between the religion and habits
+of a Spaniard, with those of a native of Britain. He expressed
+his astonishment at meeting our guest in this corner of the globe,
+especially as, when they parted in Spain, he was taught to believe that
+Carwin should never leave that country. He insinuated, that a change
+so great must have been prompted by motives of a singular and momentous
+kind.
+
+No answer, or an answer wide of the purpose, was generally made to these
+insinuations. Britons and Spaniards, he said, are votaries of the same
+Deity, and square their faith by the same precepts; their ideas are
+drawn from the same fountains of literature, and they speak dialects of
+the same tongue; their government and laws have more resemblances than
+differences; they were formerly provinces of the same civil, and till
+lately, of the same religious, Empire.
+
+As to the motives which induce men to change the place of their abode,
+these must unavoidably be fleeting and mutable. If not bound to one spot
+by conjugal or parental ties, or by the nature of that employment to
+which we are indebted for subsistence, the inducements to change are far
+more numerous and powerful, than opposite inducements.
+
+He spoke as if desirous of shewing that he was not aware of the tendency
+of Pleyel's remarks; yet, certain tokens were apparent, that proved him
+by no means wanting in penetration. These tokens were to be read in his
+countenance, and not in his words. When any thing was said, indicating
+curiosity in us, the gloom of his countenance was deepened, his eyes
+sunk to the ground, and his wonted air was not resumed without visible
+struggle. Hence, it was obvious to infer, that some incidents of
+his life were reflected on by him with regret; and that, since these
+incidents were carefully concealed, and even that regret which flowed
+from them laboriously stifled, they had not been merely disastrous. The
+secrecy that was observed appeared not designed to provoke or baffle the
+inquisitive, but was prompted by the shame, or by the prudence of guilt.
+
+These ideas, which were adopted by Pleyel and my brother, as well as
+myself, hindered us from employing more direct means for accomplishing
+our wishes. Questions might have been put in such terms, that no room
+should be left for the pretence of misapprehension, and if modesty
+merely had been the obstacle, such questions would not have been
+wanting; but we considered, that, if the disclosure were productive of
+pain or disgrace, it was inhuman to extort it.
+
+Amidst the various topics that were discussed in his presence, allusions
+were, of course, made to the inexplicable events that had lately
+happened. At those times, the words and looks of this man were objects
+of my particular attention. The subject was extraordinary; and any
+one whose experience or reflections could throw any light upon it, was
+entitled to my gratitude. As this man was enlightened by reading and
+travel, I listened with eagerness to the remarks which he should make.
+
+At first, I entertained a kind of apprehension, that the tale would be
+heard by him with incredulity and secret ridicule. I had formerly heard
+stories that resembled this in some of their mysterious circumstances,
+but they were, commonly, heard by me with contempt. I was doubtful,
+whether the same impression would not now be made on the mind of our
+guest; but I was mistaken in my fears.
+
+He heard them with seriousness, and without any marks either of
+surprize or incredulity. He pursued, with visible pleasure, that kind
+of disquisition which was naturally suggested by them. His fancy was
+eminently vigorous and prolific, and if he did not persuade us, that
+human beings are, sometimes, admitted to a sensible intercourse with the
+author of nature, he, at least, won over our inclination to the cause.
+He merely deduced, from his own reasonings, that such intercourse
+was probable; but confessed that, though he was acquainted with many
+instances somewhat similar to those which had been related by us, none
+of them were perfectly exempted from the suspicion of human agency.
+
+On being requested to relate these instances, he amused us with many
+curious details. His narratives were constructed with so much skill,
+and rehearsed with so much energy, that all the effects of a dramatic
+exhibition were frequently produced by them. Those that were most
+coherent and most minute, and, of consequence, least entitled to credit,
+were yet rendered probable by the exquisite art of this rhetorician. For
+every difficulty that was suggested, a ready and plausible solution
+was furnished. Mysterious voices had always a share in producing
+the catastrophe, but they were always to be explained on some known
+principles, either as reflected into a focus, or communicated through
+a tube. I could not but remark that his narratives, however complex or
+marvellous, contained no instance sufficiently parallel to those that
+had befallen ourselves, and in which the solution was applicable to our
+own case.
+
+My brother was a much more sanguine reasoner than our guest. Even
+in some of the facts which were related by Carwin, he maintained the
+probability of celestial interference, when the latter was disposed to
+deny it, and had found, as he imagined, footsteps of an human agent.
+Pleyel was by no means equally credulous. He scrupled not to deny faith
+to any testimony but that of his senses, and allowed the facts which had
+lately been supported by this testimony, not to mould his belief, but
+merely to give birth to doubts.
+
+It was soon observed that Carwin adopted, in some degree, a similar
+distinction. A tale of this kind, related by others, he would believe,
+provided it was explicable upon known principles; but that such notices
+were actually communicated by beings of an higher order, he would
+believe only when his own ears were assailed in a manner which could not
+be otherwise accounted for. Civility forbad him to contradict my brother
+or myself, but his understanding refused to acquiesce in our testimony.
+Besides, he was disposed to question whether the voices heard in the
+temple, at the foot of the hill, and in my closet, were not really
+uttered by human organs. On this supposition he was desired to explain
+how the effect was produced.
+
+He answered, that the power of mimickry was very common. Catharine's
+voice might easily be imitated by one at the foot of the hill, who would
+find no difficulty in eluding, by flight, the search of Wieland. The
+tidings of the death of the Saxon lady were uttered by one near at hand,
+who overheard the conversation, who conjectured her death, and whose
+conjecture happened to accord with the truth. That the voice appeared to
+come from the cieling was to be considered as an illusion of the fancy.
+The cry for help, heard in the hall on the night of my adventure, was to
+be ascribed to an human creature, who actually stood in the hall when he
+uttered it. It was of no moment, he said, that we could not explain by
+what motives he that made the signal was led hither. How imperfectly
+acquainted were we with the condition and designs of the beings that
+surrounded us? The city was near at hand, and thousands might there
+exist whose powers and purposes might easily explain whatever was
+mysterious in this transaction. As to the closet dialogue, he was
+obliged to adopt one of two suppositions, and affirm either that it was
+fashioned in my own fancy, or that it actually took place between two
+persons in the closet.
+
+Such was Carwin's mode of explaining these appearances. It is such,
+perhaps, as would commend itself as most plausible to the most sagacious
+minds, but it was insufficient to impart conviction to us. As to the
+treason that was meditated against me, it was doubtless just to conclude
+that it was either real or imaginary; but that it was real was attested
+by the mysterious warning in the summer-house, the secret of which I had
+hitherto locked up in my own breast.
+
+A month passed away in this kind of intercourse. As to Carwin, our
+ignorance was in no degree enlightened respecting his genuine character
+and views. Appearances were uniform. No man possessed a larger store of
+knowledge, or a greater degree of skill in the communication of it to
+others; Hence he was regarded as an inestimable addition to our society.
+Considering the distance of my brother's house from the city, he was
+frequently prevailed upon to pass the night where he spent the evening.
+Two days seldom elapsed without a visit from him; hence he was regarded
+as a kind of inmate of the house. He entered and departed without
+ceremony. When he arrived he received an unaffected welcome, and when he
+chose to retire, no importunities were used to induce him to remain.
+
+The temple was the principal scene of our social enjoyments; yet the
+felicity that we tasted when assembled in this asylum, was but the
+gleam of a former sun-shine. Carwin never parted with his gravity.
+The inscrutableness of his character, and the uncertainty whether his
+fellowship tended to good or to evil, were seldom absent from our minds.
+This circumstance powerfully contributed to sadden us.
+
+My heart was the seat of growing disquietudes. This change in one who
+had formerly been characterized by all the exuberances of soul, could
+not fail to be remarked by my friends. My brother was always a pattern
+of solemnity. My sister was clay, moulded by the circumstances in which
+she happened to be placed. There was but one whose deportment remains
+to be described as being of importance to our happiness. Had Pleyel
+likewise dismissed his vivacity?
+
+He was as whimsical and jestful as ever, but he was not happy. The
+truth, in this respect, was of too much importance to me not to make me
+a vigilant observer. His mirth was easily perceived to be the fruit
+of exertion. When his thoughts wandered from the company, an air of
+dissatisfaction and impatience stole across his features. Even the
+punctuality and frequency of his visits were somewhat lessened. It may
+be supposed that my own uneasiness was heightened by these tokens; but,
+strange as it may seem, I found, in the present state of my mind, no
+relief but in the persuasion that Pleyel was unhappy.
+
+That unhappiness, indeed, depended, for its value in my eyes, on the
+cause that produced it. It did not arise from the death of the Saxon
+lady: it was not a contagious emanation from the countenances of Wieland
+or Carwin. There was but one other source whence it could flow. A
+nameless ecstacy thrilled through my frame when any new proof occurred
+that the ambiguousness of my behaviour was the cause.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+
+My brother had received a new book from Germany. It was a tragedy, and
+the first attempt of a Saxon poet, of whom my brother had been taught to
+entertain the highest expectations. The exploits of Zisca, the Bohemian
+hero, were woven into a dramatic series and connection. According to
+German custom, it was minute and diffuse, and dictated by an adventurous
+and lawless fancy. It was a chain of audacious acts, and unheard-of
+disasters. The moated fortress, and the thicket; the ambush and the
+battle; and the conflict of headlong passions, were pourtrayed in
+wild numbers, and with terrific energy. An afternoon was set apart to
+rehearse this performance. The language was familiar to all of us but
+Carwin, whose company, therefore, was tacitly dispensed with.
+
+The morning previous to this intended rehearsal, I spent at home. My
+mind was occupied with reflections relative to my own situation. The
+sentiment which lived with chief energy in my heart, was connected
+with the image of Pleyel. In the midst of my anguish, I had not been
+destitute of consolation. His late deportment had given spring to my
+hopes. Was not the hour at hand, which should render me the happiest
+of human creatures? He suspected that I looked with favorable eyes upon
+Carwin. Hence arose disquietudes, which he struggled in vain to conceal.
+He loved me, but was hopeless that his love would be compensated. Is it
+not time, said I, to rectify this error? But by what means is this to be
+effected? It can only be done by a change of deportment in me; but how
+must I demean myself for this purpose?
+
+I must not speak. Neither eyes, nor lips, must impart the information.
+He must not be assured that my heart is his, previous to the tender of
+his own; but he must be convinced that it has not been given to another;
+he must be supplied with space whereon to build a doubt as to the true
+state of my affections; he must be prompted to avow himself. The line
+of delicate propriety; how hard it is, not to fall short, and not to
+overleap it!
+
+This afternoon we shall meet at the temple. We shall not separate till
+late. It will be his province to accompany me home. The airy expanse is
+without a speck. This breeze is usually stedfast, and its promise of
+a bland and cloudless evening, may be trusted. The moon will rise at
+eleven, and at that hour, we shall wind along this bank. Possibly that
+hour may decide my fate. If suitable encouragement be given, Pleyel will
+reveal his soul to me; and I, ere I reach this threshold, will be made
+the happiest of beings. And is this good to be mine? Add wings to thy
+speed, sweet evening; and thou, moon, I charge thee, shroud thy beams at
+the moment when my Pleyel whispers love. I would not for the world, that
+the burning blushes, and the mounting raptures of that moment, should be
+visible.
+
+But what encouragement is wanting? I must be regardful of insurmountable
+limits. Yet when minds are imbued with a genuine sympathy, are not words
+and looks superfluous? Are not motion and touch sufficient to impart
+feelings such as mine? Has he not eyed me at moments, when the pressure
+of his hand has thrown me into tumults, and was it possible that he
+mistook the impetuosities of love, for the eloquence of indignation?
+
+But the hastening evening will decide. Would it were come! And yet I
+shudder at its near approach. An interview that must thus terminate, is
+surely to be wished for by me; and yet it is not without its terrors.
+Would to heaven it were come and gone!
+
+I feel no reluctance, my friends to be thus explicit. Time was, when
+these emotions would be hidden with immeasurable solicitude, from every
+human eye. Alas! these airy and fleeting impulses of shame are gone. My
+scruples were preposterous and criminal. They are bred in all hearts, by
+a perverse and vicious education, and they would still have maintained
+their place in my heart, had not my portion been set in misery. My
+errors have taught me thus much wisdom; that those sentiments which we
+ought not to disclose, it is criminal to harbour.
+
+It was proposed to begin the rehearsal at four o'clock; I counted the
+minutes as they passed; their flight was at once too rapid and too slow;
+my sensations were of an excruciating kind; I could taste no food, nor
+apply to any task, nor enjoy a moment's repose: when the hour arrived, I
+hastened to my brother's.
+
+Pleyel was not there. He had not yet come. On ordinary occasions, he was
+eminent for punctuality. He had testified great eagerness to share
+in the pleasures of this rehearsal. He was to divide the task with my
+brother, and, in tasks like these, he always engaged with peculiar
+zeal. His elocution was less sweet than sonorous; and, therefore,
+better adapted than the mellifluences of his friend, to the outrageous
+vehemence of this drama.
+
+What could detain him? Perhaps he lingered through forgetfulness. Yet
+this was incredible. Never had his memory been known to fail upon even
+more trivial occasions. Not less impossible was it, that the scheme had
+lost its attractions, and that he staid, because his coming would afford
+him no gratification. But why should we expect him to adhere to the
+minute?
+
+An half hour elapsed, but Pleyel was still at a distance. Perhaps he had
+misunderstood the hour which had been proposed. Perhaps he had conceived
+that to-morrow, and not to-day, had been selected for this purpose:
+but no. A review of preceding circumstances demonstrated that such
+misapprehension was impossible; for he had himself proposed this day,
+and this hour. This day, his attention would not otherwise be occupied;
+but to-morrow, an indispensible engagement was foreseen, by which all
+his time would be engrossed: his detention, therefore, must be owing
+to some unforeseen and extraordinary event. Our conjectures were vague,
+tumultuous, and sometimes fearful. His sickness and his death might
+possibly have detained him.
+
+Tortured with suspense, we sat gazing at each other, and at the path
+which led from the road. Every horseman that passed was, for a moment,
+imagined to be him. Hour succeeded hour, and the sun, gradually
+declining, at length, disappeared. Every signal of his coming proved
+fallacious, and our hopes were at length dismissed. His absence affected
+my friends in no insupportable degree. They should be obliged, they
+said, to defer this undertaking till the morrow; and, perhaps, their
+impatient curiosity would compel them to dispense entirely with his
+presence. No doubt, some harmless occurrence had diverted him from
+his purpose; and they trusted that they should receive a satisfactory
+account of him in the morning.
+
+It may be supposed that this disappointment affected me in a very
+different manner. I turned aside my head to conceal my tears. I fled
+into solitude, to give vent to my reproaches, without interruption
+or restraint. My heart was ready to burst with indignation and grief.
+Pleyel was not the only object of my keen but unjust upbraiding. Deeply
+did I execrate my own folly. Thus fallen into ruins was the gay fabric
+which I had reared! Thus had my golden vision melted into air!
+
+How fondly did I dream that Pleyel was a lover! If he were, would he
+have suffered any obstacle to hinder his coming? Blind and infatuated
+man! I exclaimed. Thou sportest with happiness. The good that is
+offered thee, thou hast the insolence and folly to refuse. Well, I will
+henceforth intrust my felicity to no one's keeping but my own.
+
+The first agonies of this disappointment would not allow me to be
+reasonable or just. Every ground on which I had built the persuasion
+that Pleyel was not unimpressed in my favor, appeared to vanish. It
+seemed as if I had been misled into this opinion, by the most palpable
+illusions.
+
+I made some trifling excuse, and returned, much earlier than I expected,
+to my own house. I retired early to my chamber, without designing to
+sleep. I placed myself at a window, and gave the reins to reflection.
+
+The hateful and degrading impulses which had lately controuled me were,
+in some degree, removed. New dejection succeeded, but was now produced
+by contemplating my late behaviour. Surely that passion is worthy to
+be abhorred which obscures our understanding, and urges us to the
+commission of injustice. What right had I to expect his attendance?
+Had I not demeaned myself like one indifferent to his happiness, and as
+having bestowed my regards upon another? His absence might be prompted
+by the love which I considered his absence as a proof that he wanted.
+He came not because the sight of me, the spectacle of my coldness or
+aversion, contributed to his despair. Why should I prolong, by hypocrisy
+or silence, his misery as well as my own? Why not deal with him
+explicitly, and assure him of the truth?
+
+You will hardly believe that, in obedience to this suggestion, I rose
+for the purpose of ordering a light, that I might instantly make this
+confession in a letter. A second thought shewed me the rashness of this
+scheme, and I wondered by what infirmity of mind I could be betrayed
+into a momentary approbation of it. I saw with the utmost clearness that
+a confession like that would be the most remediless and unpardonable
+outrage upon the dignity of my sex, and utterly unworthy of that passion
+which controuled me.
+
+I resumed my seat and my musing. To account for the absence of Pleyel
+became once more the scope of my conjectures. How many incidents might
+occur to raise an insuperable impediment in his way? When I was a child,
+a scheme of pleasure, in which he and his sister were parties, had been,
+in like manner, frustrated by his absence; but his absence, in that
+instance, had been occasioned by his falling from a boat into the river,
+in consequence of which he had run the most imminent hazard of being
+drowned. Here was a second disappointment endured by the same persons,
+and produced by his failure. Might it not originate in the same cause?
+Had he not designed to cross the river that morning to make some
+necessary purchases in Jersey? He had preconcerted to return to his
+own house to dinner; but, perhaps, some disaster had befallen him.
+Experience had taught me the insecurity of a canoe, and that was the
+only kind of boat which Pleyel used: I was, likewise, actuated by
+an hereditary dread of water. These circumstances combined to bestow
+considerable plausibility on this conjecture; but the consternation
+with which I began to be seized was allayed by reflecting, that if
+this disaster had happened my brother would have received the speediest
+information of it. The consolation which this idea imparted was ravished
+from me by a new thought. This disaster might have happened, and his
+family not be apprized of it. The first intelligence of his fate may
+be communicated by the livid corpse which the tide may cast, many days
+hence, upon the shore.
+
+Thus was I distressed by opposite conjectures: thus was I tormented by
+phantoms of my own creation. It was not always thus. I can ascertain the
+date when my mind became the victim of this imbecility; perhaps it was
+coeval with the inroad of a fatal passion; a passion that will never
+rank me in the number of its eulogists; it was alone sufficient to the
+extermination of my peace: it was itself a plenteous source of
+calamity, and needed not the concurrence of other evils to take away the
+attractions of existence, and dig for me an untimely grave.
+
+The state of my mind naturally introduced a train of reflections upon
+the dangers and cares which inevitably beset an human being. By no
+violent transition was I led to ponder on the turbulent life and
+mysterious end of my father. I cherished, with the utmost veneration,
+the memory of this man, and every relique connected with his fate was
+preserved with the most scrupulous care. Among these was to be numbered
+a manuscript, containing memoirs of his own life. The narrative was by
+no means recommended by its eloquence; but neither did all its value
+flow from my relationship to the author. Its stile had an unaffected and
+picturesque simplicity. The great variety and circumstantial display of
+the incidents, together with their intrinsic importance, as descriptive
+of human manners and passions, made it the most useful book in my
+collection. It was late; but being sensible of no inclination to sleep,
+I resolved to betake myself to the perusal of it.
+
+To do this it was requisite to procure a light. The girl had long since
+retired to her chamber: it was therefore proper to wait upon myself.
+A lamp, and the means of lighting it, were only to be found in the
+kitchen. Thither I resolved forthwith to repair; but the light was of
+use merely to enable me to read the book. I knew the shelf and the spot
+where it stood. Whether I took down the book, or prepared the lamp in
+the first place, appeared to be a matter of no moment. The latter was
+preferred, and, leaving my seat, I approached the closet in which, as I
+mentioned formerly, my books and papers were deposited.
+
+Suddenly the remembrance of what had lately passed in this closet
+occurred. Whether midnight was approaching, or had passed, I knew not. I
+was, as then, alone, and defenceless. The wind was in that direction
+in which, aided by the deathlike repose of nature, it brought to me
+the murmur of the water-fall. This was mingled with that solemn and
+enchanting sound, which a breeze produces among the leaves of pines. The
+words of that mysterious dialogue, their fearful import, and the wild
+excess to which I was transported by my terrors, filled my imagination
+anew. My steps faultered, and I stood a moment to recover myself.
+
+I prevailed on myself at length to move towards the closet. I touched
+the lock, but my fingers were powerless; I was visited afresh by
+unconquerable apprehensions. A sort of belief darted into my mind, that
+some being was concealed within, whose purposes were evil. I began to
+contend with those fears, when it occurred to me that I might, without
+impropriety, go for a lamp previously to opening the closet. I receded
+a few steps; but before I reached my chamber door my thoughts took a new
+direction. Motion seemed to produce a mechanical influence upon me. I
+was ashamed of my weakness. Besides, what aid could be afforded me by a
+lamp?
+
+My fears had pictured to themselves no precise object. It would be
+difficult to depict, in words, the ingredients and hues of that phantom
+which haunted me. An hand invisible and of preternatural strength,
+lifted by human passions, and selecting my life for its aim, were parts
+of this terrific image. All places were alike accessible to this foe, or
+if his empire were restricted by local bounds, those bounds were utterly
+inscrutable by me. But had I not been told by some one in league with
+this enemy, that every place but the recess in the bank was exempt from
+danger? I returned to the closet, and once more put my hand upon the
+lock. O! may my ears lose their sensibility, ere they be again assailed
+by a shriek so terrible! Not merely my understanding was subdued by the
+sound: it acted on my nerves like an edge of steel. It appeared to cut
+asunder the fibres of my brain, and rack every joint with agony.
+
+The cry, loud and piercing as it was, was nevertheless human. No
+articulation was ever more distinct. The breath which accompanied it did
+not fan my hair, yet did every circumstance combine to persuade me that
+the lips which uttered it touched my very shoulder.
+
+"Hold! Hold!" were the words of this tremendous prohibition, in whose
+tone the whole soul seemed to be wrapped up, and every energy converted
+into eagerness and terror.
+
+Shuddering, I dashed myself against the wall, and by the same
+involuntary impulse, turned my face backward to examine the mysterious
+monitor. The moon-light streamed into each window, and every corner of
+the room was conspicuous, and yet I beheld nothing!
+
+The interval was too brief to be artificially measured, between the
+utterance of these words, and my scrutiny directed to the quarter whence
+they came. Yet if a human being had been there, could he fail to have
+been visible? Which of my senses was the prey of a fatal illusion? The
+shock which the sound produced was still felt in every part of my frame.
+The sound, therefore, could not but be a genuine commotion. But that I
+had heard it, was not more true than that the being who uttered it was
+stationed at my right ear; yet my attendant was invisible.
+
+I cannot describe the state of my thoughts at that moment. Surprize
+had mastered my faculties. My frame shook, and the vital current was
+congealed. I was conscious only to the vehemence of my sensations. This
+condition could not be lasting. Like a tide, which suddenly mounts to
+an overwhelming height, and then gradually subsides, my confusion slowly
+gave place to order, and my tumults to a calm. I was able to deliberate
+and move. I resumed my feet, and advanced into the midst of the room.
+Upward, and behind, and on each side, I threw penetrating glances. I was
+not satisfied with one examination. He that hitherto refused to be
+seen, might change his purpose, and on the next survey be clearly
+distinguishable.
+
+Solitude imposes least restraint upon the fancy. Dark is less fertile
+of images than the feeble lustre of the moon. I was alone, and the walls
+were chequered by shadowy forms. As the moon passed behind a cloud and
+emerged, these shadows seemed to be endowed with life, and to move. The
+apartment was open to the breeze, and the curtain was occasionally
+blown from its ordinary position. This motion was not unaccompanied with
+sound. I failed not to snatch a look, and to listen when this motion
+and this sound occurred. My belief that my monitor was posted near,
+was strong, and instantly converted these appearances to tokens of his
+presence, and yet I could discern nothing.
+
+When my thoughts were at length permitted to revert to the past, the
+first idea that occurred was the resemblance between the words of the
+voice which I had just heard, and those which had terminated my dream in
+the summer-house. There are means by which we are able to distinguish a
+substance from a shadow, a reality from the phantom of a dream. The pit,
+my brother beckoning me forward, the seizure of my arm, and the voice
+behind, were surely imaginary. That these incidents were fashioned in my
+sleep, is supported by the same indubitable evidence that compels me to
+believe myself awake at present; yet the words and the voice were the
+same. Then, by some inexplicable contrivance, I was aware of the danger,
+while my actions and sensations were those of one wholly unacquainted
+with it. Now, was it not equally true that my actions and persuasions
+were at war? Had not the belief, that evil lurked in the closet, gained
+admittance, and had not my actions betokened an unwarrantable security?
+To obviate the effects of my infatuation, the same means had been used.
+
+In my dream, he that tempted me to my destruction, was my brother. Death
+was ambushed in my path. From what evil was I now rescued? What minister
+or implement of ill was shut up in this recess? Who was it whose
+suffocating grasp I was to feel, should I dare to enter it? What
+monstrous conception is this? my brother!
+
+No; protection, and not injury is his province. Strange and terrible
+chimera! Yet it would not be suddenly dismissed. It was surely no vulgar
+agency that gave this form to my fears. He to whom all parts of time are
+equally present, whom no contingency approaches, was the author of that
+spell which now seized upon me. Life was dear to me. No consideration
+was present that enjoined me to relinquish it. Sacred duty combined
+with every spontaneous sentiment to endear to me my being. Should I not
+shudder when my being was endangered? But what emotion should possess me
+when the arm lifted aginst me was Wieland's?
+
+Ideas exist in our minds that can be accounted for by no established
+laws. Why did I dream that my brother was my foe? Why but because an
+omen of my fate was ordained to be communicated? Yet what salutary end
+did it serve? Did it arm me with caution to elude, or fortitude to bear
+the evils to which I was reserved? My present thoughts were, no
+doubt, indebted for their hue to the similitude existing between these
+incidents and those of my dream. Surely it was phrenzy that dictated my
+deed. That a ruffian was hidden in the closet, was an idea, the genuine
+tendency of which was to urge me to flight. Such had been the effect
+formerly produced. Had my mind been simply occupied with this thought at
+present, no doubt, the same impulse would have been experienced; but
+now it was my brother whom I was irresistably persuaded to regard as the
+contriver of that ill of which I had been forewarned. This persuasion
+did not extenuate my fears or my danger. Why then did I again approach
+the closet and withdraw the bolt? My resolution was instantly conceived,
+and executed without faultering.
+
+The door was formed of light materials. The lock, of simple structure,
+easily forewent its hold. It opened into the room, and commonly moved
+upon its hinges, after being unfastened, without any effort of mine.
+This effort, however, was bestowed upon the present occasion. It was
+my purpose to open it with quickness, but the exertion which I made was
+ineffectual. It refused to open.
+
+At another time, this circumstance would not have looked with a face of
+mystery. I should have supposed some casual obstruction, and repeated my
+efforts to surmount it. But now my mind was accessible to no conjecture
+but one. The door was hindered from opening by human force. Surely, here
+was new cause for affright. This was confirmation proper to decide my
+conduct. Now was all ground of hesitation taken away. What could be
+supposed but that I deserted the chamber and the house? that I at least
+endeavoured no longer to withdraw the door?
+
+Have I not said that my actions were dictated by phrenzy? My reason had
+forborne, for a time, to suggest or to sway my resolves. I reiterated
+my endeavours. I exerted all my force to overcome the obstacle, but in
+vain. The strength that was exerted to keep it shut, was superior to
+mine.
+
+A casual observer might, perhaps, applaud the audaciousness of this
+conduct. Whence, but from an habitual defiance of danger, could my
+perseverance arise? I have already assigned, as distinctly as I am able,
+the cause of it. The frantic conception that my brother was within, that
+the resistance made to my design was exerted by him, had rooted itself
+in my mind. You will comprehend the height of this infatuation, when
+I tell you, that, finding all my exertions vain, I betook myself to
+exclamations. Surely I was utterly bereft of understanding.
+
+Now had I arrived at the crisis of my fate. "O! hinder not the door to
+open," I exclaimed, in a tone that had less of fear than of grief in
+it. "I know you well. Come forth, but harm me not. I beseech you come
+forth."
+
+I had taken my hand from the lock, and removed to a small distance from
+the door. I had scarcely uttered these words, when the door swung upon
+its hinges, and displayed to my view the interior of the closet. Whoever
+was within, was shrouded in darkness. A few seconds passed without
+interruption of the silence. I knew not what to expect or to fear. My
+eyes would not stray from the recess. Presently, a deep sigh was heard.
+The quarter from which it came heightened the eagerness of my gaze. Some
+one approached from the farther end. I quickly perceived the outlines
+of a human figure. Its steps were irresolute and slow. I recoiled as it
+advanced.
+
+By coming at length within the verge of the room, his form was clearly
+distinguishable. I had prefigured to myself a very different personage.
+The face that presented itself was the last that I should desire to meet
+at an hour, and in a place like this. My wonder was stifled by my fears.
+Assassins had lurked in this recess. Some divine voice warned me of
+danger, that at this moment awaited me. I had spurned the intimation,
+and challenged my adversary.
+
+I recalled the mysterious countenance and dubious character of Carwin.
+What motive but atrocious ones could guide his steps hither? I was
+alone. My habit suited the hour, and the place, and the warmth of the
+season. All succour was remote. He had placed himself between me and the
+door. My frame shook with the vehemence of my apprehensions.
+
+Yet I was not wholly lost to myself: I vigilantly marked his demeanour.
+His looks were grave, but not without perturbation. What species of
+inquietude it betrayed, the light was not strong enough to enable me
+to discover. He stood still; but his eyes wandered from one object to
+another. When these powerful organs were fixed upon me, I shrunk into
+myself. At length, he broke silence. Earnestness, and not embarrassment,
+was in his tone. He advanced close to me while he spoke.
+
+"What voice was that which lately addressed you?"
+
+He paused for an answer; but observing my trepidation, he resumed, with
+undiminished solemnity: "Be not terrified. Whoever he was, he hast done
+you an important service. I need not ask you if it were the voice of
+a companion. That sound was beyond the compass of human organs. The
+knowledge that enabled him to tell you who was in the closet, was
+obtained by incomprehensible means.
+
+"You knew that Carwin was there. Were you not apprized of his intents?
+The same power could impart the one as well as the other. Yet, knowing
+these, you persisted. Audacious girl! but, perhaps, you confided in his
+guardianship. Your confidence was just. With succour like this at hand
+you may safely defy me.
+
+"He is my eternal foe; the baffler of my best concerted schemes. Twice
+have you been saved by his accursed interposition. But for him I should
+long ere now have borne away the spoils of your honor."
+
+He looked at me with greater stedfastness than before. I became every
+moment more anxious for my safety. It was with difficulty I stammered
+out an entreaty that he would instantly depart, or suffer me to do so.
+He paid no regard to my request, but proceeded in a more impassioned
+manner.
+
+"What is it you fear? Have I not told you, you are safe? Has not one
+in whom you more reasonably place trust assured you of it? Even if I
+execute my purpose, what injury is done? Your prejudices will call it
+by that name, but it merits it not. I was impelled by a sentiment that
+does you honor; a sentiment, that would sanctify my deed; but, whatever
+it be, you are safe. Be this chimera still worshipped; I will do nothing
+to pollute it." There he stopped.
+
+The accents and gestures of this man left me drained of all courage.
+Surely, on no other occasion should I have been thus pusillanimous. My
+state I regarded as a hopeless one. I was wholly at the mercy of this
+being. Whichever way I turned my eyes, I saw no avenue by which I might
+escape. The resources of my personal strength, my ingenuity, and my
+eloquence, I estimated at nothing. The dignity of virtue, and the force
+of truth, I had been accustomed to celebrate; and had frequently vaunted
+of the conquests which I should make with their assistance.
+
+I used to suppose that certain evils could never befall a being in
+possession of a sound mind; that true virtue supplies us with energy
+which vice can never resist; that it was always in our power to
+obstruct, by his own death, the designs of an enemy who aimed at less
+than our life. How was it that a sentiment like despair had now invaded
+me, and that I trusted to the protection of chance, or to the pity of my
+persecutor?
+
+His words imparted some notion of the injury which he had meditated. He
+talked of obstacles that had risen in his way. He had relinquished his
+design. These sources supplied me with slender consolation. There was no
+security but in his absence. When I looked at myself, when I reflected
+on the hour and the place, I was overpowered by horror and dejection.
+
+He was silent, museful, and inattentive to my situation, yet made no
+motion to depart. I was silent in my turn. What could I say? I was
+confident that reason in this contest would be impotent. I must owe my
+safety to his own suggestions. Whatever purpose brought him hither, he
+had changed it. Why then did he remain? His resolutions might fluctuate,
+and the pause of a few minutes restore to him his first resolutions.
+
+Yet was not this the man whom we had treated with unwearied kindness?
+Whose society was endeared to us by his intellectual elevation and
+accomplishments? Who had a thousand times expatiated on the usefulness
+and beauty of virtue? Why should such a one be dreaded? If I could have
+forgotten the circumstances in which our interview had taken place, I
+might have treated his words as jests. Presently, he resumed:
+
+"Fear me not: the space that severs us is small, and all visible succour
+is distant. You believe yourself completely in my power; that you stand
+upon the brink of ruin. Such are your groundless fears. I cannot lift
+a finger to hurt you. Easier it would be to stop the moon in her course
+than to injure you. The power that protects you would crumble my sinews,
+and reduce me to a heap of ashes in a moment, if I were to harbour a
+thought hostile to your safety. Thus are appearances at length solved.
+Little did I expect that they originated hence. What a portion is
+assigned to you? Scanned by the eyes of this intelligence, your path
+will be without pits to swallow, or snares to entangle you. Environed by
+the arms of this protection, all artifices will be frustrated, and all
+malice repelled."
+
+Here succeeded a new pause. I was still observant of every gesture and
+look. The tranquil solemnity that had lately possessed his countenance
+gave way to a new expression. All now was trepidation and anxiety.
+
+"I must be gone," said he in a faltering accent. "Why do I linger here?
+I will not ask your forgiveness. I see that your terrors are invincible.
+Your pardon will be extorted by fear, and not dictated by compassion. I
+must fly from you forever. He that could plot against your honor, must
+expect from you and your friends persecution and death. I must doom
+myself to endless exile."
+
+Saying this, he hastily left the room. I listened while he descended the
+stairs, and, unbolting the outer door, went forth. I did not follow him
+with my eyes, as the moon-light would have enabled me to do. Relieved by
+his absence, and exhausted by the conflict of my fears, I threw myself
+on a chair, and resigned myself to those bewildering ideas which
+incidents like these could not fail to produce.
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+
+Order could not readily be introduced into my thoughts. The voice still
+rung in my ears. Every accent that was uttered by Carwin was fresh in my
+remembrance. His unwelcome approach, the recognition of his person, his
+hasty departure, produced a complex impression on my mind which no words
+can delineate. I strove to give a slower motion to my thoughts, and to
+regulate a confusion which became painful; but my efforts were nugatory.
+I covered my eyes with my hand, and sat, I know not how long, without
+power to arrange or utter my conceptions.
+
+I had remained for hours, as I believed, in absolute solitude. No
+thought of personal danger had molested my tranquillity. I had made
+no preparation for defence. What was it that suggested the design of
+perusing my father's manuscript? If, instead of this, I had retired
+to bed, and to sleep, to what fate might I not have been reserved? The
+ruffian, who must almost have suppressed his breathing to screen himself
+from discovery, would have noticed this signal, and I should have
+awakened only to perish with affright, and to abhor myself. Could I have
+remained unconscious of my danger? Could I have tranquilly slept in the
+midst of so deadly a snare?
