sweet souls

Emilius was sitting in deep thought at his table, awaiting his friend

Roderick. The light was burning before him; the winter evening was cold;

and to-day he wished for the presence of his fellow-traveller, though at

other times wont rather to avoid his society: for on this evening he was

about to disclose a secret to him, and beg for his advice. The timid, shy

Emilius found in every business and accident of life so many difficulties,

such insurmountable hindrances, that it might seem to have been an

ironical whim of his destiny which brought him and Roderick together,

Roderick being in everything the reverse of his friend. Inconstant, flighty,

always determined by the first impression, and kindling in an instant, he

engaged in everything, had a plan for every occasion; no undertaking was

too arduous for him, no obstacle could deter him. But in the midst of the

pursuit he slackened and wearied just as suddenly as at first he had

caught fire and sprung forward. Whatever then opposed him, was for him

not a spur to urge him onward, but only led him to abandon what he had

so hotly rushed into; so that Roderick was every day thoughtlessly

beginning something new, and with no better cause relinquishing and idly

forgetting what he had begun the day before. Hence, never a day passed

but the friends got into a quarrel, which seemed to threaten the death of

their friendship; and yet what to all appearance thus severed them, was

perhaps the very thing that most closely bound them together; each

loved the other heartily; but each found passing satisfaction in being able

to discharge the most justly deserved reproaches upon his friend.

Emilius, a rich young man, of a susceptible and melancholy temperament,

on the death of his parents had become master of his fortune. He had set

out on a journey in order thereby to complete his education, but had now

already spent several months in a large town, for the sake of enjoying the

pleasures of the carnival, about which he never gave himself the least

trouble, and of making certain arrangements of importance about his

fortune with some relations, to whom as yet he had scarcely paid a visit.

On the road he had fallen in with the restless, ever-shifting and veering

Roderick, who was living at variance with his guardians, and who, to free himself wholly from them and their burdensome admonitions, eagerly

grasped at the opportunity held out to him by his new friend of becoming

his companion on his travels. During their journey they had often been on

the point of separating; but each after every dispute had only felt the

more clearly that he could not live without the other. Scarce had they left

their carriage in any town, when Roderick had already seen everything

remarkable in it, to forget it all again on the morrow; while Emilius took a

week to acquire a thorough knowledge of the place from his books, lest

he should omit seeing anything that was to be seen; and after all, from

indolence and indifference thought there was hardly anything worth his

while to go and look at. Roderick had immediately made a thousand

acquaintances, and visited every public place of entertainment; often too

he brought his new-made friends to the lonely chamber of Emilius, and

would then leave him alone with them, as soon as they began to tire him.

At other times he would confound the modest Emilius by extravagantly

praising his merits and his acquirements before intelligent and learned

men, and by giving them to understand how much they might learn from

his friend about languages, or antiquities, or the fine arts, although he

himself could never find time for listening to him on such subjects, when

the conversation happened to turn on them. But if Emilius ever chanced

to be in a more active mood, he might almost make sure of his truant

friend having caught cold the night before at a ball or a sledge-party, and

being forced to keep his bed; so that, with the liveliest, most restless, and

most communicative of men for his companion, Emilius lived in the

greatest solitude.

To-day he confidently expected him; for Roderick had been forced to give

him a solemn promise of spending the evening with him, in order to learn

what it was that for weeks had been depressing and agitating his

thoughtful friend. Meanwhile Emilius wrote down the following lines:

'Tis sweet when spring its choir assembles,

And every nightingale is steeping

The trees in his melodious weeping,

Till leaf and bloom with rapture trembles.

Fair is the net which moonlight weaves; Fair are the breezes' gambolings,

As with lime-odours on their wings

They chase each other through the leaves.

Bright is the glory of the rose,

When Love's rich magic decks the earth,

From countless roses Love looks forth,

Those stars wherewith Love's heaven glows.

But sweeter, fairer, brighter far

To me that little lamp's pale gleaming,

When through the narrow casement streaming,

It bids me hail my evening star;

As from their braids her locks she flings,

Then twines them in a flowery band,

While at each motion of her hand

The white robe to her fair form clings;

Or when she breaks her lute's deep slumbers,

And as at morning's touch up-darting,

The notes, beneath her fingers starting,

Dance o'er the strings in playful numbers.

To stop their flight her voice she pours

Full after them; they laugh and fly,

And to my heart for refuge hie;

Her voice pursues them through its doors.

Leave me, ye fierce ones! hence remove!

They bar themselves within, and say,

'Till this be broken, here we stay,

That thou mayst know what 'tis to love.'

Emilius arose fretfully. It grew darker, and Roderick came not, and he

was wishing to tell him of his love for an unknown fair one, who dwelt in

the opposite house, and who kept him all day long at home, and waking through many a night. At length footsteps sounded up the stairs; the door

opened without anybody knocking at it, and in walked two gay masks

with ugly visages, one a Turk, dressed in red and blue silk, the other a

Spaniard in pale yellow and pink with many waving feathers on his hat.

As Emilius was becoming impatient, Roderick took off his mask, showed

his well-known laughing countenance, and said: 'Heyday, my good friend,

what a drowned puppy of a face! Is this the way to look in carnival time?

I and our dear young officer are come to fetch you away. There is a grand

ball to-night at the masquerade rooms; and as I know you have forsworn

ever going out in any other suit than that which you always wear, of the

devil's own colour, come with us as black as you are, for it is already

somewhat late.'

Emilius felt angry, and said: 'You have, it seems, according to custom,

altogether forgotten our agreement. I am extremely sorry,' he continued,

turning to the stranger, 'that I cannot possibly accompany you; my friend

has been over-hasty in promising for me; indeed I cannot go out at all,

having something of importance to talk to him about.'

The stranger, who was well-bred, and saw what Emilius meant, withdrew;

but Roderick, with the utmost indifference, put on his mask again, placed

himself before the glass, and said: 'Verily I am a hideous figure, am I

not? To say the truth, it is a tasteless, worthless, disgusting device.'

'That there can be no question about,' answered Emilius, in high

indignation. 'Making a caricature of yourself, and making a fool of

yourself, are among the pleasures you are always driving after at full

gallop.'

'Because you do not like dancing yourself,' said the other, 'and look upon

dancing as a mischievous invention, not a soul in the world must wear a

merry face. How tiresome it is, when a person is made up of nothing but

whims!'

'Doubtless!' replied his angry friend, 'and you give me ample opportunity

for finding that it is so. I thought after our agreement you would have

given me this evening; but----'

'But it is the carnival, you know,' pursued the other, 'and all my

acquaintances and certain fair ladies are expecting me at the grand ball

to-night. Assure yourself, my good friend, it is mere disease in you that

makes you so unreasonable against all such matters.'

