Speaker 1: Second five of the Best Ghost Stories. This is a
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recording to a public domain. For
Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox dot org. Read by
Speaker 1: Morphine Mollie The Best Ghost Stories. The Silent Woman by
Speaker 1: Leopold Comfort VI. A borious merriment of a wedding beast
Speaker 1: bridge forth into the night from a bringing elight house
Speaker 1: in magoths Narrow Street. It was one of those nights
Speaker 1: touched by the warmth of spring, but still dark and.
Speaker 2: Full of soft mists.
Speaker 1: Most fitting, it was for a celebration of the union
Speaker 1: of two yearning hearts to hear the same lot, a
Speaker 1: lot that may possibly drawn in semmy brightness, but also
Speaker 1: become clouded and sullen for a long long time. But
Speaker 1: how merry and enjoyous they were over there, those people
Speaker 1: of the olden times, they like us, have their troubles
Speaker 1: and trials. And when misfortune visited them, it came to
Speaker 1: them not with soft cushions and tender presses of the hand,
Speaker 1: rough and hard, with clinched fist it was laid upon them.
Speaker 1: But when they gave vent to their happy fieldings and
Speaker 1: sought to enjoy themselves, they were like swimmers in cooling waters.
Speaker 1: They struck out into the stream which freshness and courage,
Speaker 1: except that themselves be borne along by the current webs,
Speaker 1: whatever it took its course. This was the cause of suchitubilee,
Speaker 1: such thoughtlessly noisy outbursts of all kinds of soul, possessing
Speaker 1: gaiety from this house of nuptials. Had I known the
Speaker 1: bride's father, the rich Reuben Caplender, had just said that,
Speaker 1: it would have taken the last gulden from my pocket
Speaker 1: out it would have come. In fact, it did appear
Speaker 1: as if the last gasheen really had taken flight and
Speaker 1: was fluttering around the room in the form of platters
Speaker 1: heaped with geese and pastry tarts. Since two o'clock, that is,
Speaker 1: since the Mirosary Boy, they had been performed out in
Speaker 1: the open street. Until nearly midnight, the wedding feast had
Speaker 1: been progressing, and even yet the savers or waivers were
Speaker 1: hurrying from room to room. It was as if a
Speaker 1: twofold blessing had descended upon all this abundance of food
Speaker 1: and drink, For in the French place it had not
Speaker 1: seen to diminish. And secondly it found ever a new
Speaker 1: place your disposal. To be sure, this appetite was sharpened
Speaker 1: by the presence of a little dwarf like, unimportant looking man.
Speaker 1: He was esteemed, however, none the less highly by every
Speaker 1: one They had specially ridden to engage the celebrate Lebinar
Speaker 1: of Prague. And when was it ever in moods or
Speaker 1: out of sorts a heart so embittered as not to
Speaker 1: thaw out and laugh if Lebinar plagued one of his pranks. Ah,
Speaker 1: the ark now dead, good jool, Thy lips, once always
Speaker 1: ready with wiby reply, are closed. Thy mouth they never
Speaker 1: still now speaks no more, But when the harvey pearls
Speaker 1: of laughter wandering forth at thy command and successors, as
Speaker 1: it were in thy behalf, before the very thrim of God,
Speaker 1: Thou hast nothing to fear, And the joy of that
Speaker 1: other world was thine, that joy that ever belonged to
Speaker 1: the most pious of country rabbis. In the meantime, the
Speaker 1: young people had assembled in one of their rooms to dance.
Speaker 1: It was strained how the sound of the violins and
Speaker 1: trumpets accorded with the doleries of the witch from Prague.
Speaker 1: In one part, the outburst of merriment was so boisterous
Speaker 1: that the the very candles on the little table seemed
Speaker 1: to flicker with terror.
Speaker 2: And another, and.
Speaker 1: When they conversation was in progress, which now and then
Speaker 1: ran over into a loud tittering. When some old ladies
Speaker 1: looked into the circle and heard a skill at a rettaua.
Speaker 1: Then all together unknown to the young people, and the
Speaker 1: very mist of the tangle of dancers was to be
Speaker 1: seen the bribe in a heavy silk wedding gown. The
Speaker 1: point of her going than hood hung down far over
Speaker 1: her face. She danced continuously. He danced with everyone that
Speaker 1: asked her. Had one, however, observed the acting of the
Speaker 1: young woman, though it certainly seemed to them hurried, agitated,
Speaker 1: almost wild, He looked no one in the eye, that
Speaker 1: even her own bridegrew. He stood for the most part
Speaker 1: in the doorway, and evidently took more pleasure from the
Speaker 1: witisms of the fool than the dance or the lady dancers.
Speaker 1: But who ever thought for a moment why the young
Speaker 1: woman's hand burned, why her breath was so hot when
Speaker 1: one came near her lips? Who would have noticed so
Speaker 1: strange a thing a low whispering already passed through the company,
Speaker 1: A stealthy smile stole across many a lip. A bevy
Speaker 1: of ladies was.
Speaker 2: Seen to enter the room.