+
+And who was he that threatened to destroy me? By what means could he
+hide himself in this closet? Surely he is gifted with supernatural
+power. Such is the enemy of whose attempts I was forewarned. Daily I had
+seen him and conversed with him. Nothing could be discerned through the
+impenetrable veil of his duplicity. When busied in conjectures, as to
+the author of the evil that was threatened, my mind did not light, for
+a moment, upon his image. Yet has he not avowed himself my enemy? Why
+should he be here if he had not meditated evil?
+
+He confesses that this has been his second attempt. What was the scene
+of his former conspiracy? Was it not he whose whispers betrayed him? Am
+I deceived; or was there not a faint resemblance between the voice of
+this man and that which talked of grasping my throat, and extinguishing
+my life in a moment? Then he had a colleague in his crime; now he
+is alone. Then death was the scope of his thoughts; now an injury
+unspeakably more dreadful. How thankful should I be to the power that
+has interposed to save me!
+
+That power is invisible. It is subject to the cognizance of one of my
+senses. What are the means that will inform me of what nature it is?
+He has set himself to counterwork the machinations of this man, who had
+menaced destruction to all that is dear to me, and whose cunning had
+surmounted every human impediment. There was none to rescue me from
+his grasp. My rashness even hastened the completion of his scheme, and
+precluded him from the benefits of deliberation. I had robbed him of the
+power to repent and forbear. Had I been apprized of the danger, I should
+have regarded my conduct as the means of rendering my escape from it
+impossible. Such, likewise, seem to have been the fears of my invisible
+protector. Else why that startling intreaty to refrain from opening the
+closet? By what inexplicable infatuation was I compelled to proceed?
+
+Yet my conduct was wise. Carwin, unable to comprehend my folly, ascribed
+my behaviour to my knowledge. He conceived himself previously detected,
+and such detection being possible to flow only from MY heavenly friend,
+and HIS enemy, his fears acquired additional strength.
+
+He is apprized of the nature and intentions of this being. Perhaps he
+is a human agent. Yet, on that supposition his atchievements are
+incredible. Why should I be selected as the object of his care; or, if
+a mere mortal, should I not recognize some one, whom, benefits imparted
+and received had prompted to love me? What were the limits and duration
+of his guardianship? Was the genius of my birth entrusted by divine
+benignity with this province? Are human faculties adequate to
+receive stronger proofs of the existence of unfettered and beneficent
+intelligences than I have received?
+
+But who was this man's coadjutor? The voice that acknowledged an
+alliance in treachery with Carwin warned me to avoid the summer-house.
+He assured me that there only my safety was endangered. His assurance,
+as it now appears, was fallacious. Was there not deceit in his
+admonition? Was his compact really annulled? Some purpose was, perhaps,
+to be accomplished by preventing my future visits to that spot. Why was
+I enjoined silence to others, on the subject of this admonition, unless
+it were for some unauthorized and guilty purpose?
+
+No one but myself was accustomed to visit it. Backward, it was hidden
+from distant view by the rock, and in front, it was screened from all
+examination, by creeping plants, and the branches of cedars. What
+recess could be more propitious to secrecy? The spirit which haunted it
+formerly was pure and rapturous. It was a fane sacred to the memory
+of infantile days, and to blissful imaginations of the future! What a
+gloomy reverse had succeeded since the ominous arrival of this stranger!
+Now, perhaps, it is the scene of his meditations. Purposes fraught with
+horror, that shun the light, and contemplate the pollution of innocence,
+are here engendered, and fostered, and reared to maturity.
+
+Such were the ideas that, during the night, were tumultuously revolved
+by me. I reviewed every conversation in which Carwin had borne a part.
+I studied to discover the true inferences deducible from his deportment
+and words with regard to his former adventures and actual views. I
+pondered on the comments which he made on the relation which I had given
+of the closet dialogue. No new ideas suggested themselves in the course
+of this review. My expectation had, from the first, been disappointed
+on the small degree of surprize which this narrative excited in him. He
+never explicitly declared his opinion as to the nature of those voices,
+or decided whether they were real or visionary. He recommended no
+measures of caution or prevention.
+
+But what measures were now to be taken? Was the danger which threatened
+me at an end? Had I nothing more to fear? I was lonely, and without
+means of defence. I could not calculate the motives and regulate the
+footsteps of this person. What certainty was there, that he would not
+re-assume his purposes, and swiftly return to the execution of them?
+
+This idea covered me once more with dismay. How deeply did I regret the
+solitude in which I was placed, and how ardently did I desire the return
+of day! But neither of these inconveniencies were susceptible of remedy.
+At first, it occurred to me to summon my servant, and make her spend the
+night in my chamber; but the inefficacy of this expedient to enhance my
+safety was easily seen. Once I resolved to leave the house, and retire
+to my brother's, but was deterred by reflecting on the unseasonableness
+of the hour, on the alarm which my arrival, and the account which I
+should be obliged to give, might occasion, and on the danger to which I
+might expose myself in the way thither. I began, likewise, to consider
+Carwin's return to molest me as exceedingly improbable. He had
+relinquished, of his own accord, his design, and departed without
+compulsion. "Surely," said I, "there is omnipotence in the cause that
+changed the views of a man like Carwin. The divinity that shielded me
+from his attempts will take suitable care of my future safety. Thus to
+yield to my fears is to deserve that they should be real."
+
+Scarcely had I uttered these words, when my attention was startled by
+the sound of footsteps. They denoted some one stepping into the piazza
+in front of my house. My new-born confidence was extinguished in a
+moment. Carwin, I thought, had repented his departure, and was hastily
+returning. The possibility that his return was prompted by intentions
+consistent with my safety, found no place in my mind. Images of
+violation and murder assailed me anew, and the terrors which succeeded
+almost incapacitated me from taking any measures for my defence. It was
+an impulse of which I was scarcely conscious, that made me fasten the
+lock and draw the bolts of my chamber door. Having done this, I threw
+myself on a seat; for I trembled to a degree which disabled me from
+standing, and my soul was so perfectly absorbed in the act of listening,
+that almost the vital motions were stopped.
+
+The door below creaked on its hinges. It was not again thrust to, but
+appeared to remain open. Footsteps entered, traversed the entry, and
+began to mount the stairs. How I detested the folly of not pursuing the
+man when he withdrew, and bolting after him the outer door! Might he not
+conceive this omission to be a proof that my angel had deserted me, and
+be thereby fortified in guilt?
+
+Every step on the stairs, which brought him nearer to my chamber, added
+vigor to my desperation. The evil with which I was menaced was to be at
+any rate eluded. How little did I preconceive the conduct which, in an
+exigence like this, I should be prone to adopt. You will suppose that
+deliberation and despair would have suggested the same course of action,
+and that I should have, unhesitatingly, resorted to the best means of
+personal defence within my power. A penknife lay open upon my table. I
+remembered that it was there, and seized it. For what purpose you will
+scarcely inquire. It will be immediately supposed that I meant it for my
+last refuge, and that if all other means should fail, I should plunge it
+into the heart of my ravisher.
+
+I have lost all faith in the stedfastness of human resolves. It was thus
+that in periods of calm I had determined to act. No cowardice had been
+held by me in greater abhorrence than that which prompted an injured
+female to destroy, not her injurer ere the injury was perpetrated, but
+herself when it was without remedy. Yet now this penknife appeared to
+me of no other use than to baffle my assailant, and prevent the crime
+by destroying myself. To deliberate at such a time was impossible; but
+among the tumultuous suggestions of the moment, I do not recollect that
+it once occurred to me to use it as an instrument of direct defence. The
+steps had now reached the second floor. Every footfall accelerated the
+completion, without augmenting, the certainty of evil. The consciousness
+that the door was fast, now that nothing but that was interposed between
+me and danger, was a source of some consolation. I cast my eye towards
+the window. This, likewise, was a new suggestion. If the door should
+give way, it was my sudden resolution to throw myself from the window.
+Its height from the ground, which was covered beneath by a brick
+pavement, would insure my destruction; but I thought not of that.
+
+When opposite to my door the footsteps ceased. Was he listening whether
+my fears were allayed, and my caution were asleep? Did he hope to take
+me by surprize? Yet, if so, why did he allow so many noisy signals to
+betray his approach? Presently the steps were again heard to approach
+the door. An hand was laid upon the lock, and the latch pulled back. Did
+he imagine it possible that I should fail to secure the door? A slight
+effort was made to push it open, as if all bolts being withdrawn, a
+slight effort only was required.
+
+I no sooner perceived this, than I moved swiftly towards the window.
+Carwin's frame might be said to be all muscle. His strength and activity
+had appeared, in various instances, to be prodigious. A slight exertion
+of his force would demolish the door. Would not that exertion be made?
+Too surely it would; but, at the same moment that this obstacle should
+yield, and he should enter the apartment, my determination was formed to
+leap from the window. My senses were still bound to this object. I gazed
+at the door in momentary expectation that the assault would be made. The
+pause continued. The person without was irresolute and motionless.
+
+Suddenly, it occurred to me that Carwin might conceive me to have fled.
+That I had not betaken myself to flight was, indeed, the least probable
+of all conclusions. In this persuasion he must have been confirmed on
+finding the lower door unfastened, and the chamber door locked. Was
+it not wise to foster this persuasion? Should I maintain deep silence,
+this, in addition to other circumstances, might encourage the belief,
+and he would once more depart. Every new reflection added plausibility
+to this reasoning. It was presently more strongly enforced, when I
+noticed footsteps withdrawing from the door. The blood once more flowed
+back to my heart, and a dawn of exultation began to rise: but my joy was
+short lived. Instead of descending the stairs, he passed to the door of
+the opposite chamber, opened it, and having entered, shut it after him
+with a violence that shook the house.
+
+How was I to interpret this circumstance? For what end could he have
+entered this chamber? Did the violence with which he closed the door
+testify the depth of his vexation? This room was usually occupied by
+Pleyel. Was Carwin aware of his absence on this night? Could he be
+suspected of a design so sordid as pillage? If this were his view there
+were no means in my power to frustrate it. It behoved me to seize the
+first opportunity to escape; but if my escape were supposed by my
+enemy to have been already effected, no asylum was more secure than the
+present. How could my passage from the house be accomplished without
+noises that might incite him to pursue me?
+
+Utterly at a loss to account for his going into Pleyel's chamber, I
+waited in instant expectation of hearing him come forth. All, however,
+was profoundly still. I listened in vain for a considerable period, to
+catch the sound of the door when it should again be opened. There was
+no other avenue by which he could escape, but a door which led into the
+girl's chamber. Would any evil from this quarter befall the girl?
+
+Hence arose a new train of apprehensions. They merely added to the
+turbulence and agony of my reflections. Whatever evil impended over her,
+I had no power to avert it. Seclusion and silence were the only means of
+saving myself from the perils of this fatal night. What solemn vows did
+I put up, that if I should once more behold the light of day, I would
+never trust myself again within the threshold of this dwelling!
+
+Minute lingered after minute, but no token was given that Carwin had
+returned to the passage. What, I again asked, could detain him in this
+room? Was it possible that he had returned, and glided, unperceived,
+away? I was speedily aware of the difficulty that attended an enterprize
+like this; and yet, as if by that means I were capable of gaining any
+information on that head, I cast anxious looks from the window.
+
+The object that first attracted my attention was an human figure
+standing on the edge of the bank. Perhaps my penetration was assisted
+by my hopes. Be that as it will, the figure of Carwin was clearly
+distinguishable. From the obscurity of my station, it was impossible
+that I should be discerned by him, and yet he scarcely suffered me to
+catch a glimpse of him. He turned and went down the steep, which, in
+this part, was not difficult to be scaled.
+
+My conjecture then had been right. Carwin has softly opened the door,
+descended the stairs, and issued forth. That I should not have overheard
+his steps, was only less incredible than that my eyes had deceived me.
+But what was now to be done? The house was at length delivered from this
+detested inmate. By one avenue might he again re-enter. Was it not wise
+to bar the lower door? Perhaps he had gone out by the kitchen door. For
+this end, he must have passed through Judith's chamber. These entrances
+being closed and bolted, as great security was gained as was compatible
+with my lonely condition.
+
+The propriety of these measures was too manifest not to make me struggle
+successfully with my fears. Yet I opened my own door with the utmost
+caution, and descended as if I were afraid that Carwin had been still
+immured in Pleyel's chamber. The outer door was a-jar. I shut, with
+trembling eagerness, and drew every bolt that appended to it. I then
+passed with light and less cautious steps through the parlour, but was
+surprized to discover that the kitchen door was secure. I was compelled
+to acquiesce in the first conjecture that Carwin had escaped through the
+entry.
+
+My heart was now somewhat eased of the load of apprehension. I returned
+once more to my chamber, the door of which I was careful to lock. It was
+no time to think of repose. The moon-light began already to fade before
+the light of the day. The approach of morning was betokened by the usual
+signals. I mused upon the events of this night, and determined to take
+up my abode henceforth at my brother's. Whether I should inform him
+of what had happened was a question which seemed to demand some
+consideration. My safety unquestionably required that I should abandon
+my present habitation.
+
+As my thoughts began to flow with fewer impediments, the image of
+Pleyel, and the dubiousness of his condition, again recurred to me. I
+again ran over the possible causes of his absence on the preceding day.
+My mind was attuned to melancholy. I dwelt, with an obstinacy for which
+I could not account, on the idea of his death. I painted to myself his
+struggles with the billows, and his last appearance. I imagined myself
+a midnight wanderer on the shore, and to have stumbled on his corpse,
+which the tide had cast up. These dreary images affected me even to
+tears. I endeavoured not to restrain them. They imparted a relief which
+I had not anticipated. The more copiously they flowed, the more did
+my general sensations appear to subside into calm, and a certain
+restlessness give way to repose.
+
+Perhaps, relieved by this effusion, the slumber so much wanted might
+have stolen on my senses, had there been no new cause of alarm.
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+
+I was aroused from this stupor by sounds that evidently arose in the
+next chamber. Was it possible that I had been mistaken in the figure
+which I had seen on the bank? or had Carwin, by some inscrutable means,
+penetrated once more into this chamber? The opposite door opened;
+footsteps came forth, and the person, advancing to mine, knocked.
+
+So unexpected an incident robbed me of all presence of mind, and,
+starting up, I involuntarily exclaimed, "Who is there?" An answer was
+immediately given. The voice, to my inexpressible astonishment, was
+Pleyel's.
+
+"It is I. Have you risen? If you have not, make haste; I want three
+minutes conversation with you in the parlour--I will wait for you
+there." Saying this he retired from the door.
+
+Should I confide in the testimony of my ears? If that were true, it was
+Pleyel that had been hitherto immured in the opposite chamber: he whom
+my rueful fancy had depicted in so many ruinous and ghastly shapes: he
+whose footsteps had been listened to with such inquietude! What is man,
+that knowledge is so sparingly conferred upon him! that his heart should
+be wrung with distress, and his frame be exanimated with fear, though
+his safety be encompassed with impregnable walls! What are the bounds
+of human imbecility! He that warned me of the presence of my foe refused
+the intimation by which so many racking fears would have been precluded.
+
+Yet who would have imagined the arrival of Pleyel at such an hour? His
+tone was desponding and anxious. Why this unseasonable summons? and why
+this hasty departure? Some tidings he, perhaps, bears of mysterious and
+unwelcome import.
+
+My impatience would not allow me to consume much time in deliberation: I
+hastened down. Pleyel I found standing at a window, with eyes cast
+down as in meditation, and arms folded on his breast. Every line in
+his countenance was pregnant with sorrow. To this was added a certain
+wanness and air of fatigue. The last time I had seen him appearances
+had been the reverse of these. I was startled at the change. The first
+impulse was to question him as to the cause. This impulse was supplanted
+by some degree of confusion, flowing from a consciousness that love had
+too large, and, as it might prove, a perceptible share in creating this
+impulse. I was silent.
+
+Presently he raised his eyes and fixed them upon me. I read in them an
+anguish altogether ineffable. Never had I witnessed a like demeanour
+in Pleyel. Never, indeed, had I observed an human countenance in which
+grief was more legibly inscribed. He seemed struggling for utterance;
+but his struggles being fruitless, he shook his head and turned away
+from me.
+
+My impatience would not allow me to be longer silent: "What," said I,
+"for heaven's sake, my friend, what is the matter?"
+
+He started at the sound of my voice. His looks, for a moment, became
+convulsed with an emotion very different from grief. His accents were
+broken with rage.
+
+"The matter--O wretch!--thus exquisitely fashioned--on whom nature
+seemed to have exhausted all her graces; with charms so awful and
+so pure! how art thou fallen! From what height fallen! A ruin so
+complete--so unheard of!"
+
+His words were again choaked by emotion. Grief and pity were again
+mingled in his features. He resumed, in a tone half suffocated by sobs:
+
+"But why should I upbraid thee? Could I restore to thee what thou hast
+lost; efface this cursed stain; snatch thee from the jaws of this fiend;
+I would do it. Yet what will avail my efforts? I have not arms with
+which to contend with so consummate, so frightful a depravity.
+
+"Evidence less than this would only have excited resentment and scorn.
+The wretch who should have breathed a suspicion injurious to thy honor,
+would have been regarded without anger; not hatred or envy could have
+prompted him; it would merely be an argument of madness. That my eyes,
+that my ears, should bear witness to thy fall! By no other way could
+detestible conviction be imparted.
+
+"Why do I summon thee to this conference? Why expose myself to thy
+derision? Here admonition and entreaty are vain. Thou knowest him
+already, for a murderer and thief. I had thought to have been the first
+to disclose to thee his infamy; to have warned thee of the pit to
+which thou art hastening; but thy eyes are open in vain. O foul and
+insupportable disgrace!
+
+"There is but one path. I know you will disappear together. In thy ruin,
+how will the felicity and honor of multitudes be involved! But it must
+come. This scene shall not be blotted by his presence. No doubt thou
+wilt shortly see thy detested paramour. This scene will be again
+polluted by a midnight assignation. Inform him of his danger; tell him
+that his crimes are known; let him fly far and instantly from this spot,
+if he desires to avoid the fate which menaced him in Ireland.
+
+"And wilt thou not stay behind?--But shame upon my weakness. I know
+not what I would say.--I have done what I purposed. To stay longer, to
+expostulate, to beseech, to enumerate the consequences of thy act--what
+end can it serve but to blazon thy infamy and embitter our woes? And
+yet, O think, think ere it be too late, on the distresses which thy
+flight will entail upon us; on the base, grovelling, and atrocious
+character of the wretch to whom thou hast sold thy honor. But what
+is this? Is not thy effrontery impenetrable, and thy heart thoroughly
+cankered? O most specious, and most profligate of women!"
+
+Saying this, he rushed out of the house. I saw him in a few moments
+hurrying along the path which led to my brother's. I had no power to
+prevent his going, or to recall, or to follow him. The accents I had
+heard were calculated to confound and bewilder. I looked around me to
+assure myself that the scene was real. I moved that I might banish the
+doubt that I was awake. Such enormous imputations from the mouth of
+Pleyel! To be stigmatized with the names of wanton and profligate! To
+be charged with the sacrifice of honor! with midnight meetings with a
+wretch known to be a murderer and thief! with an intention to fly in his
+company!
+
+What I had heard was surely the dictate of phrenzy, or it was built
+upon some fatal, some incomprehensible mistake. After the horrors of the
+night; after undergoing perils so imminent from this man, to be summoned
+to an interview like this; to find Pleyel fraught with a belief that,
+instead of having chosen death as a refuge from the violence of this
+man, I had hugged his baseness to my heart, had sacrificed for him my
+purity, my spotless name, my friendships, and my fortune! that even
+madness could engender accusations like these was not to be believed.
+
+What evidence could possibly suggest conceptions so wild? After the
+unlooked-for interview with Carwin in my chamber, he retired. Could
+Pleyel have observed his exit? It was not long after that Pleyel himself
+entered. Did he build on this incident, his odious conclusions? Could
+the long series of my actions and sentiments grant me no exemption from
+suspicions so foul? Was it not more rational to infer that Carwin's
+designs had been illicit; that my life had been endangered by the fury
+of one whom, by some means, he had discovered to be an assassin and
+robber; that my honor had been assailed, not by blandishments, but by
+violence?
+
+He has judged me without hearing. He has drawn from dubious appearances,
+conclusions the most improbable and unjust. He has loaded me with all
+outrageous epithets. He has ranked me with prostitutes and thieves. I
+cannot pardon thee, Pleyel, for this injustice. Thy understanding must
+be hurt. If it be not, if thy conduct was sober and deliberate, I can
+never forgive an outrage so unmanly, and so gross.
+
+These thoughts gradually gave place to others. Pleyel was possessed by
+some momentary phrenzy: appearances had led him into palpable errors.
+Whence could his sagacity have contracted this blindness? Was it not
+love? Previously assured of my affection for Carwin, distracted with
+grief and jealousy, and impelled hither at that late hour by some
+unknown instigation, his imagination transformed shadows into monsters,
+and plunged him into these deplorable errors.
+
+This idea was not unattended with consolation. My soul was divided
+between indignation at his injustice, and delight on account of the
+source from which I conceived it to spring. For a long time they would
+allow admission to no other thoughts. Surprize is an emotion that
+enfeebles, not invigorates. All my meditations were accompanied
+with wonder. I rambled with vagueness, or clung to one image with an
+obstinacy which sufficiently testified the maddening influence of late
+transactions.
+
+Gradually I proceeded to reflect upon the consequences of Pleyel's
+mistake, and on the measures I should take to guard myself against
+future injury from Carwin. Should I suffer this mistake to be detected
+by time? When his passion should subside, would he not perceive the
+flagrancy of his injustice, and hasten to atone for it? Did it not
+become my character to testify resentment for language and treatment so
+opprobrious? Wrapt up in the consciousness of innocence, and confiding
+in the influence of time and reflection to confute so groundless a
+charge, it was my province to be passive and silent.
+
+As to the violences meditated by Carwin, and the means of eluding them,
+the path to be taken by me was obvious. I resolved to tell the tale to
+my brother, and regulate myself by his advice. For this end, when the
+morning was somewhat advanced, I took the way to his house. My sister
+was engaged in her customary occupations. As soon as I appeared, she
+remarked a change in my looks. I was not willing to alarm her by the
+information which I had to communicate. Her health was in that condition
+which rendered a disastrous tale particularly unsuitable. I forbore a
+direct answer to her inquiries, and inquired, in my turn, for Wieland.
+
+"Why," said she, "I suspect something mysterious and unpleasant has
+happened this morning. Scarcely had we risen when Pleyel dropped among
+us. What could have prompted him to make us so early and so unseasonable
+a visit I cannot tell. To judge from the disorder of his dress, and
+his countenance, something of an extraordinary nature has occurred. He
+permitted me merely to know that he had slept none, nor even undressed,
+during the past night. He took your brother to walk with him. Some
+topic must have deeply engaged them, for Wieland did not return till
+the breakfast hour was passed, and returned alone. His disturbance was
+excessive; but he would not listen to my importunities, or tell me
+what had happened. I gathered from hints which he let fall, that your
+situation was, in some way, the cause: yet he assured me that you were
+at your own house, alive, in good health, and in perfect safety. He
+scarcely ate a morsel, and immediately after breakfast went out again.
+He would not inform me whither he was going, but mentioned that he
+probably might not return before night."
+
+I was equally astonished and alarmed by this information. Pleyel had
+told his tale to my brother, and had, by a plausible and exaggerated
+picture, instilled into him unfavorable thoughts of me. Yet would not
+the more correct judgment of Wieland perceive and expose the fallacy of
+his conclusions? Perhaps his uneasiness might arise from some insight
+into the character of Carwin, and from apprehensions for my safety. The
+appearances by which Pleyel had been misled, might induce him likewise
+to believe that I entertained an indiscreet, though not dishonorable
+affection for Carwin. Such were the conjectures rapidly formed. I was
+inexpressibly anxious to change them into certainty. For this end
+an interview with my brother was desirable. He was gone, no one knew
+whither, and was not expected speedily to return. I had no clue by which
+to trace his footsteps.
+
+My anxieties could not be concealed from my sister. They heightened
+her solicitude to be acquainted with the cause. There were many reasons
+persuading me to silence: at least, till I had seen my brother, it would
+be an act of inexcusable temerity to unfold what had lately passed. No
+other expedient for eluding her importunities occurred to me, but that
+of returning to my own house. I recollected my determination to become a
+tenant of this roof. I mentioned it to her. She joyfully acceded to this
+proposal, and suffered me, with less reluctance, to depart, when I told
+her that it was with a view to collect and send to my new dwelling what
+articles would be immediately useful to me.
+
+Once more I returned to the house which had been the scene of so
+much turbulence and danger. I was at no great distance from it when
+I observed my brother coming out. On seeing me he stopped, and after
+ascertaining, as it seemed, which way I was going, he returned into the
+house before me. I sincerely rejoiced at this event, and I hastened to
+set things, if possible, on their right footing.
+
+His brow was by no means expressive of those vehement emotions with
+which Pleyel had been agitated. I drew a favorable omen from this
+circumstance. Without delay I began the conversation.
+
+"I have been to look for you," said I, "but was told by Catharine that
+Pleyel had engaged you on some important and disagreeable affair. Before
+his interview with you he spent a few minutes with me. These minutes he
+employed in upbraiding me for crimes and intentions with which I am by
+no means chargeable. I believe him to have taken up his opinions on
+very insufficient grounds. His behaviour was in the highest degree
+precipitate and unjust, and, until I receive some atonement, I shall
+treat him, in my turn, with that contempt which he justly merits:
+meanwhile I am fearful that he has prejudiced my brother against me.
+That is an evil which I most anxiously deprecate, and which I shall
+indeed exert myself to remove. Has he made me the subject of this
+morning's conversation?"
+
+My brother's countenance testified no surprize at my address. The
+benignity of his looks were no wise diminished.
+
+"It is true," said he, "your conduct was the subject of our discourse. I
+am your friend, as well as your brother. There is no human being whom I
+love with more tenderness, and whose welfare is nearer my heart. Judge
+then with what emotions I listened to Pleyel's story. I expect and
+desire you to vindicate yourself from aspersions so foul, if vindication
+be possible."
+
+The tone with which he uttered the last words affected me deeply. "If
+vindication be possible!" repeated I. "From what you know, do you deem a
+formal vindication necessary? Can you harbour for a moment the belief of
+my guilt?"
+
+He shook his head with an air of acute anguish. "I have struggled," said
+he, "to dismiss that belief. You speak before a judge who will profit by
+any pretence to acquit you: who is ready to question his own senses when
+they plead against you."
+
+These words incited a new set of thoughts in my mind. I began to suspect
+that Pleyel had built his accusations on some foundation unknown to me.
+"I may be a stranger to the grounds of your belief. Pleyel loaded me
+with indecent and virulent invectives, but he withheld from me the facts
+that generated his suspicions. Events took place last night of which
+some of the circumstances were of an ambiguous nature. I conceived that
+these might possibly have fallen under his cognizance, and that, viewed
+through the mists of prejudice and passion, they supplied a pretence
+for his conduct, but believed that your more unbiassed judgment would
+estimate them at their just value. Perhaps his tale has been different
+from what I suspect it to be. Listen then to my narrative. If there be
+any thing in his story inconsistent with mine, his story is false."
+
+I then proceeded to a circumstantial relation of the incidents of the
+last night. Wieland listened with deep attention. Having finished,
+"This," continued I, "is the truth; you see in what circumstances an
+interview took place between Carwin and me. He remained for hours in my
+closet, and for some minutes in my chamber. He departed without haste or
+interruption. If Pleyel marked him as he left the house, and it is
+not impossible that he did, inferences injurious to my character might
+suggest themselves to him. In admitting them, he gave proofs of less
+discernment and less candor than I once ascribed to him."
+
+"His proofs," said Wieland, after a considerable pause, "are different.
+That he should be deceived, is not possible. That he himself is not the
+deceiver, could not be believed, if his testimony were not inconsistent
+with yours; but the doubts which I entertained are now removed. Your
+tale, some parts of it, is marvellous; the voice which exclaimed against
+your rashness in approaching the closet, your persisting notwithstanding
+that prohibition, your belief that I was the ruffian, and your
+subsequent conduct, are believed by me, because I have known you from
+childhood, because a thousand instances have attested your veracity, and
+because nothing less than my own hearing and vision would convince me,
+in opposition to her own assertions, that my sister had fallen into
+wickedness like this."
+
+I threw my arms around him, and bathed his cheek with my tears. "That,"
+said I, "is spoken like my brother. But what are the proofs?"
+
+He replied--"Pleyel informed me that, in going to your house, his
+attention was attracted by two voices. The persons speaking sat beneath
+the bank out of sight. These persons, judging by their voices, were
+Carwin and you. I will not repeat the dialogue. If my sister was the
+female, Pleyel was justified in concluding you to be, indeed, one of the
+most profligate of women. Hence, his accusations of you, and his efforts
+to obtain my concurrence to a plan by which an eternal separation should
+be brought about between my sister and this man."
+
+I made Wieland repeat this recital. Here, indeed, was a tale to fill me
+with terrible foreboding. I had vainly thought that my safety could be
+sufficiently secured by doors and bars, but this is a foe from whose
+grasp no power of divinity can save me! His artifices will ever lay my
+fame and happiness at his mercy. How shall I counterwork his plots, or
+detect his coadjutor? He has taught some vile and abandoned female to
+mimic my voice. Pleyel's ears were the witnesses of my dishonor. This
+is the midnight assignation to which he alluded. Thus is the silence
+he maintained when attempting to open the door of my chamber, accounted
+for. He supposed me absent, and meant, perhaps, had my apartment been
+accessible, to leave in it some accusing memorial.
+
+Pleyel was no longer equally culpable. The sincerity of his anguish, the
+depth of his despair, I remembered with some tendencies to gratitude.
+Yet was he not precipitate? Was the conjecture that my part was played
+by some mimic so utterly untenable? Instances of this faculty are
+common. The wickedness of Carwin must, in his opinion, have been
+adequate to such contrivances, and yet the supposition of my guilt was
+adopted in preference to that.
+
+But how was this error to be unveiled? What but my own assertion had I
+to throw in the balance against it? Would this be permitted to outweigh
+the testimony of his senses? I had no witnesses to prove my existence
+in another place. The real events of that night are marvellous. Few, to
+whom they should be related, would scruple to discredit them. Pleyel is
+sceptical in a transcendant degree. I cannot summon Carwin to my bar,
+and make him the attestor of my innocence, and the accuser of himself.
+
+My brother saw and comprehended my distress. He was unacquainted,
+however, with the full extent of it. He knew not by how many motives
+I was incited to retrieve the good opinion of Pleyel. He endeavored
+to console me. Some new event, he said, would occur to disentangle the
+maze. He did not question the influence of my eloquence, if I thought
+proper to exert it. Why not seek an interview with Pleyel, and exact
+from him a minute relation, in which something may be met with serving
+to destroy the probability of the whole?
+
+I caught, with eagerness, at this hope; but my alacrity was damped by
+new reflections. Should I, perfect in this respect, and unblemished as
+I was, thrust myself, uncalled, into his presence, and make my felicity
+depend upon his arbitrary verdict?
+
+"If you chuse to seek an interview," continued Wieland, "you must make
+haste, for Pleyel informed me of his intention to set out this evening
+or to-morrow on a long journey."
+
+No intelligence was less expected or less welcome than this. I had
+thrown myself in a window seat; but now, starting on my feet, I
+exclaimed, "Good heavens! what is it you say? a journey? whither? when?"
+
+"I cannot say whither. It is a sudden resolution I believe. I did not
+hear of it till this morning. He promises to write to me as soon as he
+is settled."
+
+I needed no further information as to the cause and issue of this
+journey. The scheme of happiness to which he had devoted his thoughts
+was blasted by the discovery of last night. My preference of another,
+and my unworthiness to be any longer the object of his adoration, were
+evinced by the same act and in the same moment. The thought of utter
+desertion, a desertion originating in such a cause, was the prelude to
+distraction. That Pleyel should abandon me forever, because I was blind
+to his excellence, because I coveted pollution, and wedded infamy, when,
+on the contrary, my heart was the shrine of all purity, and beat only
+for his sake, was a destiny which, as long as my life was in my own
+hands, I would by no means consent to endure.
+
+I remembered that this evil was still preventable; that this fatal
+journey it was still in my power to procrastinate, or, perhaps, to
+occasion it to be laid aside. There were no impediments to a visit: I
+only dreaded lest the interview should be too long delayed. My brother
+befriended my impatience, and readily consented to furnish me with a
+chaise and servant to attend me. My purpose was to go immediately to
+Pleyel's farm, where his engagements usually detained him during the
+day.
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+
+My way lay through the city. I had scarcely entered it when I was seized
+with a general sensation of sickness. Every object grew dim and swam
+before my sight. It was with difficulty I prevented myself from sinking
+to the bottom of the carriage. I ordered myself to be carried to Mrs.
+Baynton's, in hope that an interval of repose would invigorate and
+refresh me. My distracted thoughts would allow me but little rest.
+Growing somewhat better in the afternoon, I resumed my journey.
+
+My contemplations were limited to a few objects. I regarded my success,
+in the purpose which I had in view, as considerably doubtful. I
+depended, in some degree, on the suggestions of the moment, and on the
+materials which Pleyel himself should furnish me. When I reflected on
+the nature of the accusation, I burned with disdain. Would not truth,
+and the consciousness of innocence, render me triumphant? Should I not
+cast from me, with irresistible force, such atrocious imputations?
+
+What an entire and mournful change has been effected in a few hours! The
+gulf that separates man from insects is not wider than that which severs
+the polluted from the chaste among women. Yesterday and to-day I am the
+same. There is a degree of depravity to which it is impossible for me
+to sink; yet, in the apprehension of another, my ancient and intimate
+associate, the perpetual witness of my actions, and partaker of my
+thoughts, I had ceased to be the same. My integrity was tarnished
+and withered in his eyes. I was the colleague of a murderer, and the
+paramour of a thief!
+
+His opinion was not destitute of evidence: yet what proofs could
+reasonably avail to establish an opinion like this? If the sentiments
+corresponded not with the voice that was heard, the evidence was
+deficient; but this want of correspondence would have been supposed by
+me if I had been the auditor and Pleyel the criminal. But mimicry might
+still more plausibly have been employed to explain the scene. Alas! it
+is the fate of Clara Wieland to fall into the hands of a precipitate and
+inexorable judge.
+
+But what, O man of mischief! is the tendency of thy thoughts? Frustrated
+in thy first design, thou wilt not forego the immolation of thy victim.
+To exterminate my reputation was all that remained to thee, and this my
+guardian has permitted. To dispossess Pleyel of this prejudice may be
+impossible; but if that be effected, it cannot be supposed that thy
+wiles are exhausted; thy cunning will discover innumerable avenues to
+the accomplishment of thy malignant purpose.
+
+Why should I enter the lists against thee? Would to heaven I could
+disarm thy vengeance by my deprecations! When I think of all the
+resources with which nature and education have supplied thee; that thy
+form is a combination of steely fibres and organs of exquisite ductility
+and boundless compass, actuated by an intelligence gifted with infinite
+endowments, and comprehending all knowledge, I perceive that my doom
+is fixed. What obstacle will be able to divert thy zeal or repel thy
+efforts? That being who has hitherto protected me has borne testimony to
+the formidableness of thy attempts, since nothing less than supernatural
+interference could check thy career.
+
+Musing on these thoughts, I arrived, towards the close of the day, at
+Pleyel's house. A month before, I had traversed the same path; but how
+different were my sensations! Now I was seeking the presence of one who
+regarded me as the most degenerate of human kind. I was to plead the
+cause of my innocence, against witnesses the most explicit and unerring,
+of those which support the fabric of human knowledge. The nearer I
+approached the crisis, the more did my confidence decay. When the chaise
+stopped at the door, my strength refused to support me, and I threw
+myself into the arms of an ancient female domestic. I had not courage to
+inquire whether her master was at home. I was tormented with fears that
+the projected journey was already undertaken. These fears were removed,
+by her asking me whether she should call her young master, who had just
+gone into his own room. I was somewhat revived by this intelligence, and
+resolved immediately to seek him there.
