 CHAPTER X Having ascertained my purpose, it was requisite to search out the means by which I might affect it. These were not clearly or readily suggested. The more I contemplated my project, the more numerous and arduous its difficulties appeared. I had no associates in my undertaking. A due regard to my safety and the unextinguished sense of honour deterred me from seeking auxiliaries and co-agents. The esteem of mankind was the spring of all my activity, the parent of all my virtue, and all my vice. To preserve this it was necessary that my guilty projects should have neither witness nor partaker. I quickly discovered that to execute this scheme demanded time, application, and money, none of which my present situation would permit me to devote to it. At first it appeared that an attainable degree of skill and circumspection would enable me to arrive by means of counterfeit bills to the pinnacle of affluence and honour. My error was detected by a closer scrutiny, and I finally saw nothing in this path but enormous perils and insurmountable impediments. Yet what alternative was offered me? To maintain myself by the labour of my hands, to perform any toilsome or prescribed task, was incompatible with my nature. My habits debarred me from country occupations. My pride regarded as vile and ignominious drudgery any employment which the town could afford. Meanwhile my wants were as urgent as ever and my funds were exhausted. There are few perhaps whose external situation resembled mine who would have found in it anything but incitements to industry and invention. A thousand methods of subsistence, honest but laborious were at my command, but to these I entertained an irreconcilable aversion. Respect attendant upon opulence I was willing to purchase at the price of ever-wakeful suspicion and eternal remorse, but even at this price the purchase was impossible. The desperateness of my condition became hourly more apparent. The further I extended my view, the darker grew the clouds which hung over futurity. Anguish and infamy appeared to be the inseparable conditions of my existence. There was one mode of evading the evils that impended. To free myself from self-upbraiding and to shun the persecutions of my fortune was possible only by shaking off life itself. One evening as I traversed the bank of the creek these dismal meditations were uncommonly intense. They at length terminated in a resolution to throw myself into the stream. The first impulse was to rush instantly to my death, but the remembrance of papers lying at my lodgings which might unfold more than I desired to the curiosity of survivors induced me to postpone this catastrophe till the next morning. My purpose being formed I found my heart lightened of its usual weight. By you it will be thought strange, but it is nevertheless true that I derived from this new prospect not only tranquility but cheerfulness. I hastened home. As soon as I entered my landlord informed me that a person had been searching for me in my absence. This was an unexampled incident and foreboded me no good. I was strongly persuaded that my visitant had been led hither not by friendly but hostile purposes. This persuasion was confirmed by the description of the stranger's guise and demeanor given by my landlord. My fears instantly recognized the image of Watson, the man by whom I had been so eminently benefited and whose kindness I had compensated by the ruin of his sister and the confusion of his family. An interview with this man was less to be endured than to look upon the face of an avenging deity. I was determined to avoid this interview and for this end to execute my fatal purpose within the hour. My papers were collected with a tremulous hand and consigned to the flames. I then bade my landlord inform all visitants that I should not return till the next day and once more hastened towards the river. My way led past the inn where one of the stages from Baltimore was accustomed to stop. I was not unaware that Watson had possibly been brought in the coach which had recently arrived and which now stood before the door of the inn. The danger of my being described or encountered by him as I passed did not fail to occur. This was to be eluded by deviating from the main street. Scarcely had I turned a corner for this purpose when I was accosted by a young man whom I knew to be an inhabitant of the town, but with whom I had hitherto had no intercourse but what consisted in a transient salutation. He apologized for the liberty of addressing me and at the same time inquired if I understood the French language. Being answered in the affirmative, he proceeded to tell me that in the stage just arrived had come a passenger, a youth who appeared to be French, who was wholly unacquainted with our language and who had been seized with a violent disease. My informant had felt compassion for the forlorn condition of the stranger and had just been seeking me at my lodgings in hope that my knowledge of French would enable me to converse with a sick man and obtain from him a knowledge of his situation and views. The apprehensions I had precipitately formed were thus removed, and I readily consented to perform this service. The youth was indeed in a deplorable condition. Besides the pains of his disease he was overpowered by dejection. The innkeeper was extremely anxious for the removal of his guest. He was by no means willing to sustain the trouble and expense of a sick or a dying man, for which it was scarcely probable that he should ever be reimbursed. The traveller had no baggage and his dress betokened the pressure of many wants. My compassion for this stranger was powerfully awakened. I was in possession of a suitable apartment for which I had no power to pay the rent that was accruing, but my inability in this respect was unknown, and I might enjoy my lodgings unmolested for some weeks. The fate of this youth would be speedily decided, and I should be left at liberty to execute my first intentions before my embarrassments should be visibly increased. After a moment's pause I conducted the stranger to my home, placed him in my own bed, and became his nurse. His malady was such as is known in the tropical islands by the name of the yellow or malignant fever, and the physician who was called speedily pronounced his case desperate. It was my duty to warn him of the death that was hastening and to promise the fulfillment of any of his wishes not inconsistent with my present situation. He received my intelligence with fortitude and appeared anxious to communicate some information respecting his own state. His pangs and his weakness scarcely allowed him to be intelligible. From his feeble efforts and broken narrative I collected thus much concerning his family and fortune. His father's name was Vincenzo Lodi. From a merchant at Leghorn he had changed himself into a planter in the island of Guadalupe. His son had been sent at an early age for the benefits of education to Europe. The young Vincenzo was at length informed by his father that being weary of his present mode of existence he had determined to sell his property and transport himself to the United States. The son was directed to hasten home that he might embark with his father on this voyage. The summons was cheerfully obeyed. The youth, on arrival at the island, found preparation making for the funeral of his father. It appeared that the elder Lodi had flattered one of his slaves with the prospect of his freedom, but had nevertheless included this slave in the sale that he had made of his estate. Actuated by revenge, the slave assassinated Lodi in the open street and resigned himself without a struggle to the punishment which the law had provided for such a deed. The property had been recently transferred and the price was now presented to young Vincenzo by the purchaser. He was by no means inclined to adopt his father's project and was impatient to return with his inheritance to France. Before this could be done, the conduct of his father had rendered a voyage to the Continent indispensable. Lodi had a daughter whom, a few weeks previous to his death, he had entrusted to an American captain for whom he had contracted a friendship. The vessel was bound to Philadelphia, but the conduct she was to pursue and the abode she was to select on her arrival were known only to the father, whose untimely death involved the son in considerable uncertainty with regard to his sister's fate. His anxiety on this account induced him to seize the first conveyance that offered. In a short time he landed at Baltimore. As soon as he recovered from the fatigues of his voyage he prepared to go to Philadelphia. Sither his baggage was immediately sent under the protection of a passenger and countryman. His money consisted in Portuguese gold, which in pursuance of advice he had changed into bank notes. He besought me in pathetic terms to search out his sister, whose youth and poverty and ignorance of the language and manners of the country might expose her to innumerable hardships. At the same time he put a pocketbook and a small volume into my hand indicating by his countenance and gestures his desire that I would deliver them to his sister. His obsequies being decently performed I had leisure to reflect upon the change in my condition which this incident had produced. In the pocketbook were found bills to the amount of twenty thousand dollars. The volume proved to be a manuscript written by the elder Lodi in Italian and contained memoirs of the Ducal House of Visconti from whom the writer believed himself to have linearly descended. Thus had I arrived by an avenue so much beyond my foresight at the possession of wealth. The evil which impelled me to the brink of suicide and which was the source, though not of all, yet of the larger portion of my anguish was now removed. What claims to honor or to ease were consequent on riches were, by an extraordinary fortune, now conferred upon me. Such for a time were my newborn but transitory raptures. I forgot that this money was not mine, that it had been received under every sanction of fidelity for another's use. To retain it was equivalent to robbery. The sister of the deceased was the rightful claimant. It was my duty to search her out and perform my tacit but sacred obligations by putting the whole into her possession. This conclusion was too adverse to my wishes not to be strenuously combated. I asked what it was that gave man the power of ascertaining the successor to his property. During his life he might transfer the actual possession, but if vacant at his death he into whose hands accident should cast it was the genuine proprietor. It is true that the law had sometimes otherwise decreed, but in law there was no validity further than it was able by investigation and punishment to enforce its decrees. But would the law extort this money from me? It was rather by gesture than by words that the will of Lodi was imparted. It was the topic of remote inferences and vague conjecture rather than of explicit and unerring declarations. Besides, if the lady were found, would not prudence dictate the reservation of her fortune to be administered by me for her benefit? Of this her age and education had disqualified herself. It was sufficient for the maintenance of both. She would regard me as her benefactor and protector. By supplying all her wants and watching over her safety without apprising her of the means by which I shall be enabled to do this, I shall lay irresistible claims to her love and her gratitude. Such were the sophistries by which reason was seduced and my integrity annihilated. I hastened away from my present abode. I easily traced the baggage of the deceased to an inn and gained possession of it. It contained nothing but clothes and books. I then instituted the most diligent search after the young