Speaker 1: The music dashed off into one of his loudest pieces,
Speaker 1: and as if by enchantment, the newly made bride disappeared
Speaker 1: behind the ladies. The bridegroom, with a stupid smiling mane,
Speaker 1: was still left standing on the threshold, but it was
Speaker 1: not long before he too vanished. One can hardly say
Speaker 1: how it happened, but people understand the skillful movements by experience,
Speaker 1: and will continue to understand them as long as there
Speaker 1: are bride and grooms in this world. This disappearance of
Speaker 1: the chief personages little as it seemed to have been noticed, gave, However,
Speaker 1: the signal for the general leave taking. The dancing became drowsy.
Speaker 1: It stopped all at once, as if by appointment. That
Speaker 1: noisy confusion now began, which always attends so merry a
Speaker 1: wedding party. Half drunken voices could still be heard, intermingling
Speaker 1: with the last hearty laugh over a joke of the
Speaker 1: fool from frog, echoing across the table. Here and there,
Speaker 1: some one not quite suous his balance was fumbling for
Speaker 1: the arm of a chair or the edge of the table.
Speaker 1: This resulted in the overturning of a dish that had
Speaker 1: been forgotten, of the spilling of a beer glass. While
Speaker 1: this in turn set up a new hubbo, someone else,
Speaker 1: in his eagerness to be taken some up of the scene,
Speaker 1: fell flat into the very debris. But all this tumult
Speaker 1: was really hushed the moment they all pressed to the door,
Speaker 1: for at that very instant shrieks and cries of pain
Speaker 1: were heard issuing from the interest below. In an instant,
Speaker 1: the entire outpouring crowd, with all possible force, pushed back
Speaker 1: into the room. But it was a long time before
Speaker 1: the stream was pressed back again. Meanwhile, painful cries were
Speaker 1: heard again from below, so painful indeed they restored even
Speaker 1: the most drunken to his gave of consciousness by the
Speaker 1: living God.
Speaker 2: They cried to each other, what's the matter downe there
Speaker 2: is a house on fire. He is gone, he is gone, shrieked.
Speaker 1: A woman's voice from the angry below. Who who groaned
Speaker 1: The wedding guests, seized as it were, by an icy horror.
Speaker 2: Gone gone, cried.
Speaker 1: The woman from the entry, and hurrying up stairs, came
Speaker 1: Salib Catlander, the mother of the bribe, pale as death,
Speaker 1: her eyes dilated with the most awful fright, convulsively grasping
Speaker 1: a candle in her hand. For God's sake, what has
Speaker 1: happened was heard on every side of her. The sight
Speaker 1: of so many people about her, and the confusion of
Speaker 1: voices seemed to release the poor woman from some kind
Speaker 1: of stupor. He glanced shyly about her then, as if
Speaker 1: overcome by a sense of shame stronger than her terror,
Speaker 1: and said, in a suppressed.
Speaker 2: Tone, nothing, nothing.
Speaker 1: Good people and cousin Dame, I ask him, what was
Speaker 1: there to happen? Dissimulation, however, was to everyone to suffice
Speaker 1: to deceive them.
Speaker 2: Why then do you shriek?
Speaker 1: So Salib caught out one of the guests to her,
Speaker 1: if nothing has happened, Yes, she is gone, Celine moaned
Speaker 1: in heart rending tone. She has certainly done herself some harm.
Speaker 1: The cause of the strange scene was now first discovered.
Speaker 1: The bride disappeared from the wedding feast soon after he
Speaker 1: had vanished in such a mysterious way. The bridegroom went
Speaker 1: into the dimulated room to find her, but in vain.
Speaker 1: At first thought, it seemed to him a sort of
Speaker 1: bastful jest. But not finding her here, a mysterious foreboding
Speaker 1: seized him, and he called for the mother of the bribe,
Speaker 1: who is me? This woman is gone. Presently, this party
Speaker 1: that had so admirably controlled itself was thrown again into commotion.
Speaker 1: There's nothing to do, was said on all sides, but
Speaker 1: to ranshac every look and corner. Remarkable instances of such
Speaker 1: as appearances of Bryce has been known. Evil spirits are
Speaker 1: wont to lurk about on these knights and inflict mankind
Speaker 1: with all sorts of sorceries. Strange as his expedition may seem,
Speaker 1: there were many who believed it at this very moment,
Speaker 1: most of all Celeie Catlin to herself. But it was
Speaker 1: only for a moment. For once he exclaimed, no, no,
Speaker 1: my good people, he is gone. I know he is
Speaker 1: gone now for the first time. Many of them, especially
Speaker 1: the mothers, but particularly uneasy and anxiously called their daughters
Speaker 1: to them. Only a few showed courage and urged them
Speaker 1: a search and search. Even if they had terrified the
Speaker 1: river Isier a hundred times, they urgently pressed on, called
Speaker 1: for torches and lanterns, and started forth. The cowardly ran
Speaker 1: after them up and down the stairs, and before anyone
Speaker 1: perceived it, the room was entirely forsaken.
Speaker 2: Reuben Catlinder stood in the entry hall below.
Speaker 1: And let people hurry past him without exchanging a word
Speaker 1: to any bitter disappointment and fear had almost crazed him.
Speaker 1: One of the lastes they in their room with Salid
Speaker 1: was strange to say lebnar Pog. After all had departed,
Speaker 1: he approached the miserable mother, and yet a tone least
Speaker 1: becoming his general manner, inquired, tell me, no Celib, did.
Speaker 2: She not wish to have him?
Speaker 1: Whom whom cried Salid with a renewed alarm when she
Speaker 1: found herself alone with the fool. I mean, said leb
Speaker 1: in the most sympathetic manner, still approaching nearer to Salib.