+
+In my confusion of mind, I neglected to knock at the door, but entered
+his apartment without previous notice. This abruptness was altogether
+involuntary. Absorbed in reflections of such unspeakable moment, I had
+no leisure to heed the niceties of punctilio. I discovered him standing
+with his back towards the entrance. A small trunk, with its lid raised,
+was before him in which it seemed as if he had been busy in packing
+his clothes. The moment of my entrance, he was employed in gazing at
+something which he held in his hand.
+
+I imagined that I fully comprehended this scene. The image which he held
+before him, and by which his attention was so deeply engaged, I doubted
+not to be my own. These preparations for his journey, the cause to which
+it was to be imputed, the hopelessness of success in the undertaking on
+which I had entered, rushed at once upon my feelings, and dissolved me
+into a flood of tears.
+
+Startled by this sound, he dropped the lid of the trunk and turned. The
+solemn sadness that previously overspread his countenance, gave
+sudden way to an attitude and look of the most vehement astonishment.
+Perceiving me unable to uphold myself, he stepped towards me without
+speaking, and supported me by his arm. The kindness of this action
+called forth a new effusion from my eyes. Weeping was a solace to
+which, at that time, I had not grown familiar, and which, therefore,
+was peculiarly delicious. Indignation was no longer to be read in the
+features of my friend. They were pregnant with a mixture of wonder and
+pity. Their expression was easily interpreted. This visit, and these
+tears, were tokens of my penitence. The wretch whom he had stigmatized
+as incurably and obdurately wicked, now shewed herself susceptible of
+remorse, and had come to confess her guilt.
+
+This persuasion had no tendency to comfort me. It only shewed me, with
+new evidence, the difficulty of the task which I had assigned myself. We
+were mutually silent. I had less power and less inclination than ever to
+speak. I extricated myself from his hold, and threw myself on a sofa.
+He placed himself by my side, and appeared to wait with impatience and
+anxiety for some beginning of the conversation. What could I say? If my
+mind had suggested any thing suitable to the occasion, my utterance was
+suffocated by tears.
+
+Frequently he attempted to speak, but seemed deterred by some degree of
+uncertainty as to the true nature of the scene. At length, in faltering
+accents he spoke:
+
+"My friend! would to heaven I were still permitted to call you by that
+name. The image that I once adored existed only in my fancy; but though
+I cannot hope to see it realized, you may not be totally insensible to
+the horrors of that gulf into which you are about to plunge. What heart
+is forever exempt from the goadings of compunction and the influx of
+laudable propensities?
+
+"I thought you accomplished and wise beyond the rest of women. Not a
+sentiment you uttered, not a look you assumed, that were not, in
+my apprehension, fraught with the sublimities of rectitude and the
+illuminations of genius. Deceit has some bounds. Your education could
+not be without influence. A vigorous understanding cannot be utterly
+devoid of virtue; but you could not counterfeit the powers of invention
+and reasoning. I was rash in my invectives. I will not, but with life,
+relinquish all hopes of you. I will shut out every proof that would tell
+me that your heart is incurably diseased.
+
+"You come to restore me once more to happiness; to convince me that you
+have torn her mask from vice, and feel nothing but abhorrence for the
+part you have hitherto acted."
+
+At these words my equanimity forsook me. For a moment I forgot the
+evidence from which Pleyel's opinions were derived, the benevolence of
+his remonstrances, and the grief which his accents bespoke; I was filled
+with indignation and horror at charges so black; I shrunk back and
+darted at him a look of disdain and anger. My passion supplied me with
+words.
+
+"What detestable infatuation was it that led me hither! Why do I
+patiently endure these horrible insults! My offences exist only in
+your own distempered imagination: you are leagued with the traitor who
+assailed my life: you have vowed the destruction of my peace and honor.
+I deserve infamy for listening to calumnies so base!"
+
+These words were heard by Pleyel without visible resentment. His
+countenance relapsed into its former gloom; but he did not even look at
+me. The ideas which had given place to my angry emotions returned, and
+once more melted me into tears. "O!" I exclaimed, in a voice broken by
+sobs, "what a task is mine! Compelled to hearken to charges which I feel
+to be false, but which I know to be believed by him that utters them;
+believed too not without evidence, which, though fallacious, is not
+unplausible.
+
+"I came hither not to confess, but to vindicate. I know the source
+of your opinions. Wieland has informed me on what your suspicions are
+built. These suspicions are fostered by you as certainties; the tenor
+of my life, of all my conversations and letters, affords me no security;
+every sentiment that my tongue and my pen have uttered, bear testimony
+to the rectitude of my mind; but this testimony is rejected. I am
+condemned as brutally profligate: I am classed with the stupidly and
+sordidly wicked.
+
+"And where are the proofs that must justify so foul and so improbable
+an accusation? You have overheard a midnight conference. Voices have
+saluted your ear, in which you imagine yourself to have recognized
+mine, and that of a detected villain. The sentiments expressed were
+not allowed to outweigh the casual or concerted resemblance of voice.
+Sentiments the reverse of all those whose influence my former life had
+attested, denoting a mind polluted by grovelling vices, and entering
+into compact with that of a thief and a murderer. The nature of these
+sentiments did not enable you to detect the cheat, did not suggest to
+you the possibility that my voice had been counterfeited by another.
+
+"You were precipitate and prone to condemn. Instead of rushing on the
+impostors, and comparing the evidence of sight with that of hearing, you
+stood aloof, or you fled. My innocence would not now have stood in
+need of vindication, if this conduct had been pursued. That you did not
+pursue it, your present thoughts incontestibly prove. Yet this conduct
+might surely have been expected from Pleyel. That he would not hastily
+impute the blackest of crimes, that he would not couple my name with
+infamy, and cover me with ruin for inadequate or slight reasons, might
+reasonably have been expected." The sobs which convulsed my bosom would
+not suffer me to proceed.
+
+Pleyel was for a moment affected. He looked at me with some expression
+of doubt; but this quickly gave place to a mournful solemnity. He fixed
+his eyes on the floor as in reverie, and spoke:
+
+"Two hours hence I am gone. Shall I carry away with me the sorrow that
+is now my guest? or shall that sorrow be accumulated tenfold? What is
+she that is now before me? Shall every hour supply me with new proofs of
+a wickedness beyond example? Already I deem her the most abandoned and
+detestable of human creatures. Her coming and her tears imparted a gleam
+of hope, but that gleam has vanished."
+
+He now fixed his eyes upon me, and every muscle in his face trembled.
+His tone was hollow and terrible--"Thou knowest that I was a witness of
+your interview, yet thou comest hither to upbraid me for injustice! Thou
+canst look me in the face and say that I am deceived!--An inscrutable
+providence has fashioned thee for some end. Thou wilt live, no doubt, to
+fulfil the purposes of thy maker, if he repent not of his workmanship,
+and send not his vengeance to exterminate thee, ere the measure of thy
+days be full. Surely nothing in the shape of man can vie with thee!
+
+"But I thought I had stifled this fury. I am not constituted thy judge.
+My office is to pity and amend, and not to punish and revile. I deemed
+myself exempt from all tempestuous passions. I had almost persuaded
+myself to weep over thy fall; but I am frail as dust, and mutable as
+water; I am calm, I am compassionate only in thy absence.--Make this
+house, this room, thy abode as long as thou wilt, but forgive me if I
+prefer solitude for the short time during which I shall stay." Saying
+this, he motioned as if to leave the apartment.
+
+The stormy passions of this man affected me by sympathy. I ceased to
+weep. I was motionless and speechless with agony. I sat with my hands
+clasped, mutely gazing after him as he withdrew. I desired to detain
+him, but was unable to make any effort for that purpose, till he had
+passed out of the room. I then uttered an involuntary and piercing
+cry--"Pleyel! Art thou gone? Gone forever?"
+
+At this summons he hastily returned. He beheld me wild, pale, gasping
+for breath, and my head already sinking on my bosom. A painful dizziness
+seized me, and I fainted away.
+
+When I recovered, I found myself stretched on a bed in the outer
+apartment, and Pleyel, with two female servants standing beside it. All
+the fury and scorn which the countenance of the former lately expressed,
+had now disappeared, and was succeeded by the most tender anxiety. As
+soon as he perceived that my senses were returned to me, he clasped his
+hands, and exclaimed, "God be thanked! you are once more alive. I had
+almost despaired of your recovery. I fear I have been precipitate and
+unjust. My senses must have been the victims of some inexplicable and
+momentary phrenzy. Forgive me, I beseech you, forgive my reproaches. I
+would purchase conviction of your purity, at the price of my existence
+here and hereafter."
+
+He once more, in a tone of the most fervent tenderness, besought me to
+be composed, and then left me to the care of the women.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+
+Here was wrought a surprizing change in my friend. What was it that
+had shaken conviction so firm? Had any thing occurred during my fit,
+adequate to produce so total an alteration? My attendants informed me
+that he had not left my apartment; that the unusual duration of my fit,
+and the failure, for a time, of all the means used for my recovery, had
+filled him with grief and dismay. Did he regard the effect which his
+reproaches had produced as a proof of my sincerity?
+
+In this state of mind, I little regarded my languors of body. I rose
+and requested an interview with him before my departure, on which I was
+resolved, notwithstanding his earnest solicitation to spend the night
+at his house. He complied with my request. The tenderness which he had
+lately betrayed, had now disappeared, and he once more relapsed into a
+chilling solemnity.
+
+I told him that I was preparing to return to my brother's; that I had
+come hither to vindicate my innocence from the foul aspersions which he
+had cast upon it. My pride had not taken refuge in silence or distance.
+I had not relied upon time, or the suggestion of his cooler thoughts, to
+confute his charges. Conscious as I was that I was perfectly guiltless,
+and entertaining some value for his good opinion, I could not prevail
+upon myself to believe that my efforts to make my innocence manifest,
+would be fruitless. Adverse appearances might be numerous and specious,
+but they were unquestionably false. I was willing to believe him
+sincere, that he made no charges which he himself did not believe; but
+these charges were destitute of truth. The grounds of his opinion were
+fallacious; and I desired an opportunity of detecting their fallacy.
+I entreated him to be explicit, and to give me a detail of what he had
+heard, and what he had seen.
+
+At these words, my companion's countenance grew darker. He appeared
+to be struggling with his rage. He opened his lips to speak, but his
+accents died away ere they were formed. This conflict lasted for some
+minutes, but his fortitude was finally successful. He spoke as follows:
+
+"I would fain put an end to this hateful scene: what I shall say, will
+be breath idly and unprofitably consumed. The clearest narrative will
+add nothing to your present knowledge. You are acquainted with the
+grounds of my opinion, and yet you avow yourself innocent: Why then
+should I rehearse these grounds? You are apprized of the character of
+Carwin: Why then should I enumerate the discoveries which I have made
+respecting him? Yet, since it is your request; since, considering the
+limitedness of human faculties, some error may possibly lurk in those
+appearances which I have witnessed, I will briefly relate what I know.
+
+"Need I dwell upon the impressions which your conversation and
+deportment originally made upon me? We parted in childhood; but our
+intercourse, by letter, was copious and uninterrupted. How fondly did I
+anticipate a meeting with one whom her letters had previously taught
+me to consider as the first of women, and how fully realized were the
+expectations that I had formed!
+
+"Here, said I, is a being, after whom sages may model their transcendent
+intelligence, and painters, their ideal beauty. Here is exemplified,
+that union between intellect and form, which has hitherto existed only
+in the conceptions of the poet. I have watched your eyes; my attention
+has hung upon your lips. I have questioned whether the enchantments of
+your voice were more conspicuous in the intricacies of melody, or the
+emphasis of rhetoric. I have marked the transitions of your discourse,
+the felicities of your expression, your refined argumentation, and
+glowing imagery; and been forced to acknowledge, that all delights were
+meagre and contemptible, compared with those connected with the
+audience and sight of you. I have contemplated your principles, and been
+astonished at the solidity of their foundation, and the perfection of
+their structure. I have traced you to your home. I have viewed you in
+relation to your servants, to your family, to your neighbours, and to
+the world. I have seen by what skilful arrangements you facilitate
+the performance of the most arduous and complicated duties; what daily
+accessions of strength your judicious discipline bestowed upon
+your memory; what correctness and abundance of knowledge was daily
+experienced by your unwearied application to books, and to writing.
+If she that possesses so much in the bloom of youth, will go on
+accumulating her stores, what, said I, is the picture she will display
+at a mature age?
+
+"You know not the accuracy of my observation. I was desirous that others
+should profit by an example so rare. I therefore noted down, in writing,
+every particular of your conduct. I was anxious to benefit by an
+opportunity so seldom afforded us. I laboured not to omit the slightest
+shade, or the most petty line in your portrait. Here there was no other
+task incumbent on me but to copy; there was no need to exaggerate or
+overlook, in order to produce a more unexceptionable pattern. Here was
+a combination of harmonies and graces, incapable of diminution or
+accession without injury to its completeness.
+
+"I found no end and no bounds to my task. No display of a scene like
+this could be chargeable with redundancy or superfluity. Even the colour
+of a shoe, the knot of a ribband, or your attitude in plucking a
+rose, were of moment to be recorded. Even the arrangements of your
+breakfast-table and your toilet have been amply displayed.
+
+"I know that mankind are more easily enticed to virtue by example than
+by precept. I know that the absoluteness of a model, when supplied by
+invention, diminishes its salutary influence, since it is useless, we
+think, to strive after that which we know to be beyond our reach. But
+the picture which I drew was not a phantom; as a model, it was devoid
+of imperfection; and to aspire to that height which had been really
+attained, was by no means unreasonable. I had another and more
+interesting object in view. One existed who claimed all my tenderness.
+Here, in all its parts, was a model worthy of assiduous study, and
+indefatigable imitation. I called upon her, as she wished to secure and
+enhance my esteem, to mould her thoughts, her words, her countenance,
+her actions, by this pattern.
+
+"The task was exuberant of pleasure, and I was deeply engaged in it,
+when an imp of mischief was let loose in the form of Carwin. I admired
+his powers and accomplishments. I did not wonder that they were admired
+by you. On the rectitude of your judgement, however, I relied to keep
+this admiration within discreet and scrupulous bounds. I assured myself,
+that the strangeness of his deportment, and the obscurity of his life,
+would teach you caution. Of all errors, my knowledge of your character
+informed me that this was least likely to befall you.
+
+"You were powerfully affected by his first appearance; you were
+bewitched by his countenance and his tones; your description was ardent
+and pathetic: I listened to you with some emotions of surprize. The
+portrait you drew in his absence, and the intensity with which you mused
+upon it, were new and unexpected incidents. They bespoke a sensibility
+somewhat too vivid; but from which, while subjected to the guidance of
+an understanding like yours, there was nothing to dread.
+
+"A more direct intercourse took place between you. I need not apologize
+for the solicitude which I entertained for your safety. He that gifted
+me with perception of excellence, compelled me to love it. In the midst
+of danger and pain, my contemplations have ever been cheered by your
+image. Every object in competition with you, was worthless and trivial.
+No price was too great by which your safety could be purchased. For
+that end, the sacrifice of ease, of health, and even of life, would
+cheerfully have been made by me. What wonder then, that I scrutinized
+the sentiments and deportment of this man with ceaseless vigilance;
+that I watched your words and your looks when he was present; and that I
+extracted cause for the deepest inquietudes, from every token which you
+gave of having put your happiness into this man's keeping?
+
+"I was cautious in deciding. I recalled the various conversations in
+which the topics of love and marriage had been discussed. As a woman,
+young, beautiful, and independent, it behoved you to have fortified
+your mind with just principles on this subject. Your principles were
+eminently just. Had not their rectitude and their firmness been attested
+by your treatment of that specious seducer Dashwood? These principles,
+I was prone to believe, exempted you from danger in this new state of
+things. I was not the last to pay my homage to the unrivalled capacity,
+insinuation, and eloquence of this man. I have disguised, but could
+never stifle the conviction, that his eyes and voice had a witchcraft
+in them, which rendered him truly formidable: but I reflected on the
+ambiguous expression of his countenance--an ambiguity which you were the
+first to remark; on the cloud which obscured his character; and on the
+suspicious nature of that concealment which he studied; and concluded
+you to be safe. I denied the obvious construction to appearances. I
+referred your conduct to some principle which had not been hitherto
+disclosed, but which was reconcileable with those already known.
+
+"I was not suffered to remain long in this suspence. One evening, you
+may recollect, I came to your house, where it was my purpose, as usual,
+to lodge, somewhat earlier than ordinary. I spied a light in your
+chamber as I approached from the outside, and on inquiring of Judith,
+was informed that you were writing. As your kinsman and friend, and
+fellow-lodger, I thought I had a right to be familiar. You were in your
+chamber, but your employment and the time were such as to make it no
+infraction of decorum to follow you thither. The spirit of mischievous
+gaiety possessed me. I proceeded on tiptoe. You did not perceive
+my entrance; and I advanced softly till I was able to overlook your
+shoulder.
+
+"I had gone thus far in error, and had no power to recede. How
+cautiously should we guard against the first inroads of temptation! I
+knew that to pry into your papers was criminal; but I reflected that
+no sentiment of yours was of a nature which made it your interest to
+conceal it. You wrote much more than you permitted your friends to
+peruse. My curiosity was strong, and I had only to throw a glance upon
+the paper, to secure its gratification. I should never have deliberately
+committed an act like this. The slightest obstacle would have repelled
+me; but my eye glanced almost spontaneously upon the paper. I caught
+only parts of sentences; but my eyes comprehended more at a glance,
+because the characters were short-hand. I lighted on the words
+SUMMER-HOUSE, MIDNIGHT, and made out a passage which spoke of the
+propriety and of the effects to be expected from ANOTHER interview.
+All this passed in less than a moment. I then checked myself, and made
+myself known to you, by a tap upon your shoulder.
+
+"I could pardon and account for some trifling alarm; but your
+trepidation and blushes were excessive. You hurried the paper out of
+sight, and seemed too anxious to discover whether I knew the contents to
+allow yourself to make any inquiries. I wondered at these appearances
+of consternation, but did not reason on them until I had retired. When
+alone, these incidents suggested themselves to my reflections anew.
+
+"To what scene, or what interview, I asked, did you allude? Your
+disappearance on a former evening, my tracing you to the recess in the
+bank, your silence on my first and second call, your vague answers and
+invincible embarrassment, when you, at length, ascended the hill, I
+recollected with new surprize. Could this be the summerhouse alluded to?
+A certain timidity and consciousness had generally attended you, when
+this incident and this recess had been the subjects of conversation.
+Nay, I imagined that the last time that adventure was mentioned, which
+happened in the presence of Carwin, the countenance of the latter
+betrayed some emotion. Could the interview have been with him?
+
+"This was an idea calculated to rouse every faculty to contemplation.
+An interview at that hour, in this darksome retreat, with a man of this
+mysterious but formidable character; a clandestine interview, and one
+which you afterwards endeavoured with so much solicitude to conceal! It
+was a fearful and portentous occurrence. I could not measure his power,
+or fathom his designs. Had he rifled from you the secret of your love,
+and reconciled you to concealment and noctural meetings? I scarcely ever
+spent a night of more inquietude.
+
+"I knew not how to act. The ascertainment of this man's character
+and views seemed to be, in the first place, necessary. Had he openly
+preferred his suit to you, we should have been impowered to make
+direct inquiries; but since he had chosen this obscure path, it seemed
+reasonable to infer that his character was exceptionable. It, at
+least, subjected us to the necessity of resorting to other means of
+information. Yet the improbability that you should commit a deed of such
+rashness, made me reflect anew upon the insufficiency of those grounds
+on which my suspicions had been built, and almost to condemn myself for
+harbouring them.
+
+"Though it was mere conjecture that the interview spoken of had taken
+place with Carwin, yet two ideas occurred to involve me in the most
+painful doubts. This man's reasonings might be so specious, and
+his artifices so profound, that, aided by the passion which you had
+conceived for him, he had finally succeeded; or his situation might be
+such as to justify the secrecy which you maintained. In neither case did
+my wildest reveries suggest to me, that your honor had been forfeited.
+
+"I could not talk with you on this subject. If the imputation was false,
+its atrociousness would have justly drawn upon me your resentment, and
+I must have explained by what facts it had been suggested. If it were
+true, no benefit would follow from the mention of it. You had chosen
+to conceal it for some reasons, and whether these reasons were true or
+false, it was proper to discover and remove them in the first place.
+Finally, I acquiesced in the least painful supposition, trammelled as it
+was with perplexities, that Carwin was upright, and that, if the reasons
+of your silence were known, they would be found to be just."
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+
+"Three days have elapsed since this occurrence. I have been haunted by
+perpetual inquietude. To bring myself to regard Carwin without terror,
+and to acquiesce in the belief of your safety, was impossible. Yet to
+put an end to my doubts, seemed to be impracticable. If some light could
+be reflected on the actual situation of this man, a direct path would
+present itself. If he were, contrary to the tenor of his conversation,
+cunning and malignant, to apprize you of this, would be to place you in
+security. If he were merely unfortunate and innocent, most readily would
+I espouse his cause; and if his intentions were upright with regard to
+you, most eagerly would I sanctify your choice by my approbation.
+
+"It would be vain to call upon Carwin for an avowal of his deeds. It was
+better to know nothing, than to be deceived by an artful tale. What he
+was unwilling to communicate, and this unwillingness had been repeatedly
+manifested, could never be extorted from him. Importunity might be
+appeased, or imposture effected by fallacious representations. To the
+rest of the world he was unknown. I had often made him the subject of
+discourse; but a glimpse of his figure in the street was the sum of
+their knowledge who knew most. None had ever seen him before, and
+received as new, the information which my intercourse with him in
+Valencia, and my present intercourse, enabled me to give.
+
+"Wieland was your brother. If he had really made you the object of his
+courtship, was not a brother authorized to interfere and demand from him
+the confession of his views? Yet what were the grounds on which I had
+reared this supposition? Would they justify a measure like this? Surely
+not.
+
+"In the course of my restless meditations, it occurred to me, at length,
+that my duty required me to speak to you, to confess the indecorum of
+which I had been guilty, and to state the reflections to which it had
+led me. I was prompted by no mean or selfish views. The heart within my
+breast was not more precious than your safety: most cheerfully would
+I have interposed my life between you and danger. Would you cherish
+resentment at my conduct? When acquainted with the motive which
+produced it, it would not only exempt me from censure, but entitle me to
+gratitude.
+
+"Yesterday had been selected for the rehearsal of the newly-imported
+tragedy. I promised to be present. The state of my thoughts but little
+qualified me for a performer or auditor in such a scene; but I reflected
+that, after it was finished, I should return home with you, and should
+then enjoy an opportunity of discoursing with you fully on this topic.
+My resolution was not formed without a remnant of doubt, as to its
+propriety. When I left this house to perform the visit I had promised,
+my mind was full of apprehension and despondency. The dubiousness of
+the event of our conversation, fear that my interference was too late to
+secure your peace, and the uncertainty to which hope gave birth, whether
+I had not erred in believing you devoted to this man, or, at least, in
+imagining that he had obtained your consent to midnight conferences,
+distracted me with contradictory opinions, and repugnant emotions.
+
+"I can assign no reason for calling at Mrs. Baynton's. I had seen her
+in the morning, and knew her to be well. The concerted hour had nearly
+arrived, and yet I turned up the street which leads to her house, and
+dismounted at her door. I entered the parlour and threw myself in a
+chair. I saw and inquired for no one. My whole frame was overpowered
+by dreary and comfortless sensations. One idea possessed me wholly;
+the inexpressible importance of unveiling the designs and character of
+Carwin, and the utter improbability that this ever would be effected.
+Some instinct induced me to lay my hand upon a newspaper. I had perused
+all the general intelligence it contained in the morning, and at the
+same spot. The act was rather mechanical than voluntary.
+
+"I threw a languid glance at the first column that presented itself.
+The first words which I read, began with the offer of a reward of three
+hundred guineas for the apprehension of a convict under sentence of
+death, who had escaped from Newgate prison in Dublin. Good heaven! how
+every fibre of my frame tingled when I proceeded to read that the name
+of the criminal was Francis Carwin!
+
+"The descriptions of his person and address were minute. His stature,
+hair, complexion, the extraordinary position and arrangement of his
+features, his aukward and disproportionate form, his gesture and gait,
+corresponded perfectly with those of our mysterious visitant. He had
+been found guilty in two indictments. One for the murder of the Lady
+Jane Conway, and the other for a robbery committed on the person of the
+honorable Mr. Ludloe.
+
+"I repeatedly perused this passage. The ideas which flowed in upon my
+mind, affected me like an instant transition from death to life. The
+purpose dearest to my heart was thus effected, at a time and by means
+the least of all others within the scope of my foresight. But what
+purpose? Carwin was detected. Acts of the blackest and most sordid
+guilt had been committed by him. Here was evidence which imparted to
+my understanding the most luminous certainty. The name, visage, and
+deportment, were the same. Between the time of his escape, and his
+appearance among us, there was a sufficient agreement. Such was the
+man with whom I suspected you to maintain a clandestine correspondence.
+Should I not haste to snatch you from the talons of this vulture? Should
+I see you rushing to the verge of a dizzy precipice, and not stretch
+forth a hand to pull you back? I had no need to deliberate. I thrust the
+paper in my pocket, and resolved to obtain an immediate conference with
+you. For a time, no other image made its way to my understanding. At
+length, it occurred to me, that though the information I possessed
+was, in one sense, sufficient, yet if more could be obtained, more was
+desirable. This passage was copied from a British paper; part of it
+only, perhaps, was transcribed. The printer was in possession of the
+original.
+
+"Towards his house I immediately turned my horse's head. He produced the
+paper, but I found nothing more than had already been seen. While busy
+in perusing it, the printer stood by my side. He noticed the object
+of which I was in search. "Aye," said he, "that is a strange affair. I
+should never have met with it, had not Mr. Hallet sent to me the paper,
+with a particular request to republish that advertisement."
+
+"Mr. Hallet! What reasons could he have for making this request? Had
+the paper sent to him been accompanied by any information respecting
+the convict? Had he personal or extraordinary reasons for desiring its
+republication? This was to be known only in one way. I speeded to
+his house. In answer to my interrogations, he told me that Ludloe had
+formerly been in America, and that during his residence in this
+city, considerable intercourse had taken place between them. Hence a
+confidence arose, which has since been kept alive by occasional letters.
+He had lately received a letter from him, enclosing the newspaper from
+which this extract had been made. He put it into my hands, and pointed
+out the passages which related to Carwin.
+
+"Ludloe confirms the facts of his conviction and escape; and adds, that
+he had reason to believe him to have embarked for America. He describes
+him in general terms, as the most incomprehensible and formidable among
+men; as engaged in schemes, reasonably suspected to be, in the highest
+degree, criminal, but such as no human intelligence is able to unravel:
+that his ends are pursued by means which leave it in doubt whether he be
+not in league with some infernal spirit: that his crimes have hitherto
+been perpetrated with the aid of some unknown but desperate accomplices:
+that he wages a perpetual war against the happiness of mankind, and sets
+his engines of destruction at work against every object that presents
+itself.
+
+"This is the substance of the letter. Hallet expressed some surprize
+at the curiosity which was manifested by me on this occasion. I was too
+much absorbed by the ideas suggested by this letter, to pay attention to
+his remarks. I shuddered with the apprehension of the evil to which our
+indiscreet familiarity with this man had probably exposed us. I burnt
+with impatience to see you, and to do what in me lay to avert the
+calamity which threatened us. It was already five o'clock. Night was
+hastening, and there was no time to be lost. On leaving Mr. Hallet's
+house, who should meet me in the street, but Bertrand, the servant whom
+I left in Germany. His appearance and accoutrements bespoke him to have
+just alighted from a toilsome and long journey. I was not wholly without
+expectation of seeing him about this time, but no one was then more
+distant from my thoughts. You know what reasons I have for anxiety
+respecting scenes with which this man was conversant. Carwin was for a
+moment forgotten. In answer to my vehement inquiries, Bertrand produced
+a copious packet. I shall not at present mention its contents, nor the
+measures which they obliged me to adopt. I bestowed a brief perusal on
+these papers, and having given some directions to Bertrand, resumed
+my purpose with regard to you. My horse I was obliged to resign to my
+servant, he being charged with a commission that required speed. The
+clock had struck ten, and Mettingen was five miles distant. I was
+to Journey thither on foot. These circumstances only added to my
+expedition.
+
+"As I passed swiftly along, I reviewed all the incidents accompanying
+the appearance and deportment of that man among us. Late events have
+been inexplicable and mysterious beyond any of which I have either read
+or heard. These events were coeval with Carwin's introduction. I am
+unable to explain their origin and mutual dependance; but I do not, on
+that account, believe them to have a supernatural origin. Is not this
+man the agent? Some of them seem to be propitious; but what should
+I think of those threats of assassination with which you were lately
+alarmed? Bloodshed is the trade, and horror is the element of this man.
+The process by which the sympathies of nature are extinguished in
+our hearts, by which evil is made our good, and by which we are made
+susceptible of no activity but in the infliction, and no joy but in the
+spectacle of woes, is an obvious process. As to an alliance with evil
+geniuses, the power and the malice of daemons have been a thousand times
+exemplified in human beings. There are no devils but those which are
+begotten upon selfishness, and reared by cunning.
+
+"Now, indeed, the scene was changed. It was not his secret poniard
+that I dreaded. It was only the success of his efforts to make you a
+confederate in your own destruction, to make your will the instrument by
+which he might bereave you of liberty and honor.
+
+"I took, as usual, the path through your brother's ground. I ranged
+with celerity and silence along the bank. I approached the fence, which
+divides Wieland's estate from yours. The recess in the bank being near
+this line, it being necessary for me to pass near it, my mind being
+tainted with inveterate suspicions concerning you; suspicions which were
+indebted for their strength to incidents connected with this spot; what
+wonder that it seized upon my thoughts! "I leaped on the fence; but
+before I descended on the opposite side, I paused to survey the scene.
+Leaves dropping with dew, and glistening in the moon's rays, with no
+moving object to molest the deep repose, filled me with security
+and hope. I left the station at length, and tended forward. You were
+probably at rest. How should I communicate without alarming you, the
+intelligence of my arrival? An immediate interview was to be procured.
+I could not bear to think that a minute should be lost by remissness
+or hesitation. Should I knock at the door? or should I stand under your
+chamber windows, which I perceived to be open, and awaken you by my
+calls?
+
+"These reflections employed me, as I passed opposite to the
+summer-house. I had scarcely gone by, when my ear caught a sound unusual
+at this time and place. It was almost too faint and too transient to
+allow me a distinct perception of it. I stopped to listen; presently
+it was heard again, and now it was somewhat in a louder key. It was
+laughter; and unquestionably produced by a female voice. That voice was
+familiar to my senses. It was yours.
+
+"Whence it came, I was at first at a loss to conjecture; but this
+uncertainty vanished when it was heard the third time. I threw back my
+eyes towards the recess. Every other organ and limb was useless to me.
+I did not reason on the subject. I did not, in a direct manner, draw
+my conclusions from the hour, the place, the hilarity which this sound
+betokened, and the circumstance of having a companion, which it no less
+incontestably proved. In an instant, as it were, my heart was invaded
+with cold, and the pulses of life at a stand.
+
+"Why should I go further? Why should I return? Should I not hurry to a
+distance from a sound, which, though formerly so sweet and delectable,
+was now more hideous than the shrieks of owls?
+
+"I had no time to yield to this impulse. The thought of approaching and
+listening occurred to me. I had no doubt of which I was conscious. Yet
+my certainty was capable of increase. I was likewise stimulated by a
+sentiment that partook of rage. I was governed by an half-formed and
+tempestuous resolution to break in upon your interview, and strike you
+dead with my upbraiding.
+
+"I approached with the utmost caution. When I reached the edge of the
+bank immediately above the summer-house, I thought I heard voices from
+below, as busy in conversation. The steps in the rock are clear of
+bushy impediments. They allowed me to descend into a cavity beside
+the building without being detected. Thus to lie in wait could only be
+justified by the momentousness of the occasion."
+
+Here Pleyel paused in his narrative, and fixed his eyes upon me.
+Situated as I was, my horror and astonishment at this tale gave way to
+compassion for the anguish which the countenance of my friend betrayed.
+I reflected on his force of understanding. I reflected on the powers of
+my enemy. I could easily divine the substance of the conversation that
+was overheard. Carwin had constructed his plot in a manner suited to the
+characters of those whom he had selected for his victims. I saw that the
+convictions of Pleyel were immutable. I forbore to struggle against the
+storm, because I saw that all struggles would be fruitless. I was calm;
+but my calmness was the torpor of despair, and not the tranquillity of
+fortitude. It was calmness invincible by any thing that his grief and
+his fury could suggest to Pleyel. He resumed--
+
+"Woman! wilt thou hear me further? Shall I go on to repeat the
+conversation? Is it shame that makes thee tongue-tied? Shall I go on? or
+art thou satisfied with what has been already said?"
+
+I bowed my head. "Go on," said I. "I make not this request in the hope
+of undeceiving you. I shall no longer contend with my own weakness. The
+storm is let loose, and I shall peaceably submit to be driven by its
+fury. But go on. This conference will end only with affording me a
+clearer foresight of my destiny; but that will be some satisfaction, and
+I will not part without it."
+
+Why, on hearing these words, did Pleyel hesitate? Did some unlooked-for
+doubt insinuate itself into his mind? Was his belief suddenly shaken
+by my looks, or my words, or by some newly recollected circumstance?
+Whencesoever it arose, it could not endure the test of deliberation. In
+a few minutes the flame of resentment was again lighted up in his bosom.
+He proceeded with his accustomed vehemence--
+
+"I hate myself for this folly. I can find no apology for this tale. Yet
+I am irresistibly impelled to relate it. She that hears me is apprized
+of every particular. I have only to repeat to her her own words. She
+will listen with a tranquil air, and the spectacle of her obduracy will
+drive me to some desperate act. Why then should I persist! yet persist I
+must."
+
+Again he paused. "No," said he, "it is impossible to repeat your avowals
+of love, your appeals to former confessions of your tenderness, to
+former deeds of dishonor, to the circumstances of the first interview
+that took place between you. It was on that night when I traced you to
+this recess. Thither had he enticed you, and there had you ratified an
+unhallowed compact by admitting him--
+
+"Great God! Thou witnessedst the agonies that tore my bosom at that
+moment! Thou witnessedst my efforts to repel the testimony of my ears!
+It was in vain that you dwelt upon the confusion which my unlooked-for
+summons excited in you; the tardiness with which a suitable excuse
+occurred to you; your resentment that my impertinent intrusion had
+put an end to that charming interview: A disappointment for which you
+endeavoured to compensate yourself, by the frequency and duration of
+subsequent meetings.
+
+"In vain you dwelt upon incidents of which you only could be conscious;
+incidents that occurred on occasions on which none beside your own
+family were witnesses. In vain was your discourse characterized by
+peculiarities inimitable of sentiment and language. My conviction was
+effected only by an accumulation of the same tokens. I yielded not but
+to evidence which took away the power to withhold my faith.
+
+"My sight was of no use to me. Beneath so thick an umbrage, the darkness
+was intense. Hearing was the only avenue to information, which the
+circumstances allowed to be open. I was couched within three feet
+of you. Why should I approach nearer? I could not contend with your
+betrayer. What could be the purpose of a contest? You stood in no need
+of a protector. What could I do, but retire from the spot overwhelmed
+with confusion and dismay? I sought my chamber, and endeavoured to
+regain my composure. The door of the house, which I found open, your
+subsequent entrance, closing, and fastening it, and going into your
+chamber, which had been thus long deserted, were only confirmations of
+the truth.
+
+"Why should I paint the tempestuous fluctuation of my thoughts between
+grief and revenge, between rage and despair? Why should I repeat my vows
+of eternal implacability and persecution, and the speedy recantation of
+these vows?
+
+"I have said enough. You have dismissed me from a place in your esteem.
