Speaker 1: Prolog upon a paper attached to the narrative which follows.
Speaker 1: Doctor Hessalius has written a rather elaborate note, which he
Speaker 1: accompanies with a reference to his essay on the strange
Speaker 1: subject which the manuscript illuminates. This mysterious subject he treats
Speaker 1: in that essay with his usual learning and acumen, and
Speaker 1: with remarkable directness and condensation. It will form but one
Speaker 1: volume of the series of that extraordinary man's collected papers.
Speaker 1: As I publish the case in this volume, simply to
Speaker 1: interest the laity, I shall forestall the intelligent lady who
Speaker 1: relates it in nothing. And after due consideration, I have
Speaker 1: determined therefore to abstain from presenting any praisie of the
Speaker 1: learned doctor's reasoning or extract from his statement on a
Speaker 1: subject which he describes as involving not in probably some
Speaker 1: of the profoundest arcana of our dual existence and its intermediates.
Speaker 1: I was anxious, on discovering this paper, to reopen the
Speaker 1: correspondence commenced by doctor Hessalius so many years before, with
Speaker 1: a person so clever and careful as his informants. Seems
Speaker 1: to have been. Much to my regret, However, I found
Speaker 1: that she had died in the interval, She probably could
Speaker 1: have added little to the narrative, which she communicates in
Speaker 1: the following pages with so far as I can pronounce
Speaker 1: such conscientious particularity. Chapter one an early fright in Styria. We,
Speaker 1: though by no means magnificent people inhabit a castle or schloss.
Speaker 1: A small income in that part of the world goes
Speaker 1: a great way eight or nine hundred a year. Does
Speaker 1: wonders scantily enough hours would have answered among wealthy people
Speaker 1: at home. My father is English and I bear an
Speaker 1: English name. Although I never saw England, but here, in
Speaker 1: this lonely and primitive place, where everything is so marvelously cheap,
Speaker 1: I really don't see. However, so much more money would
Speaker 1: be at all materially adding to our comforts or even luxuries.
Speaker 1: My father was in the Austrian service and retired upon
Speaker 1: a pension and his patrimony, and purchased this feudal residence
Speaker 1: and the small estate on which it stands a bargain.
Speaker 1: Nothing can be more picturesque or solitary. It stands on
Speaker 1: a slight eminence and a forest. The road, very old
Speaker 1: and narrow, passes in front of its drawbridge. Never raised
Speaker 1: in my time, and its moat stocked with perch and
Speaker 1: sailed over by many swans, and floating on its surface
Speaker 1: white fleets of water lilies. Over All this, the Schloss
Speaker 1: shows its many windowed front, its towers, and its Gothic chapel.
Speaker 1: The forest opens in an irregular and very picturesque glade
Speaker 1: before its gate, and at the right a steep Gothic
Speaker 1: bridge carries the road over a stream that winds in
Speaker 1: deep shadow through the wood. I have said that this
Speaker 1: is a very lonely place. Judge whether I say truth.
Speaker 1: Looking from the hall door towards the road, the forest
Speaker 1: in which our castle stands extends fifteen miles to the
Speaker 1: right and twelve to the left. The nearest inhabited village
Speaker 1: is about seven of your English miles to the left.
Speaker 1: The nearest inhabited Schloss of any historic associations is that
Speaker 1: of old General Spielsdorf, nearly twenty miles away to the right.
Speaker 1: I have said the nearest inhabited village because there is
Speaker 1: only three miles westward, that is to say, in the
Speaker 1: direction of General Spielsdorf. Schloss, a ruined village with its
Speaker 1: quaint little church, now roofless in the isle of which
Speaker 1: are the moldering tombs of the proud family of Carnstein,
Speaker 1: now extinct, who once owned the equally desolate chateau, which,
Speaker 1: in the thick of the forest overlooks the silent ruins
Speaker 1: of the town. Respecting the cause of the desertion of
Speaker 1: this striking and melancholy spot, there is a legend which
Speaker 1: I shall relate to you another time. I must tell
Speaker 1: you now how very small is the party who constitute
Speaker 1: the inhabitants of our castle. I don't include servants or
Speaker 1: those pendants who occupy rooms in the buildings attached to
Speaker 1: the Schloss. Listen and wonder my father, who was the
Speaker 1: kindest man on earth, but growing old, and I at
Speaker 1: the date of my story, only nineteen eight years have passed.