lady. For a time my exertions were fruitless. Meanwhile the possessor of this house thought proper to embark with his family for Europe. The sum which he demanded for his furniture, though enormous, was precipitately paid by me. His servants were continued in their former stations, and in the day at which he relinquished the mansion I entered on possession. There was no difficulty in persuading the world that Welbeck was a personage of opulence and rank. My births and previous adventures it was proper to conceal. The facility with which mankind are misled in their estimate of characters, their proneness to multiply inferences and conjectures, will not be readily conceived by one destitute of my experience. My sudden appearance on the stage, my stately reserve, my splendid habitation, and my circumspect deportment were sufficient to entitle me to homage. The artifices that were used to unveil the truth and the guesses that were current respecting me were adapted to gratify my ruling passion. I did not remit my diligence to discover the retreat of mademoiselle Lodi. I found her at length in the family of a kinsman of the captain under whose care she had come to America. Her situation was irksome and perilous. She had already experienced the evils of being protectorless and indigent, and my seasonable interference snatched her from impending and less supportable ills. I could safely unfold all that I knew of her brother's history except the legacy which he had left. I ascribed the diligence with which I had sought her to his deathbed injunctions and prevailed upon her to accept from me the treatment which she would have received from her brother if he had continued to live and if his power to benefit had been equal to my own. Though less can be said in praise of the understanding than of the sensibilities of this woman, she is one whom no one could refrain from loving, though placed in situations far less favorable to the generation of that sentiment than mine. In habits of domestic and incessant intercourse in the perpetual contemplation of features animated by boundless gratitude and ineffable sympathies, it could not be expected that either she or I should escape enchantment. The poison was too sweet not to be swallowed with a vidity by me. Too late I remembered that I was already enslaved by inextricable obligations. It was easy to have hidden this impediment from the eyes of my companion, but here my integrity refused to yield. I can indeed lay claim to little merit on account of this forbearance. If there had been no alternative between deceit and the frustration of my hopes, I should doubtless have dissembled the truth with as little scruple on this as on a different occasion, but I could not be blind to the weakness of her with whom I had to contend. CHAPTER X Meanwhile large deductions had been made from my stock of money, and the remnant would be speedily consumed by my present mode of life. My expenses far exceeded my previous expectations. In no long time I should be reduced to my ancient poverty which the luxurious existence that I now enjoyed and the regard due to my beloved and helpless companion would render more irksome than ever. Some scheme to rescue me from this fate was indispensable, but my aversion to labor to any pursuit the end of which was merely gain and which would require application and attention continued undiminished. I was plunged anew into dejection and perplexity. From this I was somewhat relieved by a plan suggested by Mr. Thetford. I thought I had experience of his knowledge and integrity, and the scheme that he proposed seemed liable to no possibility of miscarriage. A ship was to be purchased, supplied with a suitable cargo, and dispatched to a port in the West Indies. Loss from storms and enemies was to be precluded by insurance. Every hazard was to be enumerated, and the ship and cargo valued at the highest rate. Should the voyage be safely performed, the profits would be double the original expense. Should the ship be taken or wrecked, the insurers would have bound themselves to make ample speedy and certain indemnification. Thetford's brother, a wary and experienced trader, was to be the supercargo. All my money was laid out upon this scheme. Scarcely enough was reserved to supply domestic and personal wants. Large debts were likewise incurred. Our caution had, as we conceived, annihilated every chance of failure. Too much could not be expended on a project so infallible, and the vessel amply fitted and freighted departed on her voyage. An interval not devoid of suspense and anxiety succeeded. My mercantile inexperience made me distrust the clearness of my own discernment, and I could not but remember that my utter and irretrievable destruction was connected with the failure of my scheme. Time added to my distrust and apprehensions. The time at which tidings of the ship were to be expected elapsed without affording any information of her destiny. My anxieties, however, were to be carefully hidden from the world. I had taught mankind to believe that this project had been adopted more for amusement than gain, and the debts which I had contracted seemed to arise from willingness to adhere to established maxims more than from the pressure of necessity. Months succeeded month, and intelligence was still withheld. The notes which I had given for one-third of the cargo, and for the premium of insurance, would shortly become due. For the payment of the former and the cancelling of the latter I had relied upon the expeditious return or the demonstrated loss of the vessel. Neither of these events had taken place. My cares were augmented from another quarter. My companion's situation now appeared to be as such if our intercourse had been sanctified by wedlock would have been regarded with delight. As it was, no symptoms were equally to be deplored. Consequences as long as they were involved in uncertainty were extenuated or overlooked, but now when they became apparent and inevitable were fertile of distress and upgrading. Indefinable fears and a desire to monopolize all the meditations and affections of this being had induced me to perpetuate her ignorance of any but her native language and debar her from all intercourse with the world. My friends were, of course, inquisitive respecting her character, adventures, and particularly her relation to me. The consciousness of how much the truth redounded to my dishonor made me solicitous to lead conjecture astray. For this purpose I did not discountenance the conclusion that was adopted by some, that she was my daughter. I reflected that all dangerous surmises would be effectually precluded by this belief. These precautions afforded me some consolation in my present difficulties. It was requisite to conceal the lady's condition from the world. If this should be ineffectual it would not be difficult to divert suspicion from my person. The secrecy that I had practiced would be justified in the apprehension of those to whom the personal condition of Clemenza should be disclosed by the feelings of a father. Meanwhile it was an obvious expedient to remove the unhappy lady to a distance from impertinent observers. A rural retreat, lonely and sequestered, was easily procured, and hitherto she consented to repair. This arrangement, being concerted, I had leisure to reflect upon the evils which every hour brought nearer, and which threatened to exterminate me. My inquietudes forbade me to sleep, and I was accustomed to rise before day, and seek some respite in the fields. Returning from one of these unseasonable rambles, I chanced to meet you. Your resemblance to the deceased Lodi, in person and visage, is remarkable. When you first met my eye, this similitude startled me. Your subsequent appeal to my compassion was clothed in such terms as formed a powerful contrast with your dress, and prepossessed me greatly in favor of your education and capacity. In my present hopeless condition every incident, however trivial, was attentively considered, with a view to extract from its some means of escaping from my difficulties. My love for the Italian girl, in spite of all my efforts to keep it alive, had begun to languish. Marriage was impossible, and had now, in some degree, ceased to be desirable. We are apt to judge of others by ourselves. The passion I now found myself disposed to ascribe chiefly to fortuitous circumstances, to the impulse of gratitude, and the exclusion of competitors, and believe that your resemblance to her brother, your age and personal accomplishments might, after a certain time, and in consequence of suitable contrivances on my part, give a new direction to her feelings. To gain your concurrence I relied upon your simplicity, your gratitude, and your susceptibility to the charms of this bewitching creature. I contemplated likewise another end. Mrs. Wentworth is rich. A youth who was once her favorite and designed to inherit her fortunes has disappeared for some years from the scene. His death is most probable, but of that there is no satisfactory information. The life of this person whose name is clavoring is an obstacle to some designs which had occurred to me in relation to this woman. My purposes were crude and scarcely formed. I need not swell the catalog of my errors by expatiating upon them. Suffice it to say that the peculiar circumstances of your introduction to me led me to reflections on the use that might be made of your agency in procuring this lady's acquiescence in my schemes. You were to be ultimately persuaded to confirm her in the belief that her nephew was dead. To this consummation it was indispensable to lead you by slow degrees and circuitous paths. Meanwhile, a profound silence with regard to your genuine history was to be observed, and to this forbearance your consent was obtained with more readiness than I expected. There was an additional motive for the treatment you received from me. My personal projects and cares had hitherto prevented me from reading Lodi's manuscript. A slight inspection, however, was sufficient to prove that the work was profound and eloquent. My ambition has panted with equal avidity after the reputation of literature and opulence. To claim the authorship of this work was too harmless and specious a stratagem not to be readily suggested. I meant to translate it into English and to enlarge it by enterprising incidents of my own invention. My scruples to assume the merit of the original composer might thus be removed. For this end your assistance as an eminuensis would be necessary. You will perceive that all these projects depended on the seasonable arrival of intelligence from blank. The delay of another week would seal my destruction. The silence might arise from the foundering of the ship and the destruction of all on board. In this case the insurance was not forfeited, but payment could not be obtained within a year. Meanwhile, the premium and other debts must be immediately discharged, and this was beyond my power. Meanwhile, I was to live in a manner that would not belie my pretensions, but my coffers were empty. I cannot adequately paint the anxieties with which I have been haunted. Each hour has added to the burden of my existence till in consequence of the events of this day it has become altogether insupportable. Some hours ago I was summoned by Thetford to this house. The messenger informed me that tidings had been received of my ship. In answer to my eager interrogations he could give no other information that she had been captured by the British. He was unable to relate particulars. News of her safe return would indeed have been far more acceptable, but even this information was a source of infinite congratulation. It precluded the demand of my insurers. The payment of other debts might be postponed for a month, and my situation be the same as before