+What I think, and what I feel, is of no importance in your eyes. May
+the duty which I owe myself enable me to forget your existence. In a
+few minutes I go hence. Be the maker of your fortune, and may adversity
+instruct you in that wisdom, which education was unable to impart to
+you."
+
+Those were the last words which Pleyel uttered. He left the room, and
+my new emotions enabled me to witness his departure without any apparent
+loss of composure. As I sat alone, I ruminated on these incidents.
+Nothing was more evident than that I had taken an eternal leave of
+happiness. Life was a worthless thing, separate from that good which had
+now been wrested from me; yet the sentiment that now possessed me had no
+tendency to palsy my exertions, and overbear my strength. I noticed that
+the light was declining, and perceived the propriety of leaving this
+house. I placed myself again in the chaise, and returned slowly towards
+the city.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+
+Before I reached the city it was dusk. It was my purpose to spend the
+night at Mettingen. I was not solicitous, as long as I was attended by
+a faithful servant, to be there at an early hour. My exhausted strength
+required me to take some refreshment. With this view, and in order to
+pay respect to one whose affection for me was truly maternal, I stopped
+at Mrs. Baynton's. She was absent from home; but I had scarcely entered
+the house when one of her domestics presented me a letter. I opened and
+read as follows:
+
+
+"To Clara Wieland,
+
+"What shall I say to extenuate the misconduct of last night? It is my
+duty to repair it to the utmost of my power, but the only way in which
+it can be repaired, you will not, I fear, be prevailed on to adopt. It
+is by granting me an interview, at your own house, at eleven o'clock
+this night. I have no means of removing any fears that you may entertain
+of my designs, but my simple and solemn declarations. These, after what
+has passed between us, you may deem unworthy of confidence. I cannot
+help it. My folly and rashness has left me no other resource. I will
+be at your door by that hour. If you chuse to admit me to a conference,
+provided that conference has no witnesses, I will disclose to you
+particulars, the knowledge of which is of the utmost importance to your
+happiness. Farewell.
+
+"CARWIN."
+
+
+What a letter was this! A man known to be an assassin and robber; one
+capable of plotting against my life and my fame; detected lurking in
+my chamber, and avowing designs the most flagitious and dreadful, now
+solicits me to grant him a midnight interview! To admit him alone into
+my presence! Could he make this request with the expectation of my
+compliance? What had he seen in me, that could justify him in admitting
+so wild a belief? Yet this request is preferred with the utmost gravity.
+It is not accompanied by an appearance of uncommon earnestness. Had
+the misconduct to which he alludes been a slight incivility, and the
+interview requested to take place in the midst of my friends, there
+would have been no extravagance in the tenor of this letter; but, as it
+was, the writer had surely been bereft of his reason.
+
+I perused this epistle frequently. The request it contained might be
+called audacious or stupid, if it had been made by a different person;
+but from Carwin, who could not be unaware of the effect which it must
+naturally produce, and of the manner in which it would unavoidably be
+treated, it was perfectly inexplicable. He must have counted on the
+success of some plot, in order to extort my assent. None of those
+motives by which I am usually governed would ever have persuaded me to
+meet any one of his sex, at the time and place which he had prescribed.
+Much less would I consent to a meeting with a man, tainted with the
+most detestable crimes, and by whose arts my own safety had been so
+imminently endangered, and my happiness irretrievably destroyed. I
+shuddered at the idea that such a meeting was possible. I felt some
+reluctance to approach a spot which he still visited and haunted.
+
+Such were the ideas which first suggested themselves on the perusal of
+the letter. Meanwhile, I resumed my journey. My thoughts still dwelt
+upon the same topic. Gradually from ruminating on this epistle, I
+reverted to my interview with Pleyel. I recalled the particulars of the
+dialogue to which he had been an auditor. My heart sunk anew on viewing
+the inextricable complexity of this deception, and the inauspicious
+concurrence of events, which tended to confirm him in his error. When
+he approached my chamber door, my terror kept me mute. He put his ear,
+perhaps, to the crevice, but it caught the sound of nothing human. Had
+I called, or made any token that denoted some one to be within, words
+would have ensued; and as omnipresence was impossible, this discovery,
+and the artless narrative of what had just passed, would have saved me
+from his murderous invectives. He went into his chamber, and after some
+interval, I stole across the entry and down the stairs, with
+inaudible steps. Having secured the outer doors, I returned with less
+circumspection. He heard me not when I descended; but my returning steps
+were easily distinguished. Now he thought was the guilty interview at
+an end. In what other way was it possible for him to construe these
+signals?
+
+How fallacious and precipitate was my decision! Carwin's plot owed its
+success to a coincidence of events scarcely credible. The balance was
+swayed from its equipoise by a hair. Had I even begun the conversation
+with an account of what befel me in my chamber, my previous interview
+with Wieland would have taught him to suspect me of imposture; yet, if
+I were discoursing with this ruffian, when Pleyel touched the lock of my
+chamber door, and when he shut his own door with so much violence, how,
+he might ask, should I be able to relate these incidents? Perhaps he
+had withheld the knowledge of these circumstances from my brother, from
+whom, therefore, I could not obtain it, so that my innocence would have
+thus been irresistibly demonstrated.
+
+The first impulse which flowed from these ideas was to return upon my
+steps, and demand once more an interview; but he was gone: his parting
+declarations were remembered.
+
+Pleyel, I exclaimed, thou art gone for ever! Are thy mistakes beyond
+the reach of detection? Am I helpless in the midst of this snare?
+The plotter is at hand. He even speaks in the style of penitence. He
+solicits an interview which he promises shall end in the disclosure of
+something momentous to my happiness. What can he say which will avail to
+turn aside this evil? But why should his remorse be feigned? I have
+done him no injury. His wickedness is fertile only of despair; and the
+billows of remorse will some time overbear him. Why may not this event
+have already taken place? Why should I refuse to see him?
+
+This idea was present, as it were, for a moment. I suddenly recoiled
+from it, confounded at that frenzy which could give even momentary
+harbour to such a scheme; yet presently it returned. At length I even
+conceived it to deserve deliberation. I questioned whether it was
+not proper to admit, at a lonely spot, in a sacred hour, this man of
+tremendous and inscrutable attributes, this performer of horrid deeds,
+and whose presence was predicted to call down unheard-of and unutterable
+horrors.
+
+What was it that swayed me? I felt myself divested of the power to will
+contrary to the motives that determined me to seek his presence. My mind
+seemed to be split into separate parts, and these parts to have
+entered into furious and implacable contention. These tumults gradually
+subsided. The reasons why I should confide in that interposition which
+had hitherto defended me; in those tokens of compunction which this
+letter contained; in the efficacy of this interview to restore its
+spotlessness to my character, and banish all illusions from the mind of
+my friend, continually acquired new evidence and new strength.
+
+What should I fear in his presence? This was unlike an artifice intended
+to betray me into his hands. If it were an artifice, what purpose would
+it serve? The freedom of my mind was untouched, and that freedom would
+defy the assaults of blandishments or magic. Force was I not able to
+repel. On the former occasion my courage, it is true, had failed at the
+imminent approach of danger; but then I had not enjoyed opportunities of
+deliberation; I had foreseen nothing; I was sunk into imbecility by my
+previous thoughts; I had been the victim of recent disappointments
+and anticipated ills: Witness my infatuation in opening the closet in
+opposition to divine injunctions.
+
+Now, perhaps, my courage was the offspring of a no less erring
+principle. Pleyel was for ever lost to me. I strove in vain to assume
+his person, and suppress my resentment; I strove in vain to believe in
+the assuaging influence of time, to look forward to the birth-day of new
+hopes, and the re-exaltation of that luminary, of whose effulgencies I
+had so long and so liberally partaken.
+
+What had I to suffer worse than was already inflicted?
+
+Was not Carwin my foe? I owed my untimely fate to his treason. Instead
+of flying from his presence, ought I not to devote all my faculties to
+the gaining of an interview, and compel him to repair the ills of
+which he has been the author? Why should I suppose him impregnable
+to argument? Have I not reason on my side, and the power of imparting
+conviction? Cannot he be made to see the justice of unravelling the maze
+in which Pleyel is bewildered?
+
+He may, at least, be accessible to fear. Has he nothing to fear from
+the rage of an injured woman? But suppose him inaccessible to such
+inducements; suppose him to persist in all his flagitious purposes; are
+not the means of defence and resistance in my power?
+
+In the progress of such thoughts, was the resolution at last formed. I
+hoped that the interview was sought by him for a laudable end; but, be
+that as it would, I trusted that, by energy of reasoning or of action, I
+should render it auspicious, or, at least, harmless.
+
+Such a determination must unavoidably fluctuate. The poet's chaos was
+no unapt emblem of the state of my mind. A torment was awakened in my
+bosom, which I foresaw would end only when this interview was past, and
+its consequences fully experienced. Hence my impatience for the arrival
+of the hour which had been prescribed by Carwin.
+
+Meanwhile, my meditations were tumultuously active. New impediments
+to the execution of the scheme were speedily suggested. I had apprized
+Catharine of my intention to spend this and many future nights with her.
+Her husband was informed of this arrangement, and had zealously approved
+it. Eleven o'clock exceeded their hour of retiring. What excuse should
+I form for changing my plan? Should I shew this letter to Wieland, and
+submit myself to his direction? But I knew in what way he would decide.
+He would fervently dissuade me from going. Nay, would he not do more?
+He was apprized of the offences of Carwin, and of the reward offered
+for his apprehension. Would he not seize this opportunity of executing
+justice on a criminal?
+
+This idea was new. I was plunged once more into doubt. Did not equity
+enjoin me thus to facilitate his arrest? No. I disdained the office of
+betrayer. Carwin was unapprized of his danger, and his intentions were
+possibly beneficent. Should I station guards about the house, and
+make an act, intended perhaps for my benefit, instrumental to his own
+destruction? Wieland might be justified in thus employing the knowledge
+which I should impart, but I, by imparting it, should pollute myself
+with more hateful crimes than those undeservedly imputed to me. This
+scheme, therefore, I unhesitatingly rejected. The views with which
+I should return to my own house, it would therefore be necessary to
+conceal. Yet some pretext must be invented. I had never been initiated
+into the trade of lying. Yet what but falshood was a deliberate
+suppression of the truth? To deceive by silence or by words is the same.
+
+Yet what would a lie avail me? What pretext would justify this change in
+my plan? Would it not tend to confirm the imputations of Pleyel? That
+I should voluntarily return to an house in which honor and life had so
+lately been endangered, could be explained in no way favorable to my
+integrity.
+
+These reflections, if they did not change, at least suspended my
+decision. In this state of uncertainty I alighted at the HUT. We gave
+this name to the house tenanted by the farmer and his servants, and
+which was situated on the verge of my brother's ground, and at a
+considerable distance from the mansion. The path to the mansion was
+planted by a double row of walnuts. Along this path I proceeded alone.
+I entered the parlour, in which was a light just expiring in the socket.
+There was no one in the room. I perceived by the clock that stood
+against the wall, that it was near eleven. The lateness of the hour
+startled me. What had become of the family? They were usually retired
+an hour before this; but the unextinguished taper, and the unbarred
+door were indications that they had not retired. I again returned to the
+hall, and passed from one room to another, but still encountered not a
+human being.
+
+I imagined that, perhaps, the lapse of a few minutes would explain
+these appearances. Meanwhile I reflected that the preconcerted hour had
+arrived. Carwin was perhaps waiting my approach. Should I immediately
+retire to my own house, no one would be apprized of my proceeding. Nay,
+the interview might pass, and I be enabled to return in half an hour.
+Hence no necessity would arise for dissimulation.
+
+I was so far influenced by these views that I rose to execute this
+design; but again the unusual condition of the house occurred to me, and
+some vague solicitude as to the condition of the family. I was nearly
+certain that my brother had not retired; but by what motives he could
+be induced to desert his house thus unseasonably I could by no means
+divine. Louisa Conway, at least, was at home and had, probably, retired
+to her chamber; perhaps she was able to impart the information I wanted.
+
+I went to her chamber, and found her asleep. She was delighted and
+surprized at my arrival, and told me with how much impatience and
+anxiety my brother and his wife had waited my coming. They were fearful
+that some mishap had befallen me, and had remained up longer than the
+usual period. Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, Catharine would
+not resign the hope of seeing me. Louisa said she had left them both in
+the parlour, and she knew of no cause for their absence.
+
+As yet I was not without solicitude on account of their personal safety.
+I was far from being perfectly at ease on that head, but entertained no
+distinct conception of the danger that impended over them. Perhaps to
+beguile the moments of my long protracted stay, they had gone to
+walk upon the bank. The atmosphere, though illuminated only by the
+star-light, was remarkably serene. Meanwhile the desirableness of an
+interview with Carwin again returned, and I finally resolved to seek it.
+
+I passed with doubting and hasty steps along the path. My dwelling, seen
+at a distance, was gloomy and desolate. It had no inhabitant, for my
+servant, in consequence of my new arrangement, had gone to Mettingen.
+The temerity of this attempt began to shew itself in more vivid colours
+to my understanding. Whoever has pointed steel is not without arms; yet
+what must have been the state of my mind when I could meditate, without
+shuddering, on the use of a murderous weapon, and believe myself secure
+merely because I was capable of being made so by the death of another?
+Yet this was not my state. I felt as if I was rushing into deadly toils,
+without the power of pausing or receding.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+
+As soon as I arrived in sight of the front of the house, my attention
+was excited by a light from the window of my own chamber. No appearance
+could be less explicable. A meeting was expected with Carwin, but that
+he pre-occupied my chamber, and had supplied himself with light, was not
+to be believed. What motive could influence him to adopt this conduct?
+Could I proceed until this was explained? Perhaps, if I should proceed
+to a distance in front, some one would be visible. A sidelong but feeble
+beam from the window, fell upon the piny copse which skirted the bank.
+As I eyed it, it suddenly became mutable, and after flitting to and fro,
+for a short time, it vanished. I turned my eye again toward the window,
+and perceived that the light was still there; but the change which I had
+noticed was occasioned by a change in the position of the lamp or candle
+within. Hence, that some person was there was an unavoidable inference.
+
+I paused to deliberate on the propriety of advancing. Might I not
+advance cautiously, and, therefore, without danger? Might I not knock at
+the door, or call, and be apprized of the nature of my visitant before I
+entered? I approached and listened at the door, but could hear nothing.
+I knocked at first timidly, but afterwards with loudness. My signals
+were unnoticed. I stepped back and looked, but the light was no longer
+discernible. Was it suddenly extinguished by a human agent? What purpose
+but concealment was intended? Why was the illumination produced, to be
+thus suddenly brought to an end? And why, since some one was there, had
+silence been observed?
+
+These were questions, the solution of which may be readily supposed
+to be entangled with danger. Would not this danger, when measured by a
+woman's fears, expand into gigantic dimensions? Menaces of death; the
+stunning exertions of a warning voice; the known and unknown attributes
+of Carwin; our recent interview in this chamber; the pre-appointment of
+a meeting at this place and hour, all thronged into my memory. What was
+to be done?
+
+Courage is no definite or stedfast principle. Let that man who shall
+purpose to assign motives to the actions of another, blush at his
+folly and forbear. Not more presumptuous would it be to attempt the
+classification of all nature, and the scanning of supreme intelligence.
+I gazed for a minute at the window, and fixed my eyes, for a second
+minute, on the ground. I drew forth from my pocket, and opened, a
+penknife. This, said I, be my safe-guard and avenger. The assailant
+shall perish, or myself shall fall. I had locked up the house in the
+morning, but had the key of the kitchen door in my pocket. I, therefore,
+determined to gain access behind. Thither I hastened, unlocked and
+entered. All was lonely, darksome, and waste. Familiar as I was with
+every part of my dwelling, I easily found my way to a closet, drew forth
+a taper, a flint, tinder, and steel, and, in a moment as it were, gave
+myself the guidance and protection of light.
+
+What purpose did I meditate? Should I explore my way to my chamber, and
+confront the being who had dared to intrude into this recess, and had
+laboured for concealment? By putting out the light did he seek to hide
+himself, or mean only to circumvent my incautious steps? Yet was it
+not more probable that he desired my absence by thus encouraging the
+supposition that the house was unoccupied? I would see this man in spite
+of all impediments; ere I died, I would see his face, and summon him
+to penitence and retribution; no matter at what cost an interview was
+purchased. Reputation and life might be wrested from me by another, but
+my rectitude and honor were in my own keeping, and were safe.
+
+I proceeded to the foot of the stairs. At such a crisis my thoughts
+may be supposed at no liberty to range; yet vague images rushed into my
+mind, of the mysterious interposition which had been experienced on the
+last night. My case, at present, was not dissimilar; and, if my angel
+were not weary of fruitless exertions to save, might not a new warning
+be expected? Who could say whether his silence were ascribable to the
+absence of danger, or to his own absence?
+
+In this state of mind, no wonder that a shivering cold crept through
+my veins; that my pause was prolonged; and, that a fearful glance was
+thrown backward.
+
+Alas! my heart droops, and my fingers are enervated; my ideas are
+vivid, but my language is faint: now know I what it is to entertain
+incommunicable sentiments. The chain of subsequent incidents is drawn
+through my mind, and being linked with those which forewent, by turns
+rouse up agonies and sink me into hopelessness.
+
+Yet I will persist to the end. My narrative may be invaded by inaccuracy
+and confusion; but if I live no longer, I will, at least, live to
+complete it. What but ambiguities, abruptnesses, and dark transitions,
+can be expected from the historian who is, at the same time, the
+sufferer of these disasters?
+
+I have said that I cast a look behind. Some object was expected to be
+seen, or why should I have gazed in that direction? Two senses were at
+once assailed. The same piercing exclamation of HOLD! HOLD! was uttered
+within the same distance of my ear. This it was that I heard. The airy
+undulation, and the shock given to my nerves, were real. Whether the
+spectacle which I beheld existed in my fancy or without, might be
+doubted. I had not closed the door of the apartment I had just left. The
+stair-case, at the foot of which I stood, was eight or ten feet from
+the door, and attached to the wall through which the door led. My view,
+therefore, was sidelong, and took in no part of the room.
+
+Through this aperture was an head thrust and drawn back with so much
+swiftness, that the immediate conviction was, that thus much of a form,
+ordinarily invisible, had been unshrowded. The face was turned towards
+me. Every muscle was tense; the forehead and brows were drawn into
+vehement expression; the lips were stretched as in the act of shrieking,
+and the eyes emitted sparks, which, no doubt, if I had been unattended
+by a light, would have illuminated like the coruscations of a meteor.
+The sound and the vision were present, and departed together at the
+same instant; but the cry was blown into my ear, while the face was many
+paces distant.
+
+This face was well suited to a being whose performances exceeded the
+standard of humanity, and yet its features were akin to those I had
+before seen. The image of Carwin was blended in a thousand ways with the
+stream of my thoughts. This visage was, perhaps, pourtrayed by my fancy.
+If so, it will excite no surprize that some of his lineaments were now
+discovered. Yet affinities were few and unconspicuous, and were lost
+amidst the blaze of opposite qualities.
+
+What conclusion could I form? Be the face human or not, the intimation
+was imparted from above. Experience had evinced the benignity of that
+being who gave it. Once he had interposed to shield me from harm, and
+subsequent events demonstrated the usefulness of that interposition. Now
+was I again warned to forbear. I was hurrying to the verge of the same
+gulf, and the same power was exerted to recall my steps. Was it possible
+for me not to obey? Was I capable of holding on in the same perilous
+career? Yes. Even of this I was capable!
+
+The intimation was imperfect: it gave no form to my danger, and
+prescribed no limits to my caution. I had formerly neglected it, and yet
+escaped. Might I not trust to the same issue? This idea might possess,
+though imperceptibly, some influence. I persisted; but it was not merely
+on this account. I cannot delineate the motives that led me on. I now
+speak as if no remnant of doubt existed in my mind as to the supernal
+origin of these sounds; but this is owing to the imperfection of my
+language, for I only mean that the belief was more permanent, and
+visited more frequently my sober meditations than its opposite. The
+immediate effects served only to undermine the foundations of my
+judgment and precipitate my resolutions.
+
+I must either advance or return. I chose the former, and began to ascend
+the stairs. The silence underwent no second interruption. My chamber
+door was closed, but unlocked, and, aided by vehement efforts of my
+courage, I opened and looked in.
+
+No hideous or uncommon object was discernible. The danger, indeed, might
+easily have lurked out of sight, have sprung upon me as I entered, and
+have rent me with his iron talons; but I was blind to this fate, and
+advanced, though cautiously, into the room.
+
+Still every thing wore its accustomed aspect. Neither lamp nor candle
+was to be found. Now, for the first time, suspicions were suggested as
+to the nature of the light which I had seen. Was it possible to have
+been the companion of that supernatural visage; a meteorous refulgence
+producible at the will of him to whom that visage belonged, and
+partaking of the nature of that which accompanied my father's death?
+
+The closet was near, and I remembered the complicated horrors of which
+it had been productive. Here, perhaps, was inclosed the source of my
+peril, and the gratification of my curiosity. Should I adventure once
+more to explore its recesses? This was a resolution not easily formed. I
+was suspended in thought: when glancing my eye on a table, I perceived a
+written paper. Carwin's hand was instantly recognized, and snatching up
+the paper, I read as follows:--
+
+"There was folly in expecting your compliance with my invitation. Judge
+how I was disappointed in finding another in your place. I have
+waited, but to wait any longer would be perilous. I shall still seek an
+interview, but it must be at a different time and place: meanwhile,
+I will write this--How will you bear--How inexplicable will be this
+transaction!--An event so unexpected--a sight so horrible!"
+
+Such was this abrupt and unsatisfactory script. The ink was yet moist,
+the hand was that of Carwin. Hence it was to be inferred that he had
+this moment left the apartment, or was still in it. I looked back, on
+the sudden expectation of seeing him behind me.
+
+What other did he mean? What transaction had taken place adverse to my
+expectations? What sight was about to be exhibited? I looked around
+me once more, but saw nothing which indicated strangeness. Again I
+remembered the closet, and was resolved to seek in that the solution
+of these mysteries. Here, perhaps, was inclosed the scene destined to
+awaken my horrors and baffle my foresight.
+
+I have already said, that the entrance into this closet was beside my
+bed, which, on two sides, was closely shrowded by curtains. On that side
+nearest the closet, the curtain was raised. As I passed along I cast my
+eye thither. I started, and looked again. I bore a light in my hand, and
+brought it nearer my eyes, in order to dispel any illusive mists that
+might have hovered before them. Once more I fixed my eyes upon the bed,
+in hope that this more stedfast scrutiny would annihilate the object
+which before seemed to be there.
+
+This then was the sight which Carwin had predicted! This was the event
+which my understanding was to find inexplicable! This was the fate
+which had been reserved for me, but which, by some untoward chance, had
+befallen on another!
+
+I had not been terrified by empty menaces. Violation and death awaited
+my entrance into this chamber. Some inscrutable chance had led HER
+hither before me, and the merciless fangs of which I was designed to
+be the prey, had mistaken their victim, and had fixed themselves in HER
+heart. But where was my safety? Was the mischief exhausted or flown? The
+steps of the assassin had just been here; they could not be far off; in
+a moment he would rush into my presence, and I should perish under the
+same polluting and suffocating grasp!
+
+My frame shook, and my knees were unable to support me. I gazed
+alternately at the closet door and at the door of my room. At one of
+these avenues would enter the exterminator of my honor and my life. I
+was prepared for defence; but now that danger was imminent, my means
+of defence, and my power to use them were gone. I was not qualified, by
+education and experience, to encounter perils like these: or, perhaps,
+I was powerless because I was again assaulted by surprize, and had not
+fortified my mind by foresight and previous reflection against a scene
+like this.
+
+Fears for my own safety again yielded place to reflections on the scene
+before me. I fixed my eyes upon her countenance. My sister's well-known
+and beloved features could not be concealed by convulsion or lividness.
+What direful illusion led thee hither? Bereft of thee, what hold on
+happiness remains to thy offspring and thy spouse? To lose thee by a
+common fate would have been sufficiently hard; but thus suddenly to
+perish--to become the prey of this ghastly death! How will a spectacle
+like this be endured by Wieland? To die beneath his grasp would not
+satisfy thy enemy. This was mercy to the evils which he previously made
+thee suffer! After these evils death was a boon which thou besoughtest
+him to grant. He entertained no enmity against thee: I was the object of
+his treason; but by some tremendous mistake his fury was misplaced. But
+how comest thou hither? and where was Wieland in thy hour of distress?
+
+I approached the corpse: I lifted the still flexible hand, and kissed
+the lips which were breathless. Her flowing drapery was discomposed.
+I restored it to order, and seating myself on the bed, again fixed
+stedfast eyes upon her countenance. I cannot distinctly recollect the
+ruminations of that moment. I saw confusedly, but forcibly, that every
+hope was extinguished with the life of CATHARINE. All happiness and
+dignity must henceforth be banished from the house and name of Wieland:
+all that remained was to linger out in agonies a short existence; and
+leave to the world a monument of blasted hopes and changeable fortune.
+Pleyel was already lost to me; yet, while Catharine lived life was not
+a detestable possession: but now, severed from the companion of my
+infancy, the partaker of all my thoughts, my cares, and my wishes, I
+was like one set afloat upon a stormy sea, and hanging his safety upon a
+plank; night was closing upon him, and an unexpected surge had torn him
+from his hold and overwhelmed him forever.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII
+
+
+I had no inclination nor power to move from this spot. For more than an
+hour, my faculties and limbs seemed to be deprived of all activity.
+The door below creaked on its hinges, and steps ascended the stairs. My
+wandering and confused thoughts were instantly recalled by these sounds,
+and dropping the curtain of the bed, I moved to a part of the room
+where any one who entered should be visible; such are the vibrations of
+sentiment, that notwithstanding the seeming fulfilment of my fears,
+and increase of my danger, I was conscious, on this occasion, to no
+turbulence but that of curiosity.
+
+At length he entered the apartment, and I recognized my brother. It was
+the same Wieland whom I had ever seen. Yet his features were pervaded by
+a new expression. I supposed him unacquainted with the fate of his wife,
+and his appearance confirmed this persuasion. A brow expanding into
+exultation I had hitherto never seen in him, yet such a brow did he now
+wear. Not only was he unapprized of the disaster that had happened,
+but some joyous occurrence had betided. What a reverse was preparing to
+annihilate his transitory bliss! No husband ever doated more fondly, for
+no wife ever claimed so boundless a devotion. I was not uncertain as to
+the effects to flow from the discovery of her fate. I confided not at
+all in the efforts of his reason or his piety. There were few evils
+which his modes of thinking would not disarm of their sting; but here,
+all opiates to grief, and all compellers of patience were vain. This
+spectacle would be unavoidably followed by the outrages of desperation,
+and a rushing to death.
+
+For the present, I neglected to ask myself what motive brought him
+hither. I was only fearful of the effects to flow from the sight of the
+dead. Yet could it be long concealed from him? Some time and speedily
+he would obtain this knowledge. No stratagems could considerably or
+usefully prolong his ignorance. All that could be sought was to take
+away the abruptness of the change, and shut out the confusion of
+despair, and the inroads of madness: but I knew my brother, and knew
+that all exertions to console him would be fruitless.
+
+What could I say? I was mute, and poured forth those tears on his
+account, which my own unhappiness had been unable to extort. In the
+midst of my tears, I was not unobservant of his motions. These were of
+a nature to rouse some other sentiment than grief or, at least, to mix
+with it a portion of astonishment.
+
+His countenance suddenly became troubled. His hands were clasped with a
+force that left the print of his nails in his flesh. His eyes were fixed
+on my feet. His brain seemed to swell beyond its continent. He did not
+cease to breathe, but his breath was stifled into groans. I had never
+witnessed the hurricane of human passions. My element had, till lately,
+been all sunshine and calm. I was unconversant with the altitudes and
+energies of sentiment, and was transfixed with inexplicable horror by
+the symptoms which I now beheld.
+
+After a silence and a conflict which I could not interpret, he lifted
+his eyes to heaven, and in broken accents exclaimed, "This is too much!
+Any victim but this, and thy will be done. Have I not sufficiently
+attested my faith and my obedience? She that is gone, they that have
+perished, were linked with my soul by ties which only thy command would
+have broken; but here is sanctity and excellence surpassing human. This
+workmanship is thine, and it cannot be thy will to heap it into ruins."
+
+Here suddenly unclasping his hands, he struck one of them against his
+forehead, and continued--"Wretch! who made thee quicksighted in the
+councils of thy Maker? Deliverance from mortal fetters is awarded to
+this being, and thou art the minister of this decree."
+
+So saying, Wieland advanced towards me. His words and his motions were
+without meaning, except on one supposition. The death of Catharine was
+already known to him, and that knowledge, as might have been suspected,
+had destroyed his reason. I had feared nothing less; but now that I
+beheld the extinction of a mind the most luminous and penetrating that
+ever dignified the human form, my sensations were fraught with new and
+insupportable anguish.
+
+I had not time to reflect in what way my own safety would be effected by
+this revolution, or what I had to dread from the wild conceptions of a
+madman. He advanced towards me. Some hollow noises were wafted by the
+breeze. Confused clamours were succeeded by many feet traversing the
+grass, and then crowding intO the piazza.
+
+These sounds suspended my brother's purpose, and he stood to listen. The
+signals multiplied and grew louder; perceiving this, he turned from me,
+and hurried out of my sight. All about me was pregnant with motives to
+astonishment. My sister's corpse, Wieland's frantic demeanour, and, at
+length, this crowd of visitants so little accorded with my foresight,
+that my mental progress was stopped. The impulse had ceased which was
+accustomed to give motion and order to my thoughts.
+
+Footsteps thronged upon the stairs, and presently many faces shewed
+themselves within the door of my apartment. These looks were full of
+alarm and watchfulness. They pryed into corners as if in search of
+some fugitive; next their gaze was fixed upon me, and betokened all the
+vehemence of terror and pity. For a time I questioned whether these were
+not shapes and faces like that which I had seen at the bottom of the
+stairs, creatures of my fancy or airy existences. My eye wandered from
+one to another, till at length it fell on a countenance which I well
+knew. It was that of Mr. Hallet. This man was a distant kinsman of my
+mother, venerable for his age, his uprightness, and sagacity. He had
+long discharged the functions of a magistrate and good citizen. If any
+terrors remained, his presence was sufficient to dispel them.
+
+He approached, took my hand with a compassionate air, and said in a low
+voice, "Where, my dear Clara, are your brother and sister?" I made no
+answer, but pointed to the bed. His attendants drew aside the curtain,
+and while their eyes glared with horror at the spectacle which they
+beheld, those of Mr. Hallet overflowed with tears.
+
+After considerable pause, he once more turned to me. "My dear girl,
+this sight is not for you. Can you confide in my care, and that of Mrs.
+Baynton's? We will see performed all that circumstances require."
+
+I made strenuous opposition to this request. I insisted on remaining
+near her till she were interred. His remonstrances, however, and my own
+feelings, shewed me the propriety of a temporary dereliction. Louisa
+stood in need of a comforter, and my brother's children of a nurse. My
+unhappy brother was himself an object of solicitude and care. At length,
+I consented to relinquish the corpse, and go to my brother's, whose
+house, I said, would need mistress, and his children a parent.
+
+During this discourse, my venerable friend struggled with his tears, but
+my last intimation called them forth with fresh violence. Meanwhile,
+his attendants stood round in mournful silence, gazing on me and at each
+other. I repeated my resolution, and rose to execute it; but he took my
+hand to detain me. His countenance betrayed irresolution and reluctance.
+I requested him to state the reason of his opposition to this measure.
+I entreated him to be explicit. I told him that my brother had just been
+there, and that I knew his condition. This misfortune had driven him
+to madness, and his offspring must not want a protector. If he chose,
+I would resign Wieland to his care; but his innocent and helpless babes
+stood in instant need of nurse and mother, and these offices I would by
+no means allow another to perform while I had life.
+
+Every word that I uttered seemed to augment his perplexity and distress.
+At last he said, "I think, Clara, I have entitled myself to some regard
+from you. You have professed your willingness to oblige me. Now I call
+upon you to confer upon me the highest obligation in your power. Permit
+Mrs. Baynton to have the management of your brother's house for two or
+three days; then it shall be yours to act in it as you please. No matter
+what are my motives in making this request: perhaps I think your
+age, your sex, or the distress which this disaster must occasion,
+incapacitates you for the office. Surely you have no doubt of Mrs.
+Baynton's tenderness or discretion." New ideas now rushed into my mind.
+I fixed my eyes stedfastly on Mr. Hallet. "Are they well?" said I. "Is
+Louisa well? Are Benjamin, and William, and Constantine, and Little
+Clara, are they safe? Tell me truly, I beseech you!"
+
+"They are well," he replied; "they are perfectly safe."
+
+"Fear no effeminate weakness in me: I can bear to hear the truth. Tell
+me truly, are they well?"
+
+He again assured me that they were well.
+
+"What then," resumed I, "do you fear? Is it possible for any calamity to
+disqualify me for performing my duty to these helpless innocents? I
+am willing to divide the care of them with Mrs. Baynton; I shall be
+grateful for her sympathy and aid; but what should I be to desert them
+at an hour like this!"
+
+I will cut short this distressful dialogue. I still persisted in my
+purpose, and he still persisted in his opposition. This excited my
+suspicions anew; but these were removed by solemn declarations of their
+safety. I could not explain this conduct in my friend; but at length
+consented to go to the city, provided I should see them for a few
+minutes at present, and should return on the morrow.
+
+Even this arrangement was objected to. At length he told me they were
+removed to the city. Why were they removed, I asked, and whither? My
+importunities would not now be eluded. My suspicions were roused, and no
+evasion or artifice was sufficient to allay them. Many of the audience
+began to give vent to their emotions in tears. Mr. Hallet himself seemed
+as if the conflict were too hard to be longer sustained. Something
+whispered to my heart that havoc had been wider than I now witnessed.
+I suspected this concealment to arise from apprehensions of the
+effects which a knowledge of the truth would produce in me. I once
+more entreated him to inform me truly of their state. To enforce my
+entreaties, I put on an air of insensibility. "I can guess," said I,
+"what has happened--They are indeed beyond the reach of injury, for they
+are dead! Is it not so?" My voice faltered in spite of my courageous
+efforts.
+
+"Yes," said he, "they are dead! Dead by the same fate, and by the same
+hand, with their mother!"
+
+"Dead!" replied I; "what, all?"
+
+"All!" replied he: "he spared NOT ONE!"
+
+Allow me, my friends, to close my eyes upon the after-scene. Why should
+I protract a tale which I already begin to feel is too long? Over this
+scene at least let me pass lightly. Here, indeed, my narrative would be
+imperfect. All was tempestuous commotion in my heart and in my brain. I
+have no memory for ought but unconscious transitions and rueful sights.
+I was ingenious and indefatigable in the invention of torments. I would
+not dispense with any spectacle adapted to exasperate my grief. Each
+pale and mangled form I crushed to my bosom. Louisa, whom I loved with
+so ineffable a passion, was denied to me at first, but my obstinacy
+conquered their reluctance.
+
+They led the way into a darkened hall. A lamp pendant from the ceiling
+was uncovered, and they pointed to a table. The assassin had defrauded
+me of my last and miserable consolation. I sought not in her visage, for
+the tinge of the morning, and the lustre of heaven. These had vanished
+with life; but I hoped for liberty to print a last kiss upon her lips.
+This was denied me; for such had been the merciless blow that destroyed
+her, that not a LINEAMENT REMAINED!
+
+I was carried hence to the city. Mrs. Hallet was my companion and my
+nurse. Why should I dwell upon the rage of fever, and the effusions
+of delirium? Carwin was the phantom that pursued my dreams, the giant
+oppressor under whose arm I was for ever on the point of being crushed.