Speaker 1: Since then, I and my father constituted the family at
Speaker 1: the Schloss. My mother, a Styrian lady, died in my infancy,
Speaker 1: but I had a good natured governess who had been
Speaker 1: with me from I might almost say my infancy. I
Speaker 1: could not remember the time when her fat, benignant face
Speaker 1: was not a familiar picture in my memory. This was
Speaker 1: Madame Perudon, a native of Berne, whose care and good nature,
Speaker 1: now in part supplied to me the loss of my mother,
Speaker 1: whom I do not even remember, so early I lost her.
Speaker 1: She made a third at our little dinner party. There
Speaker 1: was a fourth, Mademoiselle de la Fontaine, a lady such
Speaker 1: as you term I believe, a finishing governess. She spoke
Speaker 1: French and German. Madame pa rudent French and broken English,
Speaker 1: to which my father and I added English, which, partly
Speaker 1: to prevent its becoming a lost language among us, and
Speaker 1: partly from patriotic motives, we spoke every day. The consequence
Speaker 1: was a babbel at which strangers used to laugh, and
Speaker 1: which I shall make no attempt to reproduce in this narrative.
Speaker 1: And there were two or three young lady friends besides
Speaker 1: pretty nearly of mine own age, who were occasional visitors
Speaker 1: for longer or shorter terms, and these visits I sometimes returned.
Speaker 1: These were our regular social resources. But of course there
Speaker 1: were chance visits from neighbors of only five or six
Speaker 1: leagues distance. My life was not with standing, rather a
Speaker 1: solitary one. I can assure you. My gouvernant had just
Speaker 1: so much control over me as you might conjecture such
Speaker 1: sage persons would have in the case of a rather
Speaker 1: spoiled girl whose only parent allowed her pretty nearly her
Speaker 1: own way in everything. The first occurrence in my existence
Speaker 1: which produced a terrible impression upon my mind, which in
Speaker 1: fact never has been effaced, was one of the very
Speaker 1: earliest incidents of my life which I can recollect. Some
Speaker 1: people will think it so trifling that it should not
Speaker 1: be recorded here. You will see, however, by and by
Speaker 1: why I mention it. The nursery, as it was called,
Speaker 1: though I had it all to myself, was a large
Speaker 1: room in the upper story of the castle, with a
Speaker 1: steep oak roof. I can't have been more than six
Speaker 1: years old when one night I awoke, and looking round
Speaker 1: the room from my bed, failed to see the nursery maid.
Speaker 1: Neither was my nurse there, and I thought myself alone.
Speaker 1: I was not frightened, for I was one of those
Speaker 1: happy children who are studiously kept in ignorance of ghost stories,
Speaker 1: of fairy tales, and of all such lore as makes
Speaker 1: us cover up our heads when the door cracks suddenly,
Speaker 1: or the flicker of an expiring candle makes the shadow
Speaker 1: of a bedpost dance upon the wall nearer to our faces.
Speaker 1: I was vexed and insulted at finding myself as I
Speaker 1: conceived neglected, and I began to whimper preparatory to a
Speaker 1: hearty bout of roaring, when to my surprise, I saw
Speaker 1: a solemn but very pretty face looking at me from
Speaker 1: the side of the bed. It was that of a
Speaker 1: young lady who was kneeling with her hands under the coverlet.
Speaker 1: I looked at her with a kind of pleased wonder
Speaker 1: and ceased whimpering. She caressed me with her hands and
Speaker 1: lay down beside me on the bed and drew me
Speaker 1: towards her, smiling. I felt immediately delightfully soothed, and fell
Speaker 1: asleep again. I was wakened by a sensation as if
Speaker 1: two needles ran into my breast very deep at the
Speaker 1: same moment, and I cried loudly. The lady started back
Speaker 1: with her eyes fixed on me, and then slipped down
Speaker 1: upon the floor, and, as I thought, hid herself under
Speaker 1: the bed. I was, now for the first time frightened,
Speaker 1: and I yelled with all my might, and main nurse,
Speaker 1: nursery maid, housekeeper all came running in and, hearing my story,
Speaker 1: they made light of it, soothing me all they could meanwhile,
Speaker 1: but child as I was, I could perceive that their
Speaker 1: faces were pale with an unwonted look of anxiety. And
Speaker 1: I saw them look under the bed and about the room,
Speaker 1: and peep under tables and pluck open cupboards. And the
Speaker 1: housekeeper whispered to the nurse, lay your hand along that
Speaker 1: hollow in the bed. Someone did lie there, so sure
Speaker 1: as you did not. The place is still warm. I
Speaker 1: remember the nursery maid petting me, and all three examining
Speaker 1: my chest, where I told them I felt the puncture,
Speaker 1: and pronouncing that there was no sign visible that any
Speaker 1: such thing had happened to me. The housekeeper and the
Speaker 1: two other servants who were in charge of the nursery
Speaker 1: remained sitting up all night, and from that time a
Speaker 1: servant always set up in the nursery until I was
Speaker 1: about fourteen. I was very nervous for a long time.