'Which of us has the fairest claim to disease,' said Emilius, 'I will not

examine. At least your inconceivable frivolousness, your hunger and thirst

after stop-gaps for every hour you are awake, your wild-goose chase

after pleasures that leave the heart empty, seem not to me altogether the

healthiest state of the soul. In certain things, at all events, you might

make a little allowance for my weakness, if it must once for all pass for

such: and there is nothing in the world that so jars through and through

me as a ball with its frightful music. Somebody once said, that to a deaf

person who cannot hear the music, a set of dancers must look like so

many patients for a mad-house; but, in my opinion, this dreadful music

itself, this twirling and whirling and pirouetting of half a dozen notes, each

treading on its own heels, in those accursed tunes which ram themselves

into our memories, yea, I might say, mix themselves up with our very

blood, so that one cannot get rid of their taint for many a miserable day

after--this to me is the very trance of madness; and if I could ever bring

myself to think dancing endurable, it must be dancing to the tune of

silence.'

'Well done, signor Paradox-monger!' exclaimed the mask. 'Why, you are

so far gone, that you think the most natural, most innocent, and merriest

thing in the world unnatural, ay, and shocking.'

'I cannot change my feelings,' said his grave friend. 'From my very

childhood these tunes have made me wretched, and have often well-nigh

driven me out of my senses. They are to me the ghosts and spectres and

furies in the world of sound, and come thus and buzz round my head, and

grin at me with horrid laughter.'

'All nervous irritability!' returned the other; 'just like your extravagant

abhorrence of spiders and many other harmless insects.'

'Harmless you call them,' cried Emilius, now quite untuned, 'because you

have no repugnance toward them. To one, however, who feels the same disgust and loathing, the same nameless horror, that I feel, rise up in his

soul and shoot through his whole being at the sight of them, these

miscreate deformities, such as toads, spiders, or that most loathsome of

nature's excrements, the bat, are not indifferent or insignificant: their

very existence is directly at enmity and wages war with his. In truth, one

might smile at the unbelievers whose imagination is too barren for ghosts

and fearful spectres, and those births of night which we see in sickness,

to take root therein, or who stare and marvel at Dante's descriptions,

when the commonest every-day life brings before our eyes such frightful

distorted master-pieces among the works of horror. Yet, can we really

and faithfully love the beautiful, without being stricken with pain at the

sight of such monstrosities?'

'Wherefore stricken with pain?' asked Roderick. 'Why should the great

realm of the waters and the seas present us with nothing but those

terrors which you have accustomed yourself to find there? Why not rather

look on such creatures as strange, entertaining, and ludicrous mummers,

and on the whole region in the light of a great masked ball-room? But

your whims go still further; for as you love roses with a kind of idolatry,

there are many flowers for which you have a no less vehement hatred:

yet what harm has the dear good tulip ever done you, or all the other

dutiful children of summer that you persecute? So again you have an

aversion to many colours, to many scents, and to many thoughts; and

you take no pains to harden yourself against these weaknesses, but yield

to them and sink down into them as into a luxurious feather-bed; and I

often fear I shall lose you altogether some day, and find nothing but a

patchwork of whims and prejudices sitting at that table instead of my

Emilius.'

Emilius was wrath to the bottom of his heart, and answered not a word.

He had long given up all design of making his intended confession; nor

did the thoughtless Roderick show the least wish to hear the secret which

his melancholy friend had announced to him with such an air of

solemnity. He sat carelessly in the arm-chair, playing with his mask, when

he suddenly cried: 'Be so kind, Emilius, as to lend me your large cloak.'

'What for?' asked the other.

'I hear music in the church on the opposite side of the street,' answered

Roderick, 'and this hour has hitherto escaped me every evening since we

have been here. To-day it comes just as if called for. I can hide my dress

under your cloak, which will also cover my mask and turban, and when it

is over I can go straight to the ball.'

Emilius muttered between his teeth as he looked in the wardrobe for his

cloak, then constraining himself to an ironical smile, gave it to Roderick,

who was already on his legs. 'There is my Turkish dagger which I bought

yesterday,' said the mask, as he wrapped himself up; 'put it by for me; it

is a bad habit carrying about toys of cold steel: one can never tell what ill

use may be made of them, should a quarrel arise, or any other knot

which it is easier to cut than to untie. We meet again to-morrow;

farewell; a pleasant evening to you.' He waited for no reply, but hastened

down-stairs.

When Emilius was alone, he tried to forget his anger, and to fix his

attention on the laughable side of his friend's behaviour. After a while his

eyes rested upon the shining, finely-wrought dagger, and he said: 'What

must be the feelings of a man who could thrust this sharp iron into the

breast of an enemy! but oh, what must be those of one who could hurt a

beloved object with it! He locked it up, then gently folded back the

shutters of his window, and looked across the narrow street. But no light

was there; all was dark in the opposite house; the dear form that dwelt in

it, and that used about this time to show herself at her household

occupations, seemed to be absent. 'Perhaps she is at the ball,' thought

Emilius, little as it suited her retired way of life.

Suddenly, however, a light entered; the little girl whom his beloved

unknown had about her, and with whom, during the day and evening, she

busied herself in various ways, carried a candle through the room, and

closed the window-shutters. An opening remained light, large enough for

over-looking a part of the little chamber from the spot where Emilius

stood; and there the happy youth would often bide till after midnight,

fixed as though he had been charmed there. He was full of gladness when

he saw her teaching the child to read, or instructing her in sewing and

knitting. Upon inquiry he had learnt that the little girl was a poor orphan

whom his fair maiden had charitably taken into the house to educate her.

Emilius's friends could not conceive why he lived in this narrow street, in

this comfortless lodging, why he was so little to be seen in society, or how

he employed himself. Without employment, in solitude he was happy:

only he felt angry with himself and his own timidity and shyness, which

kept him from venturing to seek a nearer acquaintance with this fair

being, notwithstanding the friendliness with which on many occasions she

had greeted and thanked him. He knew not that she would often bend

over him eyes no less love-sick than his own; nor boded what wishes

were forming in her heart, of what an effort, of what a sacrifice she felt

herself capable, so she might but attain to the possession of his love.