+Strenuous muscles were required to hinder my flight, and hearts of steel
+to withstand the eloquence of my fears. In vain I called upon them to
+look upward, to mark his sparkling rage and scowling contempt. All I
+sought was to fly from the stroke that was lifted. Then I heaped upon my
+guards the most vehement reproaches, or betook myself to wailings on the
+haplessness of my condition.
+
+This malady, at length, declined, and my weeping friends began to look
+for my restoration. Slowly, and with intermitted beams, memory revisited
+me. The scenes that I had witnessed were revived, became the theme
+of deliberation and deduction, and called forth the effusions of more
+rational sorrow.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII
+
+
+I had imperfectly recovered my strength, when I was informed of the
+arrival of my mother's brother, Thomas Cambridge. Ten years since, he
+went to Europe, and was a surgeon in the British forces in Germany,
+during the whole of the late war. After its conclusion, some connection
+that he had formed with an Irish officer, made him retire into Ireland.
+Intercourse had been punctually maintained by letters with his sister's
+children, and hopes were given that he would shortly return to his
+native country, and pass his old age in our society. He was now in an
+evil hour arrived.
+
+I desired an interview with him for numerous and urgent reasons. With
+the first returns of my understanding I had anxiously sought information
+of the fate of my brother. During the course of my disease I had never
+seen him; and vague and unsatisfactory answers were returned to all my
+inquires. I had vehemently interrogated Mrs. Hallet and her husband, and
+solicited an interview with this unfortunate man; but they mysteriously
+insinuated that his reason was still unsettled, and that his
+circumstances rendered an interview impossible. Their reserve on the
+particulars of this destruction, and the author of it, was equally
+invincible.
+
+For some time, finding all my efforts fruitless, I had desisted from
+direct inquiries and solicitations, determined, as soon as my strength
+was sufficiently renewed, to pursue other means of dispelling my
+uncertainty. In this state of things my uncle's arrival and intention to
+visit me were announced. I almost shuddered to behold the face of this
+man. When I reflected on the disasters that had befallen us, I was half
+unwilling to witness that dejection and grief which would be disclosed
+in his countenance. But I believed that all transactions had been
+thoroughly disclosed to him, and confided in my importunity to extort
+from him the knowledge that I sought.
+
+I had no doubt as to the person of our enemy; but the motives that urged
+him to perpetrate these horrors, the means that he used, and his present
+condition, were totally unknown. It was reasonable to expect some
+information on this head, from my uncle. I therefore waited his coming
+with impatience. At length, in the dusk of the evening, and in my
+solitary chamber, this meeting took place.
+
+This man was our nearest relation, and had ever treated us with the
+affection of a parent. Our meeting, therefore, could not be without
+overflowing tenderness and gloomy joy. He rather encouraged than
+restrained the tears that I poured out in his arms, and took upon
+himself the task of comforter. Allusions to recent disasters could not
+be long omitted. One topic facilitated the admission of another. At
+length, I mentioned and deplored the ignorance in which I had been
+kept respecting my brother's destiny, and the circumstances of our
+misfortunes. I entreated him to tell me what was Wieland's condition,
+and what progress had been made in detecting or punishing the author of
+this unheard-of devastation.
+
+"The author!" said he; "Do you know the author?"
+
+"Alas!" I answered, "I am too well acquainted with him. The story of
+the grounds of my suspicions would be painful and too long. I am not
+apprized of the extent of your present knowledge. There are none but
+Wieland, Pleyel, and myself, who are able to relate certain facts."
+
+"Spare yourself the pain," said he. "All that Wieland and Pleyel can
+communicate, I know already. If any thing of moment has fallen within
+your own exclusive knowledge, and the relation be not too arduous for
+your present strength, I confess I am desirous of hearing it. Perhaps
+you allude to one by the name of Carwin. I will anticipate your
+curiosity by saying, that since these disasters, no one has seen or
+heard of him. His agency is, therefore, a mystery still unsolved."
+
+I readily complied with his request, and related as distinctly as
+I could, though in general terms, the events transacted in the
+summer-house and my chamber. He listened without apparent surprize
+to the tale of Pleyel's errors and suspicions, and with augmented
+seriousness, to my narrative of the warnings and inexplicable vision,
+and the letter found upon the table. I waited for his comments.
+
+"You gather from this," said he, "that Carwin is the author of all this
+misery."
+
+"Is it not," answered I, "an unavoidable inference? But what know you
+respecting it? Was it possible to execute this mischief without witness
+or coadjutor? I beseech you to relate to me, when and why Mr. Hallet was
+summoned to the scene, and by whom this disaster was first suspected
+or discovered. Surely, suspicion must have fallen upon some one, and
+pursuit was made."
+
+My uncle rose from his seat, and traversed the floor with hasty steps.
+His eyes were fixed upon the ground, and he seemed buried in perplexity.
+At length he paused, and said with an emphatic tone, "It is true; the
+instrument is known. Carwin may have plotted, but the execution was
+another's. That other is found, and his deed is ascertained."
+
+"Good heaven!" I exclaimed, "what say you? Was not Carwin the assassin?
+Could any hand but his have carried into act this dreadful purpose?"
+
+"Have I not said," returned he, "that the performance was another's?
+Carwin, perhaps, or heaven, or insanity, prompted the murderer; but
+Carwin is unknown. The actual performer has, long since, been called
+to judgment and convicted, and is, at this moment, at the bottom of a
+dungeon loaded with chains."
+
+I lifted my hands and eyes. "Who then is this assassin? By what means,
+and whither was he traced? What is the testimony of his guilt?"
+
+"His own, corroborated with that of a servant-maid who spied the murder
+of the children from a closet where she was concealed. The magistrate
+returned from your dwelling to your brother's. He was employed in
+hearing and recording the testimony of the only witness, when the
+criminal himself, unexpected, unsolicited, unsought, entered the hall,
+acknowledged his guilt, and rendered himself up to justice.
+
+"He has since been summoned to the bar. The audience was composed of
+thousands whom rumours of this wonderful event had attracted from the
+greatest distance. A long and impartial examination was made, and the
+prisoner was called upon for his defence. In compliance with this call
+he delivered an ample relation of his motives and actions." There he
+stopped.
+
+I besought him to say who this criminal was, and what the instigations
+that compelled him. My uncle was silent. I urged this inquiry with new
+force. I reverted to my own knowledge, and sought in this some basis to
+conjecture. I ran over the scanty catalogue of the men whom I knew; I
+lighted on no one who was qualified for ministering to malice like this.
+Again I resorted to importunity. Had I ever seen the criminal? Was it
+sheer cruelty, or diabolical revenge that produced this overthrow?
+
+He surveyed me, for a considerable time, and listened to my
+interrogations in silence. At length he spoke: "Clara, I have known thee
+by report, and in some degree by observation. Thou art a being of no
+vulgar sort. Thy friends have hitherto treated thee as a child. They
+meant well, but, perhaps, they were unacquainted with thy strength. I
+assure myself that nothing will surpass thy fortitude.
+
+"Thou art anxious to know the destroyer of thy family, his actions, and
+his motives. Shall I call him to thy presence, and permit him to confess
+before thee? Shall I make him the narrator of his own tale?"
+
+I started on my feet, and looked round me with fearful glances, as if
+the murderer was close at hand. "What do you mean?" said I; "put an end,
+I beseech you, to this suspence."
+
+"Be not alarmed; you will never more behold the face of this criminal,
+unless he be gifted with supernatural strength, and sever like threads
+the constraint of links and bolts. I have said that the assassin was
+arraigned at the bar, and that the trial ended with a summons from the
+judge to confess or to vindicate his actions. A reply was immediately
+made with significance of gesture, and a tranquil majesty, which denoted
+less of humanity than godhead. Judges, advocates and auditors were
+panic-struck and breathless with attention. One of the hearers
+faithfully recorded the speech. There it is," continued he, putting a
+roll of papers in my hand, "you may read it at your leisure."
+
+With these words my uncle left me alone. My curiosity refused me a
+moment's delay. I opened the papers, and read as follows.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX
+
+
+"Theodore Wieland, the prisoner at the bar, was now called upon for his
+defence. He looked around him for some time in silence, and with a mild
+countenance. At length he spoke:
+
+"It is strange; I am known to my judges and my auditors. Who is there
+present a stranger to the character of Wieland? who knows him not as an
+husband--as a father--as a friend? yet here am I arraigned as criminal.
+I am charged with diabolical malice; I am accused of the murder of my
+wife and my children!
+
+"It is true, they were slain by me; they all perished by my hand.
+The task of vindication is ignoble. What is it that I am called to
+vindicate? and before whom?
+
+"You know that they are dead, and that they were killed by me. What more
+would you have? Would you extort from me a statement of my motives? Have
+you failed to discover them already? You charge me with malice; but your
+eyes are not shut; your reason is still vigorous; your memory has not
+forsaken you. You know whom it is that you thus charge. The habits of
+his life are known to you; his treatment of his wife and his
+offspring is known to you; the soundness of his integrity, and the
+unchangeableness of his principles, are familiar to your apprehension;
+yet you persist in this charge! You lead me hither manacled as a felon;
+you deem me worthy of a vile and tormenting death!
+
+"Who are they whom I have devoted to death? My wife--the little ones,
+that drew their being from me--that creature who, as she surpassed
+them in excellence, claimed a larger affection than those whom natural
+affinities bound to my heart. Think ye that malice could have urged me
+to this deed? Hide your audacious fronts from the scrutiny of heaven.
+Take refuge in some cavern unvisited by human eyes. Ye may deplore your
+wickedness or folly, but ye cannot expiate it.
+
+"Think not that I speak for your sakes. Hug to your hearts this
+detestable infatuation. Deem me still a murderer, and drag me to
+untimely death. I make not an effort to dispel your illusion: I utter
+not a word to cure you of your sanguinary folly: but there are probably
+some in this assembly who have come from far: for their sakes, whose
+distance has disabled them from knowing me, I will tell what I have
+done, and why.
+
+"It is needless to say that God is the object of my supreme passion.
+I have cherished, in his presence, a single and upright heart. I have
+thirsted for the knowledge of his will. I have burnt with ardour to
+approve my faith and my obedience.
+
+"My days have been spent in searching for the revelation of that will;
+but my days have been mournful, because my search failed. I solicited
+direction: I turned on every side where glimmerings of light could be
+discovered. I have not been wholly uninformed; but my knowledge has
+always stopped short of certainty. Dissatisfaction has insinuated
+itself into all my thoughts. My purposes have been pure; my wishes
+indefatigable; but not till lately were these purposes thoroughly
+accomplished, and these wishes fully gratified.
+
+"I thank thee, my father, for thy bounty; that thou didst not ask a less
+sacrifice than this; that thou placedst me in a condition to testify my
+submission to thy will! What have I withheld which it was thy pleasure
+to exact? Now may I, with dauntless and erect eye, claim my reward,
+since I have given thee the treasure of my soul.
+
+"I was at my own house: it was late in the evening: my sister had gone
+to the city, but proposed to return. It was in expectation of her return
+that my wife and I delayed going to bed beyond the usual hour; the rest
+of the family, however, were retired.
+
+"My mind was contemplative and calm; not wholly devoid of apprehension
+on account of my sister's safety. Recent events, not easily explained,
+had suggested the existence of some danger; but this danger was
+without a distinct form in our imagination, and scarcely ruffled our
+tranquillity.
+
+"Time passed, and my sister did not arrive; her house is at some
+distance from mine, and though her arrangements had been made with a
+view to residing with us, it was possible that, through forgetfulness,
+or the occurrence of unforeseen emergencies, she had returned to her own
+dwelling.
+
+"Hence it was conceived proper that I should ascertain the truth by
+going thither. I went. On my way my mind was full of these ideas
+which related to my intellectual condition. In the torrent of fervid
+conceptions, I lost sight of my purpose. Some times I stood still;
+some times I wandered from my path, and experienced some difficulty, on
+recovering from my fit of musing, to regain it.
+
+"The series of my thoughts is easily traced. At first every vein beat
+with raptures known only to the man whose parental and conjugal love
+is without limits, and the cup of whose desires, immense as it is,
+overflows with gratification. I know not why emotions that were
+perpetual visitants should now have recurred with unusual energy. The
+transition was not new from sensations of joy to a consciousness of
+gratitude. The author of my being was likewise the dispenser of every
+gift with which that being was embellished. The service to which a
+benefactor like this was entitled, could not be circumscribed. My social
+sentiments were indebted to their alliance with devotion for all their
+value. All passions are base, all joys feeble, all energies malignant,
+which are not drawn from this source.
+
+"For a time, my contemplations soared above earth and its inhabitants.
+I stretched forth my hands; I lifted my eyes, and exclaimed, O! that I
+might be admitted to thy presence; that mine were the supreme delight of
+knowing thy will, and of performing it! The blissful privilege of direct
+communication with thee, and of listening to the audible enunciation of
+thy pleasure!
+
+"What task would I not undertake, what privation would I not cheerfully
+endure, to testify my love of thee? Alas! thou hidest thyself from my
+view: glimpses only of thy excellence and beauty are afforded me. Would
+that a momentary emanation from thy glory would visit me! that some
+unambiguous token of thy presence would salute my senses!
+
+"In this mood, I entered the house of my sister. It was vacant. Scarcely
+had I regained recollection of the purpose that brought me hither.
+Thoughts of a different tendency had such absolute possession of my
+mind, that the relations of time and space were almost obliterated from
+my understanding. These wanderings, however, were restrained, and I
+ascended to her chamber.
+
+"I had no light, and might have known by external observation, that
+the house was without any inhabitant. With this, however, I was
+not satisfied. I entered the room, and the object of my search not
+appearing, I prepared to return.
+
+"The darkness required some caution in descending the stair. I stretched
+my hand to seize the balustrade by which I might regulate my steps.
+How shall I describe the lustre, which, at that moment, burst upon my
+vision!
+
+"I was dazzled. My organs were bereaved of their activity. My eye-lids
+were half-closed, and my hands withdrawn from the balustrade. A nameless
+fear chilled my veins, and I stood motionless. This irradiation did not
+retire or lessen. It seemed as if some powerful effulgence covered me
+like a mantle.
+
+"I opened my eyes and found all about me luminous and glowing. It was
+the element of heaven that flowed around. Nothing but a fiery stream was
+at first visible; but, anon, a shrill voice from behind called upon me
+to attend.
+
+"I turned: It is forbidden to describe what I saw: Words, indeed, would
+be wanting to the task. The lineaments of that being, whose veil was now
+lifted, and whose visage beamed upon my sight, no hues of pencil or of
+language can pourtray.
+
+"As it spoke, the accents thrilled to my heart. "Thy prayers are heard.
+In proof of thy faith, render me thy wife. This is the victim I chuse.
+Call her hither, and here let her fall."--The sound, and visage, and
+light vanished at once.
+
+"What demand was this? The blood of Catharine was to be shed! My wife
+was to perish by my hand! I sought opportunity to attest my virtue.
+Little did I expect that a proof like this would have been demanded.
+
+"My wife! I exclaimed: O God! substitute some other victim. Make me
+not the butcher of my wife. My own blood is cheap. This will I pour
+out before thee with a willing heart; but spare, I beseech thee, this
+precious life, or commission some other than her husband to perform the
+bloody deed.
+
+"In vain. The conditions were prescribed; the decree had gone forth, and
+nothing remained but to execute it. I rushed out of the house and across
+the intermediate fields, and stopped not till I entered my own parlour.
+"My wife had remained here during my absence, in anxious expectation of
+my return with some tidings of her sister. I had none to communicate.
+For a time, I was breathless with my speed: This, and the tremors
+that shook my frame, and the wildness of my looks, alarmed her. She
+immediately suspected some disaster to have happened to her friend, and
+her own speech was as much overpowered by emotion as mine.
+
+"She was silent, but her looks manifested her impatience to hear what I
+had to communicate. I spoke, but with so much precipitation as scarcely
+to be understood; catching her, at the same time, by the arm, and
+forcibly pulling her from her seat.
+
+"Come along with me: fly: waste not a moment: time will be lost, and the
+deed will be omitted. Tarry not; question not; but fly with me!
+
+"This deportment added afresh to her alarms. Her eyes pursued mine, and
+she said, "What is the matter? For God's sake what is the matter? Where
+would you have me go?"
+
+"My eyes were fixed upon her countenance while she spoke. I thought
+upon her virtues; I viewed her as the mother of my babes: as my wife:
+I recalled the purpose for which I thus urged her attendance. My heart
+faltered, and I saw that I must rouse to this work all my faculties. The
+danger of the least delay was imminent.
+
+"I looked away from her, and again exerting my force, drew her towards
+the door--'You must go with me--indeed you must.'
+
+"In her fright she half-resisted my efforts, and again exclaimed, 'Good
+heaven! what is it you mean? Where go? What has happened? Have you found
+Clara?"
+
+"Follow me, and you will see," I answered, still urging her reluctant
+steps forward.
+
+"What phrenzy has seized you? Something must needs have happened. Is she
+sick? Have you found her?"
+
+"Come and see. Follow me, and know for yourself."
+
+"Still she expostulated and besought me to explain this mysterious
+behaviour. I could not trust myself to answer her; to look at her; but
+grasping her arm, I drew her after me. She hesitated, rather through
+confusion of mind than from unwillingness to accompany me. This
+confusion gradually abated, and she moved forward, but with irresolute
+footsteps, and continual exclamations of wonder and terror. Her
+interrogations Of "what was the matter?" and "whither was I going?" were
+ceaseless and vehement.
+
+"It was the scope of my efforts not to think; to keep up a conflict and
+uproar in my mind in which all order and distinctness should be lost;
+to escape from the sensations produced by her voice. I was, therefore,
+silent. I strove to abridge this interval by my haste, and to waste all
+my attention in furious gesticulations.
+
+"In this state of mind we reached my sister's door. She looked at the
+windows and saw that all was desolate--"Why come we here? There is no
+body here. I will not go in."
+
+"Still I was dumb; but opening the door, I drew her into the entry. This
+was the allotted scene: here she was to fall. I let go her hand, and
+pressing my palms against my forehead, made one mighty effort to work up
+my soul to the deed.
+
+"In vain; it would not be; my courage was appalled; my arms nerveless:
+I muttered prayers that my strength might be aided from above. They
+availed nothing.
+
+"Horror diffused itself over me. This conviction of my cowardice, my
+rebellion, fastened upon me, and I stood rigid and cold as marble. From
+this state I was somewhat relieved by my wife's voice, who renewed her
+supplications to be told why we came hither, and what was the fate of my
+sister.
+
+"What could I answer? My words were broken and inarticulate. Her fears
+naturally acquired force from the observation of these symptoms; but
+these fears were misplaced. The only inference she deduced from my
+conduct was, that some terrible mishap had befallen Clara.
+
+"She wrung her hands, and exclaimed in an agony, "O tell me, where is
+she? What has become of her? Is she sick? Dead? Is she in her chamber? O
+let me go thither and know the worst!"
+
+"This proposal set my thoughts once more in motion. Perhaps what my
+rebellious heart refused to perform here, I might obtain strength enough
+to execute elsewhere.
+
+"Come then," said I, "let us go."
+
+"I will, but not in the dark. We must first procure a light."
+
+"Fly then and procure it; but I charge you, linger not. I will await for
+your return.
+
+"While she was gone, I strode along the entry. The fellness of a gloomy
+hurricane but faintly resembled the discord that reigned in my mind. To
+omit this sacrifice must not be; yet my sinews had refused to perform
+it. No alternative was offered. To rebel against the mandate was
+impossible; but obedience would render me the executioner of my wife. My
+will was strong, but my limbs refused their office.
+
+"She returned with a light; I led the way to the chamber; she looked
+round her; she lifted the curtain of the bed; she saw nothing.
+
+"At length, she fixed inquiring eyes upon me. The light now enabled her
+to discover in my visage what darkness had hitherto concealed. Her
+cares were now transferred from my sister to myself, and she said in
+a tremulous voice, "Wieland! you are not well: What ails you? Can I do
+nothing for you?"
+
+"That accents and looks so winning should disarm me of my resolution,
+was to be expected. My thoughts were thrown anew into anarchy. I spread
+my hand before my eyes that I might not see her, and answered only by
+groans. She took my other hand between her's, and pressing it to her
+heart, spoke with that voice which had ever swayed my will, and wafted
+away sorrow.
+
+"My friend! my soul's friend! tell me thy cause of grief. Do I not merit
+to partake with thee in thy cares? Am I not thy wife?"
+
+"This was too much. I broke from her embrace, and retired to a corner
+of the room. In this pause, courage was once more infused into me. I
+resolved to execute my duty. She followed me, and renewed her passionate
+entreaties to know the cause of my distress.
+
+"I raised my head and regarded her with stedfast looks. I muttered
+something about death, and the injunctions of my duty. At these words
+she shrunk back, and looked at me with a new expression of anguish.
+After a pause, she clasped her hands, and exclaimed--
+
+"O Wieland! Wieland! God grant that I am mistaken; but surely something
+is wrong. I see it: it is too plain: thou art undone--lost to me and
+to thyself." At the same time she gazed on my features with intensest
+anxiety, in hope that different symptoms would take place. I replied to
+her with vehemence--
+
+"Undone! No; my duty is known, and I thank my God that my cowardice is
+now vanquished, and I have power to fulfil it. Catharine! I pity the
+weakness of thy nature: I pity thee, but must not spare. Thy life is
+claimed from my hands: thou must die!"
+
+"Fear was now added to her grief. 'What mean you? Why talk you of death?
+Bethink yourself, Wieland: bethink yourself, and this fit will pass. O
+why came I hither! Why did you drag me hither?'
+
+"I brought thee hither to fulfil a divine command. I am appointed thy
+destroyer, and destroy thee I must." Saying this I seized her wrists.
+She shrieked aloud, and endeavoured to free herself from my grasp; but
+her efforts were vain.
+
+"Surely, surely Wieland, thou dost not mean it. Am I not thy wife? and
+wouldst thou kill me? Thou wilt not; and yet--I see--thou art Wieland
+no longer! A fury resistless and horrible possesses thee--Spare
+me--spare--help--help--"
+
+"Till her breath was stopped she shrieked for help--for mercy. When
+she could speak no longer, her gestures, her looks appealed to my
+compassion. My accursed hand was irresolute and tremulous. I meant
+thy death to be sudden, thy struggles to be brief. Alas! my heart was
+infirm; my resolves mutable. Thrice I slackened my grasp, and life kept
+its hold, though in the midst of pangs. Her eye-balls started from their
+sockets. Grimness and distortion took place of all that used to bewitch
+me into transport, and subdue me into reverence.
+
+"I was commissioned to kill thee, but not to torment thee with the
+foresight of thy death; not to multiply thy fears, and prolong thy
+agonies. Haggard, and pale, and lifeless, at length thou ceasedst to
+contend with thy destiny.
+
+"This was a moment of triumph. Thus had I successfully subdued the
+stubbornness of human passions: the victim which had been demanded was
+given: the deed was done past recal.
+
+"I lifted the corpse in my arms and laid it on the bed. I gazed upon
+it with delight. Such was the elation of my thoughts, that I even broke
+into laughter. I clapped my hands and exclaimed, 'It is done! My sacred
+duty is fulfilled! To that I have sacrificed, O my God! thy last and
+best gift, my wife!'
+
+"For a while I thus soared above frailty. I imagined I had set myself
+forever beyond the reach of selfishness; but my imaginations were false.
+This rapture quickly subsided. I looked again at my wife. My joyous
+ebullitions vanished, and I asked myself who it was whom I saw?
+Methought it could not be Catharine. It could not be the woman who had
+lodged for years in my heart; who had slept, nightly, in my bosom; who
+had borne in her womb, who had fostered at her breast, the beings who
+called me father; whom I had watched with delight, and cherished with a
+fondness ever new and perpetually growing: it could not be the same.
+
+"Where was her bloom! These deadly and blood-suffused orbs but ill
+resemble the azure and exstatic tenderness of her eyes. The lucid stream
+that meandered over that bosom, the glow of love that was wont to sit
+upon that cheek, are much unlike these livid stains and this hideous
+deformity. Alas! these were the traces of agony; the gripe of the
+assassin had been here!
+
+"I will not dwell upon my lapse into desperate and outrageous sorrow.
+The breath of heaven that sustained me was withdrawn and I sunk into
+MERE MAN. I leaped from the floor: I dashed my head against the wall:
+I uttered screams of horror: I panted after torment and pain. Eternal
+fire, and the bickerings of hell, compared with what I felt, were music
+and a bed of roses.
+
+"I thank my God that this degeneracy was transient, that he deigned once
+more to raise me aloft. I thought upon what I had done as a sacrifice to
+duty, and WAS CALM. My wife was dead; but I reflected, that though this
+source of human consolation was closed, yet others were still open. If
+the transports of an husband were no more, the feelings of a father had
+still scope for exercise. When remembrance of their mother should excite
+too keen a pang, I would look upon them, and BE COMFORTED.
+
+"While I revolved these ideas, new warmth flowed in upon my heart--I was
+wrong. These feelings were the growth of selfishness. Of this I was
+not aware, and to dispel the mist that obscured my perceptions, a new
+effulgence and a new mandate were necessary.
+
+"From these thoughts I was recalled by a ray that was shot into the
+room. A voice spake like that which I had before heard--'Thou hast done
+well; but all is not done--the sacrifice is incomplete--thy children
+must be offered--they must perish with their mother!--'"
+
+
+
+Chapter XX
+
+
+Will you wonder that I read no farther? Will you not rather be
+astonished that I read thus far? What power supported me through such a
+task I know not. Perhaps the doubt from which I could not disengage
+my mind, that the scene here depicted was a dream, contributed to my
+perseverance. In vain the solemn introduction of my uncle, his appeals
+to my fortitude, and allusions to something monstrous in the events
+he was about to disclose; in vain the distressful perplexity, the
+mysterious silence and ambiguous answers of my attendants, especially
+when the condition of my brother was the theme of my inquiries, were
+remembered. I recalled the interview with Wieland in my chamber, his
+preternatural tranquillity succeeded by bursts of passion and menacing
+actions. All these coincided with the tenor of this paper.
+
+Catharine and her children, and Louisa were dead. The act that destroyed
+them was, in the highest degree, inhuman. It was worthy of savages
+trained to murder, and exulting in agonies.
+
+Who was the performer of the deed? Wieland! My brother! The husband
+and the father! That man of gentle virtues and invincible benignity!
+placable and mild--an idolator of peace! Surely, said I, it is a dream.
+For many days have I been vexed with frenzy. Its dominion is still felt;
+but new forms are called up to diversify and augment my torments.
+
+The paper dropped from my hand, and my eyes followed it. I shrunk back,
+as if to avoid some petrifying influence that approached me. My tongue
+was mute; all the functions of nature were at a stand, and I sunk upon
+the floor lifeless. The noise of my fall, as I afterwards heard, alarmed
+my uncle, who was in a lower apartment, and whose apprehensions had
+detained him. He hastened to my chamber, and administered the assistance
+which my condition required. When I opened my eyes I beheld him before
+me. His skill as a reasoner as well as a physician, was exerted to
+obviate the injurious effects of this disclosure; but he had wrongly
+estimated the strength of my body or of my mind. This new shock brought
+me once more to the brink of the grave, and my malady was much more
+difficult to subdue than at first.
+
+I will not dwell upon the long train of dreary sensations, and the
+hideous confusion of my understanding. Time slowly restored its
+customary firmness to my frame, and order to my thoughts. The images
+impressed upon my mind by this fatal paper were somewhat effaced by my
+malady. They were obscure and disjointed like the parts of a dream. I
+was desirous of freeing my imagination from this chaos. For this end I
+questioned my uncle, who was my constant companion. He was intimidated
+by the issue of his first experiment, and took pains to elude or
+discourage my inquiry. My impetuosity some times compelled him to have
+resort to misrepresentations and untruths.
+
+Time effected that end, perhaps, in a more beneficial manner. In the
+course of my meditations the recollections of the past gradually became
+more distinct. I revolved them, however, in silence, and being no longer
+accompanied with surprize, they did not exercise a death-dealing
+power. I had discontinued the perusal of the paper in the midst of
+the narrative; but what I read, combined with information elsewhere
+obtained, threw, perhaps, a sufficient light upon these detestable
+transactions; yet my curiosity was not inactive. I desired to peruse the
+remainder.
+
+My eagerness to know the particulars of this tale was mingled and abated
+by my antipathy to the scene which would be disclosed. Hence I employed
+no means to effect my purpose. I desired knowledge, and, at the same
+time, shrunk back from receiving the boon.
+
+One morning, being left alone, I rose from my bed, and went to a drawer
+where my finer clothing used to be kept. I opened it, and this fatal
+paper saluted my sight. I snatched it involuntarily, and withdrew to a
+chair. I debated, for a few minutes, whether I should open and read. Now
+that my fortitude was put to trial, it failed. I felt myself incapable
+of deliberately surveying a scene of so much horror. I was prompted to
+return it to its place, but this resolution gave way, and I determined
+to peruse some part of it. I turned over the leaves till I came near the
+conclusion. The narrative of the criminal was finished. The verdict of
+GUILTY reluctantly pronounced by the jury, and the accused interrogated
+why sentence of death should not pass. The answer was brief, solemn, and
+emphatical.
+
+"No. I have nothing to say. My tale has been told. My motives have
+been truly stated. If my judges are unable to discern the purity of my
+intentions, or to credit the statement of them, which I have just made;
+if they see not that my deed was enjoined by heaven; that obedience was
+the test of perfect virtue, and the extinction of selfishness and error,
+they must pronounce me a murderer.
+
+"They refuse to credit my tale; they impute my acts to the influence of
+daemons; they account me an example of the highest wickedness of which
+human nature is capable; they doom me to death and infamy. Have I power
+to escape this evil? If I have, be sure I will exert it. I will not
+accept evil at their hand, when I am entitled to good; I will suffer
+only when I cannot elude suffering.
+
+"You say that I am guilty. Impious and rash! thus to usurp the
+prerogatives of your Maker! to set up your bounded views and halting
+reason, as the measure of truth!
+
+"Thou, Omnipotent and Holy! Thou knowest that my actions were
+conformable to thy will. I know not what is crime; what actions are
+evil in their ultimate and comprehensive tendency or what are good. Thy
+knowledge, as thy power, is unlimited. I have taken thee for my guide,
+and cannot err. To the arms of thy protection, I entrust my safety. In
+the awards of thy justice, I confide for my recompense.
+
+"Come death when it will, I am safe. Let calumny and abhorrence pursue
+me among men; I shall not be defrauded of my dues. The peace of virtue,
+and the glory of obedience, will be my portion hereafter."
+
+Here ended the speaker. I withdrew my eyes from the page; but before I
+had time to reflect on what I had read, Mr. Cambridge entered the
+room. He quickly perceived how I had been employed, and betrayed some
+solicitude respecting the condition of my mind.
+
+His fears, however, were superfluous. What I had read, threw me into a
+state not easily described. Anguish and fury, however, had no part in
+it. My faculties were chained up in wonder and awe. Just then, I was
+unable to speak. I looked at my friend with an air of inquisitiveness,
+and pointed at the roll. He comprehended my inquiry, and answered me
+with looks of gloomy acquiescence. After some time, my thoughts found
+their way to my lips.
+
+Such then were the acts of my brother. Such were his words. For this
+he was condemned to die: To die upon the gallows! A fate, cruel and
+unmerited! And is it so? continued I, struggling for utterance, which
+this new idea made difficult; is he--dead!
+
+"No. He is alive. There could be no doubt as to the cause of these
+excesses. They originated in sudden madness; but that madness continues.
+and he is condemned to perpetual imprisonment."
+
+"Madness, say you? Are you sure? Were not these sights, and these
+sounds, really seen and heard?"
+
+My uncle was surprized at my question. He looked at me with apparent
+inquietude. "Can you doubt," said he, "that these were illusions? Does
+heaven, think you, interfere for such ends?"
+
+"O no; I think it not. Heaven cannot stimulate to such unheard-of
+outrage. The agent was not good, but evil."
+
+"Nay, my dear girl," said my friend, "lay aside these fancies. Neither
+angel nor devil had any part in this affair."
+
+"You misunderstand me," I answered; "I believe the agency to be external
+and real, but not supernatural."
+
+"Indeed!" said he, in an accent of surprize. "Whom do you then suppose
+to be the agent?"
+
+"I know not. All is wildering conjecture. I cannot forget Carwin. I
+cannot banish the suspicion that he was the setter of these snares. But
+how can we suppose it to be madness? Did insanity ever before assume
+this form?"
+
+"Frequently. The illusion, in this case, was more dreadful in its
+consequences, than any that has come to my knowledge; but, I repeat that
+similar illusions are not rare. Did you never hear of an instance which
+occurred in your mother's family?"
+
+"No. I beseech you relate it. My grandfather's death I have understood
+to have been extraordinary, but I know not in what respect. A brother,
+to whom he was much attached, died in his youth, and this, as I have
+heard, influenced, in some remarkable way, the fate of my grandfather;
+but I am unacquainted with particulars."
+
+"On the death of that brother," resumed my friend, "my father was seized
+with dejection, which was found to flow from two sources. He not only
+grieved for the loss of a friend, but entertained the belief that his
+own death would be inevitably consequent on that of his brother. He
+waited from day to day in expectation of the stroke which he predicted
+was speedily to fall upon him. Gradually, however, he recovered his
+cheerfulness and confidence. He married, and performed his part in
+the world with spirit and activity. At the end of twenty-one years it
+happened that he spent the summer with his family at an house which he
+possessed on the sea coast in Cornwall. It was at no great distance
+from a cliff which overhung the ocean, and rose into the air to a great
+height. The summit was level and secure, and easily ascended on the land
+side. The company frequently repaired hither in clear weather, invited
+by its pure airs and extensive prospects. One evening in June my father,
+with his wife and some friends, chanced to be on this spot. Every one
+was happy, and my father's imagination seemed particularly alive to the
+grandeur of the scenery.
+
+"Suddenly, however, his limbs trembled and his features betrayed alarm.
+He threw himself into the attitude of one listening. He gazed earnestly
+in a direction in which nothing was visible to his friends. This lasted
+for a minute; then turning to his companions, he told them that his
+brother had just delivered to him a summons, which must be instantly
+obeyed. He then took an hasty and solemn leave of each person, and,
+before their surprize would allow them to understand the scene, he
+rushed to the edge of the cliff, threw himself headlong, and was seen no
+more.
+
+"In the course of my practice in the German army, many cases, equally
+remarkable, have occurred. Unquestionably the illusions were maniacal,
+though the vulgar thought otherwise. They are all reducible to one
+class, [*] and are not more difficult of explication and cure than most
+affections of our frame."
+
+This opinion my uncle endeavoured, by various means, to impress upon me.
+I listened to his reasonings and illustrations with silent respect. My
+astonishment was great on finding proofs of an influence of which I
+had supposed there were no examples; but I was far from accounting for
+appearances in my uncle's manner. Ideas thronged into my mind which I
+was unable to disjoin or to regulate. I reflected that this madness,
+if madness it were, had affected Pleyel and myself as well as Wieland.
+Pleyel had heard a mysterious voice. I had seen and heard. A form had
+showed itself to me as well as to Wieland. The disclosure had been
+made in the same spot. The appearance was equally complete and equally
+prodigious in both instances. Whatever supposition I should adopt, had
+I not equal reason to tremble? What was my security against influences
+equally terrific and equally irresistable?
+
+It would be vain to attempt to describe the state of mind which this
+idea produced. I wondered at the change which a moment had affected
+in my brother's condition. Now was I stupified with tenfold wonder in
+contemplating myself. Was I not likewise transformed from rational and
+human into a creature of nameless and fearful attributes? Was I not
+transported to the brink of the same abyss? Ere a new day should come,
+my hands might be embrued in blood, and my remaining life be consigned
+to a dungeon and chains.