Speaker 2: But maybe you had to make your doctor marry him.
Speaker 1: Make have we men, may hear, moan Salib, staring at
Speaker 1: the fool with a look of uncertainty. Then nobody news
Speaker 1: to search for her, replied the fool with a sympathetic laugh,
Speaker 1: at the same time retrieving it's better to leave her
Speaker 1: where she is without saying thanks or good night, he
Speaker 1: was gone. Meanwhile, the cause of all this disturbance had
Speaker 1: arrived at the end of her flight. Close by the
Speaker 1: synagogue was situated the house of the Rabbi. It was
Speaker 1: built into the angle of a very narrow street, set
Speaker 1: in the framework of tall shade trees. Even by daylight,
Speaker 1: it was dismal enough. At night it was almost impossible
Speaker 1: for a timid person to approach it. For people declared,
Speaker 1: but the low supplications of the day we heard, and
Speaker 1: the di indy house of guide when met night particular,
Speaker 1: rolls from the law the ark to some of the
Speaker 1: members by name.
Speaker 2: Through this retired street passed, or.
Speaker 1: Rather rand of this hour, a shy form arriving at
Speaker 1: the dwelling of the Rabbi. He glanced backward to see
Speaker 1: whether anyone was following her, but all was silent and gloomy.
Speaker 1: Enough about her A pale light a heap in one
Speaker 1: of the windows of the synagogue. It came from the
Speaker 1: eternal lamp hanging in front of the ark of the Government.
Speaker 1: But at this moment it seemed to her as if
Speaker 1: a supernatural eye was gazing upon her.
Speaker 2: Thoroughly and frightened, he.
Speaker 1: Seized the little iron knocker from the door and struck
Speaker 1: it gently, But the throb of her beating heart was
Speaker 1: even louder and more violent than this blow. After a pause,
Speaker 1: footstuss were heard passing slowly along the hallway. The rabbi
Speaker 1: had not occupied his lonely house a long time. His predecessor,
Speaker 1: almost a cincenarian in years, had been laid to rest
Speaker 1: a few months before. The new Rabbi had been called
Speaker 1: from a distant part of the country. He was unmarried
Speaker 1: and in his prime of life. No one had known
Speaker 1: him before his coming, but personal nobility and profunded thee
Speaker 1: of his scholarship made up for his efficiency in years.
Speaker 1: An agent mother had accompanied him from his distant home,
Speaker 1: and he took the place of wife and child.
Speaker 2: Who is there, asked Rabbi.
Speaker 1: He'd been busy at his desk even at this late hour,
Speaker 1: and thus that mishearing the knocker, I The figure responded,
Speaker 1: almost monawnably, speak louder if he wished me to hear you,
Speaker 1: replied the Rabbi, is I Rubin Kdlnder's daughter.
Speaker 2: He repeated.
Speaker 1: The name seemed to sound strange to the Rabbi, for
Speaker 1: he as yet knew too few of his congregation to
Speaker 1: understand that the very day he performed a marror ceremony
Speaker 1: for the person who disrepeated her name. Therefore, he called out,
Speaker 1: after a moment's pause, what do you wish so late
Speaker 1: at night? Open the door, Rabbi, he answered, pleadingly, are
Speaker 1: I shall die? At once? The boat was pushed back.
Speaker 1: Something gleaming, rustling glided past the rabbi into the dusty hall.
Speaker 1: The light of the candilemma's hand was not sufficient to
Speaker 1: allow him to descry it. Before he had betime to
Speaker 1: address her, he had vanished past him and disappeared at
Speaker 1: the open door into the room, shaking his head, but
Speaker 1: by by again bolted the door. Upon re entering the room,
Speaker 1: he saw a woman's form sitting in a chair which
Speaker 1: he usually occupied. He hardy back turned to him. Her
Speaker 1: head was bent low over her breast, her golden wedding hood,
Speaker 1: and the shaving lace was pulled down over her forehead.
Speaker 1: Courageous and pious as the Rabbi was, he could not
Speaker 1: rive himself of a feeling of terror. Who are you?
Speaker 1: He demanded in a loud tone, as if sound alone
Speaker 1: would banish the presence of this being that seemed to
Speaker 1: him at this moment to be a production of all
Speaker 1: the enchantments of evil spirits. She raised herself and crying
Speaker 1: in the voices seemed to come from the agony of
Speaker 1: a human being. Do you not know me? Me whom
Speaker 1: you married only a few hours earlier under the tupe
Speaker 1: to a husband. Upon hearing this familiar voice, the rabbi
Speaker 1: stood speechless. He gazed at the young woman. Now, indeed
Speaker 1: he must regard her as the one bereft of reason
Speaker 1: rather than a specter. Well, if you are, she, he
Speaker 1: stammered out, after a pause, For it was with difficulty
Speaker 1: he found the words to answer, why are you here
Speaker 1: and not in the place where you belong? I know
Speaker 1: no place where I belong more than where I now am,
Speaker 1: he answered severely. And these words puzzled the Rabbi still more.
Speaker 1: Was this really an insane woman before him? He must
Speaker 1: have thought so. For now he addressed her in a
Speaker 1: gantler tone of voice, as we do those suffering for
Speaker 1: this kind of sickness, in order not to excite her,
Speaker 1: and said, the place where you belong, my daughter, is
Speaker 1: the house of your parent, Prence.
