 Chapter 15 of Zofloya. Megalina Strudzi, from this instance of the envy and treachery of female acquaintance, became disgusted with Venice, and resolved to retire again to her villa near the banks of the lake that she might retain her captive in solitary safety. Having but rarely quitted her house during her stay in Venice, and even then avoiding the most public resorts, she had, as she desired, escaped the observation of Count Perenza, who indeed, had a chance to have aspired her, would have been more anxious to shun than recognize her. This, however, she, with Leonardo, hastily quitted, and repaired to Aquadolce, secretly happy that she had borne away her lover from all further temptation, and exclusively appropriated him to herself. For a time she remained tranquil and satisfied. She found means to diversify the scene, and amuse the youthful taste of Leonardo by rambling about the beautiful walks that environed her dwelling, or sometimes, in her gondola, taking the fresco upon the lake. Yet, spite of all this, spite of being unceasingly in the society of him she preferred, her rustless spirit could not be restrained, and again she panted for the gay pleasures of the city. Annouie began to take possession of her ill-organized and resourceless mind. For it is the pure, intellectual soul alone that can receive delight from solitude. Venice, with all its dangers, became preferable in her eye to the gloomy sameness though security of the country. And after a residence of a few weeks there, she again resolved to brave the alarmists of the city. Leonardo was equally desirous with her to emerge from seclusion, but having now acquired artifice, he affected indifference to the proposed change. Magdalena pleased at this appearance, and flattering herself that he was now too firmly riveted to allow himself to be against seduced by the charms or incitements of others, with as great eagerness as she had flown to it, now hastened from her weary solitude. Arrived once more in Venice, she boldly resolved that she would know more, as formerly, to bar herself from going, as she had been wont to do, to the most public resort of the gay Venetians. And she even decided in her mind that should Lorenza, as fully she expected he would, questioned her with respect to the nature of her intimacy with the youthful Leonardo, to impose upon him, if possible, the same story that she had attempted to pass upon others. In consequence of these arrangements, it was that she no longer withheld herself from figuring St. Mark's place, or on the Laguna. Leonardo, however, constantly declined accompanying her in these public expeditions, and the artful Florentine procured him such amusements at home as should inform her on her return how he had employed his time. Thus it was that, on a certain evening, during one of her excursions on the lake, she encountered Lorenza, whom so long she had feared to meet, but encountered him under circumstances that she had little expected. Bitter and offensive to her jealous soul was the situation in which he beheld him, with a young and lovely rival seated by his side, in gay and amorous converse, with a basilix eye she gazed upon her, breathing destruction and revenge. And is it for this, then, she exclaimed, that I have till now so anxiously concealed myself? Well, might the wretch be incurious respecting me? Well, he might leave me unmolested by his visits. But why? Ah, little could I guess, and clearly shall he pay for the short-lived raptures his inconstancy has procured him. Thus, versed him with rage, swore the vengeful Magalena, and rushing immediately as she entered her abode, to the apartment where she had left Leonardo employed in finishing her drawing, she threw herself upon a chair beside him, and exclaimed, Throw! Throw aside your pencil, Leonardo, and seize your dagger, for, by heaven, this night he dies! What sayest thou, Magalena? inquired the youth with evidence or prize, fixing his eyes upon her countenance. Who is it dyes tonight, and what dost thou mean? By the rage which flamed on her cheek, and sparkled in her eye, Leonardo easily discerned that something unusual had occurred. Taking her hand, and tenderly kissing it, he pursued, Tell me, Magalena, what has he fallen thee? Yes, he shall, by all my hopes of salvation, he shall die! frantically cried the vindictive Florentine. And thou, Leonardo, yes, thou shall execute my vengeance on him! Murder again! The theme was still horrible to Leonardo, and again he shuddered and recoiled. Will thou not consent, Leonardo? she said in a hollow voice, fixing upon him her large and fiercely gleaming eyes. But say, who must die? cried the youth. And what is the offence against thee? The treacherous, the ungrateful betrayer! But you know him not, Leonardo, yet mark me, my resolution is taken, and it devolves on you to execute it. The time is at length come wherein you must prove the strength, the devotedness of your attachment to me. Now then, hear me, Il Conte Berenze is a noble Venetian. He was the betrayer, the deceiver of my youth. To him do I owe, yes, to him," added the artful Florentine, that first my soul wandered from the paths of virtue, that I am now unworthy, hiding her countenance upon the bosom of her agitated lover, to become ever more than the mistress of my Leonardo. The heart of Leonardo became infinitely affected. Magdalena proceeded, This day I encountered him on the Laguna, accompanied by a female. He passed me by. He uttered words the most gross, the most insulting. I regarded him with horror and surprise painted in my looks, when fearful I suppose that the mere sight of me should contaminate the purity of his present love. He rudely waved his hand, and with an air of scorn and indignation, as if to say, in pure wretch. How dares thou appear to recognize me in the presence of a superior female? Leonardo, she pursued, furiously starting from her chair, strung with new rage by the revelation of the falsehood she had invented. Leonardo, shall I tamely submit to this? Canst thou submit to it? This to thy mistress. It is for this he dies. Thy love has ennobled me, and I will not now suffer degradation tamely. The highly susceptible feelings of Leonardo, thus artfully played upon, became incandled. He participated in her well-famed, outraged delicacy, so flattering to his own self-love. But still the revenge was dreadful to his mind, proportioned too far beyond the offence. Perceiving that, though his cheek glowed with indignation in his eyes with art and love, that still he spoke not, determined then to work him to the pitch she required, she resumed. Oh, Leonardo, if in love for thee I have outstepped the bounds of decency and decorum, let me not, therefore, with faltering voice she pursued, let me not be with impunity outraged or trampled on by others. No, no, no! cried the overpowered Leonardo, raising her in his arms. No, never sweet mistress of my soul, while I have life. He who offends thee dies. Thou art then, thou art my own! cried the delighted Florentine. That assurance reanimates my sinking soul. Secured now of my cherished revenge, I will discuss with thee further the steps to be pursued. Come, my beloved Leonardo, let us go to the supper-room. Obedient to her will, Leonardo accompanied her. He did now at supper with the imaginating Florentine. She, fearful that his enthusiastic ardor might relax, pledged him repeatedly in goblets of the most potent wine, taking sufficient care, however, to elude swallowing more herself than would permit her to preserve her empire over him. As it fatally happened for Leonardo, Megalina never appeared more beautiful to him than at those times when she was urging him to the commission of some horrible evil. So that deeds, however repugnant to his nature, and the loss of her love, bore in his deluded eyes no comparison. Megalina well aware of this, by appearing in her conduct and by her language as though she considered herself to have received his promise of avenging her, took from him in fact the power of refusing to do so. How to acknowledge to her that his soul, shuddering, recoils from the idea of murder he knew not. From his knowledge of her disposition, he shrunk at encountering her direful rage, her bitter reproaches and resentful looks, but more he shrunk even in thought from the possibility of her abandoning him, and with a violent but expiring struggle he decided in his mind to acquiesce and give up every attempt to alter the current of events. As the fumes of the wine mounted to his brain, the reasoning of principle subsided and the delusions of fancy increased. The Florentine became every moment more beautiful in his sight, and he began to think that, in her cause, crime itself must become a virtue. She who, as she had persuaded him, seduced by her wild and conquerable love toward him, to forego and cast aside every principle of delicacy, she who had braved for him the scorn and contumely of the world, who had even this day, through him, as he conceived, endured gross insult—no, it was no longer the representations of his lovely mistress which aroused him, but honour, justice, and gratitude. So a wild and erring in the increasing heat of intoxication reasoned and believed the deluded Leonardo. It was now him who led to, and followed up the subject, while the exalting megalena, by our refinement of artifice, added fuel to the fires he had excited without appearing to do so. At length, unable to contain the burning rage he inspired him with, he started suddenly up, and drinking down an overflowing goblet of Lucrima Cristi, he prepared to rush from the house, without even taking the necessary precaution of a cloak and a mask, as enforced by Magalena. For a moment she succeeded in calming him, but only to direct his fervour to unerring and sureer destruction. Covering his face with a mask, she armed him with a stiletto which he took from her girdle, and covered his figure with a cloak. Then, straining him in her arms, she cried, Yes, attend thee! Strung anew by her seductive embrace, stiletto in hand, he flew from the house, to plunge the deadly weapon in the heart of a man who had never injured him, whom even he did not know. Such is the influence to be obtained by female prolificy over the warm feelings of unedited youth. Directed by the subtle enchanter, Leonardo quickly gained the palazzo of Lorenzo. As it had been a night of festivity, he found an easy access to the home, and none observed into the chamber, where he concealed himself behind a wide curtain that covered a window, which, as has been said, opened into a balcony. On hearing Lorenzo and Victoria enter, he had stepped into it for greater security, and proceed with no indifferent feeling that it would, in case of necessity, afford him an opportunity of escape. There in a state of mind bewildered, yet dreading to be reasonable, he remained till occasion seemed favourable for the execution of his purpose. The success it met with has been already related. To a hand rendered unsteady by a confused consciousness of the meditated crime was added the intense and overpowering horror of it once recognizing a sister, and burying in the same moment, as he believed, his dagger in her heart. Wild and dismayed, precipitately he had fled a murder-earned thought, at least if not indeed, and sought, in a state of mind inexpressible, the vile sorzi, who, like sin, sat expecting to hear tidings of death. Well, exclaimed she, starting from the restless couch where she had thrown herself, as, pale and disordered, the unhappy Leonardo rushed into the room, his mask in his hand, and his vest torn open to admit