+
+With moral sensibility like mine, no wonder that this new dread was more
+insupportable than the anguish I had lately endured. Grief carries its
+own antidote along with it. When thought becomes merely a vehicle of
+pain, its progress must be stopped. Death is a cure which nature or
+ourselves must administer: To this cure I now looked forward with gloomy
+satisfaction.
+
+My silence could not conceal from my uncle the state of my thoughts.
+He made unwearied efforts to divert my attention from views so
+pregnant with danger. His efforts, aided by time, were in some measure
+successful. Confidence in the strength of my resolution, and in the
+healthful state of my faculties, was once more revived. I was able
+to devote my thoughts to my brother's state, and the causes of this
+disasterous proceeding.
+
+My opinions were the sport of eternal change. Some times I conceived the
+apparition to be more than human. I had no grounds on which to build a
+disbelief. I could not deny faith to the evidence of my religion;
+the testimony of men was loud and unanimous: both these concurred
+to persuade me that evil spirits existed, and that their energy was
+frequently exerted in the system of the world.
+
+These ideas connected themselves with the image of Carwin. Where is the
+proof, said I, that daemons may not be subjected to the controul of men?
+This truth may be distorted and debased in the minds of the ignorant.
+The dogmas of the vulgar, with regard to this subject, are glaringly
+absurd; but though these may justly be neglected by the wise, we are
+scarcely justified in totally rejecting the possibility that men may
+obtain supernatural aid.
+
+The dreams of superstition are worthy of contempt. Witchcraft, its
+instruments and miracles, the compact ratified by a bloody signature,
+the apparatus of sulpherous smells and thundering explosions, are
+monstrous and chimerical. These have no part in the scene over which the
+genius of Carwin presides. That conscious beings, dissimilar from human,
+but moral and voluntary agents as we are, some where exist, can scarcely
+be denied. That their aid may be employed to benign or malignant
+purposes, cannot be disproved.
+
+Darkness rests upon the designs of this man. The extent of his power is
+unknown; but is there not evidence that it has been now exerted?
+
+I recurred to my own experience. Here Carwin had actually appeared upon
+the stage; but this was in a human character. A voice and a form were
+discovered; but one was apparently exerted, and the other disclosed, not
+to befriend, but to counteract Carwin's designs. There were tokens of
+hostility, and not of alliance, between them. Carwin was the miscreant
+whose projects were resisted by a minister of heaven. How can this be
+reconciled to the stratagem which ruined my brother? There the agency
+was at once preternatural and malignant.
+
+The recollection of this fact led my thoughts into a new channel. The
+malignity of that influence which governed my brother had hitherto been
+no subject of doubt. His wife and children were destroyed; they had
+expired in agony and fear; yet was it indisputably certain that their
+murderer was criminal? He was acquitted at the tribunal of his own
+conscience; his behaviour at his trial and since, was faithfully
+reported to me; appearances were uniform; not for a moment did he lay
+aside the majesty of virtue; he repelled all invectives by appealing to
+the deity, and to the tenor of his past life; surely there was truth in
+this appeal: none but a command from heaven could have swayed his will;
+and nothing but unerring proof of divine approbation could sustain his
+mind in its present elevation.
+
+
+     * Mania Mutabilis. See Darwin's Zoonomia, vol. ii. Class III.
+     1.2. where similar cases are stated.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI
+
+
+Such, for some time, was the course of my meditations. My weakness, and
+my aversion to be pointed at as an object of surprize or compassion,
+prevented me from going into public. I studiously avoided the visits of
+those who came to express their sympathy, or gratify their curiosity.
+My uncle was my principal companion. Nothing more powerfully tended to
+console me than his conversation.
+
+With regard to Pleyel, my feelings seemed to have undergone a total
+revolution. It often happens that one passion supplants another. Late
+disasters had rent my heart, and now that the wound was in some degree
+closed, the love which I had cherished for this man seemed likewise to
+have vanished.
+
+Hitherto, indeed, I had had no cause for despair. I was innocent of that
+offence which had estranged him from my presence. I might reasonably
+expect that my innocence would at some time be irresistably
+demonstrated, and his affection for me be revived with his esteem. Now
+my aversion to be thought culpable by him continued, but was unattended
+with the same impatience. I desired the removal of his suspicions,
+not for the sake of regaining his love, but because I delighted in the
+veneration of so excellent a man, and because he himself would derive
+pleasure from conviction of my integrity.
+
+My uncle had early informed me that Pleyel and he had seen each other,
+since the return of the latter from Europe. Amidst the topics of their
+conversation, I discovered that Pleyel had carefully omitted the mention
+of those events which had drawn upon me so much abhorrence. I could
+not account for his silence on this subject. Perhaps time or some new
+discovery had altered or shaken his opinion. Perhaps he was unwilling,
+though I were guilty, to injure me in the opinion of my venerable
+kinsman. I understood that he had frequently visited me during
+my disease, had watched many successive nights by my bedside, and
+manifested the utmost anxiety on my account.
+
+The journey which he was preparing to take, at the termination of our
+last interview, the catastrophe of the ensuing night induced him to
+delay. The motives of this journey I had, till now, totally mistaken.
+They were explained to me by my uncle, whose tale excited my
+astonishment without awakening my regret. In a different state of mind,
+it would have added unspeakably to my distress, but now it was more
+a source of pleasure than pain. This, perhaps, is not the least
+extraordinary of the facts contained in this narrative. It will excite
+less wonder when I add, that my indifference was temporary, and that the
+lapse of a few days shewed me that my feelings were deadened for a time,
+rather than finally extinguished.
+
+Theresa de Stolberg was alive. She had conceived the resolution of
+seeking her lover in America. To conceal her flight, she had caused the
+report of her death to be propagated. She put herself under the conduct
+of Bertrand, the faithful servant of Pleyel. The pacquet which the
+latter received from the hands of his servant, contained the tidings of
+her safe arrival at Boston, and to meet her there was the purpose of his
+journey.
+
+This discovery had set this man's character in a new light. I had
+mistaken the heroism of friendship for the phrenzy of love. He who
+had gained my affections, may be supposed to have previously entitled
+himself to my reverence; but the levity which had formerly characterized
+the behaviour of this man, tended to obscure the greatness of his
+sentiments. I did not fail to remark, that since this lady was still
+alive, the voice in the temple which asserted her death, must either
+have been intended to deceive, or have been itself deceived. The latter
+supposition was inconsistent with the notion of a spiritual, and the
+former with that of a benevolent being.
+
+When my disease abated, Pleyel had forborne his visits, and had lately
+set out upon this journey. This amounted to a proof that my guilt was
+still believed by him. I was grieved for his errors, but trusted that my
+vindication would, sooner or later, be made.
+
+Meanwhile, tumultuous thoughts were again set afloat by a proposal
+made to me by my uncle. He imagined that new airs would restore my
+languishing constitution, and a varied succession of objects tend to
+repair the shock which my mind had received. For this end, he proposed
+to me to take up my abode with him in France or Italy.
+
+At a more prosperous period, this scheme would have pleased for its own
+sake. Now my heart sickened at the prospect of nature. The world of man
+was shrowded in misery and blood, and constituted a loathsome spectacle.
+I willingly closed my eyes in sleep, and regretted that the respite it
+afforded me was so short. I marked with satisfaction the progress of
+decay in my frame, and consented to live, merely in the hope that
+the course of nature would speedily relieve me from the burthen.
+Nevertheless, as he persisted in his scheme, I concurred in it merely
+because he was entitled to my gratitude, and because my refusal gave him
+pain.
+
+No sooner was he informed of my consent, than he told me I must make
+immediate preparation to embark, as the ship in which he had engaged
+a passage would be ready to depart in three days. This expedition was
+unexpected. There was an impatience in his manner when he urged the
+necessity of dispatch that excited my surprize. When I questioned him as
+to the cause of this haste, he generally stated reasons which, at
+that time, I could not deny to be plausible; but which, on the review,
+appeared insufficient. I suspected that the true motives were concealed,
+and believed that these motives had some connection with my brother's
+destiny.
+
+I now recollected that the information respecting Wieland which had,
+from time to time, been imparted to me, was always accompanied with airs
+of reserve and mysteriousness. What had appeared sufficiently explicit
+at the time it was uttered, I now remembered to have been faltering
+and ambiguous. I was resolved to remove my doubts, by visiting the
+unfortunate man in his dungeon.
+
+Heretofore the idea of this visit had occurred to me; but the horrors
+of his dwelling-place, his wild yet placid physiognomy, his neglected
+locks, the fetters which constrained his limbs, terrible as they were in
+description, how could I endure to behold!
+
+Now, however, that I was preparing to take an everlasting farewell of my
+country, now that an ocean was henceforth to separate me from him, how
+could I part without an interview? I would examine his situation with my
+own eyes. I would know whether the representations which had been made
+to me were true. Perhaps the sight of the sister whom he was wont
+to love with a passion more than fraternal, might have an auspicious
+influence on his malady.
+
+Having formed this resolution, I waited to communicate it to Mr.
+Cambridge. I was aware that, without his concurrence, I could not hope
+to carry it into execution, and could discover no objection to which
+it was liable. If I had not been deceived as to his condition, no
+inconvenience could arise from this proceeding. His consent, therefore,
+would be the test of his sincerity.
+
+I seized this opportunity to state my wishes on this head. My suspicions
+were confirmed by the manner in which my request affected him. After
+some pause, in which his countenance betrayed every mark of perplexity,
+he said to me, "Why would you pay this visit? What useful purpose can it
+serve?"
+
+"We are preparing," said I, "to leave the country forever: What kind of
+being should I be to leave behind me a brother in calamity without even
+a parting interview? Indulge me for three minutes in the sight of him.
+My heart will be much easier after I have looked at him, and shed a few
+tears in his presence."
+
+"I believe otherwise. The sight of him would only augment your distress,
+without contributing, in any degree, to his benefit."
+
+"I know not that," returned I. "Surely the sympathy of his sister,
+proofs that her tenderness is as lively as ever, must be a source
+of satisfaction to him. At present he must regard all mankind as his
+enemies and calumniators. His sister he, probably, conceives to partake
+in the general infatuation, and to join in the cry of abhorrence that
+is raised against him. To be undeceived in this respect, to be assured
+that, however I may impute his conduct to delusion, I still retain all
+my former affection for his person, and veneration for the purity of his
+motives, cannot but afford him pleasure. When he hears that I have left
+the country, without even the ceremonious attention of a visit, what
+will he think of me? His magnanimity may hinder him from repining, but
+he will surely consider my behaviour as savage and unfeeling. Indeed,
+dear Sir, I must pay this visit. To embark with you without paying it,
+will be impossible. It may be of no service to him, but will enable me
+to acquit myself of what I cannot but esteem a duty. Besides," continued
+I, "if it be a mere fit of insanity that has seized him, may not my
+presence chance to have a salutary influence? The mere sight of me, it
+is not impossible, may rectify his perceptions."
+
+"Ay," said my uncle, with some eagerness; "it is by no means impossible
+that your interview may have that effect; and for that reason, beyond
+all others, would I dissuade you from it."
+
+I expressed my surprize at this declaration. "Is it not to be desired
+that an error so fatal as this should be rectified?"
+
+"I wonder at your question. Reflect on the consequences of this error.
+Has he not destroyed the wife whom he loved, the children whom he
+idolized? What is it that enables him to bear the remembrance, but the
+belief that he acted as his duty enjoined? Would you rashly bereave him
+of this belief? Would you restore him to himself, and convince him
+that he was instigated to this dreadful outrage by a perversion of his
+organs, or a delusion from hell?
+
+"Now his visions are joyous and elate. He conceives himself to have
+reached a loftier degree of virtue, than any other human being. The
+merit of his sacrifice is only enhanced in the eyes of superior beings,
+by the detestation that pursues him here, and the sufferings to which he
+is condemned. The belief that even his sister has deserted him, and
+gone over to his enemies, adds to his sublimity of feelings, and his
+confidence in divine approbation and future recompense.
+
+"Let him be undeceived in this respect, and what floods of despair and
+of horror will overwhelm him! Instead of glowing approbation and serene
+hope, will he not hate and torture himself? Self-violence, or a phrenzy
+far more savage and destructive than this, may be expected to succeed. I
+beseech you, therefore, to relinquish this scheme. If you calmly reflect
+upon it, you will discover that your duty lies in carefully shunning
+him."
+
+Mr. Cambridge's reasonings suggested views to my understanding, that had
+not hitherto occurred. I could not but admit their validity, but they
+shewed, in a new light, the depth of that misfortune in which my brother
+was plunged. I was silent and irresolute.
+
+Presently, I considered, that whether Wieland was a maniac, a faithful
+servant of his God, the victim of hellish illusions, or the dupe of
+human imposture, was by no means certain. In this state of my mind it
+became me to be silent during the visit that I projected. This visit
+should be brief: I should be satisfied merely to snatch a look at him.
+Admitting that a change in his opinions were not to be desired, there
+was no danger from the conduct which I should pursue, that this change
+should be wrought.
+
+But I could not conquer my uncle's aversion to this scheme. Yet I
+persisted, and he found that to make me voluntarily relinquish it, it
+was necessary to be more explicit than he had hitherto been. He took
+both my hands, and anxiously examining my countenance as he spoke,
+"Clara," said he, "this visit must not be paid. We must hasten with the
+utmost expedition from this shore. It is folly to conceal the truth
+from you, and, since it is only by disclosing the truth that you can be
+prevailed upon to lay aside this project, the truth shall be told.
+
+"O my dear girl!" continued he with increasing energy in his accent,
+"your brother's phrenzy is, indeed, stupendous and frightful. The soul
+that formerly actuated his frame has disappeared. The same form remains;
+but the wise and benevolent Wieland is no more. A fury that is rapacious
+of blood, that lifts his strength almost above that of mortals, that
+bends all his energies to the destruction of whatever was once dear to
+him, possesses him wholly.
+
+"You must not enter his dungeon; his eyes will no sooner be fixed upon
+you, than an exertion of his force will be made. He will shake off his
+fetters in a moment, and rush upon you. No interposition will then be
+strong or quick enough to save you.
+
+"The phantom that has urged him to the murder of Catharine and her
+children is not yet appeased. Your life, and that of Pleyel, are exacted
+from him by this imaginary being. He is eager to comply with this
+demand. Twice he has escaped from his prison. The first time, he no
+sooner found himself at liberty, than he hasted to Pleyel's house. It
+being midnight, the latter was in bed. Wieland penetrated unobserved
+to his chamber, and opened his curtain. Happily, Pleyel awoke at the
+critical moment, and escaped the fury of his kinsman, by leaping from
+his chamber-window into the court. Happily, he reached the ground
+without injury. Alarms were given, and after diligent search, your
+brother was found in a chamber of your house, whither, no doubt, he
+had sought you. His chains, and the watchfulness of his guards, were
+redoubled; but again, by some miracle, he restored himself to liberty.
+He was now incautiously apprized of the place of your abode: and had not
+information of his escape been instantly given, your death would have
+been added to the number of his atrocious acts.
+
+"You now see the danger of your project. You must not only forbear to
+visit him, but if you would save him from the crime of embruing his
+hands in your blood, you must leave the country. There is no hope that
+his malady will end but with his life, and no precaution will ensure
+your safety, but that of placing the ocean between you.
+
+"I confess I came over with an intention to reside among you, but
+these disasters have changed my views. Your own safety and my happiness
+require that you should accompany me in my return, and I entreat you to
+give your cheerful concurrence to this measure."
+
+After these representations from my uncle, it was impossible to retain
+my purpose. I readily consented to seclude myself from Wieland's
+presence. I likewise acquiesced in the proposal to go to Europe; not
+that I ever expected to arrive there, but because, since my principles
+forbad me to assail my own life, change had some tendency to make
+supportable the few days which disease should spare to me.
+
+What a tale had thus been unfolded! I was hunted to death, not by
+one whom my misconduct had exasperated, who was conscious of illicit
+motives, and who sought his end by circumvention and surprize; but by
+one who deemed himself commissioned for this act by heaven; who
+regarded this career of horror as the last refinement of virtue; whose
+implacability was proportioned to the reverence and love which he felt
+for me, and who was inaccessible to the fear of punishment and ignominy!
+
+In vain should I endeavour to stay his hand by urging the claims of
+a sister or friend: these were his only reasons for pursuing my
+destruction. Had I been a stranger to his blood; had I been the most
+worthless of human kind; my safety had not been endangered.
+
+Surely, said I, my fate is without example. The phrenzy which is charged
+upon my brother, must belong to myself. My foe is manacled and guarded;
+but I derive no security from these restraints. I live not in a
+community of savages; yet, whether I sit or walk, go into crouds,
+or hide myself in solitude, my life is marked for a prey to inhuman
+violence; I am in perpetual danger of perishing; of perishing under the
+grasp of a brother!
+
+I recollected the omens of this destiny; I remembered the gulf to which
+my brother's invitation had conducted me; I remembered that, when on the
+brink of danger, the author of my peril was depicted by my fears in
+his form: Thus realized, were the creatures of prophetic sleep, and of
+wakeful terror!
+
+These images were unavoidably connected with that of Carwin. In
+this paroxysm of distress, my attention fastened on him as the grand
+deceiver; the author of this black conspiracy; the intelligence that
+governed in this storm.
+
+Some relief is afforded in the midst of suffering, when its author is
+discovered or imagined; and an object found on which we may pour out
+our indignation and our vengeance. I ran over the events that had taken
+place since the origin of our intercourse with him, and reflected on the
+tenor of that description which was received from Ludloe. Mixed up with
+notions of supernatural agency, were the vehement suspicions which I
+entertained, that Carwin was the enemy whose machinations had destroyed
+us.
+
+I thirsted for knowledge and for vengeance. I regarded my hasty
+departure with reluctance, since it would remove me from the means by
+which this knowledge might be obtained, and this vengeance gratified.
+This departure was to take place in two days. At the end of two days
+I was to bid an eternal adieu to my native country. Should I not pay a
+parting visit to the scene of these disasters? Should I not bedew with
+my tears the graves of my sister and her children? Should I not explore
+their desolate habitation, and gather from the sight of its walls and
+furniture food for my eternal melancholy?
+
+This suggestion was succeeded by a secret shuddering. Some disastrous
+influence appeared to overhang the scene. How many memorials should I
+meet with serving to recall the images of those I had lost!
+
+I was tempted to relinquish my design, when it occurred to me that I
+had left among my papers a journal of transactions in shorthand. I
+was employed in this manuscript on that night when Pleyel's incautious
+curiosity tempted him to look over my shoulder. I was then recording my
+adventure in THE RECESS, an imperfect sight of which led him into such
+fatal errors.
+
+I had regulated the disposition of all my property. This manuscript,
+however, which contained the most secret transactions of my life, I was
+desirous of destroying. For this end I must return to my house, and this
+I immediately determined to do.
+
+I was not willing to expose myself to opposition from my friends,
+by mentioning my design; I therefore bespoke the use of Mr. Hallet's
+chaise, under pretence of enjoying an airing, as the day was remarkably
+bright.
+
+This request was gladly complied with, and I directed the servant to
+conduct me to Mettingen. I dismissed him at the gate, intending to use,
+in returning, a carriage belonging to my brother.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII
+
+
+The inhabitants of the HUT received me with a mixture of joy and
+surprize. Their homely welcome, and their artless sympathy, were
+grateful to my feelings. In the midst of their inquiries, as to my
+health, they avoided all allusions to the source of my malady. They were
+honest creatures, and I loved them well. I participated in the tears
+which they shed when I mentioned to them my speedy departure for Europe,
+and promised to acquaint them with my welfare during my long absence.
+
+They expressed great surprize when I informed them of my intention to
+visit my cottage. Alarm and foreboding overspread their features, and
+they attempted to dissuade me from visiting an house which they firmly
+believed to be haunted by a thousand ghastly apparitions.
+
+These apprehensions, however, had no power over my conduct. I took an
+irregular path which led me to my own house. All was vacant and forlorn.
+A small enclosure, near which the path led, was the burying-ground
+belonging to the family. This I was obliged to pass. Once I had intended
+to enter it, and ponder on the emblems and inscriptions which my uncle
+had caused to be made on the tombs of Catharine and her children; but
+now my heart faltered as I approached, and I hastened forward, that
+distance might conceal it from my view.
+
+When I approached the recess, my heart again sunk. I averted my eyes,
+and left it behind me as quickly as possible. Silence reigned through
+my habitation, and a darkness which closed doors and shutters produced.
+Every object was connected with mine or my brother's history. I passed
+the entry, mounted the stair, and unlocked the door of my chamber.
+It was with difficulty that I curbed my fancy and smothered my fears.
+Slight movements and casual sounds were transformed into beckoning
+shadows and calling shapes.
+
+I proceeded to the closet. I opened and looked round it with
+fearfulness. All things were in their accustomed order. I sought and
+found the manuscript where I was used to deposit it. This being secured,
+there was nothing to detain me; yet I stood and contemplated awhile the
+furniture and walls of my chamber. I remembered how long this apartment
+had been a sweet and tranquil asylum; I compared its former state with
+its present dreariness, and reflected that I now beheld it for the last
+time.
+
+Here it was that the incomprehensible behaviour of Carwin was witnessed:
+this the stage on which that enemy of man shewed himself for a moment
+unmasked. Here the menaces of murder were wafted to my ear; and here
+these menaces were executed.
+
+These thoughts had a tendency to take from me my self-command. My feeble
+limbs refused to support me, and I sunk upon a chair. Incoherent and
+half-articulate exclamations escaped my lips. The name of Carwin was
+uttered, and eternal woes, woes like that which his malice had entailed
+upon us, were heaped upon him. I invoked all-seeing heaven to drag to
+light and to punish this betrayer, and accused its providence for having
+thus long delayed the retribution that was due to so enormous a guilt.
+
+I have said that the window shutters were closed. A feeble light,
+however, found entrance through the crevices. A small window illuminated
+the closet, and the door being closed, a dim ray streamed through
+the key-hole. A kind of twilight was thus created, sufficient for the
+purposes of vision; but, at the same time, involving all minuter objects
+in obscurity.
+
+This darkness suited the colour of my thoughts. I sickened at the
+remembrance of the past. The prospect of the future excited my loathing.
+I muttered in a low voice, Why should I live longer? Why should I drag a
+miserable being? All, for whom I ought to live, have perished. Am I not
+myself hunted to death?
+
+At that moment, my despair suddenly became vigorous. My nerves were no
+longer unstrung. My powers, that had long been deadened, were revived.
+My bosom swelled with a sudden energy, and the conviction darted through
+my mind, that to end my torments was, at once, practicable and wise.
+
+I knew how to find way to the recesses of life. I could use a lancet
+with some skill, and could distinguish between vein and artery. By
+piercing deep into the latter, I should shun the evils which the future
+had in store for me, and take refuge from my woes in quiet death.
+
+I started on my feet, for my feebleness was gone, and hasted to the
+closet. A lancet and other small instruments were preserved in a
+case which I had deposited here. Inattentive as I was to foreign
+considerations, my ears were still open to any sound of mysterious
+import that should occur. I thought I heard a step in the entry. My
+purpose was suspended, and I cast an eager glance at my chamber door,
+which was open. No one appeared, unless the shadow which I discerned
+upon the floor, was the outline of a man. If it were, I was authorized
+to suspect that some one was posted close to the entrance, who possibly
+had overheard my exclamations.
+
+My teeth chattered, and a wild confusion took place of my momentary
+calm. Thus it was when a terrific visage had disclosed itself on a
+former night. Thus it was when the evil destiny of Wieland assumed the
+lineaments of something human. What horrid apparition was preparing to
+blast my sight?
+
+Still I listened and gazed. Not long, for the shadow moved; a foot,
+unshapely and huge, was thrust forward; a form advanced from its
+concealment, and stalked into the room. It was Carwin! While I had
+breath I shrieked. While I had power over my muscles, I motioned with
+my hand that he should vanish. My exertions could not last long; I sunk
+into a fit.
+
+O that this grateful oblivion had lasted for ever! Too quickly I
+recovered my senses. The power of distinct vision was no sooner restored
+to me, than this hateful form again presented itself, and I once more
+relapsed.
+
+A second time, untoward nature recalled me from the sleep of death.
+I found myself stretched upon the bed. When I had power to look up, I
+remembered only that I had cause to fear. My distempered fancy fashioned
+to itself no distinguishable image. I threw a languid glance round me;
+once more my eyes lighted upon Carwin.
+
+He was seated on the floor, his back rested against the wall, his knees
+were drawn up, and his face was buried in his hands. That his station
+was at some distance, that his attitude was not menacing, that his
+ominous visage was concealed, may account for my now escaping a shock,
+violent as those which were past. I withdrew my eyes, but was not again
+deserted by my senses.
+
+On perceiving that I had recovered my sensibility, he lifted his head.
+This motion attracted my attention. His countenance was mild, but sorrow
+and astonishment sat upon his features. I averted my eyes and feebly
+exclaimed--"O! fly--fly far and for ever!--I cannot behold you and
+live!"
+
+He did not rise upon his feet, but clasped his hands, and said in a
+tone of deprecation--"I will fly. I am become a fiend, the sight of whom
+destroys. Yet tell me my offence! You have linked curses with my name;
+you ascribe to me a malice monstrous and infernal. I look around; all
+is loneliness and desert! This house and your brother's are solitary and
+dismantled! You die away at the sight of me! My fear whispers that some
+deed of horror has been perpetrated; that I am the undesigning cause."
+
+What language was this? Had he not avowed himself a ravisher? Had not
+this chamber witnessed his atrocious purposes? I besought him with new
+vehemence to go.
+
+He lifted his eyes--"Great heaven! what have I done? I think I know
+the extent of my offences. I have acted, but my actions have possibly
+effected more than I designed. This fear has brought me back from my
+retreat. I come to repair the evil of which my rashness was the cause,
+and to prevent more evil. I come to confess my errors."
+
+"Wretch!" I cried when my suffocating emotions would permit me to speak,
+"the ghosts of my sister and her children, do they not rise to accuse
+thee? Who was it that blasted the intellects of Wieland? Who was it
+that urged him to fury, and guided him to murder? Who, but thou and the
+devil, with whom thou art confederated?"
+
+At these words a new spirit pervaded his countenance. His eyes once more
+appealed to heaven. "If I have memory, if I have being, I am innocent. I
+intended no ill; but my folly, indirectly and remotely, may have caused
+it; but what words are these! Your brother lunatic! His children dead!"
+
+What should I infer from this deportment? Was the ignorance which these
+words implied real or pretended?--Yet how could I imagine a mere human
+agency in these events? But if the influence was preternatural or
+maniacal in my brother's case, they must be equally so in my own. Then
+I remembered that the voice exerted, was to save me from Carwin's
+attempts. These ideas tended to abate my abhorrence of this man, and to
+detect the absurdity of my accusations.
+
+"Alas!" said I, "I have no one to accuse. Leave me to my fate. Fly from
+a scene stained with cruelty; devoted to despair."
+
+Carwin stood for a time musing and mournful. At length he said, "What
+has happened? I came to expiate my crimes: let me know them in their
+full extent. I have horrible forebodings! What has happened?"
+
+I was silent; but recollecting the intimation given by this man when he
+was detected in my closet, which implied some knowledge of that power
+which interfered in my favor, I eagerly inquired, "What was that voice
+which called upon me to hold when I attempted to open the closet? What
+face was that which I saw at the bottom of the stairs? Answer me truly."
+
+"I came to confess the truth. Your allusions are horrible and strange.
+Perhaps I have but faint conceptions of the evils which my infatuation
+has produced; but what remains I will perform. It was my VOICE that you
+heard! It was my FACE that you saw!"
+
+For a moment I doubted whether my remembrance of events were not
+confused. How could he be at once stationed at my shoulder and shut up
+in my closet? How could he stand near me and yet be invisible? But if
+Carwin's were the thrilling voice and the fiery visage which I had heard
+and seen, then was he the prompter of my brother, and the author of
+these dismal outrages.
+
+Once more I averted my eyes and struggled for speech. "Begone! thou man
+of mischief! Remorseless and implacable miscreant! begone!"
+
+"I will obey," said he in a disconsolate voice; "yet, wretch as I am,
+am I unworthy to repair the evils that I have committed? I came as a
+repentant criminal. It is you whom I have injured, and at your bar am
+I willing to appear, and confess and expiate my crimes. I have deceived
+you: I have sported with your terrors: I have plotted to destroy your
+reputation. I come now to remove your errors; to set you beyond the
+reach of similar fears; to rebuild your fame as far as I am able.
+
+"This is the amount of my guilt, and this the fruit of my remorse. Will
+you not hear me? Listen to my confession, and then denounce punishment.
+All I ask is a patient audience."
+
+"What!" I replied, "was not thine the voice that commanded my brother to
+imbrue his hands in the blood of his children--to strangle that angel of
+sweetness his wife? Has he not vowed my death, and the death of Pleyel,
+at thy bidding? Hast thou not made him the butcher of his family;
+changed him who was the glory of his species into worse than brute;
+robbed him of reason, and consigned the rest of his days to fetters and
+stripes?"
+
+Carwin's eyes glared, and his limbs were petrified at this intelligence.
+No words were requisite to prove him guiltless of these enormities: at
+the time, however, I was nearly insensible to these exculpatory tokens.
+He walked to the farther end of the room, and having recovered some
+degree of composure, he spoke--
+
+"I am not this villain; I have slain no one; I have prompted none to
+slay; I have handled a tool of wonderful efficacy without malignant
+intentions, but without caution; ample will be the punishment of my
+temerity, if my conduct has contributed to this evil." He paused.--
+
+I likewise was silent. I struggled to command myself so far as to listen
+to the tale which he should tell. Observing this, he continued--
+
+"You are not apprized of the existence of a power which I possess. I
+know not by what name to call it. [*] It enables me to mimic exactly the
+voice of another, and to modify the sound so that it shall appear to
+come from what quarter, and be uttered at what distance I please.
+
+"I know not that every one possesses this power. Perhaps, though a
+casual position of my organs in my youth shewed me that I possessed
+it, it is an art which may be taught to all. Would to God I had died
+unknowing of the secret! It has produced nothing but degradation and
+calamity.
+
+"For a time the possession of so potent and stupendous an endowment
+elated me with pride. Unfortified by principle, subjected to poverty,
+stimulated by headlong passions, I made this powerful engine subservient
+to the supply of my wants, and the gratification of my vanity. I shall
+not mention how diligently I cultivated this gift, which seemed capable
+of unlimited improvement; nor detail the various occasions on which
+it was successfully exerted to lead superstition, conquer avarice, or
+excite awe.
+
+"I left America, which is my native soil, in my youth. I have been
+engaged in various scenes of life, in which my peculiar talent has been
+exercised with more or less success. I was finally betrayed by one who
+called himself my friend, into acts which cannot be justified, though
+they are susceptible of apology.
+
+"The perfidy of this man compelled me to withdraw from Europe. I
+returned to my native country, uncertain whether silence and obscurity
+would save me from his malice. I resided in the purlieus of the city. I
+put on the garb and assumed the manners of a clown.
+
+"My chief recreation was walking. My principal haunts were the lawns
+and gardens of Mettingen. In this delightful region the luxuriances
+of nature had been chastened by judicious art, and each successive
+contemplation unfolded new enchantments.
+
+"I was studious of seclusion: I was satiated with the intercourse of
+mankind, and discretion required me to shun their intercourse. For
+these reasons I long avoided the observation of your family, and chiefly
+visited these precincts at night.
+
+"I was never weary of admiring the position and ornaments of THE
+TEMPLE. Many a night have I passed under its roof, revolving no pleasing
+meditations. When, in my frequent rambles, I perceived this apartment
+was occupied, I gave a different direction to my steps. One evening,
+when a shower had just passed, judging by the silence that no one
+was within, I ascended to this building. Glancing carelessly round, I
+perceived an open letter on the pedestal. To read it was doubtless an
+offence against politeness. Of this offence, however, I was guilty.
+
+"Scarcely had I gone half through when I was alarmed by the approach
+of your brother. To scramble down the cliff on the opposite side
+was impracticable. I was unprepared to meet a stranger. Besides
+the aukwardness attending such an interview in these circumstances,
+concealment was necessary to my safety. A thousand times had I vowed
+never again to employ the dangerous talent which I possessed; but such
+was the force of habit and the influence of present convenience, that I
+used this method of arresting his progress and leading him back to the
+house, with his errand, whatever it was, unperformed. I had often caught
+parts, from my station below, of your conversation in this place, and
+was well acquainted with the voice of your sister.
+
+"Some weeks after this I was again quietly seated in this recess. The
+lateness of the hour secured me, as I thought, from all interruption.
+In this, however, I was mistaken, for Wieland and Pleyel, as I judged by
+their voices, earnest in dispute, ascended the hill.
+
+"I was not sensible that any inconvenience could possibly have flowed
+from my former exertion; yet it was followed with compunction, because
+it was a deviation from a path which I had assigned to myself. Now
+my aversion to this means of escape was enforced by an unauthorized
+curiosity, and by the knowledge of a bushy hollow on the edge of the
+hill, where I should be safe from discovery. Into this hollow I thrust
+myself.
+
+"The propriety of removal to Europe was the question eagerly discussed.
+Pleyel intimated that his anxiety to go was augmented by the silence
+of Theresa de Stolberg. The temptation to interfere in this dispute was
+irresistible. In vain I contended with inveterate habits. I disguised to
+myself the impropriety of my conduct, by recollecting the benefits which
+it might produce. Pleyel's proposal was unwise, yet it was enforced
+with plausible arguments and indefatigable zeal. Your brother might be
+puzzled and wearied, but could not be convinced. I conceived that
+to terminate the controversy in favor of the latter was conferring a
+benefit on all parties. For this end I profited by an opening in the
+conversation, and assured them of Catharine's irreconcilable aversion to
+the scheme, and of the death of the Saxon baroness. The latter event
+was merely a conjecture, but rendered extremely probable by Pleyel's
+representations. My purpose, you need not be told, was effected.
+
+"My passion for mystery, and a species of imposture, which I deemed
+harmless, was thus awakened afresh. This second lapse into error made my
+recovery more difficult. I cannot convey to you an adequate idea of
+the kind of gratification which I derived from these exploits; yet I
+meditated nothing. My views were bounded to the passing moment, and
+commonly suggested by the momentary exigence.
+
+"I must not conceal any thing. Your principles teach you to abhor a
+voluptuous temper; but, with whatever reluctance, I acknowledge this
+temper to be mine. You imagine your servant Judith to be innocent as
+well as beautiful; but you took her from a family where hypocrisy, as
+well as licentiousness, was wrought into a system. My attention was
+captivated by her charms, and her principles were easily seen to be
+flexible.
+
+"Deem me not capable of the iniquity of seduction. Your servant is not
+destitute of feminine and virtuous qualities; but she was taught that
+the best use of her charms consists in the sale of them. My nocturnal
+visits to Mettingen were now prompted by a double view, and my
+correspondence with your servant gave me, at all times, access to your
+house.
+
+"The second night after our interview, so brief and so little foreseen
+by either of us, some daemon of mischief seized me. According to my
+companion's report, your perfections were little less than divine. Her
+uncouth but copious narratives converted you into an object of worship.
+She chiefly dwelt upon your courage, because she herself was deficient
+in that quality. You held apparitions and goblins in contempt. You took
+no precautions against robbers. You were just as tranquil and secure in
+this lonely dwelling, as if you were in the midst of a crowd. Hence a
+vague project occurred to me, to put this courage to the test. A woman
+capable of recollection in danger, of warding off groundless panics,
+of discerning the true mode of proceeding, and profiting by her best
+resources, is a prodigy. I was desirous of ascertaining whether you were
+such an one.
+
+"My expedient was obvious and simple: I was to counterfeit a murderous
+dialogue; but this was to be so conducted that another, and not
+yourself, should appear to be the object. I was not aware of the
+possibility that you should appropriate these menaces to yourself. Had
+you been still and listened, you would have heard the struggles and
+prayers of the victim, who would likewise have appeared to be shut up in
+the closet, and whose voice would have been Judith's. This scene would
+have been an appeal to your compassion; and the proof of cowardice
+or courage which I expected from you, would have been your remaining
+inactive in your bed, or your entering the closet with a view to assist
+the sufferer. Some instances which Judith related of your fearlessness
+and promptitude made me adopt the latter supposition with some degree of
+confidence.