After walking a few times up and down the room, when the light had

departed with the child, he suddenly resolved upon going to the ball,

though it was so against his inclination and his nature; for it struck him

that his Unknown might have made an exception to her quiet mode of

life, in order for once to enjoy the world, and its gaieties. The streets

were brilliantly lighted up, the snow crackled under his feet, carriages

rolled by, and masks in every variety of dress whistled and chirped as

they passed him. From many a house there sounded the dancing-music

he so abhorred, and he could not bring himself to go the nearest way

towards the ball-room, whither people from every direction were

streaming and thronging. He walked round the old church, gazed at its

lofty tower rising solemnly into the dark sky, and felt gladdened by the

stillness and loneliness of the remote square. Within the recess of a large

door-way, the varied sculptures of which he had always contemplated

with pleasure, recollecting, while so engaged, the olden times and the

arts which adorned them, he now again paused, to give himself up for a

few moments to his thoughts. He had not stood long, before a figure drew

his attention, which kept restlessly walking to and fro, and seemed to be

waiting for somebody. By the light of a lamp that was burning before an

image of the Virgin, he clearly distinguished its features as well as its

strange garb. It was an old woman of the uttermost hideousness, which

struck the eye the more from being brought out by its extravagant

contrast with a scarlet bodice embroidered with gold; the gown she wore

was dark, and the cap on her head shone likewise with gold. Emilius

fancied at first it must be some tasteless mask that had strayed there by

mistake; but he was soon convinced by the clear light that the old, brown,

wrinkled face was one of Nature's ploughing, and no mimic exaggeration.Many minutes had not passed when there appeared two men, wrapped up

in cloaks, who seemed to approach the spot with cautions footsteps, often

looking about them, as if to observe whether anybody was following. The

old woman walked up to them. 'Have you got the candles?' asked she

hastily, and with a gruff voice. 'Here they are,' said one of the men; 'you

know the price; let the matter be settled forthwith.' The old woman

seemed to be giving him money, which he counted over beneath his

cloak. 'I rely upon you,' she again began, 'that they are made exactly

according to the prescription, at the right time and place, so that the work

cannot fail.' 'Feel safe as to that,' returned the man, and walked rapidly

away. The other, who remained behind, was a youth: he took the old

woman by the hand, and said: 'Can it then be, Alexia, that such rites and

forms of words, as those old stories, in which I never could put faith, tell

us, can fetter the free will of man, and make love and hatred grow in the

heart?' 'So it is,' answered the scarlet woman; 'but one and one must

make two, and many a one must be added thereto, before such things

come to pass. It is not these candles alone, moulded beneath the

midnight darkness of the new moon, and drenched with human blood, it

is not the muttering magical words and invocations alone, that can give

you the mastery over the soul of another; much more than this belongs

to such works; but it is all known to the initiated.' 'I rely on you then,'

said the stranger. 'To-morrow after midnight I am at your service,'

returned the old woman. 'You shall not be the first person that ever was

dissatisfied with the tidings I brought him. To-night, as you have heard, I

have some one else in hand, one whose senses and understanding our art

shall twist about whichever way we choose, as easily as I twist this hair

out of my head.' These last words she uttered with a half grin: they now

separated, and withdrew in different directions Emilius came from the dark niche shuddering, and raised his looks upon

the image of the Virgin with the Child. 'Before thine eyes, thou mild and

blessed one,' said he, half aloud, 'are these miscreants daring to hold

their market, and trafficking in their hellish drugs. But as thou embracest

thy Child with thy love, even so doth the unseen Love hold us all in its

protecting arms, and we feel their touch, and our poor hearts beat in joy

and in trembling toward a greater heart that will never forsake us.'

Clouds were wandering along over the pinnacles of the tower and the

steep roof of the church; the everlasting stars looked down from amongst

them, sparkling with mild serenity; and Emilius turned his thoughts

resolutely away from these nightly horrors, and thought upon the beauty

of his Unknown. He again entered the living streets, and bent his steps

toward the brightly illuminated ball-room, whence voices, and the rattling

of carriages, and now and then, between the pauses, the clamorous

music came sounding to his ears.

In the hall he was instantly lost amid the streaming throng; dancers

sprang round him, masks shot by him to and fro, kettle-drums and

trumpets deafened his ears, and it was unto him as though human life

were nothing but a dream. He walked along the lines; his eye alone was

watchful, seeking for those beloved eyes and that fair head with its brown

locks, for the sight of which he yearned to-day even more intensely than

at other times; and yet he inwardly reproached the adored being for

enduring to plunge into and lose itself in such a stormy sea of confusion

and folly. 'No,' said he to himself, 'no heart that loves can lay itself open

to this waste hubbub of noise, in which every longing and every tear of

love is scoffed and mocked at by the pealing laughter of wild trumpets.

The whispering of trees, the murmuring of fountains, harp-tones, and

gentle song gushing forth from an overflowing bosom, are the sounds in

which love abides. But this is the very thundering and shouting of hell in

the trance of its despair.'

He found not what he was seeking; for the belief that her beloved face

might perchance be lying hid behind some odious mask was what he

could not possibly bring himself to. Thrice already had he ranged up and

down the hall, and had vainly passed in array every sitting and unmasked

female, when the Spaniard joined him and said: 'I am glad that after all

you are come. You seem to be looking for your friend.'

Emilius had quite forgotten him: he said, however, in some confusion:

'Indeed I wonder at not having met him here; his mask is easily known.'

'Can you guess what the strange fellow is about?' answered the young

officer. 'He did not dance, or even remain half an hour in the ball-room;

country. Their conversation fell upon literature. As Anderson had not yet

seen the new poem, Roderick would not rest till they had opened one of

the back rooms for him; and there he now is, sitting with his companion

beside a solitary taper, and declaiming the whole poem to him, beginning

with the invocation to the Muse.'

'It is just like him,' said Emilius; 'he is always the child of the moment. I

have done all in my power, not even shunning some amicable quarrels, to

break him of this habit of always living extempore, and playing away his

whole being in impromptus, card after card, as it happens to turn up,

without once looking through his hand. But these follies have taken such

deep root in his heart, he would sooner part with his best friend than with

them. That very same poem, of which he is so fond that he always carries

a copy of it in his pocket, he was desirous of reading to me, and I had

even urgently entreated him to do so; but we were scarcely over the first

description of the moon, when, just as I was resigning myself to an

enjoyment of its beauties, he suddenly jumped up, ran off, came back

with the cook's apron round his waist, tore down the bell-rope in ringing

to have the fire lighted, and insisted on dressing me some beef-steaks,

for which I had not the least appetite, and of which he fancies himself the

best cook in Europe, though, if he is lucky, he spoils them only nine times

out of ten.'

The Spaniard laughed, and asked: 'Has he never been in love?'

'In his way,' replied Emilius very gravely; 'as if he were making game

both of love and of himself, with a dozen women at a time, and, if you

would believe his words, raving after every one of them; but ere a week

passes over his head they are all sponged out of it together, and not even

a blot of them remains.'

They parted in the crowd, and Emilius walked toward the remote

apartment, whence already from afar he heard his friend's loud recitative.