the air to its burning bosom. Well, is it done? Yes, yes, vengeance is executed upon one of your enemies. He cried in hurried accents. Upon the false, the infamous Lorenzo, I hope? Eagley returned by Galena, approaching and gazing in his pallid face. No, no, upon my sister, gloomily answered Leonardo. Yes, sister, you brave young coward! cried Magalena, shaking him by the arm. I do not. I have mortally wounded Victoria de Loredani, my sister. Wounded her mortally in the arms of him for whom my dagger was intended. Thy sister! Thy sister! In a voice of fiend-like exaltation cried the infamous strutzi. Yet secretly enraged that Lorenzo had not perished, and thrown by the furor of disappointment off her guard. Then Magalena strutzi is not the only fallen female upon earth. No longer Nietzsche bowed her head with shame to the ground. For Lorina, mother to the heir of Loredani and Victoria, his sister, both high and noble ladies, raised her to their level by sinking to hers. Oh! This is a bomb to my soul! She continued, clapping her hands with a wild laugh. Lorenzo, proud in a cow or seducer, the woman who loves thee may sacrifice to thee her innocence and her fame, but thou wilt never sacrifice to her thy liberty or grant her thy harmable love! Thus continued the unfeeling Florentine, wreaking upon the wretched Leonardo the avenging scorpions of her tongue, for having failed in the precise purport of his dreadful mission. This was the first time, since her ill-advised union, that she had ventured to breathe odd concerning, much less taunt him with the agonizing secret of his family misfortunes. His high soul sickened and shrunk within him at illusion so barbarous. For an instant he regarded with horror the infamous strutzi. He essayed to speak, but could not, and overpowered with violent and conflicting emotions he fell prostrate on the floor. It was then Magalena began to think, and even admitted the conviction that she had proceeded too far. She almost feared that, by the inhuman stabs she had given to the high feelings of the youth, she had destroyed for ever in his heart every particle of love for herself. This reflection served in an instant to change the tenor of her conduct. From the malice of rage and disappointment she softened to the suggestions of her interest which whispered to her, that in losing now the regards and future devotement of Leonardo, upon which she calculated much, she should lose her all. Throwing herself beside him, therefore, she passionately implored his forgiveness, and sought, by the repetition of every well-tried artiface, to soothe and alleviate the agonizing tumult she had excited. By degrees her blannishments began to prevail over the infatuated youth, and even the horrible recollection she had awakened in his mind, of his being in reality at his graced and wandering outcast, drew him but more closely to her, who, knowing him for what he was, still loved and took an interest in his fate. He adored her, though she had wounded him to the soul, and went to her caresses and ardent professions of eternal attachment she solicited some reply. He raised her in his arms, as kneeling she bent over him, and pressing her with violent emotions to his bosom, passionately cried, Megalina, I am fine. Yes, I feel that I am, and shall be safer. Oh, lovely and seducing woman, eternal must thy empire be over me, and if I forsake thee, may the curse of heaven light upon my head. Then cried the Florentine, delighted at the strength and solemnity of this assurance, let us from this moment be eternally devoted to each other, let us swear that not time, accident, nor circumstance shall ever disunite us. I swear, answered Leonardo ardently, I swear it again, and kissed with rapture the extended hand of Megalina. Received to my oath of perpetual allegiance to thee, lovely youth, with ardour exclaimed the Florentine, for I solemnly swear to be ever true and devoted to thee. Now, then, she added more calmly, let all past differences be buried in oblivion, and the more material circumstances of the moment obtain our consideration. Seating herself beside Leonardo, she then desired a minuteer detail of the occurrences of the night, when suddenly in the midst of his relation she missed the dagger which she had given to him. Her high flush cheek became immediately blanched by terror, and eagerly she interrupted him to ask him concerning it. In an instant the recollection flashed upon his mind that in endeavouring to recover his mask he had never thought of retrieving his dagger likewise, which he did not even remember to have drawn from the bosom of Victoria, where fully he believed himself to have plunged it. Such had been the horror and agitation of his mind he could retrace nothing distinctly, yet the dagger unquestionably was left behind, and this was enough to distract the Florentine. He asked me for breath. We aren't done!" She cried. We are betrayed! For on the hilltop that dagger is engraved at full length, the name of Magdalena Strussie. Leonardo was silent, for he dreaded the reproaches which he almost felt he merited. Suddenly recovering, however, her presence of mind, she exclaimed, We must fly! We must fly instantly! The night is not yet spent. Before daybreak we may be far from this detested city. To some future period must I defer the completion of my just revenge. You tremble, young man, but let us hope," she added with a horrible smile, that you will not always be thus dismayed at the thought of blood. Why, Leonardo, thou art not half of Venetian! Am I not, Magdalena? When occasion calls I can prove myself one. But I feel that, where I even object by blood and in my heart, that thou couldst render me equal to anything. Still, as he spoke, his eyes refused to meet the unshrinking gaze of the Florentine. We shall fly then together, beloved Leonardo, said she, and I shall not so much regret our enforced departure from this gay city. For, now to be frank with thee, my love, my resource is diminished daily. This place affords me no longer the exhaustless mind I once imagined it would. The Venetians have become wary. Or can it be that I am changed from beauty to deformity? Be it as it may, we will quit it unreluctantly, and let us hope that elsewhere better fortune may be ours. Though some parts of Magdalena's speech had surprised Leonardo, he forebore, unwilling to diminish her fascinations in his own eyes, to require more ample explanations. He took her hand hastily, and said, I will follow thee, fair Magdalena, wheresoever thou wilt, even unto the end of my life, as we have mutually sworn. The laws of pleasure chased from the brow of the Florentine to the gloomy traces of rage and unsatisfied revenge. She looked upon her lover with eyes of gratitude and ardent affection. He was indeed to become her all, her sole dependence in the plans of her future life, for, vicious, pulfligate, and unsteady, though still not past the zenith of her charms, they were deemed so far from counterbalancing the violent passions which had formed her mind that she had but few admirers among the jealous and suspicious Venetians. She now hastened from the room to make every preparation for an immediate flight. In less than two hours she had gathered together all the valuables she possessed, and which were capable of being taken with them. Every requisite was arranged, and the gray eye of the morning beheld them far from Venice. Unhappy Lorderina, whose criminal desertion of thine offspring entailed upon them such misery and degradation. In this early career of their lives behold the guilt and unworthiness for which they are amenable. Yet, darker still, and disfigured by greater crimes will be the days which are to come. Faultless example would have shunted into efforts of virtue, the proud and violent nature of thy daughter. Yet behold her now, without even a remorseful struggle, abandoning its precepts. Thy son, the dark you, of his character decided the slave of an artless worthless wanton who presumes, and justly presumes, to call herself thy equal. While, through a terrible and unforeseen combination of events, she has been on the eve of becoming the murderer of his sister. Tremble, unfortunate and guilty mother, for longer and more gloomy, becomes a register of thy crimes. End of Chapter 15. Chapter 16 of Zafloya. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by DJ in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. Zafloya by Charlotte Dacker, Chapter 16. The letter which was written by Megalanna Strozee, and which, from an obscure spot in the island of Capri, she had caused to be conveyed to Berenza, has been already given at full in a preceding part of this history, and was received, as stated, about a fortnight after the mutual flight of Leonardo and herself, well knowing that pursuit must be in vain, and from the precautions they had taken to trace their route impossible. Still undetermined, where eventually to fix, but resolving to be guided by circumstances respecting their future plans, we must now, for a considerable length of time, leave them and return to the thread of our narrative. Youth and that strength of mind which precluded hypochondriac malady did not permit Victoria to languish long under the effects of her wound. She grew rapidly convalescent, but during her inevitable confinement, external objects not intervening much to distract her regards by flattering her vanity. She had full leisure to concentrate her great and varied powers into one point, that of rendering herself an object of such moment to her lover that he should consider with horror the bare possibility of losing her, and be anxious to bind her more completely to his by ties esteemed indissoluble. But such had already been the effect produced upon Lorenza, by conduct which he could not help considering proof of the most heroic love, as well as courage that he no longer viewed her with tender passion only, but with the strongest sentiments of gratitude and enthusiastic admiration. What could woman more than voluntarily, nay eagerly, oppose her own life in defense of his? Who but Victoria could possess at once such tender and such exalted sentiments towards a lover? Longer to doubt the truth, the romantic ardour of her attachment would, he esteemed, be sacrilege. His ideas underwent a wonderful but natural revolution. No more the haughty Lorenza, proud of his noble, his unsullied blood, fearing to dash it with a tincture of disgrace. No more looking down with protecting air, a high and superior being upon a mistress beloved indeed, but not considered as an equal, because though innocent in reality, in his eyes, she was a scion of infamy and shame. No, his heart now throbbed with excessive tenderness, and now ached with compunctious pangs, that he could ever have deemed unworthy of his honorable love the creature before him. Shining superior in a glory emanating from herself, the creature to whom he now thought himself inferior, so complete and powerful a dominion had the act of Victoria obtained over his mind that his proud and dignified attachment softened into a doting and idolatrous love. He was no longer the refined, the calculating philosopher, but the yielding devoted lover. Devoted to the excess of his passion, in short he felt that now to be happy, to conciliate his conscience, and to atone to Victoria for his past injustice, he must make her his wife. No sooner had he formed this resolution than he believed himself to have discovered a balm for everything, and to experience a pun, sensation of delight till now unknown. Unable long to contend against the strong impulse of his heart, he