Speaker 2: And since you have to day and made a bride.
Speaker 1: Your place is your husband's house, the young woman muttered,
Speaker 1: something which failed to reach her by his ear. Yet
Speaker 1: he only continued to think what he saw before him
Speaker 1: was a poor, unfortunate whose mind was deranged. After a pause,
Speaker 1: he added, in a still gentler tone, what is your name, then,
Speaker 1: my child? Good God, he moaned in the gravesh anguish.
Speaker 1: He does not even know my name. How should I
Speaker 1: know you, he continued apologetically, for I am a stranger
Speaker 1: in this place.
Speaker 2: This remark seemed to.
Speaker 1: Have produce the desired to pict upon her excited mind.
Speaker 2: My name is Felee, he said quietly, after a pause.
Speaker 1: Throughout I quickly perceived he had adopted the right tone
Speaker 1: of voice towards this mysterious guest ville, he said, approaching
Speaker 1: nearer her, what do you wish me? Rabbi? I have
Speaker 1: a great sin pressing heavy upon my heart, he replied, despondently.
Speaker 1: I do not know what to do. What can you
Speaker 1: have done? Inquired Rabbi with a tender look. They cannot
Speaker 1: be discussed at some other time than just now. Will
Speaker 1: you let me advise you? Vile, No, no, he cried
Speaker 1: again violently. I will not be advised. I see I
Speaker 1: know what it restes me. Yes, I can grasp it
Speaker 1: by your hand and ply some care before me. Is
Speaker 1: that what you called to be advised?
Speaker 2: Very well?
Speaker 1: Returned the Rabbi, seeing that this was a very way
Speaker 1: to get the woman to talk very well. I say,
Speaker 1: you are not imagining anything. I believe that you have
Speaker 1: greatly sinned and have come here to confess to me
Speaker 1: this sin. Do your parents or your husband know anything
Speaker 1: about it?
Speaker 2: Who is my husband?
Speaker 1: He interrupted him impetuously. The thoughts welled up in the
Speaker 1: Rabbi's heart like a tumultuous sea at which oppose and
Speaker 1: conjectures cross and recross each other.
Speaker 2: He bespeaks to her as with an ordinary sinner.
Speaker 1: Were you perhaps forced to be married?
Speaker 2: He inquired, as quietly as possible. After a pause.
Speaker 1: A suppressed sob, a strong inward struggle manifesting itself from
Speaker 1: the whole trembling body, was the only answer to this question.
Speaker 1: Tell me, my child, said the Rabbi encouragingly, in such
Speaker 1: tones as the Rabbi had never before heard since.
Speaker 2: Passing any human sound, the young woman began.
Speaker 1: Yes, Srabbi, I will speak, even though I know I
Speaker 1: shall never go from this place of life, to which
Speaker 1: you the very best thing for me. No, Rabbi, I
Speaker 1: was not forced to be married. My parents have never
Speaker 1: once said to me you must. But my own will,
Speaker 1: my own desire, rather has always been supreme. My husband
Speaker 1: is the son of a rich man in the community.
Speaker 1: To enter his family was to be made the first
Speaker 1: lady in the Goths, to sit buried in gold and silver.
Speaker 1: And that very thing, nothing else, was what infatuated me
Speaker 1: with him. It was for that that I forced myself,
Speaker 1: my heart and will to be married to him, hard
Speaker 1: as it was for me. But they might hear in
Speaker 1: most heart I detested him. The more he loved me,
Speaker 1: the more I hated him. But the gold and the
Speaker 1: sover have an influence over me. More and more, they
Speaker 1: cried to me, you will be the first lady in
Speaker 1: the Gos, continue, said the rabbi when he ceased, Almost
Speaker 1: exhausted by these words, what more you I tell you.
Speaker 2: Rabbi, he began again. I was never a liar when
Speaker 2: a child or older.
Speaker 1: Yet during my whole engagement it seemed to me as
Speaker 1: if a big, gigantic lie followed me up step by step.
Speaker 1: I have seen it on every side of me. But
Speaker 1: to day when I stood under the tupey Rabbi, and
Speaker 1: he took the ring from his finger and put it
Speaker 1: on mine, and I had to dance at my own
Speaker 1: wedding with him, whom I now recognized now for the
Speaker 1: first time as a lie. And when they led me away,
Speaker 1: this sincere confession escaping from the lips of the young woman,
Speaker 1: he sobbed aloud and bowed her head, still deep over
Speaker 1: her breast. The Rabbi gazed upon her in silence. No
Speaker 1: insane woman ever spoke like that. Only a soul, conscious
Speaker 1: of his own sin but captivated by mysterious power could
Speaker 1: suffer like this. But it was not sympathy which he
Speaker 1: felt with her. It was much more a living over
Speaker 1: the sufferings of the woman. In spite of the confused story,
Speaker 1: all was clear to the Rabbi. The cause of the
Speaker 1: fight from the father's house at this hour required no explanation.
Speaker 1: I know what you mean, he longed to say, but
Speaker 1: he could only find the words to say, speak further feline.
Speaker 1: The young woman turned towards him. He had not seen
Speaker 1: her face, the golden hood with a shaving lace hung
Speaker 1: deeply over it. I have told you everything, he said,
Speaker 1: with a flush of scorn, everything, repeated the rabbi, inquiringly.