Speaker 1: After this, a doctor was called in. He was pallid
Speaker 1: and elderly. How well I remember his long, saturnine face,
Speaker 1: slightly pitted with smallpox, and his chestnut wig. For a
Speaker 1: good while every day he came and gave me medicine,
Speaker 1: which of course I hated. The morning after I saw
Speaker 1: this apparition, I was in a state of terror and
Speaker 1: could not bear to be left alone daylight. Though it
Speaker 1: was for a moment, I remember my father coming up
Speaker 1: and standing at the bedside and talking cheerfully, and asking
Speaker 1: the nurse a number of questions, and laughing very heartily
Speaker 1: at one of the answers, and patting me on the
Speaker 1: shoulder and kissing me, and telling me not to be frightened,
Speaker 1: that it was nothing but a dream and could not
Speaker 1: hurt me. But I was not comforted, for I knew
Speaker 1: the visit of the strange woman was not a dream,
Speaker 1: and I was awfully frightened. I was a little consoled
Speaker 1: by the nursery maids assuring me that it was she
Speaker 1: who had come and looked at me and laying down
Speaker 1: beside me in the bed, and that I must have
Speaker 1: been half dreaming not to have known her face. But this,
Speaker 1: though supported by the nurse, did not quite satisfy me.
Speaker 1: I remembered in the course of that day a venerable
Speaker 1: old man in a black cassock coming into the room
Speaker 1: with the nurse and housekeeper, and talking a little to
Speaker 1: them and very kindly to me. His face was very
Speaker 1: sweet and gentle, and He told me they were going
Speaker 1: to pray, and joined my hands together and desired me
Speaker 1: to say softly while they were praying, Lord, hear all
Speaker 1: good prayers for us, for Jesus sake. I think those
Speaker 1: were the very words, for I often repeated them to myself,
Speaker 1: and my nurse used for years to make me say
Speaker 1: them in my prayers. I remembered so well the thoughtful,
Speaker 1: sweet face of that white haired old man in his
Speaker 1: black cassock, as he stood in that rude, lofty brown room,
Speaker 1: with the clumsy furniture of a fashion three hundred years
Speaker 1: old about him, and the scanty light entering its shadowy
Speaker 1: atmosphere through the small lattice he kneeled, and the three
Speaker 1: women with him, and he prayed aloud with an earnest,
Speaker 1: quavering voice for what appeared to me a long time.
Speaker 1: I forget all my life preceding that event, and for
Speaker 1: some time after it is all obscure also. But the
Speaker 1: scenes I have just described stand out vivid as the
Speaker 1: isolated pictures of the phantasmagoria surrounded by darkness. End of
Speaker 1: chapter one, Chapter two, a guest, I am now going
Speaker 1: to tell you something so strange that it will require
Speaker 1: all your faith in my veracity to believe my story.
Speaker 1: It is not only true, nevertheless, but truth of which
Speaker 1: I have been an eye witness. It was a sweet
Speaker 1: summer evening, and my father asked me, as he sometimes did,
Speaker 1: to take a little ramble with him along that beautiful
Speaker 1: forest vista which I have mentioned as lying in front
Speaker 1: of the Schloss General Spielsdorf. Cannot come to us so
Speaker 1: soon as I had hoped, said my father, as we
Speaker 1: pursued our walk. He was to have paid us a
Speaker 1: visit of some weeks, and we had expected his arrival
Speaker 1: next day. He was to have brought with him a
Speaker 1: young lady, his niece and ward, Mademoiselle Reinefeldt, whom I
Speaker 1: had never seen, but whom I had heard described as
Speaker 1: a very charming girl, and in whose society I had
Speaker 1: promised myself many happy days. I was more disappointed than
Speaker 1: a young lady living in a town or a bustling
Speaker 1: neighborhood can possibly imagine. This visit and the new acquaintance
Speaker 1: it promised, had furnished my day dream for many weeks.