the adoption of this successless scheme. Hope and joy were reinstated in my bosom, and I hasted to Thetford's counting-house. He received me with an air of gloomy dissatisfaction. I accounted for his sadness by supposing him averse to communicate information which was less favorable than our wishes had dictated. He confirmed with visible reluctance the news of her capture. He had just received letters from his brother, acquainting him with all particulars, and containing the official documents of this transaction. This had no tendency to damp my satisfaction, and I proceeded to peruse with eagerness the papers which he put into my hand. I had not proceeded far when my joyous hopes vanished. Two French mulattoes had, after much solicitation, and the most solemn promises to carry with them no articles which the laws of war decree to be contraband, obtained a passage in the vessel. She was speedily encountered by a privateer by whom every receptacle was ransacked. In a chest belonging to the Frenchmen and which they had affirmed to contain nothing but their clothes were found two sabers and other accoutrements of an officer of cavalry. Under this pretense the vessel was captured and condemned, and this was a cause of forfeiture which had not been provided against in the contract of insurance. By this untoward event my hopes were irreparably blasted. The utmost efforts were demanded to conceal my thoughts from my companion. The anguish that prayed upon my heart was endeavored to be masked by looks of indifference. I pretended to have been previously informed by the messenger not only of the capture, but of the cause that led to it, and for bore to expatiate on my loss, or to execrate the authors of my disappointment. My mind, however, was the theater of discord and agony, and I waited with impatience for an opportunity to leave him. For want of other topics I asked by whom this information had been brought. He answered that the bearer was Captain Amos Watson, whose vessel had been forfeited at the same time under a different pretense. He added that my name being mentioned accidentally to Watson, the latter had betrayed marks of great surprise, and had been very earnest in his inquiries respecting my situation. Having obtained what knowledge Thetford was able to communicate, the Captain had departed, avowing a former acquaintance with me and declaring his intention of paying me a visit. These words operated on my frame like lightning. All within me was tumult and terror, and I rushed precipitately out of the house. I went forward with unequal steps and at random. Some instinct led me into the fields, and I was not apprised of the direction of my steps till, looking up, I found myself on the shore of Schoolkill. Thus was I, a second time, overborn by hopeless and incurable evils, an interval of motley feelings of specious artifice and contemptible imposture had elapsed since my meeting with the stranger at Wilmington. Then my forlorn state had led me to the brink of suicide. A brief and feverish respite had been afforded me, but now was I transported to the verge of the same abyss. Amos Watson was the brother of the angel whom I had degraded and destroyed. What but fiery indignation and unappeasable vengeance could lead him into my presence? With what heart could I listen to his invectives? How could I endure to look upon the face of one whom I had loaded with such atrocious and intolerable injuries? I was acquainted with his loftiness of mind, his detestation of injustice, and the whirlwind passions that in gratitude and villainy like mine were qualified to awaken in his bosom. I dreaded not his violence. The death that he might be prompted to inflict was no object of aversion. It was poverty and disgrace, the detection of my crimes, the looks and voice of malediction and upbraiding from which my cowardice shrunk. Why should I live? I must vanish from that stage which I had lately trodden. My flight must be instant and precipitate. To be a fugitive from exasperated creditors and from the industrious revenge of Watson was an easy undertaking. But whither could I fly? Where should I not be pursued by the phantoms of remorse, by the dread of hourly detection, by the necessities of hunger and thirst? In what scene should I be exempt from servitude and drudgery? Was my existence embellished with enjoyments that would justify my holding it, encumbered with hardships and immersed in obscurity? There was no room for hesitation. To rush into the stream before me and put an end at once to my life and the miseries inseparably linked with it was the only proceeding which fate had left to my choice. My muscles were already exerted for this end when the helpless condition of Clemenza was remembered. What provision could I make against the evils that threatened her? Should I leave her utterly forlorn and friendless? Mrs. Wentworth's temper was forgiving and compassionate. Adversity had taught her to participate and her wealth enabled her to relieve distress. Who was there by whom such powerful claims to succor and protection could be urged as by this desolate girl? Might I not state her situation in a letter to this lady and urge irresistible pleas for the extension of her kindness to this object? These thoughts made me suspend my steps. I determined to seek my habitation once more, and having written and deposited this letter to return to the execution of my fatal purpose. I had scarcely reached my own door when someone approached along the pavement. The form at first was undistinguishable, but by coming at length within the illumination of a lamp it was perfectly recognized. To avoid this detested interview was now impossible. Watson approached and accosted me. In this conflict of tumultuous feelings I was still able to maintain an air of intrepidity. His demeanor was that of a man who struggles with his rage, his accents were hurried and scarcely articulate. I have ten words to say to you, said he, lead into the house and to some private room. My business with you will be dispatched in a breath. I made him no answer, but led the way into my house and to my study. On entering this room I put the light upon the table, and, turning to my visitant, prepared silently to hear what he had to unfold. He struck his clenched hand against the table with violence. His motion was of that tempestuous kind as to overwhelm the power of utterance, and found it easier to vent itself into stipulations than in words. At length he exclaimed, It is well, now has the hour, so long and so impatiently demanded by my vengeance arrived. Well, Beck, would that my first words could strike thee dead, they will so if thou hast any title to the name of man. My sister is dead, dead of anguish and a broken heart, remote from her friends in a hovel the abode of indigence and misery. Her husband is no more. He returned after a long absence, a tedious navigation and vicissitudes of hardships. He flew to the bosom of his love, of his wife. She was gone, lost to him, and to virtue. In a fit of desperation he retired to his chamber and dispatched himself. This is the instrument with which the deed was performed. Saying this, Watson took a pistol from his pocket and held it to my head. I lifted not my hand to turn aside the weapon. I did not shudder at the spectacle or shrink from his approaching hand. With fingers clasped together and eyes fixed upon the floor, I waited till his fury was exhausted. He continued. All passed in a few hours. The elopement of his daughter, the death of his son. Oh, my father, most loved and most venerable of men. To see thee changed into a maniac, haggard and wild, deterred from outrage on thyself and those around thee by fetters and stripes. What was it that saved me from a like fate? To view this hideous ruin and to think by whom it was occasioned, yet not to become frantic like thee, my father, or not destroy myself like thee, my brother, my friend? No. For this hour was I reserved to avenge your wrongs and mine in the blood of this ungrateful villain. There, continued he, producing a second pistol and tendering it to me, there is thy defense. Take we opposite sides of this table and fire at the same instant. During this address I was motionless. He tendered the pistol, but I unclasped not my hands to receive it. Why do you hesitate, resumed he? Let the chance between us be equal or fire you first. No, said I. I am ready to die by your hand. I wish it. It will preclude the necessity of performing the office for myself. I have injured you and merit all that your vengeance can inflict. I know your nature too well to believe that my death will be perfect expiation. When the gust of indignation is past, the remembrance of your deed will only add to your sum of misery, yet I do not love you well enough to wish that you would forbear. I desire to die and to die by another's hand rather than by my own. Coward! exclaimed Watson, with augmented vehemence. You know me too well to believe me capable of assassination. Vile subterfuge. Contemptable plea. Take the pistol and defend yourself. You want not the power or the will, but knowing that I spurn at murder you think your safety will be found in passiveness. Your refusal will avail you little. Your fame, if not your life, is at my mercy. If you falter now, I will allow you to live, but only till I have stabbed your reputation. I now fixed my eyes steadfastly upon him and spoke. How much a stranger are you to the feelings of Welbeck? How poor a judge of his cowardice! I take your pistol and consent to your conditions. We took opposite sides of the table. Are you ready? he cried. Fire! Both triggers were drawn at the same instant. Both pistols were discharged. Mine was negligently raised, such as the untoward chance that presides over human affairs, such as the malignant destiny by which my steps have ever been pursued. The bullet whistled harmlessly by me, leveled by an eye that never before failed, and with so small an interval between us. I escaped, but my blind and random shot took place in his heart. There is the fruit of this disastrous meeting. The catalog of death is thus completed. Thou sleepest Watson. Thy sister is at rest, and so art thou. Thy vows of vengeance are at an end. It was not reserved for thee to be thy own and thy sister's avenger. Welbeck's measure of transgressions is now full, and his own hand must execute the justice that is due to him. CHAPTER XII Such was Welbeck's tale listened to by me with an eagerness in which every faculty was absorbed. How adverse to my dreams were the incidents that had just been related. The curtain was lifted and a scene of guilt and ignominy disclosed where my rash and inexperienced youth had suspected nothing but loftiness and magnanimity. For a while the wondrousness of this tale kept me from contemplating the consequences that awaited us. My un-fledged fancy had not hithered to sword to this pitch. All was astounding by its novelty or terrific by its horror. The very scene of these offenses partook to my rustic apprehension of fairy splendor and magical abruptness. My understanding was bemazed, and my senses were taught to distrust their own testimony. From this musing state I was recalled by my companion who said to me in solemn accents, Mervin, I have but two requests to make. Assist me to bury these remains, and then accompanying me across the river. I have no power to compel your silence on the acts that you have witnessed. I have meditated to benefit as well as to injure you. But I do not desire that your demeanor should conform to any other standard than justice. You have promised, and to that promise I trust. If you choose to fly from this scene to withdraw yourself from what you may conceive to be a theater of guilt or peril, the avenues are open, retire unmolested, and in silence. If you have a man-like spirit, if