'Ah, so you are here too,' cried Roderick, as he entered; 'that is just what

it should be. I have got to the very passage at which we broke down the

other day; seat yourself, and you may listen to the rest.'

'I am not in a humour for it now,' said Emilius; 'besides, the room and the

hour do not seem to me altogether fitted for such an employment.'

'And why not?' answered Roderick. 'Time and place are made for us, and

not we for time and place. Is not good poetry as good at one place as at

another? Or would you prefer dancing? there is scarcity of men; and with

the help of nothing more than a few hours' jumping and a pair of tired

legs, you may lay strong siege to the hearts of as many grateful beauties

as you please.'

'Good-bye!' cried the other, already in the door-way; 'I am going home.'

Roderick called after him: 'Only one word! I set off with this gentleman at

daybreak to-morrow, to spend a few days in the country, but will look in

upon you to take leave before we start. Should you be asleep, as is most

likely, do not take the trouble of waking; for in a couple of days I shall be

with you again.--The strangest being on earth!' he continued, turning to

his new friend, 'so moping and fretful and gloomy, that he turns all his

pleasures sour; or rather there is no such thing as pleasure for him.

Instead of walking about with his fellow-creatures in broad daylight and

enjoying himself, he gets down to the bottom of the well of his thoughts,

for the sake of now and then having a glimpse of a star. Everything must

be in the superlative for him; everything must be pure and noble and

celestial; his heart must be always heaving and throbbing, even when he

is standing before a puppet-show. He never laughs or cries, but can only

smile and weep; and there is mighty little difference between his weeping

and his smiling. When anything, be it what you will, falls short of his

anticipations and preconceptions, which are always flying up out of reach

and sight, he puts on a tragical face, and complains that it is a base and

soulless world. At this moment, I doubt not, he is exacting, that under the

masks of a Pantaloon and a Pulcinello there should be a heart glowing

with unearthly desires and ideal aspirations, and that Harlequin should

out moralise Hamlet upon the nothingness of sublunary things; and

should it not be so, the dew will rise into his eyes, and he will turn his

back on the whole scene with desponding contempt.'

'He must be melancholic then?' asked his hearer.

'Not that exactly,' answered Roderick. 'He has only been spoilt by his

over-fond parents, and by himself. He has accustomed himself to let his

heart ebb and flow as regularly as the sea, and if this motion ever

chances to intermit, he cries out _miracle!_ and would offer a prize to the

genius that can satisfactorily explain so marvellous a phenomenon. He is

the best fellow under the sun; but all my painstaking to break him of this

perverseness is utterly vain and thrown away; and if I would not earn

sorry thanks for my good intentions, I must even let him follow his own

course.'

'He seems to need a physician,' remarked Anderson.

'It is one of his whims,' said Roderick, 'to entertain a supreme contempt

for the whole medical art. He will have it that every disease is something

different and distinct in every patient, that it can be brought under no

class, and that it is absurd to think of healing it, either by attention to

ancient practice or by what is called theory. Indeed he would much rather

apply to an old woman, and make use of sympathetic cures. On the same

principle, he despises all foresight, on whatever occasion, as well as

everything like regularity, moderation, and common sense. The last

above all he holds in especial abhorrence, as the antipodes and arch-

enemy of all enthusiasm. From his very childhood he framed for himself

an ideal of a noble character; and his highest aim is to render himself

what he considers such, that is, a being who shows his superiority to all

things earthy by his contempt for gold. Merely in order that he may not

be suspected of being parsimonious, or giving unwillingly, or ever talking

about money, he tosses it about him right and left by handfuls; with all

his large income is for ever poor and distressed, and becomes the fool of

everybody not endowed with precisely the same kind of magnanimity,

which for himself he is determined that he will have. To be his friend is

the undertaking of all undertakings; for he is so irritable, one need only

cough or eat with one's knife, or even pick one's teeth, to offend him

mortally.'

'Was he never in love?' asked his country friend.

'Whom should he love? whom could he love?' answered Roderick. 'He

scorns all the daughters of earth; and were he ever to suspect that his beloved had not an angelical contempt for dress, or liked dancing as well

as star-gazing, it would break his heart; still more appalling would it be, if

she were ever so unfortunate as to sneeze.'

Meanwhile Emilius was again standing amid the throng; but suddenly

there came over him that uneasiness, that shivering, which had already

so often seized his heart when among a crowd in a state of similar

excitement; it chased him out of the ball-room and house, down along the

deserted streets; nor, till he reached his lonely chamber, did he recover

himself and the quiet possession of his senses. The night-light was

already kindled; he sent his servant to bed; everything in the opposite

house was silent and dark; and he sat down to pour forth in verse the

feelings which had been aroused by the ball.

Within the heart 'tis still;

Sleep each wild thought encages;

Now stirs a wicked will,

Would see how madness rages.

And cries, Wild Spirit, awake!

Loud cymbals catch the cry

And back its echoes shake;

And shouting peals of laughter,

The trumpet rushes after,

And cries, Wild Spirit, awake!

Amidst them flute tones fly,

Like arrows keen and numberless;

And with bloodhound yell

Pipes the onset swell;

And violins and violoncellos,

Creeking, clattering,

Shrieking and shattering;

And horns whence thunder bellows;

To leave the victim slumberless,

And drag forth prisoned madness,

And cruelly murder all quiet and innocent gladness.

What will be the end of this commotion?

Where the shore to this turmoiling ocean?

What seeks the tossing throng,

As it wheels and whirls along?

On! on! the lustres

Like hell-stars bicker:

Let us twine in closer clusters.

On! on! ever thicker and quicker!

How the silly things throb, throb amain!

Hence, all quiet!

Hither, riot!

Peal more proudly,

Squeal more loudly,

Ye cymbals, ye trumpets! Be-dull all pain,

Till it laugh again.

Thou becomest to me, beauty's daughter;

Smiles ripple over thy lips,

And o'er thine eyes blue water;

O let me breathe on thee,

Ere parted hence we flee.

Ere aught that light eclipse.

I know that beauty's flowers soon wither;

Those lips within whose rosy cells

Thy spirit warbles its sweet spells,

Death's clammy kiss ere long will press together.

I know, that face so fair and full

Is but a masquerading skull;

But hail to thee, skull so fair and so fresh!

Why should I weep and whine and wail,

That what blooms now must soon grow pale,

That worms must feed on that sweet flesh?

Let me laugh but to-day and to-morrow,

And I care not for sorrow,

While thus on the waves of the dance by each other we sail!