waited only for the reestablishment of Victoria's health to pour out his feelings at her feet, and to offer to her the unworthy gift of himself. When therefore, he thought her sufficiently recovered to permit him to touch upon the subject, that must, as he supposed, occasion some emotion, he no longer withheld himself from giving utterance to what had of late, so often risen from an overflowing heart to his lips. Victoria heard him with a look of complacency, and all that softness she knew so well how to assume, but pride having always kept her from surmising the struggles of Lorenza upon her subject, and that he had not till this period offered to become her husband, because till this period he had deemed her unworthy to become his wife, having never surmised this she betrayed no immediate emotion, or unspeakable delight, no overpowering transport or surprise, but listened to him in silence with an acquiescent smile. This being considered by Lorenza as a coolness of demeanor, uncongenial to the subject, he mentally attributed it to a wounded pride in Victoria, that he had not sooner made her an offer of his hand. His own noble delicacy caught the alarm, and his liberal soul acknowledged the justice of her feeling. Anxious then to remove from her mind every uneasy impression, the ardour of his manner increased, and he prayed to Victoria to pardon the unworthiness of his past scruples. Here Lorenza erred, had he stopped as a simple intention of offering his hand to Victoria he had done right, but his last insinuation, though broken and obscure, darted like lightning through her brain, and struck to her proud heart as a three-edged dagger. That proud heart had now indeed taken an alarm far beyond any Lorenza's imagination could have conceived. Her brow lowered, she turned of an ashy paleness, as sudden hatred and desire of revenge took possession of her vindictive soul, the conveyance flashed upon her that she had till this moment been deemed by Lorenza unworthy of becoming his wife. The secret then is betrayed, thought she, the sword of union into which he entered with me, and which plainly I preferred as a proof of his love for me, was desired by him only as being least offensive to his dignity and pride. Tis well. Rapidly these ideas passed through the mind of Victoria, and while secretly vowing the offense should never be forgotten, she again harmonized her features, and clothed them with smiles, since such had been the sentiments of Lorenza and now became unquestionably a desirable point to become at once his wife, to have triumphed by any means over his stern and detested pride with something, but it could not obliterate the crime of having ever dared to view her in an inferior light. Happy Lorenza, all thy delicacy, thy forbearance, and nobleness of mind will not save thee from the consequences of having proceeded thus far. The changes of Victoria's countenance were only attributed by her lover to an unconquerable emotion, which she struggled to conceal at this undeniable proof of the strength of his attachment to her, delicately solicitous to raise her in her own eyes, he with pressing earnestness, entreated of her a prompt compliance to their union. Victoria fixed him her eyes, pregnant with an unusual expression, for busy were her evil thoughts against him. Why is that look, my love? inquired Lorenza. I look upon thee as I love thee, answered Victoria. And thou wilt be mine, honorably and solemnly mine, then? said Lorenza, with eagerness. I will, answered Victoria. I most ardently desire to become thy wife. Lorenza, who understood nothing by these expressions but simply what met the ear, viewed her with an increase of tenderness and admiration, for it is a principle in human nature to exalt in our minds those objects we are determined to favor and elevate. A very short period from this beheld Victoria de la Ordani, the wife of Ilcante Lorenza, and becoming so, her faults in the eyes of an admiring husband were wholly obliterated, and her better qualities appeared to shine forth with redoubled effect. With what a difference and far more refined feeling did he now walk with her in St. Mark's place, or exhibit her on the Laguna, amid thousands of gay Venetians in their gondolas? With what pleasure, with what delight, with an air how unembarrassed did he now introduce, as his wife, to an elegant and respectable society, her whom he could have felt but a vain and inconsiderable triumph in introducing, as his mistress, to the gay and the disillute. In having made his Victoria an honorable wife, he experienced a noble and benevolent satisfaction, which had for its basis the reflection of having raised to a level with the higher class of society, her who he might have been instrumental in sinking to that of the lowest. But though the conduct of the refined Berenza was such as to claim, and to deserve the highest gratitude and love, the vindictive spirit of Victoria could not forget that he had deemed her unworthy of ranking on an equality with himself. For this, in her moments of solitude, her heart swelled with unforgiving hate. She despised and undervalued the advantages she possessed, and fed the discontented repinings of her mind by recalling to memory the moment when he unfortunately betrayed the slate of his sentiments respecting her. Sometimes she even regretted that, under circumstances so humiliating, she had consented to become his wife, and almost determined to shoo her contempt of his fancied condescension by abandoning him. If at these times her unconscious husband by chance intruded, he was received with a gloomy and discontented air, which when he pressed her to explain, she attributed either to indisposition or an involuntary depression of spirits. When the mind is dissatisfied, whether upon grounds just or unjust, it ever views objects through an exaggerated medium, trifles which, and in the sane state would have passed unnoticed, are twisted from their proper insignificance to aid the conceptions of a disturbed imagination. Thus was it with Victoria. She knew and felt that Berenza was her superior, and she imagined that he must feel it likewise. Every word, every look, every action she thought reproached her with her former degradation, and the objectness from which it had pleased him to raise her. Her fits of gloom and abstraction increased. She forbore to cultivate any society from a sentiment of most unpardonable pride, which, like a worm in the heart, the more it was cherished the more corroded, and the luckless Berenza was sometimes, in the momentary sting of disappointed hope, compelled to acknowledge that though the situation of a wife might have rendered more respectable the object of his love, it had forever destroyed the charms and fascinations of the mistress. Yet still he loved with the tenderest the truest affection. Five years now rolled on since the union but little productive of real happiness to either party, when one evening a violent ringing at the gate of the palazzo bespoke the approach of an impatient visitor. Soon a stranger was announced, and almost in the same moment entered the saloon. Berenza rose from his chair, but scarcely did he cast a glance toward him ere he flew into the arms that opened to receive him, exclaiming, Welcome to Venice! Welcome home, my beloved Henrique! Then turning towards Victoria, as surprise and delight permitted him to recover himself, Behold a beloved brother, my Victoria, he said, And you, my brother, behold an adored wife, now now indeed may I expect to be truly happy. Henrique pressed the hand of his brother and paid some graceful compliments to Victoria, who gazing upon him with admiration in an instant drew ungrateful comparisons between their persons, to the disadvantage of him in whom her soul should have discerned no fault, but that benevolent and unsuspicious being seated himself between them and felt, as he deserved to be, truly happy. Hitherto it has not been thought requisite to enlarge materially upon the cause that induced the departure and stay of Berenza's brother from Venice. It has been hinted, however, that it was to divert, if possible, by activity and change of scene the ardor and impetuosity of a passion that he had conceived for a young lady whose father had on the plea of their mutual youth opposed their union, but who in reality was desirous only of obtaining a higher match for the blooming Lila, his daughter, at that period little more than 13 years of age. For although he could not bestow upon her the smallest dowry, he conceived that the nobility of her birth entitled her to the first ducca in Venice. The circumstance of his having lately become deceased, which event Lila, in corresponding with, had imparted to her lover, was the means of bringing him thus in anxious eagerness to Venice, fondly hoping that now every obstacle to their union was removed, which still remained the first fond wish of his bosom, undiminished by time or an absence of years, for where, as with impassioned earnestness he demanded of himself, could he ever hope to find in another that purity and innocence, which his heart told him still dwelt incorruptible in the bosom of his young and lovely mistress, Berenza to whom during supper he related the delightful cause of his sudden return and dwelt with all the ardor of a lover upon the fond hope he entertained of being soon enabled to call Lila his. Fondly took pleasure in flattering him that nothing indeed was now likely to disappoint the desires of his heart. Victoria listened in silence to the conversation and an indefinite sentiment resembling regret glanced through her bosom when she thereby discovered that the affections of the young Enrique were so deeply engaged. At length they separated for the night, the lover to dream of the fair creature that in the morning he hoped to embrace, and the disturbed Victoria to arrange, if possible, the confusion of idea that floated in her mind. Scarcely had the first beams of morning enlightened the east, Erenrique awakened, ardent and impatient to visit the object of his love. Soon as propriety might in the least admit, he flew to her residence. The fair Lila received him indeed with all the warmth, with all the affection he could have wished, but his buoyant hopes were quelled by what she said in reply to his eager solicitations to become immediately his. Her father was indeed dead, but still impediments existed. She was under the protection of an ancient female relative, who with herself had remained with him in his last moments. It was the dying request, nay command of that father, cruel and relentless even in death, that she should not marry till the expiration of a whole year from the time that he should be consigned to the earth. To this she had solemnly and implicitly promised obedience. And to this requisition, hard as it was, she professed to Enrique her fixed resolution to adhere. Educated in sentiments of the severest piety, it was in her idea a sacred and religious obligation to her to fulfill a promise to the dying. Nay, she would have deemed it horrible sacrilege even to hesitate or waver respecting his performance, and all the entreaties of her lover to make her forego adherence to what he considered an arbitrary and most unjust command were not only vain, but tended almost to shake him in her long and deep rooted sentiments of esteem by giving her doubts of his moral character. Little more than one month had as yet elapsed, since the internment of the tyrannical parent, nearly a whole year even now must roll over their heads ere they could become united. Yet even against this grievous representation