you are grateful for the benefits bestowed upon you, if your discernment enables you to see that compliance with my request will entangle you in no guilt and betray you into no danger, stay, and aid me in hiding these remains from human scrutiny. Watson is beyond the reach of further injury. I never intended him harm, though I have torn from him his sister and friend, and have brought his life to an untimely close. To provide him a grave as a duty that I owe to the dead and to the living. I shall quickly place myself beyond the reach of inquisitors and judges, but would willingly rescue from molestation or suspicion those whom I shall leave behind. What would have been the fruit of deliberation if I had had the time or power to deliberate? I know not. My thoughts flowed with too molten rapidity. To shut this spectacle from my view was the first impulse, but to desert this man in a time of so much need appeared a thankless and dastardly deportment. To remain where I was, to conform implicitly to his direction, required no effort. Some fear was connected with his presence and with that of the dead, but in the tremulous confusion of my present thoughts solitude would conjure up a thousand phantoms. I made no preparation to depart. I did not verbally assent to his proposal. He interpreted my silence into an acquiescence. He wrapped the body in the carpet, and then, lifting one end, cast at me a look, which indicated his expectations that I would aid him in lifting this ghastly burden. During this process the silence was unbroken. I knew not whether he intended to convey the corpse. He had talked of burial, but no receptacle had been provided. How far safety might depend upon his conduct in this particular I was unable to estimate. I was in too heartless a mood to utter my doubts. I followed his example in raising the corpse from the floor. He led the way into the passage and downstairs. Having reached the first floor, he unbolted a door which led into the cellar. The stairs and passage were illuminated by lamps that hung from the ceiling and were accustomed to burn during the night. Now, however, we were entering darksome and murky recesses. Return, said he, in a tone of command, and fetch the light. I will wait for you. I obeyed. As I returned with the light a suspicion stolen to my mind that Wellbeck had taken this opportunity to fly, and that on regaining the foot of the stairs I should find the spot deserted by all but the dead. My blood was chilled by this image. The momentary resolution it inspired was to follow the example of the fugitive and leave the persons whom the ensuing day might convene on this spot to form their own conjectures as to the cause of this catastrophe. Meanwhile I cast anxious eyes forward. Wellbeck was discovered in the same place and posture in which he had been left. Lifting the corpse and its shroud in his arms he directed me to follow him. The vaults beneath were lofty and spacious. He passed from one to the other till we reached a small and remote cell. Here he cast his burden on the ground. In the fall the face of Watson chanced to be disengaged from its covering. Its closed eyes and sunken muscles were rendered in a tenfold degree ghastly and rueful by the feeble light which the candle shed upon it. This object did not escape the attention of Wellbeck. He leaned against the wall and folding his arms resigned himself to reverie. He gazed upon the countenance of Watson, but his looks denoted his attention to be elsewhere employed. As to me my state will not be easily described. My eye roved fearfully from one object to another by turns it was fixed upon the murdered person and the murderer. The narrow cell in which we stood its rudely fashioned walls and arches, destitute of communication with the external air, and its palpable dark scarcely penetrated by the rays of a solitary candle, added to the silence which was deep and universal, produced an impression on my fancy which no time will obliterate. Perhaps my imagination was distempered by terror, the incident which I am going to relate may appear to have existed only in my fancy. Be that as it may, I experienced all the effects which the fullest belief is adapted to produce. Glancing vaguely at the countenance of Watson, my attention was arrested by a convulsive motion in the eyelids. This motion increased till at length the eyes opened and a glance, languid but wild, was thrown around. Instantly they closed and the tremulous appearance vanished. I started from my place and was on the point of uttering some involuntary exclamation. At the same moment Well Beck seemed to recover from his reverie. How is this, said he? Why do we linger here? Every moment is precious. We cannot dig for him a grave with our hands. Wait here while I go in search of a spade. Saying this he snatched the candle from my hand and hasted away. My eye followed the light as its gleams shifted their place upon the walls and ceilings and gradually vanishing gave place to unrespited gloom. This proceeding was so unexpected and abrupt that I had no time to remonstrate against it. Before I retrieved the power of reflection the light had disappeared and the footsteps were no longer to be heard. I was not, on ordinary occasions, destitute of equanimity, but perhaps the imagination of man is naturally abhorrent of death until tutored into indifference by habit. Every circumstance combined to fill me with shuttering and panic. For a while I was enabled to endure my situation by the exertions of my reason. That the lifeless remains of a human being are powerless to injure or benefit I was thoroughly persuaded. I summoned this belief to my aid and was able, if not to subdue yet to curb my fears. I listened to catch the sound of the returning footsteps of Welbeck and hoped that every new moment would terminate my solitude. No signal of his coming was afforded. At length it occurred to me that Welbeck had gone, with no intention to return, that his malice had seduced me hither to encounter the consequences of his deed. He had fled and barred every door behind him. This suspicion may well be supposed to overpower my courage and to call forth desperate efforts for my deliverance. I extended my hands and went forward. I had been too little attentive to the situation and direction of these vaults and passages to go forward with undeviating accuracy. My fears likewise tended to confuse my perceptions and bewilder my steps. Notwithstanding the danger of encountering obstructions I rushed towards the entrance with precipitation. My temerity was quickly punished. In a moment I was repelled by a jutting angle of the wall with such force that I staggered backward and fell. The blow was stunning and when I recovered my senses I perceived that a torrent of blood was gushing from my nostrils. My clothes were moistened with this unwelcome effusion and I could not but reflect on the hazard which I should incur by being detected in this recess covered by these accusing stains. This reflection once more set me on my feet and incited my exertions. I now proceeded with greater weariness and caution. I had lost all distinct notions of my way. My motions were at random. All my labor was to shun obstructions and to advance whenever the peculiarity would permit. By this means the entrance was at length found and, after various efforts, I arrived beyond my hopes at the foot of the staircase. I ascended but quickly encountered an insuperable impediment. The door at the stairhead was closed and barred. My utmost strength was exerted in vain to break the lock or the hinges. Thus were my direst apprehensions fulfilled. Wellbeck had left me to sustain the charge of murder, to obviate suspicions the most atrocious and plausible that the course of human events is capable of producing. Here I must remain till the morrow, till someone can be made to overhear my calls and come to my deliverance. What effects will my appearance produce on the spectator? Terrified by phantoms and stained with blood, shall I not exhibit the tokens of a maniac as well as an assassin? The corpse of Watson will quickly be discovered. If previous to this disclosure I should change my bloodstained garments and withdraw unto the country, shall I not be pursued by the most vehement suspicions and, perhaps, hunted to my obscurest retreat by the ministers of justice? I am innocent, but my tale, however circumstantial or true, will scarcely suffice for my vindication. My flight will be construed into a proof of incontestable guilt. While harassed by these thoughts, my attention was attracted by a faint gleam cast upon the bottom of the staircase. It grew stronger, hovered for a moment in my sight, and then disappeared. That it proceeded from a lamp or candle borne by someone along the passages was no untenable opinion, but was far less probable than the effulgence was meteorous. I confided in the latter supposition and fortified myself anew against the dread of preternatural dangers. My thoughts reverted to the contemplation of the hazards and suspicions which flowed from my continuance in this spot. In the midst of my perturbed musing my attention was again recalled by an illumination like the former. Instead of hovering and vanishing, it was permanent. No ray could be more feeble, but the tangible obscurity to which it succeeded rendered it conspicuous as an electrical flash. For a while I eyed it without moving from my place and in momentary expectation of its disappearance, remarking its stability, the propriety of scrutinizing it more nearly, and of ascertaining the source whence it flowed was at length suggested. Hope as well as curiosity was the parent of my conduct. Though utterly at a loss to assign the cause of this appearance, I was willing to believe some connection between that cause and the means of my deliverance. I had scarcely formed the resolution of descending the stair when my hope was extinguished by the recollection that the cellar had narrow and graded windows through which the light from the street might possibly have found access. A second recollection supplanted this belief, for in my way to this staircase my attention would have been solicited, and my steps, in some degree, been guided by light coming through these avenues. Having returned to the bottom of the stair, I perceived every part of the long-drawn passage illuminated. I threw a glance forward to the quarter whence the rays seemed to proceed, and beheld at a considerable distance, Welbeck, in the cell which I had left, turning up the earth with a spade. After a pause of astonishment the nature of the error which I had committed rushed upon my apprehension. I now perceived that the darkness had misled me to a different staircase from that which I had originally descended. It was apparent that Welbeck intended me no evil, but had really gone in search of the instrument which he had mentioned. This discovery overwhelmed me with contrition and shame, though it freed me from the terrors of imprisonment and accusation. To return to the cell which I had left and where Welbeck was employed in his disastrous office was the expedient which regard to my own safety unavoidably suggested. Welbeck paused at my approach and betrayed a momentary consternation at the side of my ensanguine visage. The blood, by some inexplicable process of nature, perhaps by the counteracting influence of fear, had quickly ceased to flow. Whether the cause of my evasion and of my flux of blood was guessed, or whether his attention was withdrawn by more momentous objects from my condition, he proceeded in his task in silence. A shallow bed and a slight covering of clay were provided for the hapless Watson. Welbeck's movements were hurried and tremulous. His countenance betokent a mind engrossed by a single purpose, in some degree foreign to the scene before