Now thou art mine

And I am thine:

And what though pain and sorrow wait

To seize thee at the gate,

And sob and tear and groan and sigh

Stand ranged in state

On thee to fly;

Blithely let us look and cheerily

On death, that grins so drearily.

What would grief with us, or anguish?

They are foes that we know how to vanquish.

I press thine answering fingers,

Thy look upon me lingers,

Or the fringe of thy garment will waft me a kiss:

Thou rollest on in light;

I fall back into night;

Even despair is bliss.

From this delight,

From this wild laughter's surge,

Perchance there may emerge

Foul jealousy and scorn and spite.

But this our glory! and pride!

When thee I despise,

I turn but mine eyes,

And the fair one beside thee will welcome my gaze;

And she is my bride;

Oh, happy, happy days!

Or shall it be her neighbour,

Whose eyes like a sabre

Flash and pierce,

Their glance is so fierce?

Thus capering and prancing,

All together go dancing

Adown life's giddy cave;

Nor living nor loving,

But dizzily roving

Through dreams to a grave.

There below 'tis yet worse;

Its flowers and its clay

Roof a gloomier day,

Hide a still deeper curse.

Ring then, ye cymbals, enliven this dream!

Ye horns, shout a fiercer, more vulture-like scream!

And jump, caper, leap, prance, dance yourselves out of breath!

For your life is all art;

Love has given you no heart:

Therefore shout till ye plunge into bottomless death.

He had ended and was standing at the window. Then came she into the

opposite chamber, lovely, as he had never yet seen her; her brown hair

floated freely and played in wanton ringlets about the whitest of necks;

she was but lightly clad, and it seemed as though she was about to finish

some household task at this late hour of the night before going to bed;

for she placed two lights in two corners of the room, set to rights the

green baize on the table, and again retired. Emilius was still sunk in his

sweet dreams, and gazing on the image which his beloved had left on his

mind, when to his horror the fearful, the scarlet old woman walked

through the chamber; the gold on her head and breast glared ghastlily as

it threw back the light. She had vanished again. Was he to believe his

eyes? Was it not some blinding deception of the night, some spectre that

his own feverish imagination had conjured up before him? But no! she

returned still more hideous than before, with a long gray-and-black mane

flying wildly and ruggedly about her breast and back. The fair maiden

followed her, pale, frozen up; her lovely bosom was without a covering;

but the whole form was like a marble statue. Betwixt them they led the

little sweet child, weeping and clinging entreatingly to the fair maiden,

who looked not down upon it. The child clasped and lifted up its little

beseeching hands, and stroked the pale neck and cheeks of the marble

beauty. But she held it fast by the hair, and in the other hand a silver

basin. Then the old woman gave a growl, and pulled out a long knife, and

drew it across the white neck of the child. Here something wound forth

from behind them, which they seemed not to perceive; or it must have

produced in them the same deep horror as in Emilius. The ghastly neck of

a serpent curled forth, scale after scale, lengthening and ever lengthening

out of the darkness, and stooped down between them over the child,

whose lifeless limbs hung from the old woman's arms; its black tongue

licked up the spirting red blood, and a green sparkling eye shot over into Emilius's eye, and brain, and heart, so that he fell at the same instant to

the ground.

He was senseless when found by Roderick some hours after.

* * * * *

A party of friends was sitting, on the brightest summer morning, in a

green arbour, assembled round an excellent breakfast. Laughter and jests

passed round, and many a time did the glasses kiss with a merry health

to the youthful couple, and a wish that they might be the happiest of the

happy. The bride and bridegroom were not present; the fair one being still

busied about her dress, while the young husband was sauntering alone in

a distant avenue, musing upon his happiness.

'What a pity,' said Anderson, 'that we are to have no music. All our ladies

are beclouded at the thought, and never in their whole lives longed for a

dance so much as to-day, when to have one is quite out of the question.

It is far too painful to his feelings.'

'I can tell you a secret though,' said a young officer; 'which is, that we are

to have a dance after all, and a rare madcap and riotous one it will he.

Everything is already arranged; the musicians are come secretly, and

quartered out of sight. Roderick has managed it all; for he says, one

ought not to let him have his own way, or to humour his strange

prejudices over-much, especially on such a day as this. Besides, he is

already grown far more like a human being, and is much more sociable

than he used to be; so that I think even he will not dislike this alteration.

Indeed, the whole wedding has been brought about all of a sudden, in a

way that nobody could have expected.'

'His whole life,' said Anderson, 'is no less singular than his character. You

must all remember how, being engaged on his travels, he arrived last

autumn in our city, fixed himself there for the winter, lived like a

melancholy man, scarcely ever leaving his room, and never gave himself

the least trouble about our theatre or any other amusement. He almost

quarrelled with Roderick, his most intimate friend, for trying to divert him,

and not pampering him in all his moping humours. In fact, this exaggerated irritability and moodiness must have been a disease that was

gathering in his body; for, as you know, he was seized four months since

with a most violent nervous fever, so that we were all forced to give him

up for lost. After his fancies had raved themselves out, on returning to his

senses, he had almost entirely lost his memory; his childhood, indeed,

and his early youth were still present to his mind, but he could not

recollect anything that had occurred during his travels, or immediately

before his illness. He was forced to begin anew his acquaintance with all

his friends, even with Roderick; and only by little and little has it grown

lighter with him; but slowly has the past with all that had befallen him

come again, though still in dim colours, over his memory. He had been

removed into his uncle's house, that the better care might be taken of

him, and he was like a child, letting them do with him whatever they

chose. The first time he went out to enjoy the warmth of spring in the

park, he saw a girl sitting thoughtfully by the road-side. She looked up;

her eye met his; and, as it were seized with an unaccountable yearning,

he bade the carriage stop, got out, sat down by her, took hold of her

hands, and poured himself forth in a full stream of tears. His friends were

again alarmed for his understanding; but he grew tranquil, lively and

conversable, got introduced to the girl's parents, and at the very first

besought her hand; which, as her parents did not refuse their consent,

she granted him. Thenceforward he was happy, and a new life sprang up

within him; every day he became healthier and more cheerful. A week

ago he visited me at this country-seat of mine, and was above measure

delighted with it; indeed so much so that he would not rest till he had

made me sell it to him. I might easily have turned his passionate wish to

my own good account, and to his injury; for, whenever he sets his heart

on a thing, he will have it, and that forthwith. He immediately made his

arrangements, and had furniture brought hither that he may spend the

summer months here; and in this way it has come to pass that we are all

now assembled together to celebrate our friend's marriage at this villa,

which a few days since belonged to me.'