on the side of Enrique, the pious Lila was proof and with a heart nearly as agonized as if he had been compelled to resign forever his hopes, the unhappy lover returned to his brother's palazzo. His first impulse was to seek him in private and relate to him the disappointment of his wishes with Lila. The kind Berenza listened with attentive sympathy and it occurred to him that since Lila would not immediately become the wife of Enrique, the pains of delay might be infinitely alleviated by prevailing on her to become a constant visitor at the palazzo, which as Berenza was now married, and she herself under the protection of a female relative who would always accompany her, could not certainly be in the least unobjectionable alternative. This was indeed pouring balm into the woods of Enrique, scarcely would the eager and impassioned youth permit his brother to conclude ere he rushed from his presence and appeared again before his beloved Lila, to impart to her the proposition of Berenza, and to implore her to accede to it. This, the scrupulous and innocent girl offered no objection to, and the heart of her lover was once more rendered comparatively light. On the evening of the same day she consented, accompanied by her relation to visit Victoria, it was under that shape alone that Enrique had ventured to propose her seeing him at the palazzo of his brother. He then once more departed and related to Berenza his second attempt with the success it had met upon the conscientiousness and delicacy of his mistress. In the evening, according to promise, the fair girl made her appearance and was by Enrique introduced to the Conte and to Victoria as his destined wife, but never, surely never, was unconscious guests received with feelings and with thoughts so hostile as was the innocent Lila by Victoria, yet still the smile played upon the disciplined features of the accomplished hypocrite and the hand was extended to bid her welcome. Throughout the evening her conduct was such as to excite a timid gratitude and respect in the breast of her lovely visitor and to make her appear admirable in the eyes of the delighted Enrique. Why were unreal appearances that shed around such pure expansive satisfaction? Dark and dreadful are the intricacies of the human heart when debased as was Victoria's. Almost unknowing to herself she conceived immediate hatred for the orphan Lila because she was dear, because she was beloved by Enrique and Enrique had appeared charming in her eyes. It was the early influence of this newborn sentiment that generated one's so base and Victoria's was not a noble and an honourable mind that would combat in itself feelings that were improper to be indulged, rather would she have sought their gratification, unminded of the misery that might be produced to others. End of chapter 16, recording by DJ in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. Chapter 17 of Zafloia. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by DJ in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. Zafloia by Charlotte Daker. Chapter 17. As though the curse of Lorena were entailed upon her daughter, that of becoming absorbed by a guilty and devouring flame with the single exception that, in the case of the former, the heart and mind had been involuntarily seduced by a designing betrayer, while the other cherished and encouraged an increasing passion for one who attempted her not, and which common honour should have taught her to repel. Victoria dwelt with unrestrained delight upon the attractions of the object that had presented itself to her fickle and ill-regulated mind. From her infancy untaught, therefore unaccustomed to subdue herself, she had no conception of that refined species of virtue, which consists in self-denial, the proud triumph of mind over the weakness of the heart she had ever been unconscious of. Education had never corrected the evil propensities that were by nature hers, hence pride, stubbornness, and the gratification of self, contempt and ignorance of the nobler properties of the mind with a strong tincture of the darker passions. Revenge, hate, and cruelty made up the sum of her early character. Example, a mother's example had more than corroborated every tenancy to, and the unhappy Victoria was destitute of a single actuating principle that might, in consideration of its guilt, deter her from the pursuit of a favourite object. Her mind, alas, was an eternal night, which the broad beam of virtue never illumined. Enrique was the subject of her thoughts by day. He employed her fancy by night. His form presented itself if she awoke. He figured in her dreams if she slumbered. Daily, nay momentarily, her unchecked passions acquired strength. Already she viewed with disgust heightened by unfading remembrance of the sentiments he had once entertained respecting her, the being who had claimed so strong upon her gratitude and affection. For the young Lila she cherished the most unprovoked and bitterest hate. The hot breath she respired was charged with wishes for her destruction. Yet each and all of these beings were unconscious of the feelings they inspired. For the honourable Berenza, whose mild philosophy taught him, it was only just to conclude that love induced love and proofs of esteem gratitude. Regarding his wife with an unvarying tenderness, the innocent Lila placed confidence in her smiles and courteous demeanour, while Enrique absorbed in the contemplation of an adored mistress remarked not the impassioned glances of another directed towards him, nor the pointed attention by which they were at times accompanied. Eminently indeed calculated to excite an ardent love in youth was the mind and person of the orphan Lila. Pure, innocent, free even from the smallest taint of a corrupt thought was her mind. Delicate, symmetrical, and a fairy-like beauty, her person so small yet of so just proportion. Sweet, expressing a seraphic serenity of soul, seemed her angelic countenance, slightly suffused with the palest hue of the virgin rose. Long, flaxen hair floated over her shoulders. She might have personified were the idea allowable, innocence in the days of her childhood. Her very situation had a powerful claim upon the heart of sensibility, for the blooming Lila was an orphan. No ostensible protector had she under the face of heaven since an old and feeble relative, whose very existence from day to day appeared precarious, could not justly be deemed so. This very circumstance it was that drew most powerfully towards her the benevolent soul of Lorenza, and ardently he longed for the expiration of the allotted year that she might obtain, in the arms of his brother, a safe and honorable refuge. Time rolled on and the effervescence of Victoria's mind increased almost to madness. Nothing but the consideration of the proposed marriage between Henrique and Lila being, in conformance with the religious scruples of the latter, protracted, kept her within the bounds of discretion necessary even for the accomplishment of her own purpose. But as she beheld time passing away and that still Henrique, the idol of her thoughts, remained wholly insensible to the most open insinuations, almost avowals of the feelings he had excited, she became nearly frantic with desperation and resolved to risk everything to obtain her point. The most wild and horrible ideas took possession of her brain, crimes of the deepest die her imagination could conceive appeared as nothing opposed to the possibility of obtaining a return of love from Henrique. And to see him bestowing upon the envied Lila marks of the tenderest attachment made her wild with the furor of conflicting passions, now it was that she truly felt she had never loved the injured Lorenza, but that circumstances the situation of the moment and a combination of events alone had first induced her to attend and ultimately to fly to him as the only being who would afford her protection. She now viewed him as a philosophic sensualist alone whose conduct towards her had been solely accentuated by selfish motives. Was he not considerably her superior in years? It was plain then that his regard for her had been of the most unworthy kind, and his anxiety to ascertain her love for him ere he took advantage of the situation into which she had thrown herself, a refinement of the grossest artifice. But Henrique, the lovely Henrique, was more upon an equality with her and it was for him that the selfish Lorenza should have reserved her. Thus it was that she ungratefully reflected upon the delicate and noble conduct of the Conte towards her, forgotten all of his honorable forbearance, despised his refined and disinterested attachment, and thus it is that in the pursuance of some favorite object the wicked depreciate the benefits they have received. Retiring one night to her chamber, more gloomy, more repining than ever, she threw herself upon her bed, secretly wishing that Lorenza that Leola, nay, even the whole world if it stood between her and the attainment of her object, could become instantly annihilated. Her bosom ached with the exhausting conflict of the most violent passions. Death and destruction entered her thoughts, and twice she started up, as impelled to execute some dreadful purpose, she knew not what. Horrible images possessed her brain, and her heart seemed burning with an intense and unquenchable fire. She became even herself astonished at the violence of the sensations which shook her, and for an instant believed herself under the influence of some superior and unknown power. Transported nearly beyond the bounds of reason, almost expecting, in the wilderness of her distempered fancy, to behold somewhat that should corroborate her idea, perhaps even to soothe the agony of her bosom, she started up again from her thorn-strewed pillow. But no, all was peaceful without. The rage and the confusion was in her breast, a dim light at the furthest end of the chamber, emitting a few solitary rays, revealed the surrounding loneliness and gloom. She pressed her hand on her throbbing temples, her heart beat with violence, and once more overpowered, she laid her head upon her pillow. At length she fell into a disturbed slumber. Dreams of mysterious tendency began to flit in the disordered eye of sleep. First she beheld in a beautiful and luxurious garden, Lila and Henrique, his arm encircled her waist, and her head reclined upon his shoulder. While he contemplated her angelic countenance with looks of ineffable love, at this vision a deep groan broke in sleep from the miserable Victoria. She endeavored to turn her eyes from them, but could not. And, while the most horrible and raging pain shot through her heart, they suddenly disappeared from before her and she found herself alone in a remote part of the garden. Presently she beheld, approaching towards her, a group of shadowy figures. They appeared to hover in mid-air, but at no great distance from the earth, and, as they came nearer, she discerned, that though of a deadly paleness their features were beautiful and serene. These passed gradually, when, as if from the midst of them, she beheld advancing amore, of a noble and majestic form. He was clad in a habit of white and gold. On his head he wore a white turban, which sparkled with emeralds, and was surmounted by a waving feather of green. His arms and legs, which were bare, were encircled with the finest oriental pearl. He wore a collar of gold round his throat, and his ears were decorated with gold rings of an enormous size. Victoria contemplated this figure with an inexplicable awe, and, as she gazed, he bent his knee and extended his arms