him. An intensity and fixedness of features were conspicuous that led me to suspect the subversion of his reason. Having finished the task, he threw aside his implement. He then put into my hand a pocketbook saying it belonged to Watson and might contain something serviceable to the living. I might make what use of it I thought proper. He then remounted the stairs and, placing the candle on a table in the hall, opened the principal door and went forth. I was driven by a sort of mechanical impulse in his footsteps. I followed him because it was agreeable to him and because I knew not wither else to direct my steps. The streets were desolate and silent. The Watchman's call, remotely and faintly heard, added to the general solemnity. I followed my companion in a state of mind not easily described. I had no spirit even to inquire wither he was going. It was not till we arrived at the water's edge that I persuaded myself to break silence. I then began to reflect on the degree in which his present schemes might endanger Welbeck or myself. I had acted long enough a servile and mechanical part and had been guided by blind and foreign impulses. It was time to lay aside my fetters and demand to know wither the path tended in which I was importuned to walk. Meanwhile I found myself entangled among boats and shipping. I am unable to describe the spot by any indisputable tokens. I know merely that it was the termination of one of the principal streets. Here Welbeck selected a boat and prepared to enter it. For a moment I hesitated to comply with his apparent invitation. I stammered out an interrogation. Why is this? Why should we cross the river? What service can I do for you? I ought to know the purpose of my voyage before I enter it. He checked himself and surveyed me for a minute in silence. What do you fear? said he. Have I not explained my wishes? Merely crossed the river with me, for I cannot navigate a boat by myself. Is there anything arduous or mysterious in this undertaking? We part on the Jersey shore, and I shall leave you to your destiny. All I shall ask from you will be silence, and to hide from mankind what you know concerning me. He now entered the boat and urged me to follow his example. I reluctantly complied. I perceived that the boat contained but one oar, and that was a small one. He seemed startled and thrown into great perplexity by this discovery. It will be impossible, said he, in a tone of panic and vexation, to procure another at this hour. What is to be done? This impediment was by no means insuperable. I had sinewy arms, and I knew well how to use an oar for the double purpose of oar and rudder. I took my station at the stern and quickly extricated the boat from its neighbors and from the wharves. I was wholly unacquainted with the river. The bar by which it was encumbered I knew to exist, but in what direction and to what extent it existed, and how it might be avoided in the present state of the tide I knew not. It was probable, therefore, unknowing as I was of the proper track that our boat would speedily have grounded. My attention, meanwhile, was fixed upon the oar. My companion sat at the prow and was in a considerable degree unnoticed. I cast my eyes occasionally at the scene which I had left. Its novelty, joined with the incidents of my condition, threw me into a state of suspense and wonder which frequently slackened my hand and left the vessel to be driven by the downward current. Lights were sparingly seen, and these were perpetually fluctuating as masts, yards, and hulls were interposed and passed before them. In proportion as we receded from the shore, the clamors seemed to multiply, and the suggestion that the city was involved in confusion and uproar did not easily give way to mature thoughts. Love was the hour-cride, and this ascended at once from all quarters and was mingled with the baying of dogs so as to produce trepidation and alarm. From this state of magnificent and awful feeling I was suddenly called by the conduct of Wellbeck. We had scarcely moved two hundred yards from the shore when he plunged into the water. The first conception was that some implement or part of the boat had fallen overboard. I looked back and perceived that his seat was vacant. In my first astonishment I loosened my hold of the oar, and it floated away. The surface was smooth as glass, and the eddy occasioned by his sinking was scarcely visible. I had not time to determine whether this was designed or accidental. Its suddenness deprived me of the power to exert myself for his succor. I wildly gazed around me in hopes of seeing him rise. After some time my attention was drawn by the sound of agitation in the water to a considerable distance. It was too dark for anything to be distinctly seen. There was no cry for help. The noise was like that of one vigorously struggling for a moment, and then sinking to the bottom. I listened with painful eagerness but was unable to distinguish a third signal. He sunk to rise no more. I was, for a time, inattentive to my own situation. The dreadfulness and unexpectedness of this catastrophe occupied me wholly. The quick motion of the lights upon the shore showed me that I was born rapidly along with the tide. How to help myself? How to impede my course or to regain either shore since I had lost the oar I was unable to tell. I was no less at a loss to conjecture wither the current if suffered to control my vehicle would finally transport me. The disappearance of lights and buildings and the diminution of the noises acquainted me that I had passed the town. It was impossible longer to hesitate. The shore was to be regained by one way only which was swimming. To any exploit of this kind, my strength and my skill were adequate. I threw away my loose gown, put the pocket-book of the unfortunate Watson in my mouth to preserve it from being injured by moisture and committed myself to the stream. I landed in a spot incommodated with mud and reeds. I sunk knee-deep into the former and was exhausted by the fatigue of extricating myself. At length I recovered firm ground and threw myself on the turf to repair my wasted strength and to reflect on the measures which my future welfare enjoined me to pursue. What condition was ever parallel to mine? The transactions of the last three days resembled the monstrous creations of delirium. They were painted with vivid hues on my memory, but so rapid and incongruous were these transitions that I almost denied belief to their reality. They exercised a bewildering and stupefying influence on my mind from which the meditations of an hour were scarcely sufficient to relieve me. Gradually I recovered the power of arranging my ideas and forming conclusions. Wellbeck was dead. His property was swallowed up and his creditors left to wonder at his disappearance. All that was left was the furniture of his house to which Mrs. Wentworth would lay claim in discharge of the unpaid rent. What now was the destiny that awaited the lost and friendless Madame Ozilodi? Where was she concealed? Wellbeck had dropped no intimation by which I might be led to suspect the place of her abode. If my power in other respects could have contributed ought to her relief, my ignorance of her asylum had utterly disabled me. But what of the murdered person? He had suddenly vanished from the face of the earth. His fate and the place of his interment would probably be suspected and ascertained. Was I sure to escape from the consequences of this deed? Watson had relatives and friends. What influence on their state and happiness his untimely and mysterious fate would possess it was obvious to inquire. This idea led me to the recollection of his pocket-book. Some papers might be there explanatory of his situation. I resumed my feet. I knew not where to direct my steps. I was dropping with wet and shivering with the cold. I was destitute of habitation and friend. I had neither money nor any valuable thing in my possession. I moved forward mechanically and at random. Where I landed was at no great distance from the verge of the town. In a short time I discovered the glimmering of a distant lamp. To this I directed my steps and here I paused to examine the contents of the pocket-book. I found three bank notes each of fifty dollars enclosed in a piece of blank paper. Besides these were three letters apparently written by his wife and dated at Baltimore. They were brief but composed in a strain of great tenderness and containing affecting illusions to their child. I could gather from their date and tenor that they were received during his absence on his recent voyage that her condition was considerably necessitous and surrounded by wants which their prolonged separation had increased. The fourth letter was open and seemed to have been very lately written. It was directed to Mrs. Mary Watson. He informed her in it of his arrival at Philadelphia from Santo Domingo, of the loss of his ship and cargo, and of his intention to hasten home with all possible expedition. He told her that all was lost but one hundred and fifty dollars, the greater part of which he should bring with him to relieve her more pressing wants. The letter was signed and folded and superscribed but unsealed. A little consideration showed me in what manner it became me on this occasion to demean myself. I put the bank notes in the letter and sealed it with a wafer, a few of which were found in the pocket-book. I hesitated some time whether I should add anything to the information which the letter contained by means of a pencil which offered itself to my view, but I concluded to forbear. I could select no suitable terms in which to communicate the mournful truth. I resolved to deposit this letter at the post office where I knew letters could be left at all hours. My reflections at length reverted to my own condition. What was the fate reserved for me? How far my safety might be affected by remaining in the city in consequence of the disappearance of Wellbeck and my known connection with the fugitive it was impossible to foresee. My fears readily suggested innumerable embarrassments and inconveniences which would flow from this source. Besides, on what pretense should I remain? To whom could I apply for protection or employment? All avenues, even to subsistence, were shut against me. The country was my sole asylum. Here, in exchange for my labor, I could at least purchase food, safety, and repose. But if my choice pointed to the country, there was no reason for a moment's delay. It would be prudent to regain the fields and be far from this detested city before the rising of the sun. Meanwhile I was chilled and chafed by the clothes that I wore. To change them for others was absolutely necessary to my ease. The clothes which I wore were not my own and were extremely unsuitable to my new condition. My rustic and homely garb was deposited in my chamber at Wellbeck's. These thoughts suggested the design of returning hither. I considered that probably the servants had not been alarmed, that the door was unfastened and the house was accessible. It would be easy to enter and retire without notice, and this not without some waverings and misgivings I presently determined to do. Having deposited my letter at the office, I proceeded to my late abode. I approached and lifted the latch with caution. There were no appearances of anyone having been disturbed. I procured a light in the kitchen and hide softly and with dubious footsteps to my chamber. There I disrobed and resumed my check-shirt and trousers and fussed in coat. This change being accomplished nothing remained but that I should strike into the country with the utmost expedition. In a momentary review which I took of the past, the design for which Wellbeck professed to have originally detained me in his service occurred to my mind. I knew the danger of