Speaker 1: And how soon does he come, I asked? Not till autumn,
Speaker 1: Not for two months, I dare say, he answered, and
Speaker 1: I am very glad now, dear that you never knew
Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Riinfeldt. And why, I asked, both mortified and curious,
Speaker 1: because the poor young lady is dead, he replied, I
Speaker 1: quite forgot. I had not told you, But you were
Speaker 1: not in the room when I received the General's letter
Speaker 1: this evening. I was very much shocked. General Spielsdorf had
Speaker 1: mentioned in his first letter six or seven weeks before
Speaker 1: that she was not so well as he would wish her.
Speaker 1: But there was nothing to suggest the remotest suspicion of danger.
Speaker 1: Here is the General's letter, he said, handing it to me.
Speaker 1: I am afraid he is in great affliction. The letter
Speaker 1: appears to me to have been written very nearly in distraction.
Speaker 1: We sat down on a rude bench under a group
Speaker 1: of magnificent lime trees. The sun was setting with all
Speaker 1: its melancholy splendor behind the Sylvan horizon, and the stream
Speaker 1: that flows beside our home and passes under the steep
Speaker 1: old bridge I have mentioned, wound through many a group
Speaker 1: of noble trees, almost at our feet, reflecting in its
Speaker 1: current the fading crimson of the sky. General Spielsdorf's letter
Speaker 1: was so extraordinary, so vehement, and in some places so
Speaker 1: self contradictory, that I read it twice over, the second
Speaker 1: time aloud to my father, and was still unable to
Speaker 1: account for it, except by supposing that grief had unsettled
Speaker 1: his mind. It said, I have lost my darling daughter,
Speaker 1: for as such I loved her. During the last days
Speaker 1: of dear Bertha's illness, I was not able to write
Speaker 1: to you. Before then, I had no idea of her danger.
Speaker 1: I have lost her, and now learn all too late.
Speaker 1: She died in the peace of innocence and in the
Speaker 1: glorious hope of a blessed futurity. The fiend who betrayed
Speaker 1: our infatuated hospitality has done it all. I thought I
Speaker 1: was receiving into my house innocence, gaiety, a charming companion
Speaker 1: for my lost Bertha. Heavens, what a fool have I been.
Speaker 1: I thank God my child died without a suspicion of
Speaker 1: the cause of her sufferings. She is gone without so
Speaker 1: much as conjecturing the nature of her illness and the
Speaker 1: accursed passion of the agent of all this misery. I
Speaker 1: devote my remaining days to tracking and extinguishing a monster
Speaker 1: I am told I may hope to accomplish my righteous
Speaker 1: and merciful purpose. At present there is scarcely a gleam
Speaker 1: of light to guide me. I curse my conceited incredulity,
Speaker 1: my despicable affectation of superiority, my blindness, my obstinacy. All
Speaker 1: too late, I cannot write or talk collectedly. Now I
Speaker 1: am distracted. So soon as I shall have a little recovered,
Speaker 1: I mean to devote myself for a time to enquiry,
Speaker 1: which may possibly lead me as far as Vienna some
Speaker 1: time in the autumn two months hence or earlier. If
Speaker 1: I live, I will see you, that is, if you
Speaker 1: permit me. I will then tell you all that I
Speaker 1: scarce dare put upon paper. Now farewell, pray for me,
Speaker 1: dear friend. In these terms ended this strange letter. Though
Speaker 1: I had never seen Bertha reinfeldt my eyes filled with
Speaker 1: tears at the sudden intelligence. I was startled, as well
Speaker 1: as profoundly disappointed. The sun had now set, and it
Speaker 1: was twilight by the time I had returned the General's
Speaker 1: letter to my father. It was a soft, clear evening,
Speaker 1: and we loitered, speculating upon the possible meanings of the
Speaker 1: violent and incoherent sentences which I had just been reading.
Speaker 1: We had nearly a mile to walk before reaching the
Speaker 1: road that passes the Schloss in front, and by that
Speaker 1: time the moon was shining brilliantly. At the drawbridge we
Speaker 1: met Madame Perudon and Mademoiselle de la Fontaine, who had
Speaker 1: come out without their bonnets to enjoy the exquisite moonlight.
Speaker 1: We heard their voices gabbling in animated dialogue as we approached.
Speaker 1: We joined them at the drawbridge and turned about to
Speaker 1: admire with them the beautiful scene. The glade through which
Speaker 1: we had just walked lay before us. At our left,
Speaker 1: the narrow road wound away under clumps of lordly trees
Speaker 1: and was lost to sight amid the thickening forest. At
Speaker 1: the right, the same road crosses the steep and picturesque bridge,
Speaker 1: near which stands a ruined tower which once guarded that pass.