towards her, while in this attitude her mind filled with terror, she looked upon him with dread, and a saying to fly, she stumbled and awoke. Reflected reflecting on her dream, she could attribute it only to the disturbed state of her mind, and, desirous if possible to forget for a few moments her pain, she again endeavored to sleep. Scarcely had thought become again suspended, ere fancy took the lead, she now saw herself in a church brilliantly illuminated, when, horrible to her eyes, approaching the altar near which she stood, appeared Lila, led by Enrique and attired as a bride. In the instant that their hands were about to be joined, the more she had beheld in her preceding dream appeared to start between them, and beckoned her towards him. Involuntarily, she drew near him, and touched his hand, when Berenza stood at her side and, seizing her arm, endeavored to pull her away. Well, thou be mine. In a hurried voice whispered the more in her ear, and none then shall oppose thee. But Victoria hesitated and cast her eyes upon Enrique. The more stepped back, and again the hand of Enrique became joined with Lila's. Well, thou be mine. exclaimed the more in a loud voice. And the marriage shall not be. Oh, yes, yes, eagerly cried Victoria, overcome by intense horror at the thoughts of their union. In an instant she occupied the place of Lila, and Lila, no longer the blooming maid but a pallid specter, fled shrieking through the aisles of the church. While Berenza, suddenly wounded by an invisible hand, sunk covered in blood at the foot of the altar, exultation filled the bosom of Victoria, she attempted to take the hand of Enrique, but casting her eyes upon him, she beheld him change to a frightful skeleton and in terror awoke. Her mind was now in a chaos of agitation and horror, from which she found it difficult to recover. Endeavoring, however, by a violent effort to recall her scattered ideas and to resume her usual firmness, she became collected enough to review the leading features of her dream. The image which, upon this review, presented itself most forcibly to her mental vision was that of the more, whose person she had a confused idea of having seen frequently before. After a minute's reflection, she identified him for Zafloia, the servant of Enrique. Why he should be connected with her dreams, who never entered her mind when waking, she could not divine. But certain it was that his exact resemblance, though as it were of polished and superior appearance, had figured chiefly in her troubled sight. She next reverted to the terrible moment in which she beheld joined the hands of Lila and Enrique, but that Zafloia had offered to prevent the marriage. On this incident she pondered with a sensation of pleasure and barrenza, bleeding and dying at her feet. She contemplated as a blissful omen of her success. The more she considered, the more she inferred, the less reason she perceived for interpreting ill the visions of the night, and the conclusion which, at length, she drew was this, that every barrier to the gratification of her wishes would ultimately be destroyed, and that she should at length obtain Enrique. All else she considered irrelevant to the true purport of her dream, and the fantastic ebullitions of a disturbed mind. The frequent introduction of Zafloia she judged to be merely in consequence of her beholding him daily, sometimes attending behind the chair of his master at mealtimes, and on other occasions, while Enrique changing to a skeleton when she obtained his hand was emblematic only she conceived, that he would be hers till death. The following day, when at a late hour she entered the apartment where they usually dined, the first object that caught her attention was the tall, commanding figure of the Moor, standing near the chair of his master. She almost started as she beheld him, and the image in her dreams flashing upon her mind, she marked how exact was the similitude in form, in features, and in dress. She seated herself, however, at the table, but voluntarily stole frequent glances towards him. Once or twice, she imagined that he looked upon her with a peculiar expression of countenance, and strange, incongruous ideas shot through her brain, ideas which even to herself were indefinable. She became at length gloomy and abstracted from mere incapacity to develop her own sensations, but to be gloomy and abstracted had of late ceased an air to become remarkable, and, while the excellent Lorenza in secret deplored this change in his beloved Victoria, he forebore the slightest reproach, endeavoring only by the kindest and most delicate attentions to disperse her frequent melancholy. The innocent Lila, too, with sweet gentleness, would sometimes approach and seek, by endearment or lively converse, to remove what was so evident to all. But the efforts of the lovely girl appeared rather to injure than to benefit Victoria. They aroused her from her dejection indeed, but elicited strong irritability and feelings of the bitterest nature. Solitude, in general, seemed to delight her mast, and as she had denied to Lorenza that she possessed any definable cause of melancholy, in that he permitted her to indulge, hoping, unsuspicious of the evil in her heart, that her mind, by its own efforts, would recover its tone. As for Henrique, though he treated her with friendship and respect as the wife of his brother, he did no more. First, because he was absorbed in Lila, and secondly, because being so completely both in mind and person, the reverse of that pure and delicate being, he not only failed to view them as two creatures of the same class, but almost thought of Victoria with a tincture of dislike from the very circumstance of being so opposite to his lovely mistress. End of Chapter 17, Recording by DJ in Chatham, Ontario, Canada Chapter 18 of Zafloia This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by DJ in Chatham, Ontario, Canada Zafloia by Charlotte Daker Chapter 18 The more Zafloia was beloved by all save one in the Palazzo of Lorenza. This single exception of the general sentiment was discernible in a man called Latoni, a domestic who had resided for some years in the service of the Conte. Envy and hatred filled his heart in contemplating the superior qualities of Zafloia, whose elegant person was his least recommendation. He could dance with inimitable grace and his skill in music was such that in excursions on the Laguna, he frequently at the request of his master occupied one end of the gondola to charm the company with the exquisiteness of his harmony. These are distinctions and the estimation in which the more was held by his superiors. So prayed upon the mind of Latoni that he abhorred to look upon him and sought every occasion to irritate him that in some quarrel or fight he might do him a mortal injury. The more however distaining Latoni treated him with sovereign contempt and no bitterness of language could extort from him other reply than a smile of most expressive scorn. This behavior would enrage Latoni to a pitch of madness but not daring to wreak his vengeance upon so universal a favorite. He had no alternative but to rush from the spot and vent incurses the malignant fury of his breast. It happened that some few days after the singular dreams of Victoria while their impression and their tendency still occupied her mind that the more Zafloia became suddenly missing. As he was so highly prized by Enrique and admired by all this circumstance caused infinite consternation throughout the Palazzo and none indeed did it affect more strongly most inconceivably to herself than Victoria. Every place that he had ever been in the habit of frequenting where even there was the remotest probability of his having been was scrupulously sought and referred to. People were sent different ways throughout Venice to gain if possible some intelligence respecting him but all in vain. Several days elapsed and not the smallest tidings could be obtained. Conjecture at length became weary and hope began to fail. All further attempts to learn the fate of Zafloia were considered to be vain and time alone was expected to develop the mysterious circumstances of his sudden disappearance in the midst of this the domestic Latoni was seized with sickness and confined to his bed. Varenza who regarded him as an old and faithful servant used every endeavor to promote his recovery but his disorder rapidly gaining ground the physicians confessed the inability of medicine to save him from approaching death. This final opinion being conveyed to Latoni he was seized with the most terrible pangs from which he only recovered to entreat the presence of a confessor his master and senor Enrique ere he resigned his breath. This request of a dying man the benevolent Varenza rapidly complied with Enrique likewise consented to accompany him and Victoria she knew not why begged permission to be present all together then entering the chamber of the expiring Latoni who soon as he beheld them raising himself in his bed spoke as follows my lord Varenza and you senor Enrique execrate not a dying penitent but listen with mercy and forgiveness to his confession it is I Latoni who all concerning the disappearance of the Moors of Floya I envied his beauty his accomplishments and hated him for the admiration which they obtained him I sought many opportunities of provoking him to quarrel with me but he treated me with contempt and this increasing rage against him determined me to take his life wretch exclaimed Victoria senora peace I beseech you for I must be brief and the pangs I now endure may almost expiate my crime one evening the evening he was missing I followed him from the Palazzo I watched his footsteps but kept at a distance I observed him on St. Mark's my heart panted with uncontrollable fury and desire of vengeance for the bitter moments he had given me I saw him raise his eyes to heaven and contemplate the spangled sky he stood almost close to the brink over the canal and I longed to push him in headlong but the idea that this might not affect completely his destruction and that he might save himself by expert swimming stayed my eager hand and I softly approached him from behind he heard me not I took trembling with fear of failure my dagger from my belt and plunged it repeatedly into his back ere he could even attempt to defend himself I then satisfied that he must perish tumbled him into the water from which he never rose and hastily fled the spot the avenging conscience pursued me however and prevented me from enjoying the fruits of my crime death approaches and torments of hell are open to my view as Latoni concluded strong convulsions seized him and he fell back upon his pillow his confession had eased his conscience but could not prolong his life he lingered a few hours then praying for mercy although most despairing to obtain it he breathed his last great was the grief of Victoria on hearing thus circumstantially detailed the loss and destruction of one who had began so deeply to interest her thoughts she found it impossible to account for the degree of feeling which affected her she had never been conscious of the slightest predilection in favor of the more until the circumstance of his impressing her mind from appearing in her dreams had never even cast a thought more than common upon him from that period indeed she had been most inexplicably interested about him nor could she for any length of time banish his idea from her mind it was vain therefore that she essay to feel indifferent to the reflection of his unhappy fate she found it impossible and experienced a weight at her