reasoning loosely on the subject of property. To any trinket or piece of furniture in this house I did not allow myself to question the right of Mrs. Wentworth, a right accruing to her inconsequence of Wellbeck's failure in the payment of his rent. But there was one thing which I felt an irresistible desire and no scruples which should forbid me to possess, and that was the manuscript to which Wellbeck had eluded as having been written by the deceased Lodi. I was well instructed in Latin and knew the Tuscan language to be nearly akin to it. I despaired not of being at some time able to cultivate this language and believed that the possession of this manuscript might essentially contribute to this end as well as to many others equally beneficial. It was easy to conjecture that the volume was to be found among his printed books and it was scarcely less easy to ascertain the truth of this conjecture. I entered not without tremulous sensations into the apartment which had been the scene of the disastrous interview between Watson and Wellbeck. At every step I almost dreaded to behold the specter of the former rise before me. Numerous and splendid volumes were arranged on mahogany shells and screened by doors of glass. I ran swiftly over their names and was at length so fortunate as to light upon the book of which I was in search. I immediately secured it and, leaving the candle extinguished on a table in the parlor, I once more issued forth into the street. With light steps and palpitating heart I turned my face towards the country. My necessitous condition, I believed, would justify me in passing without payment the schoolkill bridge and the eastern sky began to brighten with the dawn of mourning not till I had gained the distance of nine miles from the city. Such is the tale which I proposed to relate to you. Such are the memorable incidents of five days of my life from which I have gathered more instruction than from the whole tissue of my previous existence. Such are the particulars of my knowledge respecting the crimes and misfortunes of Wellbeck, which the insinuations of Wortley and my desire to retain your good opinion have induced me to unfold. CHAPTER XIII Mervin's pause allowed his auditors to reflect on the particulars of his narration and to compare them with the facts with the knowledge of which their own observation had supplied them. My profession introduced me to the friendship of Mrs. Wentworth by whom after the disappearance of Wellbeck many circumstances respecting him had been mentioned. She particularly dwelt upon the deportment and appearance of this youth at the single interview which took place between them and her representations were perfectly conformable to those which Mervin had himself delivered. Previously to this interview Wellbeck had insinuated to her that a recent event had put him in possession of the truth respecting the destiny of clavoring. A kinsman of his had arrived from Portugal by whom this intelligence had been brought. He dexterously eluded her in treaties to be furnished with minuteer information or to introduce this kinsman to her acquaintance. As soon as Mervin was ushered into her presence she suspected him to be the person to whom Wellbeck had eluded and this suspicion his conversation had confirmed. She was at a loss to comprehend the reasons of the silence which he so pertinaciously maintained. Her uneasiness however prompted her to renew her solicitations. On the day subsequent to the catastrophe related by Mervin she sent a messenger to Wellbeck with a request to see him. Gabriel, the black servant, informed the messenger that his master had gone into the country for a week. At the end of the week a messenger was again dispatched with the same errand. He called and knocked but no one answered his signals. He examined the entrance by the kitchen but every avenue was closed. It appeared that the house was wholly deserted. These appearances naturally gave birth to curiosity and suspicion. The house was repeatedly examined but the solitude and silence within continued the same. The creditors of Wellbeck were alarmed by these appearances and their claims to the property remaining in the house were precluded by Mrs. Wentworth, who, as owner of the mansion, was legally entitled to the furniture in place of the rent which Wellbeck had suffered to accumulate. On examining the dwelling all that was valuable and portable, particularly linen plate was removed. The remainder was distrained but the tumults of pestilence succeeded and hindered it from being sold. Things were allowed to continue in their former situation and the house was carefully secured. We had no leisure to form conjectures on the causes of this desertion. An explanation was afforded us by the narrative of this youth. It is probable that the servants finding their master's absence continue had pillaged the house and fled. Meanwhile, though our curiosity with regard to Wellbeck was appeased, it was obvious to inquire by what series of inducements and events Mervin was reconducted to the city and led to the spot where I first met with him. We intimated our wishes in this respect and our young friend readily consented to take up the thread of his story and bring it down to the point that was desired. For this purpose the ensuing evening was selected. Having, at an early hour, shut ourselves up from all intruders and visitors, he continued as follows. I have mentioned that, by sunrise, I had gained the distance of many miles from the city. My purpose was to stop at the first farmhouse and seek employment as a day laborer. The first person whom I observed was a man of placid mean and plain garb. Habitual benevolence was apparent amidst the wrinkles of age. He was traversing his buckwheat field and measuring, as it seemed, the harvest that was now nearly ripe. I accosted him with diffidence and explained my wishes. He listened to my tale with complacency, inquired into my name and family and into my qualifications for the office to which I aspired. My answers were candid and full. Why, said he, I believe thou and I can make a bargain. We will at least try each other for a week or two. If it does not suit our mutual convenience we can change. The morning is damp and cool, and thy plight does not appear the most comfortable that can be imagined. Come to the house and eat some breakfast. The behaviour of this good man filled me with gratitude and joy. Me thought I could embrace him as a father and entrance into his house appeared like return to a long lost and much loved home. My desolate and lonely condition appeared to be changed for paternal regards and the tenderness of friendship. These emotions were confirmed and heightened by every object that presented itself under this roof. The family consisted of Mrs. Hadwin, two simple and affectionate girls, his daughters, and servants. The manners of this family, quiet, artless, and cordial, and the occupations allotted me, the land by which the dwelling was surrounded, its pure heirs, romantic walks, and exhaustless fertility constituted a powerful contrast to the scenes which I had left behind, and were congenial with every dictate of my understanding and every sentiment that glowed in my heart. My youth, mental cultivation, and circumspect deportment entitled me to deference and confidence. Each hour confirmed me in the good opinion of Mr. Hadwin and in the affections of his daughters. In the mind of my employer, the simplicity of the husband men and the devotion of the Quaker were blended with humanity and intelligence. The sisters, Susan and Eliza, were unacquainted with calamity and vice through the medium of either observation or books. They were strangers to the benefits of an elaborate education, but they were endowed with curiosity and discernment, and had not suffered their slender means of instruction to remain unimproved. The sedateness of the elder formed an amusing contrast with a laughing eye and untamable vivacity of the younger, but they smiled and they wept in unison. They thought and acted indifferent but not discordant keys. On all momentous occasions they reasoned and felt alike. In ordinary cases they separated, as it were, into different tracts, but this diversity was productive not of jarring, but of harmony. A romantic and untutored disposition like mine may be supposed liable to strong impressions from perpetual converse with persons of their age and sex. The elder was soon discovered to have already disposed of her affections. The younger was free and somewhat that is more easily conceived than named stole insensibly upon my heart. The images that haunted me at home and abroad in her absence and her presence gradually coalesced into one shape and gave birth to an incessant train of latent palpitations and indefinable hopes. My days were little else than uninterrupted reveries and night only called up phantoms more vivid and equally enchanting. The memorable incidents which had lately happened scarcely counterpoist my new sensations or diverted my contemplations from the present. My views were gradually led to rest upon futurity and in that I quickly found cause of circumspection and dread. My present labours were light and were sufficient for my subsistence in a single state, but wedlock was the parent of new wants and of new cares. Mr. Hadwin's possessions were adequate to his own frugal maintenance, but divided between his children would be too scanty for either. Besides, this division could only take place at his death and that was an event whose speedy occurrence was neither desirable nor probable. Another obstacle was now remembered. Hadwin was the conscientious member of a sect which forbade the marriage of its voteries with those of a different communion. I had been trained in an opposite creed and imagined it impossible that I should ever become a proselyte to Quakerism. It only remained for me to feign conversion or to root out the opinions of my friend and win her consent to a secret marriage. Whether hypocrisy was eligible was no subject of deliberation. If the possession of all that ambition can conceive were added to the transports of union with Eliza Hadwin and offered as the price of dissimulation, it would have been instantly rejected. My external goods were not abundant nor numerous, but the consciousness of rectitude was mine and, in competition with this, the luxury of the heart and of the senses, the gratifications of boundless ambition and inexhaustible wealth were contemptible and frivolous. The conquest of Eliza's errors was easy, but to introduce discord and sorrow into this family was an act of the utmost ingratitude and profligacy. It was only requisite from my understanding clearly to discern, to be convinced of the insuperability of this obstacle. It was manifest, therefore, that the point to which my wishes tended was placed beyond my reach. To foster my passion was to foster a disease destructive either of my integrity or my existence. It was indispensable to fix my thoughts upon a different object and to debar myself even from her intercourse. To ponder on themes foreign to my darling image and to seclude myself from her society at hours which had usually been spent with her were difficult tasks. The latter was the least practicable. I had to contend with eyes which alternately wondered at and upgraded me for my unkindness. She was wholly unaware of the nature of her own feelings and this ignorance made her less scrupulous in the expression of her sentiments. Hitherto I had needed not employment beyond myself and my companions. Now my new motives made me eager to discover some means of controlling and beguiling my thoughts. In this state the manuscript of Lodi occurred to me. In my way hither I had resolved to make the study of the language of this book and the translation of its contents into