The house was large, and situated in a very lovely country. One side

looked down upon a river, and beyond it upon pleasant hills, clad and girt

round with shrubs and trees of various kinds; immediately before it lay a

beautiful flower-garden. Here the orange and lemon trees were ranged in

a large open hall, from which small doors led to the store-rooms and cellars, and pantries. On the other side spread the green plain of a

meadow, which was immediately bordered by a large park; here the two

long wings of the house formed a spacious court; and three broad, open

galleries, supported by rows of pillars standing above each other,

connected all the apartments in the building, which gave it on this side an

interesting and singular character; for figures were continually moving

along these arcades in the discharge of their various household tasks;

new forms kept stepping forth between the pillars and out of every room,

which reappeared soon after above or below, to be lost behind some

other doors; the company too would often assemble there for tea or for

play; and thus, when seen from below, the whole had the look of a

theatre, before which everybody would gladly pause awhile, expecting, as

his fancies wandered, that something strange or pleasing would soon be

taking place above.

The party of young people were just rising, when the full-dressed bride

came through the garden and walked up to them. She was clad in violet-

coloured velvet; a sparkling necklace lay cradled on her white neck; the

costly lace just allowed her swelling bosom to glimmer through; her

brown hair was tinged yet more beautifully by its wreath of myrtles and

white roses. She addressed each in turn with a kind greeting, and the

young men were astonished at her surpassing beauty. She had been

gathering flowers in the garden, and was now returning into the house, to

see after the preparations for the dinner. The tables had been placed in

the lower open gallery, and shone dazzlingly with their white coverings

and their load of sparkling crystal; rich clusters of many-coloured flowers

rose from the graceful necks of alabaster vases; green garlands, starred

with white blossoms, twined round the columns; and it was a lovely sight

to behold the bride gliding along with gentle motion between the tables

and the pillars, amid the light of the flowers, overlooking the whole with a

searching glance, then vanishing, and re-appearing a moment afterwards

higher up to pass into her chamber.

'She is the loveliest and most enchanting creature I ever saw,' cried

Anderson; 'our friend is indeed the happiest of men.'

'Even her paleness,' said the officer, taking up the word, 'heightens her

beauty. Her brown eyes sparkle only more intensely above those white cheeks, and beneath those dark locks; and the singular, almost burning,

redness of her lips gives a truly magical appearance to her face.'

'The air of silent melancholy that surrounds her,' said Anderson, 'sheds a

lofty majesty over her whole form.'

The bridegroom joined them, and inquired after Roderick. They had all

missed him some time since, and could not conceive where he could be

tarrying; and they all set out in search of him. 'He is below in the hall,'

said at length a young man whom they happened to ask, 'in the midst of

the coachmen, footmen, and grooms, showing off tricks at cards, which

they cannot grow tired of staring at.' They went in, and interrupted the

noisy admiration of the servants, without, however, disturbing Roderick,

who quietly pursued his conjuring exhibition. When he had finished, he

walked with the others into the garden, and said, 'I do it only to

strengthen the fellows in their faith: for these puzzles give a hard blow to

their groomships' free-thinking inclinations, and help to make them true

believers.'

'I see,' said the bridegroom, 'my all-sufficing friend, among his other

talents, does not think that of a mountebank beneath his cultivation.'

'We live in a strange time,' replied the other. 'Who knows whether

mountebanks may not come to rule the roost in their turn. One ought to

despise nothing nowadays: the veriest straw of talent may be that which

is to break the camel's back.'

When the two friends found themselves alone, Emilius again turned down

the dark avenue, and said, 'Why am I in such a gloomy mood on this the

happiest day of my life? But I assure you, Roderick, little as you will

believe it, I am not made for this moving about among such a mob of

human beings; for this keeping my attention on the _qui vive_ for every

letter of the alphabet, so that neither A nor Z may go without all fitting

respect; for this making a bow to her tenth, and shaking hands with my

twentieth; for this rendering of formal homage to her parents; for this

handing a flower from my nosegay of compliments to every lady that

crosses my eye; for this waiting to receive the tide of newcomers as wave servants and horses may have each a full trough and pail set before

them.'

'That is a watch that goes of its own accord,' answered Roderick. 'Only

look at your house, it was just built for such an occasion; and your head-

butler, with his right hand taking up at the same time that his left is

setting down, and one leg running north while the other seems to be

making for south, was begotten and born for no other end than to put

confusion in order. He would even set my brains to rights if he could get

at them; were the whole city here he would find room for all; and he will

make your hospitality the proverb of fifty miles round. Leave all such

things to him and to your lovely bride; and where will you find so sweet a

lightener of this world's cares?'

'This morning before sunrise,' said Emilius, 'I was walking through the

wood; my thoughts were solemnly tuned, and I felt to the bottom of my

soul that my life was now receiving its determinate character, that it was

become a serious thing, and that this passion had created for me a home

and a calling. I passed along by that arbour there, and heard sounds: it

was my beloved in close conversation. "Has it not turned out now as I told

you?" said a strange voice; "just as I knew it must turn out. You have got

your wish, so cheer up and be merry." I would not go near them;

afterwards I walked toward the arbour, but they had both already left it.

Since then I keep thinking and thinking, what can these words mean?'

Roderick answered: 'Perhaps she may have been in love with you for

some time without your knowing it; you are only so much the happier.'

A late nightingale here upraised her song, and seemed to be wishing the

lover health and bliss. Emilius became more thoughtful. 'Come down with

me, to cheer up your spirits,' said Roderick, 'down to the village, where

you will find another couple; for you must not fancy that yours is the only

wedding on which to-day's sun is to shine. A young clown, finding his

time wear heavily in the house with an ugly old maid, for want of

something better to do, did what makes the booby now think himself

bound in honour to transform her into his wife. By this time they must

both be already dressed, so let us not miss the sight; for doubtless, it will

be a most interesting wedding.

The melancholy man let himself be dragged along by his lively chattering

friend, and they soon came to the cottage. The procession was just

sallying forth, to go to the church. The young countryman was in his usual

linen frock; all his finery consisted in a pair of leather breeches, which he

had polished till they shone like a field of dandelions; he was of simple

mien, and appeared somewhat confused. The bride was sun-burnt, with

but a few farewell leaves of youth still hanging about her; she was

coarsely and poorly, but cleanly dressed; some red and blue silk ribbons,

already a good deal faded; but what chiefly disfigured her was, that her

hair, stiffened with lard, flour, and pins, had been swept back from her

forehead, and piled up at the top of her head in a mound, on the summit

of which lay the bridal chaplet. She smiled and seemed glad at heart, but

was shamefaced and downcast. Next came the aged parents; the father

too was only a servant about the farm, and the hovel, the furniture, and

the clothing, all bore witness that their poverty was extreme. A dirty,

squinting musician followed the train, who kept grinning and screaming,

and scratching his fiddle, which was patched together of wood and

pasteboard, and instead of strings had three bits of pack-thread. The

procession halted when his honour, their new master, came up to them.