+
+"By the girl's direction I found a ladder, and mounted to your closet
+window. This is scarcely large enough to admit the head, but it answered
+my purpose too well.
+
+"I cannot express my confusion and surprize at your abrupt and
+precipitate flight. I hastily removed the ladder; and, after some pause,
+curiosity and doubts of your safety induced me to follow you. I found
+you stretched on the turf before your brother's door, without sense or
+motion. I felt the deepest regret at this unlooked-for consequence of
+my scheme. I knew not what to do to procure you relief. The idea of
+awakening the family naturally presented itself. This emergency was
+critical, and there was no time to deliberate. It was a sudden thought
+that occurred. I put my lips to the key-hole, and sounded an alarm which
+effectually roused the sleepers. My organs were naturally forcible, and
+had been improved by long and assiduous exercise.
+
+"Long and bitterly did I repent of my scheme. I was somewhat consoled by
+reflecting that my purpose had not been evil, and renewed my fruitless
+vows never to attempt such dangerous experiments. For some time I
+adhered, with laudable forbearance, to this resolution.
+
+"My life has been a life of hardship and exposure. In the summer I
+prefer to make my bed of the smooth turf, or, at most, the shelter of a
+summer-house suffices. In all my rambles I never found a spot in which
+so many picturesque beauties and rural delights were assembled as at
+Mettingen. No corner of your little domain unites fragrance and secrecy
+in so perfect a degree as the recess in the bank. The odour of its
+leaves, the coolness of its shade, and the music of its water-fall,
+had early attracted my attention. Here my sadness was converted into
+peaceful melancholy--here my slumbers were sound, and my pleasures
+enhanced.
+
+"As most free from interruption, I chose this as the scene of my
+midnight interviews with Judith. One evening, as the sun declined, I was
+seated here, when I was alarmed by your approach. It was with difficulty
+that I effected my escape unnoticed by you.
+
+"At the customary hour, I returned to your habitation, and was made
+acquainted by Judith, with your unusual absence. I half suspected the
+true cause, and felt uneasiness at the danger there was that I should be
+deprived of my retreat; or, at least, interrupted in the possession
+of it. The girl, likewise, informed me, that among your other
+singularities, it was not uncommon for you to leave your bed, and walk
+forth for the sake of night-airs and starlight contemplations.
+
+"I desired to prevent this inconvenience. I found you easily swayed
+by fear. I was influenced, in my choice of means, by the facility and
+certainty of that to which I had been accustomed. All that I forsaw was,
+that, in future, this spot would be cautiously shunned by you.
+
+"I entered the recess with the utmost caution, and discovered, by your
+breathings, in what condition you were. The unexpected interpretation
+which you placed upon my former proceeding, suggested my conduct on
+the present occasion. The mode in which heaven is said by the poet, to
+interfere for the prevention of crimes, [**] was somewhat analogous to my
+province, and never failed to occur to me at seasons like this. It
+was requisite to break your slumbers, and for this end I uttered the
+powerful monosyllable, "hold! hold!" My purpose was not prescribed by
+duty, yet surely it was far from being atrocious and inexpiable. To
+effect it, I uttered what was false, but it was well suited to my
+purpose. Nothing less was intended than to injure you. Nay, the evil
+resulting from my former act, was partly removed by assuring you that in
+all places but this you were safe.
+
+
+     * BILOQUIUM, or ventrilocution. Sound is varied according to
+     the variations of direction and distance. The art of the
+     ventriloquist consists in modifying his voice according to
+     all these variations, without changing his place. See the
+     work of the Abbe de la Chappelle, in which are accurately
+     recorded the performances of one of these artists, and some
+     ingenious, though unsatisfactory speculations are given on
+     the means by which the effects are produced. This power is,
+     perhaps, given by nature, but is doubtless improvable, if
+     not acquirable, by art. It may, possibly, consist in an
+     unusual flexibility or exertion of the bottom of the tongue
+     and the uvula. That speech is producible by these alone must
+     be granted, since anatomists mention two instances of
+     persons speaking without a tongue. In one case, the organ
+     was originally wanting, but its place was supplied by a
+     small tubercle, and the uvula was perfect. In the other, the
+     tongue was destroyed by disease, but probably a small part
+     of it remained.
+
+     This power is difficult to explain, but the fact is
+     undeniable. Experience shews that the human voice can
+     imitate the voice of all men and of all inferior animals.
+     The sound of musical instruments, and even noises from the
+     contact of inanimate substances, have been accurately
+     imitated. The mimicry of animals is notorious; and Dr.
+     Burney (Musical Travels) mentions one who imitated a flute
+     and violin, so as to deceive even his ears.
+
+
+     **--Peeps through the blanket of the dark, and cries Hold!
+     Hold!--SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII
+
+
+"My morals will appear to you far from rigid, yet my conduct will fall
+short of your suspicions. I am now to confess actions less excusable,
+and yet surely they will not entitle me to the name of a desperate or
+sordid criminal.
+
+"Your house was rendered, by your frequent and long absences, easily
+accessible to my curiosity. My meeting with Pleyel was the prelude to
+direct intercourse with you. I had seen much of the world, but your
+character exhibited a specimen of human powers that was wholly new to
+me. My intercourse with your servant furnished me with curious details
+of your domestic management. I was of a different sex: I was not your
+husband; I was not even your friend; yet my knowledge of you was of that
+kind, which conjugal intimacies can give, and, in some respects, more
+accurate. The observation of your domestic was guided by me.
+
+"You will not be surprized that I should sometimes profit by your
+absence, and adventure to examine with my own eyes, the interior of your
+chamber. Upright and sincere, you used no watchfulness, and practised
+no precautions. I scrutinized every thing, and pried every where. Your
+closet was usually locked, but it was once my fortune to find the key on
+a bureau. I opened and found new scope for my curiosity in your books.
+One of these was manuscript, and written in characters which essentially
+agreed with a short-hand system which I had learned from a Jesuit
+missionary.
+
+"I cannot justify my conduct, yet my only crime was curiosity. I
+perused this volume with eagerness. The intellect which it unveiled, was
+brighter than my limited and feeble organs could bear. I was naturally
+inquisitive as to your ideas respecting my deportment, and the mysteries
+that had lately occurred.
+
+"You know what you have written. You know that in this volume the key to
+your inmost soul was contained. If I had been a profound and malignant
+impostor, what plenteous materials were thus furnished me of stratagems
+and plots!
+
+"The coincidence of your dream in the summer-house with my exclamation,
+was truly wonderful. The voice which warned you to forbear was,
+doubtless, mine; but mixed by a common process of the fancy, with the
+train of visionary incidents.
+
+"I saw in a stronger light than ever, the dangerousness of that
+instrument which I employed, and renewed my resolutions to abstain from
+the use of it in future; but I was destined perpetually to violate my
+resolutions. By some perverse fate, I was led into circumstances in
+which the exertion of my powers was the sole or the best means of
+escape.
+
+"On that memorable night on which our last interview took place, I
+came as usual to Mettingen. I was apprized of your engagement at your
+brother's, from which you did not expect to return till late. Some
+incident suggested the design of visiting your chamber. Among your books
+which I had not examined, might be something tending to illustrate
+your character, or the history of your family. Some intimation had been
+dropped by you in discourse, respecting a performance of your father, in
+which some important transaction in his life was recorded.
+
+"I was desirous of seeing this book; and such was my habitual attachment
+to mystery, that I preferred the clandestine perusal of it. Such
+were the motives that induced me to make this attempt. Judith had
+disappeared, and finding the house unoccupied, I supplied myself with a
+light, and proceeded to your chamber.
+
+"I found it easy, on experiment, to lock and unlock your closet door
+without the aid of a key. I shut myself in this recess, and was busily
+exploring your shelves, when I heard some one enter the room below. I
+was at a loss who it could be, whether you or your servant. Doubtful,
+however, as I was, I conceived it prudent to extinguish the light.
+Scarcely was this done, when some one entered the chamber. The footsteps
+were easily distinguished to be yours.
+
+"My situation was now full of danger and perplexity. For some time, I
+cherished the hope that you would leave the room so long as to afford
+me an opportunity of escaping. As the hours passed, this hope gradually
+deserted me. It was plain that you had retired for the night.
+
+"I knew not how soon you might find occasion to enter the closet. I was
+alive to all the horrors of detection, and ruminated without ceasing, on
+the behaviour which it would be proper, in case of detection, to adopt.
+I was unable to discover any consistent method of accounting for my
+being thus immured.
+
+"It occurred to me that I might withdraw you from your chamber for a few
+minutes, by counterfeiting a voice from without. Some message from your
+brother might be delivered, requiring your presence at his house. I was
+deterred from this scheme by reflecting on the resolution I had formed,
+and on the possible evils that might result from it. Besides, it was
+not improbable that you would speedily retire to bed, and then, by the
+exercise of sufficient caution, I might hope to escape unobserved.
+
+"Meanwhile I listened with the deepest anxiety to every motion from
+without. I discovered nothing which betokened preparation for
+sleep. Instead of this I heard deep-drawn sighs, and occasionally an
+half-expressed and mournful ejaculation. Hence I inferred that you were
+unhappy. The true state of your mind with regard to Pleyel your own pen
+had disclosed; but I supposed you to be framed of such materials, that,
+though a momentary sadness might affect you, you were impregnable to any
+permanent and heartfelt grief. Inquietude for my own safety was, for a
+moment, suspended by sympathy with your distress.
+
+"To the former consideration I was quickly recalled by a motion of yours
+which indicated I knew not what. I fostered the persuasion that you
+would now retire to bed; but presently you approached the closet, and
+detection seemed to be inevitable. You put your hand upon the lock. I
+had formed no plan to extricate myself from the dilemma in which the
+opening of the door would involve me. I felt an irreconcilable aversion
+to detection. Thus situated, I involuntarily seized the door with a
+resolution to resist your efforts to open it.
+
+"Suddenly you receded from the door. This deportment was inexplicable,
+but the relief it afforded me was quickly gone. You returned, and I once
+more was thrown into perplexity. The expedient that suggested itself was
+precipitate and inartificial. I exerted my organs and called upon you TO
+HOLD.
+
+"That you should persist in spite of this admonition, was a subject of
+astonishment. I again resisted your efforts; for the first expedient
+having failed, I knew not what other to resort to. In this state, how
+was my astonishment increased when I heard your exclamations!
+
+"It was now plain that you knew me to be within. Further resistance was
+unavailing and useless. The door opened, and I shrunk backward. Seldom
+have I felt deeper mortification, and more painful perplexity. I did
+not consider that the truth would be less injurious than any lie which I
+could hastily frame. Conscious as I was of a certain degree of guilt,
+I conceived that you would form the most odious suspicions. The truth
+would be imperfect, unless I were likewise to explain the mysterious
+admonition which had been given; but that explanation was of too great
+moment, and involved too extensive consequences to make me suddenly
+resolve to give it. I was aware that this discovery would associate
+itself in your mind, with the dialogue formerly heard in this closet.
+Thence would your suspicions be aggravated, and to escape from these
+suspicions would be impossible. But the mere truth would be sufficiently
+opprobrious, and deprive me for ever of your good opinion.
+
+"Thus was I rendered desperate, and my mind rapidly passed to the
+contemplation of the use that might be made of previous events. Some
+good genius would appear to you to have interposed to save you from
+injury intended by me. Why, I said, since I must sink in her opinion,
+should I not cherish this belief? Why not personate an enemy, and
+pretend that celestial interference has frustrated my schemes? I must
+fly, but let me leave wonder and fear behind me. Elucidation of the
+mystery will always be practicable. I shall do no injury, but merely
+talk of evil that was designed, but is now past.
+
+"Thus I extenuated my conduct to myself, but I scarcely expect that
+this will be to you a sufficient explication of the scene that followed.
+Those habits which I have imbibed, the rooted passion which possesses me
+for scattering around me amazement and fear, you enjoy no opportunities
+of knowing. That a man should wantonly impute to himself the most
+flagitious designs, will hardly be credited, even though you reflect
+that my reputation was already, by my own folly, irretrievably ruined;
+and that it was always in my power to communicate the truth, and rectify
+the mistake.
+
+"I left you to ponder on this scene. My mind was full of rapid
+and incongruous ideas. Compunction, self-upbraiding, hopelesness,
+satisfaction at the view of those effects likely to flow from my new
+scheme, misgivings as to the beneficial result of this scheme took
+possession of my mind, and seemed to struggle for the mastery.
+
+"I had gone too far to recede. I had painted myself to you as an
+assassin and ravisher, withheld from guilt only by a voice from heaven.
+I had thus reverted into the path of error, and now, having gone thus
+far, my progress seemed to be irrevocable. I said to myself, I must
+leave these precincts for ever. My acts have blasted my fame in the eyes
+of the Wielands. For the sake of creating a mysterious dread, I have
+made myself a villain. I may complete this mysterious plan by some new
+imposture, but I cannot aggravate my supposed guilt.
+
+"My resolution was formed, and I was swiftly ruminating on the means for
+executing it, when Pleyel appeared in sight. This incident decided my
+conduct. It was plain that Pleyel was a devoted lover, but he was, at
+the same time, a man of cold resolves and exquisite sagacity. To deceive
+him would be the sweetest triumph I had ever enjoyed. The deception
+would be momentary, but it would likewise be complete. That his delusion
+would so soon be rectified, was a recommendation to my scheme, for I
+esteemed him too much to desire to entail upon him lasting agonies.
+
+"I had no time to reflect further, for he proceeded, with a quick
+step, towards the house. I was hurried onward involuntarily and by a
+mechanical impulse. I followed him as he passed the recess in the bank,
+and shrowding myself in that spot, I counterfeited sounds which I knew
+would arrest his steps.
+
+"He stopped, turned, listened, approached, and overheard a dialogue
+whose purpose was to vanquish his belief in a point where his belief
+was most difficult to vanquish. I exerted all my powers to imitate your
+voice, your general sentiments, and your language. Being master,
+by means of your journal, of your personal history and most secret
+thoughts, my efforts were the more successful. When I reviewed the tenor
+of this dialogue, I cannot believe but that Pleyel was deluded. When I
+think of your character, and of the inferences which this dialogue was
+intended to suggest, it seems incredible that this delusion should be
+produced.
+
+"I spared not myself. I called myself murderer, thief, guilty of
+innumerable perjuries and misdeeds: that you had debased yourself to the
+level of such an one, no evidence, methought, would suffice to convince
+him who knew you so thoroughly as Pleyel; and yet the imposture
+amounted to proof which the most jealous scrutiny would find to be
+unexceptionable.
+
+"He left his station precipitately and resumed his way to the house. I
+saw that the detection of his error would be instantaneous, since, not
+having gone to bed, an immediate interview would take place between
+you. At first this circumstance was considered with regret; but as time
+opened my eyes to the possible consequences of this scene, I regarded it
+with pleasure.
+
+"In a short time the infatuation which had led me thus far began to
+subside. The remembrance of former reasonings and transactions was
+renewed. How often I had repented this kind of exertion; how many evils
+were produced by it which I had not foreseen; what occasions for the
+bitterest remorse it had administered, now passed through my mind. The
+black catalogue of stratagems was now increased. I had inspired you with
+the most vehement terrors: I had filled your mind with faith in shadows
+and confidence in dreams: I had depraved the imagination of Pleyel:
+I had exhibited you to his understanding as devoted to brutal
+gratifications and consummate in hypocrisy. The evidence which
+accompanied this delusion would be irresistible to one whose passion
+had perverted his judgment, whose jealousy with regard to me had already
+been excited, and who, therefore, would not fail to overrate the force
+of this evidence. What fatal act of despair or of vengeance might not
+this error produce?
+
+"With regard to myself, I had acted with a phrenzy that surpassed
+belief. I had warred against my peace and my fame: I had banished myself
+from the fellowship of vigorous and pure minds: I was self-expelled
+from a scene which the munificence of nature had adorned with unrivalled
+beauties, and from haunts in which all the muses and humanities had
+taken refuge.
+
+"I was thus torn by conflicting fears and tumultuous regrets. The night
+passed away in this state of confusion; and next morning in the gazette
+left at my obscure lodging, I read a description and an offer of reward
+for the apprehension of my person. I was said to have escaped from
+an Irish prison, in which I was confined as an offender convicted of
+enormous and complicated crimes.
+
+"This was the work of an enemy, who, by falsehood and stratagem, had
+procured my condemnation. I was, indeed, a prisoner, but escaped, by the
+exertion of my powers, the fate to which I was doomed, but which I did
+not deserve. I had hoped that the malice of my foe was exhausted; but
+I now perceived that my precautions had been wise, for that the
+intervention of an ocean was insufficient for my security.
+
+"Let me not dwell on the sensations which this discovery produced. I
+need not tell by what steps I was induced to seek an interview with
+you, for the purpose of disclosing the truth, and repairing, as far as
+possible, the effects of my misconduct. It was unavoidable that this
+gazette would fall into your hands, and that it would tend to confirm
+every erroneous impression.
+
+"Having gained this interview, I purposed to seek some retreat in the
+wilderness, inaccessible to your inquiry and to the malice of my foe,
+where I might henceforth employ myself in composing a faithful narrative
+of my actions. I designed it as my vindication from the aspersions that
+had rested on my character, and as a lesson to mankind on the evils of
+credulity on the one hand, and of imposture on the other.
+
+"I wrote you a billet, which was left at the house of your friend,
+and which I knew would, by some means, speedily come to your hands. I
+entertained a faint hope that my invitation would be complied with. I
+knew not what use you would make of the opportunity which this proposal
+afforded you of procuring the seizure of my person; but this fate I was
+determined to avoid, and I had no doubt but due circumspection, and the
+exercise of the faculty which I possessed, would enable me to avoid it.
+
+"I lurked, through the day, in the neighbourhood of Mettingen: I
+approached your habitation at the appointed hour: I entered it in
+silence, by a trap-door which led into the cellar. This had formerly
+been bolted on the inside, but Judith had, at an early period in our
+intercourse, removed this impediment. I ascended to the first floor, but
+met with no one, nor any thing that indicated the presence of an human
+being.
+
+"I crept softly up stairs, and at length perceived your chamber door
+to be opened, and a light to be within. It was of moment to discover by
+whom this light was accompanied. I was sensible of the inconveniencies
+to which my being discovered at your chamber door by any one within
+would subject me; I therefore called out in my own voice, but so
+modified that it should appear to ascend from the court below, 'Who is
+in the chamber? Is it Miss Wieland?"
+
+"No answer was returned to this summons. I listened, but no motion could
+be heard. After a pause I repeated my call, but no less ineffectually.
+
+"I now approached nearer the door, and adventured to look in. A light
+stood on the table, but nothing human was discernible. I entered
+cautiously, but all was solitude and stillness.
+
+"I knew not what to conclude. If the house were inhabited, my call would
+have been noticed; yet some suspicion insinuated itself that silence was
+studiously kept by persons who intended to surprize me. My approach had
+been wary, and the silence that ensued my call had likewise preceded it;
+a circumstance that tended to dissipate my fears.
+
+"At length it occurred to me that Judith might possibly be in her own
+room. I turned my steps thither; but she was not to be found. I passed
+into other rooms, and was soon convinced that the house was totally
+deserted. I returned to your chamber, agitated by vain surmises and
+opposite conjectures. The appointed hour had passed, and I dismissed the
+hope of an interview.
+
+"In this state of things I determined to leave a few lines on your
+toilet, and prosecute my journey to the mountains. Scarcely had I taken
+the pen when I laid it aside, uncertain in what manner to address you.
+I rose from the table and walked across the floor. A glance thrown upon
+the bed acquainted me with a spectacle to which my conceptions of horror
+had not yet reached.
+
+"In the midst of shuddering and trepidation, the signal of your presence
+in the court below recalled me to myself. The deed was newly done:
+I only was in the house: what had lately happened justified any
+suspicions, however enormous. It was plain that this catastrophe was
+unknown to you: I thought upon the wild commotion which the discovery
+would awaken in your breast: I found the confusion of my own thoughts
+unconquerable, and perceived that the end for which I sought an
+interview was not now to be accomplished.
+
+"In this state of things it was likewise expedient to conceal my being
+within. I put out the light and hurried down stairs. To my unspeakable
+surprize, notwithstanding every motive to fear, you lighted a candle and
+proceeded to your chamber.
+
+"I retired to that room below from which a door leads into the cellar.
+This door concealed me from your view as you passed. I thought upon the
+spectacle which was about to present itself. In an exigence so
+abrupt and so little foreseen, I was again subjected to the empire
+of mechanical and habitual impulses. I dreaded the effects which this
+shocking exhibition, bursting on your unprepared senses, might produce.
+
+"Thus actuated, I stept swiftly to the door, and thrusting my head
+forward, once more pronounced the mysterious interdiction. At that
+moment, by some untoward fate, your eyes were cast back, and you saw
+me in the very act of utterance. I fled through the darksome avenue at
+which I entered, covered with the shame of this detection.
+
+"With diligence, stimulated by a thousand ineffable emotions, I pursued
+my intended journey. I have a brother whose farm is situated in the
+bosom of a fertile desert, near the sources of the Leheigh, and thither
+I now repaired."
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV
+
+
+"Deeply did I ruminate on the occurrences that had just passed. Nothing
+excited my wonder so much as the means by which you discovered my being
+in the closet. This discovery appeared to be made at the moment when you
+attempted to open it. How could you have otherwise remained so long in
+the chamber apparently fearless and tranquil? And yet, having made
+this discovery, how could you persist in dragging me forth: persist in
+defiance of an interdiction so emphatical and solemn?
+
+"But your sister's death was an event detestable and ominous. She had
+been the victim of the most dreadful species of assassination. How, in a
+state like yours, the murderous intention could be generated, was wholly
+inconceivable.
+
+"I did not relinquish my design of confessing to you the part which I
+had sustained in your family, but I was willing to defer it till the
+task which I had set myself was finished. That being done, I resumed the
+resolution. The motives to incite me to this continually acquired
+force. The more I revolved the events happening at Mettingen, the more
+insupportable and ominous my terrors became. My waking hours and my
+sleep were vexed by dismal presages and frightful intimations.
+
+"Catharine was dead by violence. Surely my malignant stars had not made
+me the cause of her death; yet had I not rashly set in motion a machine,
+over whose progress I had no controul, and which experience had shewn me
+was infinite in power? Every day might add to the catalogue of horrors
+of which this was the source, and a seasonable disclosure of the truth
+might prevent numberless ills.
+
+"Fraught with this conception, I have turned my steps hither. I find
+your brother's house desolate: the furniture removed, and the walls
+stained with damps. Your own is in the same situation. Your chamber is
+dismantled and dark, and you exhibit an image of incurable grief, and of
+rapid decay.
+
+"I have uttered the truth. This is the extent of my offences. You tell
+me an horrid tale of Wieland being led to the destruction of his wife
+and children, by some mysterious agent. You charge me with the guilt
+of this agency; but I repeat that the amount of my guilt has been truly
+stated. The perpetrator of Catharine's death was unknown to me till now;
+nay, it is still unknown to me."
+
+At that moment, the closing of a door in the kitchen was distinctly
+heard by us. Carwin started and paused. "There is some one coming. I
+must not be found here by my enemies, and need not, since my purpose is
+answered."
+
+I had drunk in, with the most vehement attention, every word that he
+had uttered. I had no breath to interrupt his tale by interrogations
+or comments. The power that he spoke of was hitherto unknown to me: its
+existence was incredible; it was susceptible of no direct proof.
+
+He owns that his were the voice and face which I heard and saw. He
+attempts to give an human explanation of these phantasms; but it is
+enough that he owns himself to be the agent; his tale is a lie, and his
+nature devilish. As he deceived me, he likewise deceived my brother, and
+now do I behold the author of all our calamities!
+
+Such were my thoughts when his pause allowed me to think. I should have
+bad him begone if the silence had not been interrupted; but now I feared
+no more for myself; and the milkiness of my nature was curdled into
+hatred and rancour. Some one was near, and this enemy of God and
+man might possibly be brought to justice. I reflected not that the
+preternatural power which he had hitherto exerted, would avail to rescue
+him from any toils in which his feet might be entangled. Meanwhile,
+looks, and not words of menace and abhorrence, were all that I could
+bestow.
+
+He did not depart. He seemed dubious, whether, by passing out of the
+house, or by remaining somewhat longer where he was, he should most
+endanger his safety. His confusion increased when steps of one barefoot
+were heard upon the stairs. He threw anxious glances sometimes at the
+closet, sometimes at the window, and sometimes at the chamber door, yet
+he was detained by some inexplicable fascination. He stood as if rooted
+to the spot.
+
+As to me, my soul was bursting with detestation and revenge. I had
+no room for surmises and fears respecting him that approached. It was
+doubtless a human being, and would befriend me so far as to aid me in
+arresting this offender.
+
+The stranger quickly entered the room. My eyes and the eyes of Carwin
+were, at the same moment, darted upon him. A second glance was not
+needed to inform us who he was. His locks were tangled, and fell
+confusedly over his forehead and ears. His shirt was of coarse stuff,
+and open at the neck and breast. His coat was once of bright and fine
+texture, but now torn and tarnished with dust. His feet, his legs, and
+his arms were bare. His features were the seat of a wild and tranquil
+solemnity, but his eyes bespoke inquietude and curiosity.
+
+He advanced with firm step, and looking as in search of some one. He saw
+me and stopped. He bent his sight on the floor, and clenching his hands,
+appeared suddenly absorbed in meditation. Such were the figure and
+deportment of Wieland! Such, in his fallen state, were the aspect and
+guise of my brother!
+
+Carwin did not fail to recognize the visitant. Care for his own safety
+was apparently swallowed up in the amazement which this spectacle
+produced. His station was conspicuous, and he could not have escaped the
+roving glances of Wieland; yet the latter seemed totally unconscious of
+his presence.
+
+Grief at this scene of ruin and blast was at first the only sentiment
+of which I was conscious. A fearful stillness ensued. At length Wieland,
+lifting his hands, which were locked in each other, to his breast,
+exclaimed, "Father! I thank thee. This is thy guidance. Hither thou hast
+led me, that I might perform thy will: yet let me not err: let me hear
+again thy messenger!"
+
+He stood for a minute as if listening; but recovering from his attitude,
+he continued--"It is not needed. Dastardly wretch! thus eternally
+questioning the behests of thy Maker! weak in resolution! wayward in
+faith!"
+
+He advanced to me, and, after another pause, resumed: "Poor girl!
+a dismal fate has set its mark upon thee. Thy life is demanded as
+a sacrifice. Prepare thee to die. Make not my office difficult by
+fruitless opposition. Thy prayers might subdue stones; but none but he
+who enjoined my purpose can shake it."
+
+These words were a sufficient explication of the scene. The nature of
+his phrenzy, as described by my uncle, was remembered. I who had sought
+death, was now thrilled with horror because it was near. Death in
+this form, death from the hand of a brother, was thought upon with
+undescribable repugnance.
+
+In a state thus verging upon madness, my eye glanced upon Carwin. His
+astonishment appeared to have struck him motionless and dumb. My life
+was in danger, and my brother's hand was about to be embrued in my
+blood. I firmly believed that Carwin's was the instigation. I could
+rescue me from this abhorred fate; I could dissipate this tremendous
+illusion; I could save my brother from the perpetration of new horrors,
+by pointing out the devil who seduced him; to hesitate a moment was
+to perish. These thoughts gave strength to my limbs, and energy to my
+accents: I started on my feet. "O brother! spare me, spare thyself:
+There is thy betrayer. He counterfeited the voice and face of an angel,
+for the purpose of destroying thee and me. He has this moment confessed
+it. He is able to speak where he is not. He is leagued with hell, but
+will not avow it; yet he confesses that the agency was his."
+
+My brother turned slowly his eyes, and fixed them upon Carwin. Every
+joint in the frame of the latter trembled. His complexion was paler than
+a ghost's. His eye dared not meet that of Wieland, but wandered with an
+air of distraction from one space to another.
+
+"Man," said my brother, in a voice totally unlike that which he had
+used to me, "what art thou? The charge has been made. Answer it.
+The visage--the voice--at the bottom of these stairs--at the hour of
+eleven--To whom did they belong? To thee?"
+
+Twice did Carwin attempt to speak, but his words died away upon his
+lips. My brother resumed in a tone of greater vehemence--
+
+"Thou falterest; faltering is ominous; say yes or no: one word will
+suffice; but beware of falsehood. Was it a stratagem of hell to
+overthrow my family? Wast thou the agent?"
+
+I now saw that the wrath which had been prepared for me was to be
+heaped upon another. The tale that I heard from him, and his present
+trepidations, were abundant testimonies of his guilt. But what if
+Wieland should be undeceived! What if he shall find his acts to have
+proceeded not from an heavenly prompter, but from human treachery! Will
+not his rage mount into whirlwind? Will not he tare limb from limb this
+devoted wretch?
+
+Instinctively I recoiled from this image, but it gave place to another.
+Carwin may be innocent, but the impetuosity of his judge may misconstrue
+his answers into a confession of guilt. Wieland knows not that
+mysterious voices and appearances were likewise witnessed by me. Carwin
+may be ignorant of those which misled my brother. Thus may his answers
+unwarily betray himself to ruin.
+
+Such might be the consequences of my frantic precipitation, and these,
+it was necessary, if possible, to prevent. I attempted to speak, but
+Wieland, turning suddenly upon me, commanded silence, in a tone furious
+and terrible. My lips closed, and my tongue refused its office.
+
+"What art thou?" he resumed, addressing himself to Carwin. "Answer me;
+whose form--whose voice--was it thy contrivance? Answer me."
+
+The answer was now given, but confusedly and scarcely articulated. "I
+meant nothing--I intended no ill--if I understand--if I do not mistake
+you--it is too true--I did appear--in the entry--did speak. The
+contrivance was mine, but--"
+
+These words were no sooner uttered, than my brother ceased to wear the
+same aspect. His eyes were downcast: he was motionless: his respiration
+became hoarse, like that of a man in the agonies of death. Carwin seemed
+unable to say more. He might have easily escaped, but the thought which
+occupied him related to what was horrid and unintelligible in this
+scene, and not to his own danger.
+
+Presently the faculties of Wieland, which, for a time, were chained
+up, were seized with restlessness and trembling. He broke silence. The
+stoutest heart would have been appalled by the tone in which he spoke.
+He addressed himself to Carwin.
+
+"Why art thou here? Who detains thee? Go and learn better. I will meet
+thee, but it must be at the bar of thy Maker. There shall I bear witness
+against thee."
+
+Perceiving that Carwin did not obey, he continued; "Dost thou wish me
+to complete the catalogue by thy death? Thy life is a worthless thing.
+Tempt me no more. I am but a man, and thy presence may awaken a fury
+which may spurn my controul. Begone!"
+
+Carwin, irresolute, striving in vain for utterance, his complexion
+pallid as death, his knees beating one against another, slowly obeyed
+the mandate and withdrew.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV
+
+
+A few words more and I lay aside the pen for ever. Yet why should I not
+relinquish it now? All that I have said is preparatory to this scene,
+and my fingers, tremulous and cold as my heart, refuse any further
+exertion. This must not be. Let my last energies support me in the
+finishing of this task. Then will I lay down my head in the lap of
+death. Hushed will be all my murmurs in the sleep of the grave.
+
+Every sentiment has perished in my bosom. Even friendship is extinct.
+Your love for me has prompted me to this task; but I would not have
+complied if it had not been a luxury thus to feast upon my woes. I have
+justly calculated upon my remnant of strength. When I lay down the pen
+the taper of life will expire: my existence will terminate with my tale.
+
+Now that I was left alone with Wieland, the perils of my situation
+presented themselves to my mind. That this paroxysm should terminate in
+havock and rage it was reasonable to predict. The first suggestion of my
+fears had been disproved by my experience. Carwin had acknowledged his
+offences, and yet had escaped. The vengeance which I had harboured had
+not been admitted by Wieland, and yet the evils which I had endured,
+compared with those inflicted on my brother, were as nothing. I thirsted
+for his blood, and was tormented with an insatiable appetite for his
+destruction; yet my brother was unmoved, and had dismissed him in
+safety. Surely thou wast more than man, while I am sunk below the
+beasts.
+
+Did I place a right construction on the conduct of Wieland? Was the
+error that misled him so easily rectified? Were views so vivid and faith
+so strenuous thus liable to fading and to change? Was there not reason
+to doubt the accuracy of my perceptions? With images like these was
+my mind thronged, till the deportment of my brother called away my
+attention.
+
+I saw his lips move and his eyes cast up to heaven. Then would he listen
+and look back, as if in expectation of some one's appearance. Thrice he
+repeated these gesticulations and this inaudible prayer. Each time the
+mist of confusion and doubt seemed to grow darker and to settle on his
+understanding. I guessed at the meaning of these tokens. The words
+of Carwin had shaken his belief, and he was employed in summoning the
+messenger who had formerly communed with him, to attest the value of
+those new doubts. In vain the summons was repeated, for his eye met
+nothing but vacancy, and not a sound saluted his ear.
+
+He walked to the bed, gazed with eagerness at the pillow which had
+sustained the head of the breathless Catharine, and then returned to
+the place where I sat. I had no power to lift my eyes to his face: I was
+dubious of his purpose: this purpose might aim at my life.
+
+Alas! nothing but subjection to danger, and exposure to temptation,
+can show us what we are. By this test was I now tried, and found to be
+cowardly and rash. Men can deliberately untie the thread of life, and of
+this I had deemed myself capable; yet now that I stood upon the brink
+of fate, that the knife of the sacrificer was aimed at my heart, I
+shuddered and betook myself to any means of escape, however monstrous.
+
+Can I bear to think--can I endure to relate the outrage which my heart
+meditated? Where were my means of safety? Resistance was vain. Not even
+the energy of despair could set me on a level with that strength which
+his terrific prompter had bestowed upon Wieland. Terror enables us to
+perform incredible feats; but terror was not then the state of my mind:
+where then were my hopes of rescue?
+
+Methinks it is too much. I stand aside, as it were, from myself; I
+estimate my own deservings; a hatred, immortal and inexorable, is my
+due. I listen to my own pleas, and find them empty and false: yes, I
+acknowledge that my guilt surpasses that of all mankind: I confess that
+the curses of a world, and the frowns of a deity, are inadequate to my
+demerits. Is there a thing in the world worthy of infinite abhorrence?
+It is I. What shall I say! I was menaced, as I thought, with death, and,
+to elude this evil, my hand was ready to inflict death upon the menacer.
+In visiting my house, I had made provision against the machinations of
+Carwin. In a fold of my dress an open penknife was concealed. This I
+now seized and drew forth. It lurked out of view: but I now see that my
+state of mind would have rendered the deed inevitable if my brother
+had lifted his hand. This instrument of my preservation would have been
+plunged into his heart.
+
+O, insupportable remembrance! hide thee from my view for a time; hide
+it from me that my heart was black enough to meditate the stabbing of a
+brother! a brother thus supreme in misery; thus towering in virtue!
+
+He was probably unconscious of my design, but presently drew back.
+This interval was sufficient to restore me to myself. The madness, the
+iniquity of that act which I had purposed rushed upon my apprehension.
+For a moment I was breathless with agony. At the next moment I recovered
+my strength, and threw the knife with violence on the floor.
+
+The sound awoke my brother from his reverie. He gazed alternately at me
+and at the weapon. With a movement equally solemn he stooped and took
+it up. He placed the blade in different positions, scrutinizing it
+accurately, and maintaining, at the same time, a profound silence.
+
+Again he looked at me, but all that vehemence and loftiness of spirit
+which had so lately characterized his features, were flown. Fallen
+muscles, a forehead contracted into folds, eyes dim with unbidden
+drops, and a ruefulness of aspect which no words can describe, were now
+visible.