English, the business and solace of my leisure. Now this resolution was revived with a new force. My project was perhaps singular. The ancient language of Italy possessed a strong affinity with the modern. My knowledge of the former was my only means of gaining the latter. I had no grammar or vocabulary to explain how far the meanings and inflections of Tuscan words varied from the Roman dialect. I was to ponder on each sentence and phrase, to select among different conjectures the most plausible and to ascertain the true by patient and repeated scrutiny. This undertaking, fantastic and impracticable as it may seem, proved upon experiment to be within the compass of my powers. The detail of my progress would be curious and instructive. What impediments in the attainment of a darling purpose human ingenuity and patience are able to surmount? How much may be done by strenuous and solitary efforts? How the mind, unassisted, may draw forth the principles of inflection and arrangement? May profit by remote, analogous, and latent similitudes would be forcibly illustrated by my example? But the theme, however attractive, must for the present be omitted. My progress was slow, but the perception of hourly improvement afforded me unspeakable pleasure. Having arrived near the last pages I was able to pursue, with little interruption, the thread of an eloquent narration. The triumph of a leader of outlaws over the popular enthusiasm of the Milanese and the claims of the neighbouring potentates was about to be depicted. The condotiero sforza had taken refuge from his enemies in a tomb accidentally discovered amidst the ruins of a Roman fortress in the Apennines. He had sought this recess for the sake of concealment, but found in it a treasure by which he would be enabled to secure the wavering and venal faith of that crew of Ruffians that had followed his standard, provided he fell not into the hands of the enemies who were now in search of him. My tumultuous curiosity was suddenly checked by the following leaves being glued together at the edges. To deceiver them without injury to the written spaces was by no means easy. I proceeded to the task not without precipitation. The edges were torn away and the leaves parted. It may be thought that I took up the thread where it had been broken, but no. The object that my eyes encountered and which the cemented leaves had so long concealed was beyond the power of the most capricious or lawless fancy to have prefigured, yet it bore a shadowy resemblance to the images with which my imagination was previously occupied. I opened and beheld a bank note. To the first transports of surprise the conjecture succeeded that the remaining leaves cemented together in the same manner might enclose similar bills. They were hastily separated and the conjecture was verified. My sensations at this discovery were of an inexplicable kind. I gazed at the notes in silence. I moved my finger over them, held them in different positions, read and re-read the name of each sum, and the signature added them together and repeated to myself, twenty thousand dollars. They are mine and by such means. This sum would have redeemed the fallen fortunes of Wellbeck. The dying Lodi was unable to communicate all the contents of this inestimable volume. He had divided his treasure with a view to its greater safety between this volume and his pocket-book. Death hasted upon him too suddenly to allow him to explain his precautions. Wellbeck had placed the book in his collection, purposing some time to peruse it, but deterred by anxieties which the perusal would have dissipated, he rushed to desperation and suicide from which some evanescent contingency by unfolding this treasure to his view would have effectually rescued him. But was this event to be regretted? This sum, like the former, would probably have been expended in the same pernicious prodigality. His career would have continued some time longer, but his inveterate habits would have finally conducted his existence to the same criminal and ignominious close. But the destiny of Wellbeck was accomplished. The money was placed without guilt or artifice in my possession. My fortune had been thus unexpectedly and wondrously propitious. How was I to profit by her favor? Would not this sum enable me to gather round me all the instruments of pleasure? Equipage and palace and a multitude of servants, polished mirrors, splendid hangings, banquets and flatterers were equally abhorrent to my taste and my principles. The accumulation of knowledge and the diffusion of happiness in which riches may be rendered eminently instrumental were the only precepts of duty and the only avenues to genuine felicity. But what, said I, is my title to this money? By retaining it shall I not be as culpable as Wellbeck? It came into his possession as it came into mine without a crime, but my knowledge of the true proprietor is equally certain, and the claims of the unfortunate stranger are as valid as ever. Indeed, if utility and not law be the measure of justice, her claim, desolate and indigent as she is, unfitted by her past life, by the softness and the prejudices of her education, for contending with calamity is incontestable. As to me, health and diligence will give me not only the competence which I seek, but the power of enjoying it. If my present condition be unchangeable, I shall not be unhappy. My occupations are salutary and meritorious. I am a stranger to the cares as well as to the enjoyment of riches. Abundant means of knowledge are possessed by me, as long as I have eyes to gaze at man and at nature, as they are exhibited in their original forms or in books. The precepts of my duty cannot be mistaken. The lady must be sought and the money restored to her. Certain obstacles existed to the immediate execution of this scheme. How should I conduct my search? What apology should I make for withdrawing thus abruptly and contrary to the terms of an agreement into which I had lately entered from the family and service of my friend and benefactor Hadwin? My thoughts were called away from pursuing these inquiries by a rumour which had gradually swelled to formidable dimensions and which, at length, reached us in our quiet retreats. The city we were told was involved in confusion and panic, for a pestilential disease had begun its destructive progress. Magistrates and citizens were flying to the country. The numbers of the sick multiplied beyond all example, even in the pest-affected cities of the Levant. The malady was malignant and unsparing. The usual occupations and amusements of life were at an end. Terror had exterminated all the sentiments of nature. Wives were deserted by husbands and children by parents. Some had shut themselves in their houses and debarred themselves from all communication with the rest of mankind. The consternation of others had destroyed their understanding and their misguided steps hurried them into the midst of danger which they had previously labored to shun. Men were seized by this disease in the streets. Passengers fled from them. Entrance into their own dwellings was denied to them. They perished in the public ways. The chambers of disease were deserted and the sick left to die of negligence. None could be found to remove the lifeless bodies. Their remains suffered to decay by piecemeal, filled the air with deadly exhalations, and added tenfold to the devastation. Such was the tale distorted and diversified a thousand ways by the credulity and exaggeration of the tellers. At first I listened to the story with indifference or mirth. Me thought it was confuted by its own extravagance. The enormity and variety of such an evil made it unworthy to be believed. I expected that every new day would detect the absurdity and fallacy of such representations. Every new day, however, added to the number of witnesses and the consistency of the tale till at length it was not possible to withhold my faith. Arthur Mervyn by Charles Bracken-Brown, Chapter 14 I had leisure to conjure up terrific images and to personate the witnesses and sufferers of this calamity. This employment was not enjoined upon me by necessity but was ardently pursued and must therefore have been recommended by some nameless charm. Others were very differently affected. As often as the tale was embellished with new incidents or enforced by new testimony, the hearer grew pale, his breath was stifled by inquietudes, his blood was chilled, and his stomach was bereaved of its usual energies. A temporary indisposition was produced in many. Some were haunted by a melancholy bordering upon madness, and some in consequence of sleepless panics for which no cause could be assigned, and for which no opiates could be found, were attacked by lingering or mortal diseases. Mr. Hadwin was superior to groundless apprehensions. His daughters, however, partook in all the consternation which surrounded them. The eldest had indeed abundant reason for her terror. The youth to whom she was betrothed resided in the city. A year previous to this he had left the house of Mr. Hadwin, who was his uncle, and had removed to Philadelphia in pursuit of fortune. He made himself clerk to a merchant, and by some mercantile adventures in which he had successfully engaged, began to flatter himself with being able, in no long time, to support a family. Meanwhile, a tender and constant correspondence was maintained between him and his beloved Susan. This girl was a soft enthusiast in whose bosom, devotion, and love glowed with an ardour that has seldom been exceeded. The first tidings of the yellow fever was heard by her with unspeakable perturbation. Wallace was interrogated by letter respecting its truth. For a time he treated it as a vague report. At length a confession was extorted from him that there existed a pestilential disease in the city, but he added that it was hitherto confined to one quarter distant from the place of his abode. The most pathetic entreaties were urged by her that he would withdraw into the country. He declared his resolution to comply when the street in which he lived should become infected, and his stay should be attended with real danger. He stated how much his interests depended upon the favor of his present employer, who had used the most powerful arguments to detain him, but declared that when his situation should become, in the least degree, perilous, he would slight every consideration of gratitude and interest and fly to Malverton. Meanwhile he promised to communicate tidings of his safety by every opportunity. Building Mr. Hadwin's next neighbor, though not uninfected by the general panic, persisted to visit the city daily with his market cart. He set out by sunrise and usually returned by noon. By him a letter was punctually received by Susan. As the hour of building's return approached, her impatience and anxiety increased. The daily epistle was received and read in a transport of eagerness. For a while her emotions subsided, but returned with augmented vehemence at noon on the ensuing day. These agitations were too vehement for a feeble constitution like hers. She renewed her supplications to Wallace to quit the city. He repeated his assertions of being hitherto secure and his promise of coming when the danger should be imminent. When building returned and, instead of being accompanied by Wallace, merely brought a letter from him, the unhappy Susan would sink into fits of lamentation and weeping and repel every effort to console her with an obstinacy that par took of madness. It was at length manifest that Wallace's delays would be fatally injurious to the health of his mistress. Mr. Hadwin had hitherto been passive. He conceived that the entreaties and remonstrances of his daughter were more likely to influence the conduct of Wallace than any representations which he could