Some mischief-loving servants, young lads and girls, tittered and

laughed, and jeered the bridal couple, especially the ladies' maids, who

thought themselves far handsomer, and saw themselves infinitely better

clad, and wondered how people could be so vulgar. A shuddering came

over Emilius; he looked round for Roderick, but the latter had already run

away from him again. An impertinent coxcomb, with a head pilloried in his

high starched neck-cloth, a servant to one of the visitors, eager to show

his wit, pressed up to Emilius, giggling, and cried: 'Now, your honour,

what says your honour to this grand couple? They can neither of them

guess where they are to find bread for to-morrow, and yet they mean to

give a ball this afternoon, and that famous performer there is already

engaged.' 'No bread!' said Emilius; 'can such things be?' 'Their

wretchedness,' continued the chatterbox, 'is known to the whole

neighbourhood; but the fellow says he bears the creature the same good-

will, although she is such a sorry bit of clay. Ay, verily, as the song says,

love can make black white! The couple of baggages have not even a bed,

and must pass their wedding night on the straw. They have just been

round to every house begging a pint of small beer, with which they mean to get drunk; a royal treat for a wedding day, your honour!' Everybody

round about laughed loudly, and the unhappy, despised pair cast down

their eyes. Emilius indignantly pushed the chatterer away. 'Here, take

this!' he cried, and threw a hundred ducats, which he had received that

morning, into the hands of the amazed bridegroom. The betrothed couple

and their parents wept aloud, threw themselves clumsily on their knees,

and kissed his hands and the skirts of his coat. He tried to make his

escape. 'Let that keep hunger out of your doors as long as it lasts!' he

exclaimed, quite stunned by his feelings. 'Oh!' they all screamed, 'oh,

your honour! we shall be rich and happy till the day of our deaths, and

longer too, if we live longer.'

He knew not how he got away from them; but he found himself alone,

and hastened with unsteady steps into the wood. Here he sought out the

thickest, loneliest spot, and threw himself down on a grassy knoll, no

longer keeping back the bursting stream of his tears. 'I am sick of life,' he

sobbed; 'I cannot be glad and happy, I will not. Make haste and receive

me, thou dear kind earth, and hide me in thy cool, refreshing arms from

the wild beasts that tread over thee and call themselves men. Oh, God in

heaven! how have I deserved that I should rest upon down and wear silk,

that the grape should pour forth her most precious blood for me, and that

all should throng around me and offer me their homage and love? This

poor wretch is better and worthier than I, and misery is his nurse, and

mockery and venomous scorn are the only sounds that hail his wedding.

Every delicacy that is placed before me, every draught out of my costly

goblets, my lying on soft beds, my wearing gold and rich garments, will

be unto me like so many sins, now that I have beheld how the world

hunts down many thousand thousand wretches, who are hungering after

the dry bread that I throw away, and who never know what a good meal

is. Oh, now I can fully understand your feelings, ye holy pious, whom the

world despises and scorns and scoffs at, who scatter abroad your all, even

unto the raiment of your poverty, and did gird sack-cloth about your

loins, and did resolve as beggars to endure the gibes and the kicks

wherewith brutal insolence and swilling voluptuousness drive away misery

from their tables, that by so doing ye might thoroughly purge yourselves

from the foul sin of wealth.'

The world, with all its forms of being, hung in a mist before his eyes; he

determined to look upon the destitute as his brethren, and to depart far

away from the communion of the happy. They had already been waiting

for him a long time in the hall, to perform the ceremony; the bride had

become uneasy; her parents had gone in search of him through the

garden and park; at length he returned, lighter for having wept away his

cares, and the solemn knot was tied.

The company then walked from the lower hall toward the open gallery, to

seat themselves at table. The bride and bridegroom led the way, and the

rest followed in their train. Roderick offered his arm to a young girl who

was gay and talkative. 'Why does a bride always cry, and look so sad and

serious during the ceremony,' said she, as they mounted the steps.

'Because it is the first moment in which she feels intensely all the weight

and meaning and mystery of life,' answered Roderick.

'But our bride,' continued the girl, 'far surpasses in gravity all I have ever

yet seen. Indeed, she almost always looks melancholy, and one can never

catch her in a downright hearty laugh.'

'This does more honour to her heart,' answered Roderick, himself,

contrary to custom, feeling somewhat seriously disposed. 'You know not,

perhaps, that the bride a few years ago took a lovely little orphan girl into

the house, to educate her. All her time was devoted to the child, and the

love of this gentle being was her sweetest reward. The girl was become

seven years old, when she was lost during a walk through the town, and

in spite of all the means that have been employed, nobody could ever find

out what became of her. Our noble-minded hostess has taken this

misfortune so much to heart that she has been preyed upon ever since by

a silent melancholy, nor can anything win her away from her longing after

her little play-fellow.'

'A most interesting adventure, indeed,' said the lady. 'One might see a

whole romance in three volumes grow out of this seed. It will be a

strange sight, and it will not be for nothing, when this lost star reappears.

What a pretty poem it would make! Don't you think so, sir?'

The party arranged themselves at table. The bride and bridegroom sat in

the centre, and looked out upon the gay landscape. They talked and

drank healths, and the most cheerful humour reigned; the bride's parents

were quite happy; the bridegroom alone was reserved and thoughtful, eat

but little, and took no part in the conversation. He started when some

musical sounds rolled down from above, but grew calm again on finding it

was nothing but the soft notes of a bugle, which wandered along with a

pleasant murmur over the shrubs and through the park, till they died

away on the distant hills. Roderick had stationed the musicians in the

gallery overhead, and Emilius was satisfied with this arrangement.

Toward the end of the dinner he called his butler, and turning to his bride,

said, 'My love, let poverty also have a share of our superfluities.' He then

ordered him to send several bottles of wine, some pastry, and other

dishes in abundant portions, to the poor couple, so that with them also

this day might be a day of rejoicing, unto which in after-times they might

look back with delight. 'See, my friend,' cried Roderick, 'how beautifully

all things in this world hang together. My idle trick of busying myself

about other people's concerns, and my chattering, though you are for

ever finding fault with them, have after all been the occasion of this good

deed.' Several persons began making pretty speeches to their host on his

compassion and kind heart, and the young lady next to Roderick lisped

about romantic feelings and sentimental magnanimity. 'O, hold your

tongues,' cried Emilius indignantly. 'This is no good action; it is no action

at all; it is nothing. When swallows and linnets feed themselves with the

crumbs that are thrown away from the waste of this meal, and carry them

to their young ones in their nests, shall not I remember a poor brother

who needs my help? If I durst follow my heart, ye would laugh and jeer at

me, just as ye have laughed and jeered at many others who have gone

forth into the wilderness, that they might hear no more of this world and

its generosity.'