Speaker 1: He only said this moreover through embarrassment. Don't tell me now,
Speaker 1: he cried, at once, passionately and mildly. What am I
Speaker 1: to do?
Speaker 2: Vilis?
Speaker 1: Exclaimed the Rabbi, entertaining now for the first time the
Speaker 1: feeling of repugnance for this confidential interview. Tell me now,
Speaker 1: he pleaded, and before the rabbit could prevented, the young
Speaker 1: woman threw herself down at his feet and clasped his
Speaker 1: knees in her arms. This hasty act had loosened the
Speaker 1: golden wedding hood from her head, thus exposing her face
Speaker 1: to view, a.
Speaker 2: Face of remarkable beauty.
Speaker 1: So overcome was the young rabbit by the sight that
Speaker 1: he had to shave his eyes with his hands, as
Speaker 1: if before a sudden flash of lightning. Tell me, now,
Speaker 1: what shall I do?
Speaker 2: He cried again.
Speaker 1: Do you think I have come from my Paris home
Speaker 1: merely to return? Can I help you alone in this world?
Speaker 1: Tell me? Look at me. I have kept all my
Speaker 1: hair jess as God gave it me. It has never
Speaker 1: been touched by shares. Should I even do anything to
Speaker 1: please my husband? Am I no wife? I will not
Speaker 1: be a wife. Tell me what I am to do. Arise, arise,
Speaker 1: bathe the rabbi, but his voice quivered, sounded almost painful.
Speaker 2: Tell me first, she gasped.
Speaker 1: I will not rise till then. How can I tell you?
Speaker 2: He moaned, almost innomorably.
Speaker 1: Not sally.
Speaker 2: Shrieked the kneeling woman, But the Rabbi staggered backward. The
Speaker 2: room seemed to blaze before him like a bright fire.
Speaker 1: A sharp cry rang from his breast, as if one
Speaker 1: suffering from a painful wound had been seized by a
Speaker 1: rough hand. In his hurried attempt to free himself from
Speaker 1: the embrace of young woman that still clung to his knees,
Speaker 1: it chanced, but her head struck heavily against the floor.
Speaker 2: Not fuey, she cried.
Speaker 1: Once again, Silence, Silence, groaned the Rabbi, pressing both hands
Speaker 1: against his head, and still again she called out this name,
Speaker 1: but not with that agonizing cry. It sounded rather like
Speaker 1: a commingling of excultation and lamentation. Again he demanded silence, silence,
Speaker 1: this time so imperiously, so forcibly, that the young woman
Speaker 1: lay on the floor as if conjured, not daring utter
Speaker 1: a single word. There, I paced almost wildly up and.
Speaker 2: Down the room.
Speaker 1: There must have been a hard, terrible struggle in his breast.
Speaker 1: It seemed to the one lying on the floor that
Speaker 1: he heard him sigh from the depths of his soul.
Speaker 1: Then miss pacing became calmer, but it did not last long.
Speaker 1: This fierce conflict again assailed him. His steps grew hurried
Speaker 1: and echoed loudly through the awful stillness.
Speaker 2: Of the room.
Speaker 1: Suddenly he neared the young woman, who seemed to lie
Speaker 1: there scarcely breathing. He stopped in front of her. Had
Speaker 1: any one seen the face of the rabbi at this moment,
Speaker 1: the expression of it would have filled them with terror.
Speaker 1: There was a marvelous tranquility overlying it, the tranquility of
Speaker 1: a struggle for life or death. Listen to me, now, feline,
Speaker 1: he began slowly. I will talk with you. I listen, Rabbi,
Speaker 1: he whispered.
Speaker 2: But do you hear me? Well?
Speaker 1: Homely speak, he returned, But will you do what I
Speaker 1: advise you? Will you not oppose it? I am going
Speaker 1: to say something that will terrify you.
Speaker 2: I will do anything you say on me. Tell me,
Speaker 2: he moaned, Will you swear? I will, she groaned. No,
Speaker 2: do not swear it yet until you have heard me.
Speaker 2: He cried, I will not force you.
Speaker 1: This time came no answer. Hear me, then, daughter of
Speaker 1: Reuben Catlander, he began, after a pause. You have a
Speaker 1: twofold sin on your soul, and each is so great,
Speaker 1: so criminal, that they can only be forgiven by severe punishment.
Speaker 1: First you permitted yourself be evacuated by gold and silver.
Speaker 1: Then you force your heart to lie with the lie.
Speaker 1: You sought to deceive the man, even though he had
Speaker 1: entrusted you with his all when he made you his wife.
Speaker 2: A lie is truly a great sin. Streams of water.
Speaker 1: Cannot round them. They make men false and hateful to themselves.
Speaker 1: The worst that has been committed in this world was
Speaker 1: led in by a lie. That is one sin. I know,
Speaker 1: I know, sobbed the young woman. Now hear me further,
Speaker 1: began their Rabbi again with a wavering voice, after a
Speaker 1: short pause. You have committed a still greater sin than this. First,
Speaker 1: you have not only deceived your husband, but you have
Speaker 1: also destroyed the happiness of another person. You could have spoken,
Speaker 1: and you did not.
Speaker 2: For the life.
Speaker 1: You have robbed him of his happiness, his light, his joy.