make. Now, however, he wrote the contumaceous Wallace a letter in which he laid his commands upon him to return in company with Belding and declared that by a longer delay the youth would forfeit his favor. The malady had, at this time, made considerable progress. Belding's interest at length yielded to his fears, and this was the last journey which he proposed to make. Hence our impatience for the return of Wallace was augmented, since, if this opportunity were lost, no suitable conveyance might again be offered him. Belding set out, as usual, at the dawn of day. The customary interval between his departure and return was spent by Susan in a tumult of hopes and fears. As noon approached her suspense arose to a pitch of wildness and agony. She could scarcely be restrained from running along the road many miles towards the city that she might by meeting Belding halfway the sooner ascertained the fate of her lover. She stationed herself at a window which overlooked the road along which Belding was to pass. Her sister and her father, though less impatient, marked with painful eagerness the first sound of the approaching vehicle. They snatched a look at it as soon as it appeared in sight. Belding was without a companion. This confirmation of her fears overwhelmed the unhappy Susan. She sunk into a fit from which, for a long time, her recovery was hopeless. This was succeeded by paroxysms of a furious insanity in which she attempted to snatch any pointed implement which lay within her reach with a view to destroy herself. These being carefully removed or forcibly rested from her, she resigned herself to sobs and exclamations. Having interrogated Belding, he informed us that he occupied his usual post in the marketplace that heretofore Wallace had duly sought him out and exchanged letters, but that on this morning the young man had not made his appearance, though Belding had been induced by his wish to see him to prolong his stay in the city much belong the usual period. That some other cause than sickness had occasioned this omission was barely possible. There was scarcely room for the most sanguine temper to indulge a hope. Wallace was without kindred and probably without friends in the city. The merchant in whose service he had placed himself was connected with him by no considerations but that of interest. What then must be his situation when seized with a malady which all believed to be contagious and the fear of which was able to dissolve the strongest ties that bind human beings together? I was personally a stranger to this youth. I had seen his letters and they bespoke not indeed any great refinement or elevation of intelligence but a frank and generous spirit to which I could not refuse my esteem, but his chief claim to my affection consisted in his consanguinity to Mr. Hadwin and his place in the affections of Susan. His welfare was essential to the happiness of those whose happiness had become essential to mine. I witnessed the outrages of despair in the daughter and the symptoms of a deep but less violent grief in the sister and parent. Was it not possible for me to alleviate their pangs? Could not the fate of Wallace be ascertained? This disease assailed men with different degrees of malignity. In its worst form perhaps it was incurable, but in some of its modes it was doubtless conquerable by the skill of physicians and the fidelity of nurses. In its least formidable symptoms negligence and solitude would render it fatal. Wallace might perhaps experience this pest in its most lenient degree, but the desertion of all mankind, the want not only of medicines but of food, would irrevocably seal his doom. My imagination was incessantly pursued by the image of this youth, perishing alone and in obscurity, calling on the name of distant friends or invoking ineffectually the sucker of those who were near. Hitherto distress had been contemplated at a distance, and through the medium of a fancy delighting to be startled by the wonderful or transported by sublimity. Now the calamity had entered my own doors, imaginary evils were supplanted by real, and my heart was the seat of commiseration and horror. I found myself unfit for recreation or employment. I shrouded myself in the gloom of the neighboring forest, or lost myself in the maze of rocks and dells. I endeavored in vain to shut out the phantoms of the dying Wallace and to forget the spectacle of domestic woes. At length it occurred to me to ask, may not this evil be obviated and the felicity of the hadwinds reestablished? Wallace is friendless and suckerless, but cannot I supply to him the place of protector and nurse? Why not hasten to the city, search out his abode, and ascertain whether he be living or dead? If he still retain life, may I not, by consolation and attendance contribute to the restoration of his health, and conduct him once more to the bosom of his family? With what transports will his arrival be hailed? How amply will their impatience and their sorrow be compensated by his return? In the spectacle of their joys, how rapturous and pure will be my delight? Do the benefits which I have received from the hadwinds demand a less retribution than this? It is true that my own life will be endangered, but my danger will be proportioned to the duration of my stay in this seat of infection. The death or the flight of Wallace may absolve from me the necessity of spending one night in the city. The rustics who daily frequent the market are, as experience proves, exempt from this disease, in consequence perhaps of limiting their continuance in the city to a few hours. May I not, in this respect, conform to their example and enjoy a similar exemption? My stay, however, may be longer than the day. I may be condemned to share in the common destiny. What then? Life is dependent on a thousand contingencies not to be computed or foreseen. The seeds of an early and lingering death are sown in my constitution. It is vain to hope to escape the malady by which my mother and my brothers have died. We are a race whose existence some inherent property has limited to the short space of twenty years. We are exposed in common with the rest of mankind to innumerable casualties, but if these be shunned we are unalterably faded to perish by consumption. Why, then, should I scruple to lay down my life in the cause of virtue and humanity? It is better to die in the consciousness of having offered a heroic sacrifice, to die by a speedy stroke than by the perverseness of nature in ignominious inactivity and lingering agonies. These considerations determined me to hasten to the city. To mention my purpose to the Hadwins would be useless or pernicious. It would only augment the sum of their present anxieties. I should meet with a thousand obstacles in the tenderness and terror of Eliza and in the prudent affection of her father. Their arguments I should be condemned to hear, but should not be able to confute, and should only load myself with imputations of perverseness and temerity. But how else should I explain my absence? I had hitherto preserved my lips untainted by perverication or falsehood. Perhaps there was no occasion which would justifying untruth, but here at least it was superfluous or hurtful. My disappearance, if affected without notice or warning, will give birth to speculation and conjecture, but my true motives will never be suspected and therefore will excite no fears. My conduct will not be charged with guilt. It will merely be thought upon with some regret, which will be alleviated by the opinion of my safety and the daily expectation of my return. But since my purpose was to search out Wallace, I must be previously furnished with directions to the place of his abode and a description of his person. Satisfaction on this head was easily obtained from Mr. Hadwin, who was prevented from suspecting the motives of my curiosity by my questions being put in a manner apparently casual. He mentioned the street and the number of the house. I listened with surprise. It was a house with which I was already familiar. He resided, it seems, with a merchant. Was it possible for me to be mistaken? What I asked was the merchant's name. Thetford. This was a confirmation of my first conjecture. I recollected the extraordinary means by which I had gained access to the house and bed-chamber of this gentleman. I recalled the person and appearance of the youth by whose artifices I had been entangled in the snare. These artifices implied some domestic or confidential connection between Thetford and my guide. Wallace was a member of the family. Could it be he by whom I was betrayed? Suitable questions easily obtained from Hadwin, a description of the person and carriage of his nephew. Every circumstance evinced the identity of their persons. Wallace, then, was the engaging and sprightly youth whom I had encountered at Leshers and who, for purposes not hitherto discoverable, had led me into a situation so romantic and perilous. I was far from suspecting that these purposes were criminal. It was easy to infer that his conduct proceeded from juvenile wantonness and a love of sport. My resolution was unaltered by this disclosure, and having obtained all the information which I needed, I secretly began my journey. My reflections on the way were sufficiently employed in tracing the consequences of my project in computing the inconveniences and dangers to which I was preparing to subject myself, in fortifying my courage against the influence of rueful sights and abrupt transitions, and in imagining the measures which it would be proper to pursue in every emergency. Connected as these views were with the family and character of Thetford, I could not but sometimes advert to those incidents which formerly happened. The mercantile alliance between him and Wellbeck was remembered, the illusions which were made to the condition of the latter in the chamber conversation of which I was an unsuspected auditor, and the relation which these illusions might possess with subsequent occurrences. Wellbeck's property was forfeited. It had been confided to the care of Thetford's brother. Had the cause of this forfeiture been truly or thoroughly explained? Might not contraband articles have been admitted through the management or under the connivance of the brothers? And might not the younger Thetford be furnished with the means of purchasing the captured vessel and her cargo, which, as usual, would be sold by auction at a fifth or tenth of its real value? Wellbeck was not alive to profit by the detection of this artifice, admitting these conclusions to be just. My knowledge will be useless to the world, for by what motives can I be influenced to publish the truth? Or by whom will my single testimony be believed in opposition to that plausible exterior and perhaps to that general integrity which Thetford has maintained? To myself it will not be unprofitable. It is a lesson on the principles of human nature, on the delusiveness of appearances, on the perviousness of fraud, and on the power with which nature has invested human beings over the thoughts and actions of each other. Thetford and his frauds were dismissed from my thoughts to give place to considerations relative to Clemencelodi and the money which Chance had thrown into my possession. Time had only confirmed my purpose to restore these bills to the rightful proprietor and tightened my impatience to discover her retreat. I reflected that the means of doing this were more likely to suggest themselves at the place to which I was going than elsewhere. I might indeed perish before my views in this respect could be accomplished. Against these evils I had at present no power to provide. While I lived I would bear perpetually about me the volume and its precious contents. If I died a superior power must direct the course of this as of all other events.