+
+His looks touched into energy the same sympathies in me, and I poured
+forth a flood of tears. This passion was quickly checked by fear, which
+had now, no longer, my own, but his safety for their object. I watched
+his deportment in silence. At length he spoke:
+
+"Sister," said he, in an accent mournful and mild, "I have acted poorly
+my part in this world. What thinkest thou? Shall I not do better in the
+next?"
+
+I could make no answer. The mildness of his tone astonished and
+encouraged me. I continued to regard him with wistful and anxious looks.
+
+"I think," resumed he, "I will try. My wife and my babes have gone
+before. Happy wretches! I have sent you to repose, and ought not to
+linger behind."
+
+These words had a meaning sufficiently intelligible. I looked at the
+open knife in his hand and shuddered, but knew not how to prevent the
+deed which I dreaded. He quickly noticed my fears, and comprehended
+them. Stretching towards me his hand, with an air of increasing
+mildness: "Take it," said he: "Fear not for thy own sake, nor for mine.
+The cup is gone by, and its transient inebriation is succeeded by the
+soberness of truth.
+
+"Thou angel whom I was wont to worship! fearest thou, my sister, for
+thy life? Once it was the scope of my labours to destroy thee, but I was
+prompted to the deed by heaven; such, at least, was my belief. Thinkest
+thou that thy death was sought to gratify malevolence? No. I am pure
+from all stain. I believed that my God was my mover!
+
+"Neither thee nor myself have I cause to injure. I have done my duty,
+and surely there is merit in having sacrificed to that, all that is dear
+to the heart of man. If a devil has deceived me, he came in the habit
+of an angel. If I erred, it was not my judgment that deceived me, but
+my senses. In thy sight, being of beings! I am still pure. Still will I
+look for my reward in thy justice!"
+
+Did my ears truly report these sounds? If I did not err, my brother was
+restored to just perceptions. He knew himself to have been betrayed to
+the murder of his wife and children, to have been the victim of infernal
+artifice; yet he found consolation in the rectitude of his motives. He
+was not devoid of sorrow, for this was written on his countenance; but
+his soul was tranquil and sublime.
+
+Perhaps this was merely a transition of his former madness into a new
+shape. Perhaps he had not yet awakened to the memory of the horrors
+which he had perpetrated. Infatuated wretch that I was! To set myself up
+as a model by which to judge of my heroic brother! My reason taught
+me that his conclusions were right; but conscious of the impotence of
+reason over my own conduct; conscious of my cowardly rashness and my
+criminal despair, I doubted whether any one could be stedfast and wise.
+
+Such was my weakness, that even in the midst of these thoughts, my
+mind glided into abhorrence of Carwin, and I uttered in a low voice, O!
+Carwin! Carwin! What hast thou to answer for?
+
+My brother immediately noticed the involuntary exclamation: "Clara!"
+said he, "be thyself. Equity used to be a theme for thy eloquence.
+Reduce its lessons to practice, and be just to that unfortunate man. The
+instrument has done its work, and I am satisfied.
+
+"I thank thee, my God, for this last illumination! My enemy is thine
+also. I deemed him to be man, the man with whom I have often communed;
+but now thy goodness has unveiled to me his true nature. As the
+performer of thy behests, he is my friend."
+
+My heart began now to misgive me. His mournful aspect had gradually
+yielded place to a serene brow. A new soul appeared to actuate his
+frame, and his eyes to beam with preternatural lustre. These symptoms
+did not abate, and he continued:
+
+"Clara! I must not leave thee in doubt. I know not what brought about
+thy interview with the being whom thou callest Carwin. For a time, I was
+guilty of thy error, and deduced from his incoherent confessions that I
+had been made the victim of human malice. He left us at my bidding, and
+I put up a prayer that my doubts should be removed. Thy eyes were shut,
+and thy ears sealed to the vision that answered my prayer.
+
+"I was indeed deceived. The form thou hast seen was the incarnation of
+a daemon. The visage and voice which urged me to the sacrifice of my
+family, were his. Now he personates a human form: then he was invironed
+with the lustre of heaven.--
+
+"Clara," he continued, advancing closer to me, "thy death must come.
+This minister is evil, but he from whom his commission was received is
+God. Submit then with all thy wonted resignation to a decree that cannot
+be reversed or resisted. Mark the clock. Three minutes are allowed to
+thee, in which to call up thy fortitude, and prepare thee for thy doom."
+There he stopped.
+
+Even now, when this scene exists only in memory, when life and all its
+functions have sunk into torpor, my pulse throbs, and my hairs uprise:
+my brows are knit, as then; and I gaze around me in distraction. I was
+unconquerably averse to death; but death, imminent and full of agony as
+that which was threatened, was nothing. This was not the only or chief
+inspirer of my fears.
+
+For him, not for myself, was my soul tormented. I might die, and no
+crime, surpassing the reach of mercy, would pursue me to the presence
+of my Judge; but my assassin would survive to contemplate his deed, and
+that assassin was Wieland!
+
+Wings to bear me beyond his reach I had not. I could not vanish with a
+thought. The door was open, but my murderer was interposed between
+that and me. Of self-defence I was incapable. The phrenzy that lately
+prompted me to blood was gone; my state was desperate; my rescue was
+impossible.
+
+The weight of these accumulated thoughts could not be borne. My sight
+became confused; my limbs were seized with convulsion; I spoke, but my
+words were half-formed:--
+
+"Spare me, my brother! Look down, righteous Judge! snatch me from this
+fate! take away this fury from him, or turn it elsewhere!"
+
+Such was the agony of my thoughts, that I noticed not steps entering my
+apartment. Supplicating eyes were cast upward, but when my prayer was
+breathed, I once more wildly gazed at the door. A form met my sight: I
+shuddered as if the God whom I invoked were present. It was Carwin that
+again intruded, and who stood before me, erect in attitude, and stedfast
+in look! The sight of him awakened new and rapid thoughts. His recent
+tale was remembered: his magical transitions and mysterious energy of
+voice: Whether he were infernal or miraculous, or human, there was no
+power and no need to decide. Whether the contriver or not of this spell,
+he was able to unbind it, and to check the fury of my brother. He had
+ascribed to himself intentions not malignant. Here now was afforded a
+test of his truth. Let him interpose, as from above; revoke the
+savage decree which the madness of Wieland has assigned to heaven, and
+extinguish for ever this passion for blood!
+
+My mind detected at a glance this avenue to safety. The recommendations
+it possessed thronged as it were together, and made but one impression
+on my intellect. Remoter effects and collateral dangers I saw not.
+Perhaps the pause of an instant had sufficed to call them up. The
+improbability that the influence which governed Wieland was external or
+human; the tendency of this stratagem to sanction so fatal an error, or
+substitute a more destructive rage in place of this; the sufficiency of
+Carwin's mere muscular forces to counteract the efforts, and restrain
+the fury of Wieland, might, at a second glance, have been discovered;
+but no second glance was allowed. My first thought hurried me to action,
+and, fixing my eyes upon Carwin I exclaimed--
+
+"O wretch! once more hast thou come? Let it be to abjure thy malice; to
+counterwork this hellish stratagem; to turn from me and from my brother,
+this desolating rage!
+
+"Testify thy innocence or thy remorse: exert the powers which pertain to
+thee, whatever they be, to turn aside this ruin. Thou art the author
+of these horrors! What have I done to deserve thus to die? How have I
+merited this unrelenting persecution? I adjure thee, by that God whose
+voice thou hast dared to counterfeit, to save my life!
+
+"Wilt thou then go? leave me! Succourless!"
+
+Carwin listened to my intreaties unmoved, and turned from me. He seemed
+to hesitate a moment: then glided through the door. Rage and despair
+stifled my utterance. The interval of respite was passed; the pangs
+reserved for me by Wieland, were not to be endured; my thoughts rushed
+again into anarchy. Having received the knife from his hand, I held it
+loosely and without regard; but now it seized again my attention, and I
+grasped it with force.
+
+He seemed to notice not the entrance or exit of Carwin. My gesture and
+the murderous weapon appeared to have escaped his notice. His silence
+was unbroken; his eye, fixed upon the clock for a time, was now
+withdrawn; fury kindled in every feature; all that was human in his face
+gave way to an expression supernatural and tremendous. I felt my left
+arm within his grasp.--
+
+Even now I hesitated to strike. I shrunk from his assault, but in
+vain.--
+
+Here let me desist. Why should I rescue this event from oblivion? Why
+should I paint this detestable conflict? Why not terminate at once this
+series of horrors?--Hurry to the verge of the precipice, and cast myself
+for ever beyond remembrance and beyond hope?
+
+Still I live: with this load upon my breast; with this phantom to pursue
+my steps; with adders lodged in my bosom, and stinging me to madness:
+still I consent to live!
+
+Yes, I will rise above the sphere of mortal passions: I will spurn at
+the cowardly remorse that bids me seek impunity in silence, or comfort
+in forgetfulness. My nerves shall be new strung to the task. Have I not
+resolved? I will die. The gulph before me is inevitable and near. I will
+die, but then only when my tale is at an end.
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI
+
+
+My right hand, grasping the unseen knife, was still disengaged. It was
+lifted to strike. All my strength was exhausted, but what was sufficient
+to the performance of this deed. Already was the energy awakened,
+and the impulse given, that should bear the fatal steel to his heart,
+when--Wieland shrunk back: his hand was withdrawn. Breathless with
+affright and desperation, I stood, freed from his grasp; unassailed;
+untouched.
+
+Thus long had the power which controuled the scene forborne to
+interfere; but now his might was irresistible, and Wieland in a moment
+was disarmed of all his purposes. A voice, louder than human organs
+could produce, shriller than language can depict, burst from the
+ceiling, and commanded him--TO HOLD!
+
+Trouble and dismay succeeded to the stedfastness that had lately been
+displayed in the looks of Wieland. His eyes roved from one quarter to
+another, with an expression of doubt. He seemed to wait for a further
+intimation.
+
+Carwin's agency was here easily recognized. I had besought him to
+interpose in my defence. He had flown. I had imagined him deaf to my
+prayer, and resolute to see me perish: yet he disappeared merely to
+devise and execute the means of my relief.
+
+Why did he not forbear when this end was accomplished? Why did his
+misjudging zeal and accursed precipitation overpass that limit? Or meant
+he thus to crown the scene, and conduct his inscrutable plots to this
+consummation?
+
+Such ideas were the fruit of subsequent contemplation. This moment
+was pregnant with fate. I had no power to reason. In the career of my
+tempestuous thoughts, rent into pieces, as my mind was, by accumulating
+horrors, Carwin was unseen and unsuspected. I partook of Wieland's
+credulity, shook with his amazement, and panted with his awe.
+
+Silence took place for a moment; so much as allowed the attention to
+recover its post. Then new sounds were uttered from above.
+
+"Man of errors! cease to cherish thy delusion: not heaven or hell, but
+thy senses have misled thee to commit these acts. Shake off thy phrenzy,
+and ascend into rational and human. Be lunatic no longer."
+
+My brother opened his lips to speak. His tone was terrific and faint. He
+muttered an appeal to heaven. It was difficult to comprehend the theme
+of his inquiries. They implied doubt as to the nature of the impulse
+that hitherto had guided him, and questioned whether he had acted in
+consequence of insane perceptions.
+
+To these interrogatories the voice, which now seemed to hover at his
+shoulder, loudly answered in the affirmative. Then uninterrupted silence
+ensued.
+
+Fallen from his lofty and heroic station; now finally restored to the
+perception of truth; weighed to earth by the recollection of his own
+deeds; consoled no longer by a consciousness of rectitude, for the
+loss of offspring and wife--a loss for which he was indebted to his own
+misguided hand; Wieland was transformed at once into the man OF SORROWS!
+
+He reflected not that credit should be as reasonably denied to the last,
+as to any former intimation; that one might as justly be ascribed to
+erring or diseased senses as the other. He saw not that this discovery
+in no degree affected the integrity of his conduct; that his motives had
+lost none of their claims to the homage of mankind; that the preference
+of supreme good, and the boundless energy of duty, were undiminished in
+his bosom.
+
+It is not for me to pursue him through the ghastly changes of his
+countenance. Words he had none. Now he sat upon the floor, motionless in
+all his limbs, with his eyes glazed and fixed; a monument of woe.
+
+Anon a spirit of tempestuous but undesigning activity seized him.
+He rose from his place and strode across the floor, tottering and at
+random. His eyes were without moisture, and gleamed with the fire
+that consumed his vitals. The muscles of his face were agitated by
+convulsion. His lips moved, but no sound escaped him.
+
+That nature should long sustain this conflict was not to be believed.
+My state was little different from that of my brother. I entered, as it
+were, into his thought. My heart was visited and rent by his pangs--Oh
+that thy phrenzy had never been cured! that thy madness, with its
+blissful visions, would return! or, if that must not be, that thy scene
+would hasten to a close! that death would cover thee with his oblivion!
+
+What can I wish for thee? Thou who hast vied with the great preacher
+of thy faith in sanctity of motives, and in elevation above sensual and
+selfish! Thou whom thy fate has changed into paricide and savage! Can I
+wish for the continuance of thy being? No.
+
+For a time his movements seemed destitute of purpose. If he walked; if
+he turned; if his fingers were entwined with each other; if his hands
+were pressed against opposite sides of his head with a force
+sufficient to crush it into pieces; it was to tear his mind from
+self-contemplation; to waste his thoughts on external objects.
+
+Speedily this train was broken. A beam appeared to be darted into his
+mind, which gave a purpose to his efforts. An avenue to escape presented
+itself; and now he eagerly gazed about him: when my thoughts became
+engaged by his demeanour, my fingers were stretched as by a mechanical
+force, and the knife, no longer heeded or of use, escaped from my grasp,
+and fell unperceived on the floor. His eye now lighted upon it; he
+seized it with the quickness of thought.
+
+I shrieked aloud, but it was too late. He plunged it to the hilt in his
+neck; and his life instantly escaped with the stream that gushed from
+the wound. He was stretched at my feet; and my hands were sprinkled with
+his blood as he fell.
+
+Such was thy last deed, my brother! For a spectacle like this was it
+my fate to be reserved! Thy eyes were closed--thy face ghastly with
+death--thy arms, and the spot where thou liedest, floated in thy life's
+blood! These images have not, for a moment, forsaken me. Till I am
+breathless and cold, they must continue to hover in my sight.
+
+Carwin, as I said, had left the room, but he still lingered in the
+house. My voice summoned him to my aid; but I scarcely noticed his
+re-entrance, and now faintly recollect his terrified looks, his broken
+exclamations, his vehement avowals of innocence, the effusions of his
+pity for me, and his offers of assistance.
+
+I did not listen--I answered him not--I ceased to upbraid or accuse. His
+guilt was a point to which I was indifferent. Ruffian or devil, black
+as hell or bright as angels, thenceforth he was nothing to me. I was
+incapable of sparing a look or a thought from the ruin that was spread
+at my feet.
+
+When he left me, I was scarcely conscious of any variation in the scene.
+He informed the inhabitants of the hut of what had passed, and they flew
+to the spot. Careless of his own safety, he hasted to the city to inform
+my friends of my condition.
+
+My uncle speedily arrived at the house. The body of Wieland was removed
+from my presence, and they supposed that I would follow it; but no, my
+home is ascertained; here I have taken up my rest, and never will I go
+hence, till, like Wieland, I am borne to my grave.
+
+Importunity was tried in vain: they threatened to remove me by
+violence--nay, violence was used; but my soul prizes too dearly this
+little roof to endure to be bereaved of it. Force should not
+prevail when the hoary locks and supplicating tears of my uncle were
+ineffectual. My repugnance to move gave birth to ferociousness and
+phrenzy when force was employed, and they were obliged to consent to my
+return.
+
+They besought me--they remonstrated--they appealed to every duty that
+connected me with him that made me, and with my fellow-men--in vain.
+While I live I will not go hence. Have I not fulfilled my destiny?
+
+Why will ye torment me with your reasonings and reproofs? Can ye restore
+to me the hope of my better days? Can ye give me back Catharine and her
+babes? Can ye recall to life him who died at my feet?
+
+I will eat--I will drink--I will lie down and rise up at your
+bidding--all I ask is the choice of my abode. What is there unreasonable
+in this demand? Shortly will I be at peace. This is the spot which I
+have chosen in which to breathe my last sigh. Deny me not, I beseech
+you, so slight a boon.
+
+Talk not to me, O my revered friend! of Carwin. He has told thee his
+tale, and thou exculpatest him from all direct concern in the fate of
+Wieland. This scene of havock was produced by an illusion of the senses.
+Be it so: I care not from what source these disasters have flowed; it
+suffices that they have swallowed up our hopes and our existence.
+
+What his agency began, his agency conducted to a close. He intended, by
+the final effort of his power, to rescue me and to banish his illusions
+from my brother. Such is his tale, concerning the truth of which I care
+not. Henceforth I foster but one wish--I ask only quick deliverance from
+life and all the ills that attend it.--
+
+Go wretch! torment me not with thy presence and thy prayers.--Forgive
+thee? Will that avail thee when thy fateful hour shall arrive? Be thou
+acquitted at thy own tribunal, and thou needest not fear the verdict
+of others. If thy guilt be capable of blacker hues, if hitherto thy
+conscience be without stain, thy crime will be made more flagrant by
+thus violating my retreat. Take thyself away from my sight if thou
+wouldest not behold my death!
+
+Thou are gone! murmuring and reluctant! And now my repose is coming--my
+work is done!
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVII
+
+
+[Written three years after the foregoing, and dated at Montpellier.]
+
+
+I imagined that I had forever laid aside the pen; and that I should
+take up my abode in this part of the world, was of all events the least
+probable. My destiny I believed to be accomplished, and I looked forward
+to a speedy termination of my life with the fullest confidence.
+
+Surely I had reason to be weary of existence, to be impatient of every
+tie which held me from the grave. I experienced this impatience in its
+fullest extent. I was not only enamoured of death, but conceived, from
+the condition of my frame, that to shun it was impossible, even though
+I had ardently desired it; yet here am I, a thousand leagues from my
+native soil, in full possession of life and of health, and not destitute
+of happiness.
+
+Such is man. Time will obliterate the deepest impressions. Grief the
+most vehement and hopeless, will gradually decay and wear itself out.
+Arguments may be employed in vain: every moral prescription may be
+ineffectually tried: remonstrances, however cogent or pathetic, shall
+have no power over the attention, or shall be repelled with disdain;
+yet, as day follows day, the turbulence of our emotions shall subside,
+and our fluctuations be finally succeeded by a calm.
+
+Perhaps, however, the conquest of despair was chiefly owing to an
+accident which rendered my continuance in my own house impossible. At
+the conclusion of my long, and, as I then supposed, my last letter to
+you, I mentioned my resolution to wait for death in the very spot which
+had been the principal scene of my misfortunes. From this resolution my
+friends exerted themselves with the utmost zeal and perseverance to make
+me depart. They justly imagined that to be thus surrounded by memorials
+of the fate of my family, would tend to foster my disease. A swift
+succession of new objects, and the exclusion of every thing calculated
+to remind me of my loss, was the only method of cure.
+
+I refused to listen to their exhortations. Great as my calamity was, to
+be torn from this asylum was regarded by me as an aggravation of it. By
+a perverse constitution of mind, he was considered as my greatest enemy
+who sought to withdraw me from a scene which supplied eternal food to my
+melancholy, and kept my despair from languishing.
+
+In relating the history of these disasters I derived a similar species
+of gratification. My uncle earnestly dissuaded me from this task; but
+his remonstrances were as fruitless on this head as they had been on
+others. They would have withheld from me the implements of writing; but
+they quickly perceived that to withstand would be more injurious than
+to comply with my wishes. Having finished my tale, it seemed as if the
+scene were closing. A fever lurked in my veins, and my strength was
+gone. Any exertion, however slight, was attended with difficulty, and,
+at length, I refused to rise from my bed.
+
+I now see the infatuation and injustice of my conduct in its true
+colours. I reflect upon the sensations and reasonings of that period
+with wonder and humiliation. That I should be insensible to the claims
+and tears of my friends; that I should overlook the suggestions of duty,
+and fly from that post in which only I could be instrumental to the
+benefit of others; that the exercise of the social and beneficent
+affections, the contemplation of nature and the acquisition of wisdom
+should not be seen to be means of happiness still within my reach, is,
+at this time, scarcely credible.
+
+It is true that I am now changed; but I have not the consolation to
+reflect that my change was owing to my fortitude or to my capacity for
+instruction. Better thoughts grew up in my mind imperceptibly. I cannot
+but congratulate myself on the change, though, perhaps, it merely argues
+a fickleness of temper, and a defect of sensibility.
+
+After my narrative was ended I betook myself to my bed, in the full
+belief that my career in this world was on the point of finishing. My
+uncle took up his abode with me, and performed for me every office of
+nurse, physician and friend. One night, after some hours of restlessness
+and pain, I sunk into deep sleep. Its tranquillity, however, was of no
+long duration. My fancy became suddenly distempered, and my brain was
+turned into a theatre of uproar and confusion. It would not be easy to
+describe the wild and phantastical incongruities that pestered me.
+My uncle, Wieland, Pleyel and Carwin were successively and momently
+discerned amidst the storm. Sometimes I was swallowed up by whirlpools,
+or caught up in the air by half-seen and gigantic forms, and thrown upon
+pointed rocks, or cast among the billows. Sometimes gleams of light
+were shot into a dark abyss, on the verge of which I was standing, and
+enabled me to discover, for a moment, its enormous depth and hideous
+precipices. Anon, I was transported to some ridge of AEtna, and made a
+terrified spectator of its fiery torrents and its pillars of smoke.
+
+However strange it may seem, I was conscious, even during my dream, of
+my real situation. I knew myself to be asleep, and struggled to break
+the spell, by muscular exertions. These did not avail, and I continued
+to suffer these abortive creations till a loud voice, at my bed side,
+and some one shaking me with violence, put an end to my reverie. My eyes
+were unsealed, and I started from my pillow.
+
+My chamber was filled with smoke, which, though in some degree luminous,
+would permit me to see nothing, and by which I was nearly suffocated.
+The crackling of flames, and the deafening clamour of voices without,
+burst upon my ears. Stunned as I was by this hubbub, scorched with heat,
+and nearly choaked by the accumulating vapours, I was unable to think or
+act for my own preservation; I was incapable, indeed, of comprehending
+my danger.
+
+I was caught up, in an instant, by a pair of sinewy arms, borne to the
+window, and carried down a ladder which had been placed there. My
+uncle stood at the bottom and received me. I was not fully aware of my
+situation till I found myself sheltered in the HUT, and surrounded by
+its inhabitants.
+
+By neglect of the servant, some unextinguished embers had been placed in
+a barrel in the cellar of the building. The barrel had caught fire;
+this was communicated to the beams of the lower floor, and thence to the
+upper part of the structure. It was first discovered by some persons
+at a distance, who hastened to the spot and alarmed my uncle and the
+servants. The flames had already made considerable progress, and my
+condition was overlooked till my escape was rendered nearly impossible.
+
+My danger being known, and a ladder quickly procured, one of the
+spectators ascended to my chamber, and effected my deliverance in the
+manner before related.
+
+This incident, disastrous as it may at first seem, had, in reality, a
+beneficial effect upon my feelings. I was, in some degree, roused from
+the stupor which had seized my faculties. The monotonous and gloomy
+series of my thoughts was broken. My habitation was levelled with the
+ground, and I was obliged to seek a new one. A new train of images,
+disconnected with the fate of my family, forced itself on my attention,
+and a belief insensibly sprung up, that tranquillity, if not happiness,
+was still within my reach. Notwithstanding the shocks which my frame had
+endured, the anguish of my thoughts no sooner abated than I recovered my
+health.
+
+I now willingly listened to my uncle's solicitations to be the companion
+of his voyage. Preparations were easily made, and after a tedious
+passage, we set our feet on the shore of the ancient world. The memory
+of the past did not forsake me; but the melancholy which it generated,
+and the tears with which it filled my eyes, were not unprofitable. My
+curiosity was revived, and I contemplated, with ardour, the spectacle of
+living manners and the monuments of past ages.
+
+In proportion as my heart was reinstated in the possession of its
+ancient tranquillity, the sentiment which I had cherished with regard to
+Pleyel returned. In a short time he was united to the Saxon woman,
+and made his residence in the neighbourhood of Boston. I was glad that
+circumstances would not permit an interview to take place between us. I
+could not desire their misery; but I reaped no pleasure from reflecting
+on their happiness. Time, and the exertions of my fortitude, cured me,
+in some degree, of this folly. I continued to love him, but my passion
+was disguised to myself; I considered it merely as a more tender species
+of friendship, and cherished it without compunction.
+
+Through my uncle's exertions a meeting was brought about between Carwin
+and Pleyel, and explanations took place which restored me at once to
+the good opinion of the latter. Though separated so widely our
+correspondence was punctual and frequent, and paved the way for that
+union which can only end with the death of one of us.
+
+In my letters to him I made no secret of my former sentiments. This
+was a theme on which I could talk without painful, though not without
+delicate emotions. That knowledge which I should never have imparted to
+a lover, I felt little scruple to communicate to a friend.
+
+A year and an half elapsed when Theresa was snatched from him by death,
+in the hour in which she gave him the first pledge of their mutual
+affection. This event was borne by him with his customary fortitude. It
+induced him, however, to make a change in his plans. He disposed of his
+property in America, and joined my uncle and me, who had terminated
+the wanderings of two years at Montpellier, which will henceforth, I
+believe, be our permanent abode.
+
+If you reflect upon that entire confidence which had subsisted from our
+infancy between Pleyel and myself; on the passion that I had contracted,
+and which was merely smothered for a time; and on the esteem which was
+mutual, you will not, perhaps, be surprized that the renovation of our
+intercourse should give birth to that union which at present subsists.
+When the period had elapsed necessary to weaken the remembrance of
+Theresa, to whom he had been bound by ties more of honor than of love,
+he tendered his affections to me. I need not add that the tender was
+eagerly accepted.
+
+Perhaps you are somewhat interested in the fate of Carwin. He saw,
+when too late, the danger of imposture. So much affected was he by the
+catastrophe to which he was a witness, that he laid aside all regard to
+his own safety. He sought my uncle, and confided to him the tale which
+he had just related to me. He found a more impartial and indulgent
+auditor in Mr. Cambridge, who imputed to maniacal illusion the conduct
+of Wieland, though he conceived the previous and unseen agency of
+Carwin, to have indirectly but powerfully predisposed to this deplorable
+perversion of mind.
+
+It was easy for Carwin to elude the persecutions of Ludloe. It was
+merely requisite to hide himself in a remote district of Pennsylvania.
+This, when he parted from us, he determined to do. He is now probably
+engaged in the harmless pursuits of agriculture, and may come to think,
+without insupportable remorse, on the evils to which his fatal talents
+have given birth. The innocence and usefulness of his future life may,
+in some degree, atone for the miseries so rashly or so thoughtlessly
+inflicted.
+
+More urgent considerations hindered me from mentioning, in the course of
+my former mournful recital, any particulars respecting the unfortunate
+father of Louisa Conway. That man surely was reserved to be a monument
+of capricious fortune. His southern journies being finished, he returned
+to Philadelphia. Before he reached the city he left the highway, and
+alighted at my brother's door. Contrary to his expectation, no one came
+forth to welcome him, or hail his approach. He attempted to enter the
+house, but bolted doors, barred windows, and a silence broken only by
+unanswered calls, shewed him that the mansion was deserted.
+
+He proceeded thence to my habitation, which he found, in like manner,
+gloomy and tenantless. His surprize may be easily conceived. The rustics
+who occupied the hut told him an imperfect and incredible tale. He
+hasted to the city, and extorted from Mrs. Baynton a full disclosure of
+late disasters.
+
+He was inured to adversity, and recovered, after no long time, from
+the shocks produced by this disappointment of his darling scheme. Our
+intercourse did not terminate with his departure from America. We have
+since met with him in France, and light has at length been thrown upon
+the motives which occasioned the disappearance of his wife, in the
+manner which I formerly related to you.
+
+I have dwelt upon the ardour of their conjugal attachment, and mentioned
+that no suspicion had ever glanced upon her purity. This, though
+the belief was long cherished, recent discoveries have shewn to be
+questionable. No doubt her integrity would have survived to the present
+moment, if an extraordinary fate had not befallen her.
+
+Major Stuart had been engaged, while in Germany, in a contest of
+honor with an Aid de Camp of the Marquis of Granby. His adversary had
+propagated a rumour injurious to his character. A challenge was sent;
+a meeting ensued; and Stuart wounded and disarmed the calumniator. The
+offence was atoned for, and his life secured by suitable concessions.
+
+Maxwell, that was his name, shortly after, in consequence of succeeding
+to a rich inheritance, sold his commission and returned to London. His
+fortune was speedily augmented by an opulent marriage. Interest was his
+sole inducement to this marriage, though the lady had been swayed by a
+credulous affection. The true state of his heart was quickly discovered,
+and a separation, by mutual consent, took place. The lady withdrew to
+an estate in a distant county, and Maxwell continued to consume his time
+and fortune in the dissipation of the capital.
+
+Maxwell, though deceitful and sensual, possessed great force of mind and
+specious accomplishments. He contrived to mislead the generous mind of
+Stuart, and to regain the esteem which his misconduct, for a time, had
+forfeited. He was recommended by her husband to the confidence of Mrs.
+Stuart. Maxwell was stimulated by revenge, and by a lawless passion, to
+convert this confidence into a source of guilt.
+
+The education and capacity of this woman, the worth of her husband, the
+pledge of their alliance which time had produced, her maturity in
+age and knowledge of the world--all combined to render this attempt
+hopeless. Maxwell, however, was not easily discouraged. The most perfect
+being, he believed, must owe his exemption from vice to the absence of
+temptation. The impulses of love are so subtile, and the influence of
+false reasoning, when enforced by eloquence and passion, so unbounded,
+that no human virtue is secure from degeneracy. All arts being tried,
+every temptation being summoned to his aid, dissimulation being carried
+to its utmost bound, Maxwell, at length, nearly accomplished his
+purpose. The lady's affections were withdrawn from her husband and
+transferred to him. She could not, as yet, be reconciled to dishonor.
+All efforts to induce her to elope with him were ineffectual. She
+permitted herself to love, and to avow her love; but at this limit she
+stopped, and was immoveable.
+
+Hence this revolution in her sentiments was productive only of despair.
+Her rectitude of principle preserved her from actual guilt, but could
+not restore to her her ancient affection, or save her from being the
+prey of remorseful and impracticable wishes. Her husband's absence
+produced a state of suspense. This, however, approached to a period,
+and she received tidings of his intended return. Maxwell, being likewise
+apprized of this event, and having made a last and unsuccessful effort
+to conquer her reluctance to accompany him in a journey to Italy,
+whither he pretended an invincible necessity of going, left her to
+pursue the measures which despair might suggest. At the same time she
+received a letter from the wife of Maxwell, unveiling the true character
+of this man, and revealing facts which the artifices of her seducer
+had hitherto concealed from her. Mrs. Maxwell had been prompted to this
+disclosure by a knowledge of her husband's practices, with which his own
+impetuosity had made her acquainted.
+
+This discovery, joined to the delicacy of her scruples and the anguish
+of remorse, induced her to abscond. This scheme was adopted in haste,
+but effected with consummate prudence. She fled, on the eve of her
+husband's arrival, in the disguise of a boy, and embarked at Falmouth in
+a packet bound for America.
+
+The history of her disastrous intercourse with Maxwell, the motives
+inducing her to forsake her country, and the measures she had taken
+to effect her design, were related to Mrs. Maxwell, in reply to her
+communication. Between these women an ancient intimacy and considerable
+similitude of character subsisted. This disclosure was accompanied with
+solemn injunctions of secrecy, and these injunctions were, for a long
+time, faithfully observed.
+
+Mrs. Maxwell's abode was situated on the banks of the Wey. Stuart was
+her kinsman; their youth had been spent together; and Maxwell was in
+some degree indebted to the man whom he betrayed, for his alliance with
+this unfortunate lady. Her esteem for the character of Stuart had never
+been diminished. A meeting between them was occasioned by a tour which
+the latter had undertaken, in the year after his return from America,
+to Wales and the western counties. This interview produced pleasure and
+regret in each. Their own transactions naturally became the topics of
+their conversation; and the untimely fate of his wife and daughter were
+related by the guest.
+
+Mrs. Maxwell's regard for her friend, as well as for the safety of her
+husband, persuaded her to concealment; but the former being dead,
+and the latter being out of the kingdom, she ventured to produce Mrs.
+Stuart's letter, and to communicate her own knowledge of the treachery
+of Maxwell. She had previously extorted from her guest a promise not to
+pursue any scheme of vengeance; but this promise was made while ignorant
+of the full extent of Maxwell's depravity, and his passion refused to
+adhere to it.
+
+At this time my uncle and I resided at Avignon. Among the English
+resident there, and with whom we maintained a social intercourse, was
+Maxwell. This man's talents and address rendered him a favorite both
+with my uncle and myself. He had even tendered me his hand in marriage;
+but this being refused, he had sought and obtained permission to
+continue with us the intercourse of friendship. Since a legal marriage
+was impossible, no doubt, his views were flagitious. Whether he had
+relinquished these views I was unable to judge.
+
+He was one in a large circle at a villa in the environs, to which I had
+likewise been invited, when Stuart abruptly entered the apartment.
+He was recognized with genuine satisfaction by me, and with seeming
+pleasure by Maxwell. In a short time, some affair of moment being
+pleaded, which required an immediate and exclusive interview, Maxwell
+and he withdrew together. Stuart and my uncle had been known to each
+other in the German army; and the purpose contemplated by the former in
+this long and hasty journey, was confided to his old friend.
+
+A defiance was given and received, and the banks of a rivulet, about
+a league from the city, was selected as the scene of this contest. My
+uncle, having exerted himself in vain to prevent an hostile meeting,
+consented to attend them as a surgeon.--Next morning, at sun-rise, was
+the time chosen.
+
+I returned early in the evening to my lodgings. Preliminaries being
+settled between the combatants, Stuart had consented to spend the
+evening with us, and did not retire till late. On the way to his hotel
+he was exposed to no molestation, but just as he stepped within the
+portico, a swarthy and malignant figure started from behind a column.
+and plunged a stiletto into his body.
+
+The author of this treason could not certainly be discovered; but the
+details communicated by Stuart, respecting the history of Maxwell,
+naturally pointed him out as an object of suspicion. No one expressed
+more concern, on account of this disaster, than he; and he pretended
+an ardent zeal to vindicate his character from the aspersions that were
+cast upon it. Thenceforth, however, I denied myself to his visits; and
+shortly after he disappeared from this scene.
+
+Few possessed more estimable qualities, and a better title to happiness
+and the tranquil honors of long life, than the mother and father of
+Louisa Conway: yet they were cut off in the bloom of their days; and
+their destiny was thus accomplished by the same hand. Maxwell was the
+instrument of their destruction, though the instrument was applied to
+this end in so different a manner.
+
+I leave you to moralize on this tale. That virtue should become the
+victim of treachery is, no doubt, a mournful consideration; but it will
+not escape your notice, that the evils of which Carwin and Maxwell were
+the authors, owed their existence to the errors of the sufferers. All
+efforts would have been ineffectual to subvert the happiness or shorten
+the existence of the Stuarts, if their own frailty had not seconded
+these efforts. If the lady had crushed her disastrous passion in the
+bud, and driven the seducer from her presence, when the tendency of
+his artifices was seen; if Stuart had not admitted the spirit of absurd
+revenge, we should not have had to deplore this catastrophe. If Wieland
+had framed juster notions of moral duty, and of the divine attributes;
+or if I had been gifted with ordinary equanimity or foresight, the
+double-tongued deceiver would have been baffled and repelled.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wieland; or The Transformation, by 
+Charles Brockden Brown
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