Speaker 1: But you did not speak. What can he now do
Speaker 1: when he knows what has been lost to him?
Speaker 2: Not, I cried the young woman. Silence, silence.
Speaker 1: Do not let that name pass your lips again, he
Speaker 1: demanded violently. The more you repeat it, the greater becomes
Speaker 1: your sin. Why did you not speak when you could
Speaker 1: have spoken? God can never easily forgive you that. To
Speaker 1: be silent, to keep one's secret in one's breast, they
Speaker 1: could have made another man happier than the mightiest monarch.
Speaker 1: Thereby you have made him more than unhappy. He will
Speaker 1: never more desire to be happy.
Speaker 2: Vialay, God in heaven cannot forgive you for that silence.
Speaker 1: Silence, groaned the young woman. No, Mila, he continued with
Speaker 1: a stronger voice. Let me talk now. You are certainly
Speaker 1: willing to hear me speak.
Speaker 2: Listen to me.
Speaker 1: You must do severe penance for this sin, the twofold
Speaker 1: sin that rests upon your head. God is long suffering
Speaker 1: and merciful. He will perhaps look down upon your misery
Speaker 1: and will blot out your guilt from the great book
Speaker 1: of transgressions.
Speaker 2: But you must become penitent here now.
Speaker 1: What it shall be thereby paused. He was on the
Speaker 1: point of saying the severest thing that it ever passed
Speaker 1: his lips. You were silent, Ville, then, he cried, when
Speaker 1: you should have spoken. Be silent now forever, to all
Speaker 1: men and to yourself, from the moment you leave this
Speaker 1: house until I grant it. You must be dune. You
Speaker 1: dare not let a loud word pass your mouth. Will
Speaker 1: you undergo this pimance. I will do all you say,
Speaker 1: moaned the young woman. Will you have the strength to
Speaker 1: do it, he asked gently.
Speaker 2: I shall be silent as death, she replied.
Speaker 1: And one thing more I have to say to you,
Speaker 1: he continued. You are the wife of your husband. Return
Speaker 1: home and be a Jewish wife. I understand you.
Speaker 2: He sobbed in reply.
Speaker 1: Go to your home now, bring peace to your parents
Speaker 1: and your husband. The time will come when you may speak,
Speaker 1: when your sin has been forgiven. Till then bear what
Speaker 1: has been laid upon you. May I say one thing more,
Speaker 1: he cried, Lifting up her head, speak, he said, neverby
Speaker 1: The rabbit covered his eyes with one hand and with
Speaker 1: the other motion for her to be silent. But he
Speaker 1: grasped his hand and drew it to her lips. Hot
Speaker 1: tears fell upon it. Go now he sobbed, completely broken down,
Speaker 1: he let go the hand. The rabbit had seized the candle,
Speaker 1: but he had already passed him, and glibbed through the
Speaker 1: dark hall. The door was left open, thereby locked it again.
Speaker 1: Ville returned to her home he had escaped, unnervous. The
Speaker 1: narrow street was deserted, desolate as death. The searchers were
Speaker 1: refound everywhere except where they ought to for sought the
Speaker 1: missing one. Her mother salib still sat on the same
Speaker 1: chair which he had sunk down an hour ago. The
Speaker 1: fright had left her like one paralyzed, and she was
Speaker 1: unable to rise. What a wonderful contrast This wedding room,
Speaker 1: with the mother sitting alone in it presented to hilarity
Speaker 1: raigming here shortly before on Villais's entrance. Her mother did
Speaker 1: not cry out, he had no strength.
Speaker 2: To do so.
Speaker 1: He merely said, so you come at last, my daughter,
Speaker 1: as if Villae had only returned from a walk somewhat
Speaker 1: too long. But the young woman did not answer to
Speaker 1: this and similar questions. Finally he signified the gesticulations that
Speaker 1: he could not speak. Fright seized the wretched mother a
Speaker 1: second time, and the entire house was filled with her lamentations.
Speaker 1: Reuben Caplinder and Villai's husband, having now returned from their
Speaker 1: fruitless search, were horrified upon perceiving the change which Relie
Speaker 1: had undergone. Being men, they did not weep with staring eyes.
Speaker 1: He gazed upon the silent young woman, and beheld her
Speaker 1: an apparition which had been dealt with by God's visitations
Speaker 1: in a mysterious manner. From Miss Hoer began the terrible
Speaker 1: penance of the young woman. The impression, which view as
Speaker 1: woeful condition maybe upon the people of the gas was wonderful.
Speaker 1: Those who had danced with her at evening on the
Speaker 1: wedding now first recalled her excited state. Her wild actions
Speaker 1: were now first remembered by many. It must have been
Speaker 1: an evil eye, they concluded, a jealous eye to which
Speaker 1: her beauty was hateful. This alone would have possessed her
Speaker 1: with the demon of unrest. She was driven by this
Speaker 1: evil power into the dark night, a sport of these
Speaker 1: malicious potencies which pursue men step by step, especially on
Speaker 1: such occasions. The living God alone knows what he must
Speaker 1: have seen that night. Nothing good. Else one would not
Speaker 1: become dumb. The old legends and tales were received, each
Speaker 1: one more horrible than the other. Hundreds of instances were
Speaker 1: given to prove this was nothing new in the gas.