heart as if under the impression of having sustained a heavy loss Zafloia though a war and by a combination of events and the chance of war in the victory of the Spaniards over the Moors of Granada reduced to a menial situation was yet of noble birth of the race of the Abdul-Ramans he had after several vicissitudes when still young fallen into the hands of a Spanish nobleman who pitting his misfortunes considered him rather as a friend than an inferior and bestowed high polish upon the education he had received Henrique having become acquainted with this nobleman during his travels to divert the sorrows of his love he formed with him a strict friendship founded in some degree upon similarity of situation as well as sentiment unfortunately however in the height of their friendship the Spaniard became involved in a quarrel which terminated in bloodshed he received a wound which was pronounced to be mortal and Henrique had the melancholy office of attending a friend in his dying moments at this awful period it was that he among other changes recommended to his future protection the Moor Zafloia Henrique promised implicit observance to all his wishes and Zafloia was in consequence taken immediately after the death of his first master and protector into the service and guardianship of Henrique these peculiar circumstances besides his excellent and ingenious nature considerably endeared the Moor to him and he loved him not only for the sake of his departed friend but for his intrinsic worth as well his loss therefore by Henrique was most sensibly and deeply regretted and the confirmation of his frightful death received with sentiments of acute grief nine days had now elapsed since the death of Letoni nothing had has yet been heard to contradict his dying account of the end of Zafloia when to the surprise of everyone on the evening of the 10th he entered the apartment where the family of Lorenzo were assembled all started from their seats and Victoria overcome with mixed emotions sunk into hers again an explanation of his astonishing and unlooked for return was hastily demanded by his master when gracefully bowing the Moor gave of himself the following account of the cause of Letoni's hatred towards me I am wholly unconscious he frequently sought my life and on the night that he followed me with murderous intent and wounded me repeatedly with his stiletto I discerned whose hands aimed the blows but was not empowered to make effectual resistance being as it happened wholly unarmed I struggled with the base assassin however but not aware of his intentions he pushed me faint as I was with loss of blood over the edge of the steps on which I was standing when he first attacked me into the canal below here undoubtedly I must have perished but that an honest fisherman returning to Padua was the means of my preservation by extricating me from the water assisted by the feeble struggles for life that I was yet enabled to make fortunately none of my wounds proved to be serious and being in possession of a secret transmitted to me by my ancestors for speedily healing even the most dangerous ones I remained at the hut of the fisherman till I was perfectly recovered and enabled once more to present myself before the honorable family to whom I owe my highest gratitude and respect here ended the narration of Zafloia who when he had received the congratulations of everyone upon his miraculous escape from destruction appeared to learn with evidence of prize the death of Letoni he demonstrated however visible joy at the intelligence and returning thanks submissively yet dignified for the kindness manifested towards him respectfully withdrew from the apartment casting as he went a look of the most animated gratitude upon Victoria as though his heart thanked her for the interest she had appeared to take in his story beyond what his respect would permit him to express as for Victoria in proportion as she had been miserable at the disappearance of the Moor in so much was she rejoiced to behold him again her heart dilated with an unaccountable delight with which the image of Henrique was deeply connected for she thought of him with less of jealous agony and more of confidence and hope as though strange as it appeared the mere presence of Zafloia possessed a secret charm to facilitate her wishes this idea gave an animation to her countenance and a flow to her spirits that for some time had not been perceptible in her the change delighted the unsuspicious Lorenza who flattered himself that it was the dawning triumph of various reason over the morbid refinements of a sickly fancy the innocent lila too caressed her with heartfelt pleasure and victoria returning her caresses with a gloomy eagerness as the murderer might be tempted to fondle the beauty of the babe whose life he intended to take Henrique always participating in the pleasures and sorrows of his mistress paid to a more than usual attention to victoria but it was an attention and compliment to lila to a brother whom he loved and not the spontaneous effusions of his heart to her on this night victoria retired to bed with feelings of delight that teamed with woe to others hers was not that innocent vivacity which springs at once from the purity and sanity of the heart it was the wild and frightful mirth of a tyrant who condemns his subjects to the torture that he may laugh at their agonies it was the brilliant glare of the terrible volcano pregnant even in its beauty with destruction scarcely had her head reclined upon her pillow ere the image of Zafloia swam in her sight she slumbered and he haunted her dreams sometimes she wandered with him over beds of flowers sometimes over craggy rocks sometimes in fields of the brightest verter sometimes over burning sands tottering on the ridge of some huge precipice while the angry waters waved in the abyss below often the circumstances were so strong that the bounds of fancy contained them no longer and hastily awaking scarcely could she assure herself that Zafloia stood not at the side of her bed at one time the delusion was so strong that she even fancied after gazing for a minute at least that he was a few paces from her bed and that she saw him turn and walk slowly and majestically towards the door at this being no longer able to resist she started up and called him by his name but as she did so he seemed to vanish through the door which still remained shut surprised she passed her hand over her eyes and looked around the chamber all was lonely she beheld no further traces of his figure and difficult as was the persuasion she endeavored to believe the whole a delusive dream at length she laid down and closed her eyes again the weariness of sleep oppressed her to such a degree as to deprive her holy of but notwithstanding this her eyes half opened involuntarily a gray silvery mist filled the chamber shedding a sort of twilight the curtains at the foot of her bed opened wide and in the same spot against the figure of Zafloia with one hand he seemed to hold Berenza whose countenance of pallid hue seemed convulsed in the agonies of death on his bare bosom appeared large marks of livid blue and his eyes stretched wide gazed mournfully upon the oppressed victoria in his other hand the more held by her beautiful and flaxen tresses the orphan lila her thin and spectral form seemed a raid in transparent shade her lovely head drooped and on one side of it was a deep wound from which the blood had streamed down her aerial robes while still incapable of volition victoria gazed berenza and lila vanished and she beheld instead her own likeness and that of henrique standing on either side of the moor she seemed to stretch forth her arms into which henrique appeared impelled but hastily retreating she saw that his bosom was disfigured by a dreadful wound suddenly berenza and lila again drew nigh resplendent wings which dazzled her eyes came from the shoulders of lila with this seraphic smile she extended her hands to berenza and henrique and rising with them from the ground victoria beheld them no longer her heart beat violently her brain throbbed and as saying to rise she found herself no longer incapable of motion end of chapter 18 recording by dj in chatham ontario canada chapter 19 of zafluya this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by elsie selwyn zafluya by charlotte dakry chapter 19 victoria having passed a night of restlessness and agitation fell into a slumber towards mourning from which she did not awaken till late in the afternoon when she entered the saloon to join the family at dinner her eyes irresistibly fixed upon the figure of zafluya who flew with a lacquerty to procure her a seat during dinner she was silent and abstracted and her regard continued involuntarily to turn towards him and one of those hasty glances which pride would alone permit her to steal it occurred to her that the figure of the moor possessed a grace and majesty which he had never before remarked his face too seemed animated with charms till now unnoticed and his very dress to have acquired a more splendid tasteful and elegant appearance true it was that great was the beauty of zafluya to a form the most attractive and symmetrical though of superior height deriving every advantage to from the graceful costume of his dress was added accountants spite of its color endowed with the finest possible expression his eyes brilliant and large sparkled with inexpressible fire his nose and mouth were elegantly formed and when he smiled the assemblage of his features displayed a beauty that delighted and surprised but still to the present period all this had been unnoticed by victoria the oftener she looked towards him the more her astonishment increased that it should have been so and she could not help thinking that zafluya before his sudden disappearance and zafluya since his return were widely different of each other whenever she cast her eyes upon the moor she could perceive that he observed her and not observed her only but regarded her with a tender serious interest that filled her soul with a troubled sort of delight at times she even thought he looked at her with a peculiar earnestness and animation yet her pride felt no alarm but on the contrary she took pleasure in knowing that he gazed upon her his place was near the chair of enrique's yet was he assiduous in attending to her in every motion he displayed some new grace and in the eyes of the vain victoria his beauty increased every moment for this once though enrique's was in her mind and in her soul another occupied her attention and in spite of every attempt to divert it to other objects on that one as if by the irresistible force of magnetic attraction and perpetually turned to relieve herself from an indefinable oppression she soon rose from the table and wandered into the garden there throwing herself on a seat she began to brood over her criminal passion and the wildest thoughts rioted from preeminence and her brain detestable berenza she suddenly exclaimed inspired by the basis hatred and ingratitude towards him detestable berenza selfish and unworthy wretch that played upon my youth and deluded me into the misfortune of becoming thy wife had it not been for thee and that cursed arts enrique's air now would have been mine the baby liya i would have banished from his heart i would have rooted her thence or from the earth but that my energies are enslaved my powers fettered by the hated name of wife and the ricas should have yielded to my love he should not have yielded only but have gloried in it who is this minion liya a friendless upstart she was no obstacle i