Everybody was silent, and Roderick, perceiving the most vehement

displeasure in his friend's glowing eyes, feared he might forget himself

still more in his present ungracious mood, and tried to give the

conversation a sudden turn upon other subjects. But Emilius was

becoming restless and absent; his eyes were continually wandering

toward the upper gallery, where the servants who lived in the top story

had many things to do.

'Who is that ugly old woman,' he at length asked, 'that is so busy there,

going backwards and forwards, in her gray cloak?' 'She is one of my

attendants,' said his bride; 'she is to overlook and manage my waiting-

maids and the other girls.' 'How can you bear to have anything so hideous

always at your elbow?' replied Emilius. 'Let her alone,' answered the

young lady; 'God meant the ugly to live as well as the handsome: and she

is such a good, honest creature, she may be of great use to us.'

On rising from table, everybody pressed round the new husband, again

wished him joy, and urgently begged that he would consent to their

having a ball. The bride too said, breathing a gentle kiss on his forehead:

'You will not deny your wife's first request, my beloved; we have all been

looking forward with delight to this moment. It is so long since I danced

last, and you have never yet seen me dance. Have you no curiosity how I

shall acquit myself in this new character? My mother tells me I look better

than at any other time.'

'I never saw you thus cheerful,' said Emilius; 'I will be no disturber of

your joys: do just what you please; only let me bargain for nobody asking

me to make myself ridiculous by any clumsy capers.'

'Oh, if you are a bad dancer,' she answered, laughing, 'you may feel quite

safe; everybody will readily consent to your sitting still.' The bride then

retired to put on her ball-dress.

'She does not know,' said Emilius to Roderick, with whom he withdrew,

'that I can pass from the next room into hers through a secret door; I will

surprise her while she is dressing.'

When Emilius had left them, and many of the ladies were also gone to

make such changes in their attire as were necessary for the ball, Roderick

took the young men aside, and led the way to his own room. 'It is

wearing toward evening,' said he, 'and will soon be dark; so make haste,

every one of you, and mask yourselves, that we may render this night

glorious in the annals of merriment and madness

Give your fancies free

range in choosing your characters: the wilder and uglier the better. Try

every combination of shaggy mane, and squinting eye, and mouth like a gaping volcano; build mountains upon your shoulders, or fatten

yourselves into Falstaffs; and as a whet to your inventions, I hereby

promise a kiss from the bride to the figure that would be the likeliest to

make her miscarry. A wedding is such a strange event in one's life; the

bride and bridegroom are so suddenly plunged, as it were by magic, head

over heels into a new, unaccustomed element, that it is impossible to

infuse too much of madness and folly into this feast, in order to keep pace

with the whirlpool that is bearing a brace of human beings from the state

in which they were two, into the state in which they become one, and to

let all things round about them be fit accompaniments for the dizzy dream

on the wings of which they are floating toward a new life. So let us rave

away the night, making all sail before the breeze; and a fig for such as

look twice on the grave sour faces that would have you behave rationally.'

'Don't be afraid,' said the young officer; 'we have brought from town with

us a large chest full of masks and mad carnival dresses, such as would

make even you stare.'

'But see here,' returned Roderick, 'what a gem I have got from my tailor,

who was just going to cut up this peerless robe into strips. He bought it of

an old crone, who must doubtless have worn it on gala days when she

went to Lucifer's drawing-room on the Blocksberg. Look at this scarlet

bodice, with its gold tassels and fringe, at this cap besmeared with the

last fee the hag got from Beelzebub or his imps: it will give me a right

worshipful air. To match such jewels, there is this green velvet petticoat

with its saffron-coloured trimming, and this mask would melt even

Medusa to a grin. Thus accoutred I mean to lead the chorus of Graces,

myself their mother-queen, toward the bed-chamber. Make all the haste

you can; and we will then go in procession to fetch the bride.'

The bugles were still playing; the company were walking about the

garden, or sitting before the house. The sun had gone down behind thick,

murky clouds, and the country was lying in the gray dusk, when a parting

gleam suddenly burst forth athwart the cloudy veil, and flooded every

spot around, but especially the building, and its galleries, and pillars, and

wreaths of flowers, as it were with red blood. At this moment the parents

of the bride and the other spectators beheld a train of the wildest

appearances move toward the upper corridor. Roderick led the way as the scarlet old woman, and was followed by hump-backs, mountain-

paunches, massy wigs, clowns, punches, skeleton-like pantaloons, female

figures embanked by enormous hoops and over-canopied with three feet

of horsehair, powder and pomatum, and by every disgusting shape that

can be conceived, as though a nightmare were unrolling her stores. They

jumped, and twirled, and tottered, and stumbled, and straddled, and

strutted, and swaggered along the gallery, and then vanished behind one

of the doors. But few of the beholders had been able to laugh: so utterly

were they amazed by the strange sight. Suddenly a piercing shriek burst

from one of the rooms, and there rushed forth into the blood-red glow of

the sunset the pale bride, in a short white frock, round which wreaths of

flowers were waving, with her lovely bosom all uncovered, and her rich

locks streaming through the air. As though mad, with rolling eyes and

distorted face, she darted along the gallery, and, blinded by terror, could

find neither door nor staircase; and immediately after rushed Emilius in

chase of her, with the sparkling Turkish dagger in his high, upraised hand.

Now she was at the end of the passage; she could go no further; he

reached her. His masked friends and the gray old woman were running

after him. But he had already furiously pierced her bosom, and cut

through her white neck; her blood spouted forth into the radiance of the

setting sun. The old woman had clasped round him to tear him back; he

struggled with her, and hurled himself together with her over the railing,

and they both fell, almost lifeless, down at the feet of the relations who

had been staring in dumb horror at the bloody scene. Above and below,

or hastening down the stairs and along the galleries, were seen the

hideous masks, standing or running about in various clusters, like fiends

of hell.

Roderick took his dying friend in his arms. He had found him in his wife's

room playing with the dagger. She was almost dressed when he entered.

At the sight of the hated red bodice his memory had rekindled; the

horrible vision of the night had risen upon his mind; and gnashing his

teeth he had sprung after his trembling flying bride, to avenge that

murder and all those devilish doings. The old woman, ere she expired,

confessed the crime that had been wrought; and the gladness and mirth

of the whole house were suddenly changed into sorrow and lamentation

and dismay.

***********

Author Note:- if you like my story then please like and subscribe for more lovely stories. Thank you so much for reading🙏