Speaker 1: Despite this explanation, it was remarkable that the people did
Speaker 1: not believe the young woman was dumb. The most thought
Speaker 1: that her power speech had been paralyzed by some awful fright,
Speaker 1: and that with time it will be restored. Under this superstition,
Speaker 1: they called her vilay, the silent. There is a kind
Speaker 1: of human eloquence, more telling, more forcible than the loudest words.
Speaker 2: Than the choicest diction. The silence of woman.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes they cannot endure the slightest vexation, but some great
Speaker 1: heart breaking sorrow, some pain from constant renunciation, self sacrifice.
Speaker 1: They suffer with sealed lips, as if in very truth
Speaker 1: they were bound in bars of iron. It would be
Speaker 1: difficult to describe that long, silent life of the young woman.
Speaker 1: It is almost impossible to cite more than one incident.
Speaker 1: Valia accompanied her husband to his home, that house which
Speaker 1: blended with gold and silver, which had effatuated her. She
Speaker 1: was to be here, the first lady in the Goths.
Speaker 1: He had everything in abundance. Indeed, the world supposed that
Speaker 1: he had little cause for complaint. Must one have everything
Speaker 1: was sometimes queried in the Goths, one has one thing
Speaker 1: another another, And according to all appearances people were right.
Speaker 1: The Lake continued to be.
Speaker 2: Beautiful, blooming woman.
Speaker 1: Her pements of silence did not deprive her of a
Speaker 1: single charm. He was so very happy, indeed, that he
Speaker 1: did not even feel the pain from her punishment. Vee
Speaker 1: Lake could laugh and rejoice, but never did he forget
Speaker 1: to be silent. These seemingly happy days, however, were only
Speaker 1: qualified to bring about the proper time of trial and temptations.
Speaker 1: The beginning was easy enough for her. The middle and
Speaker 1: in were times of real pain.
Speaker 2: The first years of her wedded life were childless.
Speaker 1: It is well people said in the gas that she
Speaker 1: has no children, and that.
Speaker 2: God has ordained it to be so.
Speaker 1: A mother who can talk to her child would be
Speaker 1: something awful, unexpectedly to all. She rejoiced one day in
Speaker 1: the birth of her daughter, and with that affectionate young creature,
Speaker 1: her own offspring was laid upon her breath.
Speaker 2: The first sounds were uttered.
Speaker 1: From its lips, its nameless, eloquent utterance of an infant.
Speaker 1: She forgot herself not he was silent. She was silent
Speaker 1: also from day to day when that child blossomed before
Speaker 1: her eyes into fooler beauty, nor had he any words
Speaker 1: for it. When e fusions of tenderness stretched forth his
Speaker 1: tiny arms, women burning fever is sought for.
Speaker 2: A mother's hand.
Speaker 1: For days he has sweeks together.
Speaker 2: He watched at his bedside.
Speaker 1: Sleep never visited her eyes, but he ever remembered her pimance.
Speaker 1: Years fled by if her arm. He carried another child.
Speaker 1: It was a boy. The father's joy was great. The
Speaker 1: child inherited its mother's beauty.
Speaker 2: Like his sister. It grew in health and strength.
Speaker 1: The noblest, richest mother, they said, might be proud of
Speaker 1: such children. Villets was proud, no doubt, but has never
Speaker 1: passed her lips. She remained silent about things which mothers,
Speaker 1: in their joy, often cannot find enough words to express.
Speaker 1: And although her face lighted up many time with beaming smiles,
Speaker 1: yet she never renounced the habitual silence imposed upon her.
Speaker 1: The idea that the slightest dereliction of her penmance will
Speaker 1: be accompanied with the curse Uparmer's children may have impressed
Speaker 1: itself on her mind. Mothers will understand better than of
Speaker 1: the persons what this mother suffered for her penalty of silence,
Speaker 1: and thus a part of those years sped away, which
Speaker 1: we are wont to call the best, he still flourished
Speaker 1: in her wonderful beauty. Her maiden daughter was beside her
Speaker 1: like the budge beside the full blown rose. Students were
Speaker 1: already present from far and near, who passed into her
Speaker 1: view before a beautiful girl, when most of them were
Speaker 1: excellent young men and Jimmy mother might have been proud
Speaker 1: to her daughter stop by such Even then, veolic did
Speaker 1: not undo her pymance. Those busy times of intercourse, and
Speaker 1: which brothers engaged in presenting the superiorities of their daughters
Speaker 1: and the best light were not allowed to her. The
Speaker 1: choice of one of the most favorite suitors was made.
Speaker 1: Never before did any couple them the gods equal his
Speaker 1: beauty and grace. A few weeks before the appointed time
Speaker 1: of the wedding, of malignant disease stole on, spreading sorrow
Speaker 1: and anxiety over the greater part of the land. Young
Speaker 1: girls were principally its victims. It seemed to pass scornfully
Speaker 1: over the aged and infirm.
Speaker 2: Villa's daughter was also laid hold upon it.
Speaker 1: Before three days had passed, there was a corpse in
Speaker 1: the house the bribe. Even then, Ville did not forgive
Speaker 1: her penmance. When they bore away the corpse to the
Speaker 1: good place, he did not utter a cry of anguish,
Speaker 1: which long after echoed in the ears of the people.
Speaker 1: He did wring her hands in despair, but no one
Speaker 1: heard a word of complaint. Her lips seemed dumb forever.