think not of her detestable berenza i say again mean calculating it is thou thou that i should wish annihilated as she concluded a faint echo seemed to repeat her last words in a low hollow tone as if sounding at a distance and borne by the wind what was that said victoria mentally but sounds returned to not ah it was some mockery she pursued with a steep sigh burst from her guilty bosom she drew her hand mechanically across her eyes for a moment and as she removed it she beheld zafloia standing though at a respectful distance before her surprise accompanied by an emotion of anger lightened through her mind that it inferior should thus presume to intrude upon her retirement this latter sentiment however faded in an instant before the majestic presence of the more she looked upon him with an anxious air but did not speak and observed that in his hand he carried a bouquet of roses this beautiful signal he said in a gentle voice and gracefully inclining his body pardon me that i thus ventured to appear uncalled before you these roses that gathered for you suffer me just through them at your feet so saying he attempted to scatter them before her zafloia cried victoria while her eyes wandered with admiration over the beauty of his form no you shall not strew them at my feet give them to me and let me place them in my bosom there are too many for your bosom sweet signora but i will select you one and of the rest they perform you a carpet he took the choices to rose from the bouquet and strew the remainder at the feet of victoria then extending his hand he presented to her the rose which he had selected victoria stretched forth her hand to receive it when as she did so a thorn ran deep into one of her fingers and the blood issued in a large drop zafloia apparent consternation opened his vest and tearing some linen from his bosom cast himself upon his knees and applied it with trembling eagerness to the wound victoria felt too surprised and was gratified to repulse him and the more continued unchecked to press the blood from her finger and absorb it with the linen as it flowed at length it ceased to do so zafloia pressed the crimsoned linen to his heart and tearing from it every particle that remained unstained he folded it up as a sacred relic and placed it in his bosom then seeming suddenly to recollect himself he appeared struck with confusion at his own audacity he dared not raise his eyes to victoria in a dark red blush animated with lurid color his expressive countenance victoria feeling irresistibly impelled laid her hand upon his shoulder and in a gentle voice said rise zafloia and be not ashamed for you're not done Artemis say you so signature I raised in with confidence and rising I spoke he humbly retreated a few paces from her but why is the floria inquired victoria with a smile have you deemed that piece of linen worthy preservation worthy lovely signature answer the more raising his finance to her countenance and crossing his arms upon his bosom it is more worth to me than language can describe it is of equal value to me with yourself for it is a part of you your precious blood Jerry will I of course end safely placed upon my bosom no earthly power shall tempt me to design it as he concluded his countenance glowed with a brilliant fire and increased animation spread itself over his graceful form the vanity of victoria was flattered and no guys did she disdain flattery but was astonished at herself however that was such disparity of situation it should be sweet to her she desired to banish all hostile reflection and gaze seen upon the attractive more she saw such unconquerable fascination that her eyes thought the ground as fearful to express the conscious emotion of her bosom wherefore is the floria she involuntarily said in a tremulous voice do you remain at such a distance I may then approach signora you may the more junior but as victoria still remained in a recumbent attitude he seated himself upon the earth at her feet an impressive gloom now took possession of the mind of victoria a weight of misery seemed pressing on her heart and covering her face with her hand she heaved a deep sigh you sigh sweet signora so the mourner sympathizing accent made the floria venture to demand the cause the cause the floria ah it is the cause which you cannot remove it is a wound for which there was no bomb not so but perhaps signora there was little in the words of the floria to excite hope in the bosom of victoria yet enlivening hope shot through her bosom and she have rose from her reclining attitude the floria she said in a doubting accent finding that he did not proceed what's hope could you offer me some perhaps signora name your grief she started wildly from her seat more she exclaimed your words are big with meaning they contain more than meets the ear quick and tell me boldly all you would say the floria rose from the ground he presumed to take the hand of victoria and let her again to her seat in a moment she was calm no signora deigned to acknowledge to me what secret oppresses and has for long oppressed your soul the more the floria may repay you for your confidence the secret of victoria hovered on her lips hither to it had remained unknown to mortal soul and the gloomy solitude of her own perturbed bosom had she till now preserved it to wear like a poisonous worm and had continued to corrode she was now on the point of betraying her inmost thoughts her dearest wishes her dark repining and hopeless desires of betraying them to to an inferior in an infidel the idea was scarcely indurable and she scorned it but in the next instant she cast her eyes upon the noble presence of the more he appeared not only the superior of his race but of a superior order of beings her struggles died away and in hurried accents she involuntarily exclaimed oh and ricas and ricas the more smiled why does that smile ze floria cried victoria with momentary indignation you love and ricas signora yes yes to madness to distraction how can't thou smile and feeling more or you not a holy catholic signora yet to love so much an earthly being mock not at me as a floria for that being i would forfeit my hopes of heaven you smile again i perceive i have condescended too far you dare to make sport of my miseries no no beautiful signora i only smile at your innocence my innocence she repeated with surprise for conscience whispered that long since had fled yes signora at your innocence that in the midst of wishes so consuming could not instruct you to obtain them oh say can you instruct me can you arrange can you direct the confused suggestions of my brain i think i could assist you first ignore it oh it's a floria who would bind me forever to you eagerly exclaimed victoria enough lovely signora tomorrow at the dusk of the evening don't meet me here again i see approaching towards us il con de berenza and signora and ricas ah i see them too they hated berenza she said while strong were loading against him took possession of her heart very well signora till tomorrow said the floria and precipitately leaving the arbor he took a contrary path to that in which berenza and and ricas were advancing victoria continued with indescribable sensations to gaze after his graceful figure as it disappeared from her view then reluctantly leaving the arbor she joined the conte and and ricas with tremulous delight and with feelings of diminished pain she stole frequent glances at the unconscious possessor of her soul he observed her not for the blooming lila was hastening towards them and an instant he quitted the side of victoria and flew towards her at the site he kindled fiercer than ever in the bosom of victoria she regarded the lovely orphan with the eyes of a basilisk and wished that like them they possessed the power to destroy they in this evening were the mild endearments of lila she repulsed them with hotness for the feelings in her bosom raged too strong to permit the assumption of kindness and she experienced that however her conversation with the floria might have imparted hope and have sued in a degree the anguish of her mind still it had increased to the highest point of irritability every violent and bitter sensation end of chapter 19 chapter 20 of zoe floria this is a leber vox recording all leber vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit lebervox.org recording by linda marie nielson vancouver bc zoe floria by charlotte dakker chapter 20 scarcely on the following evening had the artificial shades of twilight increased the gigantic outlines of the far-seen mountains are victoria hastened to the spot where the more zoe flia had said he would await her on her arrival she found him already there and on perceiving her he hastened forward be seated fair signora he said respectfully leading her to a sloping bank overshadowed by a spreading acacia victoria obeyed the manner of zoe flia was such as inspired in voluntary ah he took her station beside her the soul of victoria was a stranger to fear yet uncommon sensations filled her bosom as she observed her proximity to the more the dim twilight increasing to darkness which now began to spread its somber shadows around through a deeper tint over his figure and his counterance was more strongly contrasted by the snow white turban which encircle his brows and by the large bracelets of pearl upon his arms and legs yet his form and attitude as he sat beside her was majestic and solemnly beautiful not the beauty which may be freely admired but acknowledged with sensations awful and indescribable signora he began in a harmonious voice while every uneasy feeling of victoria's bosom vanished as he spoke i am not to learn that dreadful oppression of soul weighs you to the earth but the cause of your unhappiness i desire to hear from your own lips more explicitly than you have yet acknowledged it think not beautiful victoria that in the spirit of idle curiosity nearly i would dive into the recesses of your bosom no it is from a hope i entertain that i possess a power equal almost to my wishes of alleviating the sorrows you endure but even should i not possess that power even then there is a delight of which you will speedily become sensible in confiding them to a sympathizing breast victoria hesitated the more proceeded does the saignora believe then that the more zelflaya have a heart dark as his counterance ah saignora judge ye not by appearance but if you desire relief make me at once the depository of your soul's conflicts and trust to the event scarce had zelflaya opened his lips uneasiness as we have said vanished from the mind of victoria as he proceeded the most agreeable sensations flooded through her frame and in her brain floated fascinating visions of future bliss that passed too rapidly to be identified scarce had his silver tones sunk on her ear in thrilling cadence then she felt even eager to express to the more her innermost her inmost thoughts excessive yet confused pleasure filled her heart she looked upon his still discernible though darkened figure upon his counterance where like two diamonds revealed by the force of their own casual rays his eyes emitted sparks of lambent flame involuntarily soften towards him she said whether or not thou canst assist me zelflaya is unknown to me but feeling strongly impelled to reveal to thee every moment of my soul the fatal i almost fear the remedy less cause of my misery i hasten to acknowledge to thee all i have already hinted to the concerning my love although the wife of conte brazina my inmost soul dotes frantically upon the young honrique to complete my hopeless distraction the orphan lilia that presumptuous and dependent intruder hath for long been in possession of his heart and heart of which she knows not the value for her person is not more parisal than her mind but it is not the artful insignificant ascendancy this girl has acquired over him that bids me despair it is it is that i am wedded to a wretch whom i abhor who stands between me and happiness and who was only sent upon this earth to seal the feet of my miseries were i but once freed freed from those hated fetters that bind me to brazina i would soon drive from the superior mind of honrique the silly question which now occupies it i would make him feel that he was destined to noble fate to confer and to receive the highest happiness not merely to yield himself a sacrifice to the undiscriminating fancy of his boyish days oh zoe flyer this would i do were opportunity allowed me but never oh never will such bliss be mine she leaned her head upon her hand and paused then quickly resuming i have now told thee of the agony which racks my breast i have even revealed my wishes my despair say say quickly what consolation can't though offer in return i would bid you senora not despair and is this all thou can't say zoe flyer are you of a firm and persevering spirit senora this heart knows not to shrink she answered forcibly striking her bosom while her eyes flashed fire and in its purpose would persevere even to destruction are such the attributes of your character signora then what earthy wishes are not to be achieved by the united force of firmness and perseverance i see not how firmness and perseverance can avail me here however valuable in themselves may be those qualities not so beautiful victoria your words are ambiguous zoe flyer dane to be explicit said victoria hastily will you consider me so when i assert that if you determine not too up to what you have just said no accidental combinations can prevent you from attaining your utmost wishes ha say you so enchanting more exclaimed victoria have frantic with joy at the meaning contained in his words and breathless with contending emotions of hope and doubt seizing his hand she pressed it to her bosom senora be calm be composed cried zoe flyer and honor not thus unworthy the lowest of your slaves speak on then zoe flyer your words are magic they soothe my soul and i feel hope and if i speak on you will not bid me cease you will not shrink senora victoria's only answer was an expressive smile and gesture so flyer then resumed before senora by the unhappy defeat of my countrymen in granada by ferdinand of aragon i became the property of the spaniard who dying recommended me to senor henriquez i had from early youth been addicted to the study of arts as well as arms botany chemistry and astrology were my favorite pursuits and this turn of mine was further encouraged and improved by an ancient more of granada who took pleasure in cultivating my taste and eventually increased considerably my information on various points and to a surprising extent while in the kingdom of aragon resident with the spaniard my late master i continued to have full leisure for the pursuit of my favorite branches of study for he treated me as a friend and an equal rather than a miserable captive and dismissed it oh zoe flyer zoe flyer impatiently cried victoria this is irrevolent suffer me to proceed however senora gravely observed the more with an air that repressed the violence and commanded the attention of his auditor in consequence of the liberty i enjoyed i devoted myself as i have said to my favorite pursuits i obtained a perfect knowledge of symbols and earths and how drugs are compounded from them no one could go beyond the infallibility of my calculations as to their effect to chemistry then i became particularly attached without however resigning my astrological pursuits close application favored to as perseverance usually is by the deductions of accidental observation taught me in time and missed a vast variety of chemical science to compound poisons with such infinite art that from the most speedy and subtle i could vary their degrees to the slowest and most imperceptible i tried them experimentally as it were first upon animals and then upon those who had offended me victoria started but the more appearing not to notice it proceeded upon these i tried alternately my speedy and lingering poisons i have seen the little greyhound one moment frisking at my feet and the next without a struggle sink motionless beside them i have seen the man i hated who had forgotten he had ever offended me smiling in my face and lingering under the imperceptible but certain influence of the poison that had been administered to him and which circulated in his blood gently leading him to the gates of death for the female who had dared to prefer mother to me i have first wrecked my vengeance on her lover and then on herself by the power of the drugs i have given them their love for each other has been alternately changed to hate and they have only recovered from the delirium to be separately destroyed by the effect in no instance have i ever failed in my calculations of the event that which i willed came to pass and came to pass in the manner that i willed it many other surprising secrets of art and nature became revealed to me but to expitate upon then now would be as you have said irrelevant to the subject therefore to the point i now demand of you senora whether you would choose the slow portion or the swift victoria was for a moment staggered at this unexpected question which again the more seeming not to observe took from his pocket a small gold box which opening victoria perceived to contain several divisions from one of these he drew a little folded paper and thus proceeded this paper contains one of the most subtle and delicate poisons that ever by the hand of art could be composed it deals unerring death but deals it slowly it may be administered in wine in food it may even be completely introduced into the system by the puncture of the smallest pin it is this which i should recommend to you senora for a beginning take it and use it as opportunity shall present should opportunities but unfrequently occur you will yourself know how to make them violet stretched forth her hand and took the paper for a moment she was silent and then said this then is for brentza the more smiled expressively and waved his hand as if to say that surely requires no answer then assuming a more serious air he coolly observed when barriers oppose the attainment of a favorite object the barriers must either be laid low or the object remain unattain to remedy an evil it is necessary to strike at the root nothing is to be gained by lapping the branches which arise there from thus should you resolve to overstep common boundaries and that which is termed female delicacy by openly declaring your passion to henrikas and he even setting delants to consequence should return it how do you imagine that while the wife of another you could enjoy unrestrained delight with the choice of your soul do you want resolution then fair senora to affect by means so trifling your highest wishes and did i air he added ironically in the different estimate i had formed of your character it is not that i want resolution return victoria somewhat pete i desire oh how ardently desire the death the inhalation of brezna but by these means to take his life it is not that i hesitate however and ashamed confused at what she deemed her cardus she stopped it is not that you hesitate in an accent half serious half disdainful return the more and why should you hesitate he had no hesitation in sacrificing to himself your young and beautiful person for his gratification and why should you hesitate now at sacrificing him for yours you hate him yet you receive with dissembled pleasure these endearments which he lavishes upon you in depriving him of life you would do him far less wrong surely the conscience of victoria is not subjugated to to a confessor from whence then arises this unexpected demure is not self predominant throughout animal nature and what is the boasted supremacy of man if eternally he must yield his happiness to the paltry suggestions of scholastic terms or the pompous definitions of right and wrong his reasoning mind then is given him only for his torment and to wage war against his happiness yet what cause can be adduced why another must be permitted to stand between him and his fair prospects overshadowing them with hopeless gloom what argument can be adduced against his removal for him of whom we are speaking he has enjoyed already many years of existent pleasure he must now yield his place to another for he has not a right to monopolize to his share the pleasures of others besides were he to live a thousand years longer each day must be but a tasteless repetition of the past for in length of time even the zest of pleasure wears off and when we come to reflect after this long disquisition into which we have been drawn what is the momentous consideration whether the breath of a man be hastened a few moments sooner from his body then sickness accident or a thousand chances might have propelled it and in the common course of things have befriended you yet if none of these happen to arise a mind of enterprise endowed with the strength and power of right reason steps with unshrinking foot a little from the beaten track so fly a paused the cool deliberateness of his manner in expressing his sentiments induce victoria to believe that they were the result of conviction deduced from accurate reflection and the having given to the subject the rational consideration of a towering and superior mind rather than the cruel or force constructions of the moment under this impression she could not avoid saying so fly a you possessed strong powers of reflection and you are eloquent charming senora in a softened voice answered the more I am not naturally eloquent but the wish of promoting your happiness renders me so pride filled the heart of victoria and she smiled ah pursued the more that beauty his form was never made to pine by hopeless level no it was not made to sink to the earth a victim to ungratified sensations to yield to fall a sacrifice to imperious circumstances of victoria beautiful victoria so fly up must fly you in despair should you disdain his proffered services oh flattery like heaven do upon earth gratefully dust though descend upon the ear of woman indescribable pleasure dilated the bosom of victoria as she listened to the honeyed accents of the delicate more she put forth her hand towards him and when he softly seized and pressed it to his lips the haughty venetian was not offended tell me then the floya she said with slight hesitation how must I use this bland and dangerous enemy at night in wine senora in morning beverage when and how you can err long its effects will become discernible the conty at a certain hour of the day drinks lemonade observe victoria which i was once in the habit of administering to him he used to say it tasted sweeter from my hand renew your tender offices said the flaya with a meaning smile and increase your opportunities the powder i have given you is of the minute particles the smallest atom is sufficient at a time using it at the rate of twice a day it will not be exhausted for 10 days at the end of that period the perceptible effect that shall have been produced upon brezna will direct us to proceed now senora allow me to conduct you hence so saying so flaya gently taking victoria by the arm let her with a kind of respectful freedom from the spot end of chapter 20 recording by linda mary nielsen vancouver bc