Speaker 1: It was then, when he was seated on the low stool,
Speaker 1: and the seven days of the morning that thereby came
Speaker 1: to her to bring her the usual consolations for the dead.
Speaker 1: But he did not speak with her. He address worried
Speaker 1: only to her husband. He herself dared not look up.
Speaker 1: Only when he turned to go, he lifts her eyes.
Speaker 1: They in turn met the eyes of the rabbi. But
Speaker 1: he departed with that a farewell. After her daughter's death,
Speaker 1: Vallee was completely broken down. Even that which, if her
Speaker 1: time of life is still caught, beauty, had paved it
Speaker 1: away within days. Her cheeks had become hollow, her hair gray.
Speaker 1: Visitors wondered how he could endure such a shock, how
Speaker 1: body and spirit could hold together. They did not know
Speaker 1: that that silence was an iron fetter, firmly imprisoning the
Speaker 1: slumbering spirits. She had a son moreover, to whom as
Speaker 1: is something last and dearest, her whole being still clung.
Speaker 1: The boy was thirteen years old, learning the study of
Speaker 1: holy scriptures. He was already celebrated for miles around. He
Speaker 1: was the pupil of the rabbi who had greeted him
Speaker 1: with love and tenderness. Becoming his own father, he said
Speaker 1: that he was a remarkable child, endowed with rare talons.
Speaker 1: The boy was into Hungary to one of the most
Speaker 1: celebrated teachers of the time, an order Toulay, the foundation
Speaker 1: for the sacred studies. Under the instructor's guidance and wisdom.
Speaker 1: Years might pass before he'll see him again. But Villie
Speaker 1: let her boy go from her embrace. She would not
Speaker 1: say a blessing over him as he went, Her lips
Speaker 1: only twitched with the pain of silence. Long years expired
Speaker 1: before the boy returning from the strange land a full grown,
Speaker 1: noble youth. When Villeis had her son with her again,
Speaker 1: a smile played about her mouth, and for a moment
Speaker 1: it seems as if her former beauty had enjoyed the
Speaker 1: second spring. The extraordinary ability of her son had made
Speaker 1: him famous wheresoever he went, people were delighted by his
Speaker 1: beauty and admired the modesty of his manner, despite such
Speaker 1: great scholarship. The next Sabbath, the young disciple of Talmud,
Speaker 1: scarcely twenty years of age, was to demonstrate the first
Speaker 1: marks of his great learning. People crowded shoulder to shoulder
Speaker 1: and the great synagogue. Curious glances were cast through the
Speaker 1: last work of a woman's gallery. Above a palmad and
Speaker 1: strong villet occupied one of the foremost seats. He could
Speaker 1: see everything that took place below. Her face was extremely pale.
Speaker 1: All eyes were turned towards her. The mother who has
Speaker 1: permitted to ceases to day for her son, but Feline
Speaker 1: not appeared to notice what was happening around her. A
Speaker 1: weariness that he had never felt before, even in her
Speaker 1: greatest suffering, crept over her limbs. It was as if
Speaker 1: he must sleep. During her son's address, he had hardly
Speaker 1: mounted the stairs before the archable laws hardly uttered his
Speaker 1: first words. With a remarkable change crossed her face. Her
Speaker 1: cheeks burned, he arose. All her vital energy seemed roused.
Speaker 1: Her son, meanwhile, was speaking down below. He could not
Speaker 1: have told what he was saying. He did not hear him.
Speaker 1: He only heard the murmur of approbation, sometimes low, sometimes loud,
Speaker 1: which came to her ears from the quarters of men.
Speaker 1: The people were astonished at the noble bearing of a speaker,
Speaker 1: his melodious speech and as powerful an When we stopped
Speaker 1: at certain times to rest, it seemed as if one
Speaker 1: was wod swept by a storm. She could now and
Speaker 1: then hear a few voices, declaring that such ones had
Speaker 1: never been listened to before. The woman beside her wept.
Speaker 1: He alone could not. A choking pain pressed from her
Speaker 1: breast to her lips. Forces were a stir in her heart.
Speaker 1: Forces were a stir in her heart, which struggled to expressing.
Speaker 1: The whole synagogue echoed with buzzing voices, but to her
Speaker 1: it seems as if he must speak.
Speaker 2: Louder than these.
Speaker 1: At the very moment her sermon ended, he cried out, unconsciously, violently,
Speaker 1: throwing herself against the lavish work, God, Living God, and
Speaker 1: may I now speak.
Speaker 2: Dead.
Speaker 1: Silence followed this outcry. Nearly all had recognized the voice
Speaker 1: as that of the silent woman, a miracle taken place. Speak, speak,
Speaker 1: resounded the answer of the Rabbi from the men cease below.
Speaker 1: You may now speak, But no reply came. Revealis had
Speaker 1: fall been back into her seat, pressing both hands against
Speaker 1: her breast. The woman sitting beside her looked as if
Speaker 1: they were terrified to find that the Silent Woman had fainted.
Speaker 2: He was dead.
Speaker 1: The unsealing of her lips was her last moment. Long
Speaker 1: years afterward, thereby died. On my death, Beatty told those
Speaker 1: standing about him the wonderful penmance of Valet. Every girl
Speaker 1: in the gas knew the story of the Silent Woman.
Speaker 2: End of Section five