Speaker 1: And beyond the bridge, an abrupt eminence rises, covered with
Speaker 1: trees and showing in the shadows some gray, ivy clustered rocks.
Speaker 1: Over the sward and low grounds. A thin film of
Speaker 1: mist was stealing like smoke, marking the distances with a
Speaker 1: transparent veil. And here and there we could see the
Speaker 1: river faintly flashing in the moonlight. No softer, sweeter scene
Speaker 1: could be imagined. The news I had just heard made
Speaker 1: it melancholy, but nothing could disturb its character of profound
Speaker 1: serenity and the enchanted glory and vagueness of the prospect.
Speaker 1: My father, who enjoyed the picturesque, and I stood looking
Speaker 1: in silence over the expanse beneath us. The two good governesses,
Speaker 1: standing a little way behind us, discoursed upon the scene
Speaker 1: and were eloquent upon the moon. Madame Peraudon was fat,
Speaker 1: middle aged, and romantic, and talked and sighed poetically. Mademoiselle
Speaker 1: de la Fontaine, in right of her father, who was
Speaker 1: a German, assumed to be psychological, metaphysical, and something of
Speaker 1: a mystic, now declared that when the moon shone with
Speaker 1: the light so intense, it was well known that it
Speaker 1: indicated a special spiritual activity. The effect of the full
Speaker 1: moon in such a state of brilliancy was manifold. It
Speaker 1: acted on dreams, it acted on lunacy, It acted on
Speaker 1: nervous people. It had marvelous physical influences connected with life.
Speaker 1: Mademoiselle related that her cousin who was mate of a
Speaker 1: merchant ship, having taken a nap on deck on such
Speaker 1: a night, lying on his back with his face full
Speaker 1: in the light of the moon, had wakened after a
Speaker 1: dream of an old woman clawing him by the cheek,
Speaker 1: with his features horribly drawn to one side, and his
Speaker 1: countenance had never quite recovered his equilibrium. The moon this night,
Speaker 1: she said, is full of idyllic and magnetic influence. And
Speaker 1: see when you look behind you at the front of
Speaker 1: the schloss, how all its windows flash and twinkle with
Speaker 1: that silvery splendor, as if unseen hands had lighted up
Speaker 1: the rooms to receive fairy guests. There are indolent styles
Speaker 1: of the spirits, in which, indisposed to talk ourselves, the
Speaker 1: talk of others is pleasant to our listless ears. And
Speaker 1: I gazed on, pleased with the tinkle of the ladies conversation.
Speaker 1: I have got into one of my moping moods to night,
Speaker 1: said my father, after a silence, and quoting Shakespeare, whom
Speaker 1: by way of keeping up our English, he used to
Speaker 1: read aloud, he said, in truth, I know not why
Speaker 1: I am so sad. It wearies me, you say it
Speaker 1: wearies you, But how I got it came by it.
Speaker 1: I forget the rest, but I feel as if some
Speaker 1: great misfortune were hanging over us. I suppose the poor
Speaker 1: general's afflicted letter has had something to do with it.
Speaker 1: At this moment, the unwonted sound of carriage wheels and
Speaker 1: many hoofs upon the road arrested our attention. They seemed
Speaker 1: to be approaching from the high ground overlooking the bridge,
Speaker 1: and very soon the equipage emerged. From that point. Two
Speaker 1: horsemen first crossed the bridge. Then came a carriage drawn
Speaker 1: by four horses, and two men rode behind. It seemed
Speaker 1: to be the traveling carriage of a person of rank,
Speaker 1: and we were all immediately absorbed in watching that very
Speaker 1: unusual spectacle. It became in a few moments greatly more interesting,
Speaker 1: for just as the carriage had passed the summit of
Speaker 1: the steep bridge, one of the leaders, taking fright, communicated
Speaker 1: his panic to the rest, and after a plunge or two,
Speaker 1: the whole team broke into a wild gallop together, and
Speaker 1: dashing between the horsemen who rode in front, came thundering
Speaker 1: along the road towards us with the speed of a hurricane.
Speaker 1: The excitement of the scene was made more painful by
Speaker 1: the clear, long drawn screams of a female voice from
Speaker 1: the carriage window. We all advanced in curiosity and horror,
Speaker 1: me rather in silence. The rest with various ejaculations of terror.
Speaker 1: Our suspense did not last long. Just before you reached
Speaker 1: the castle drawbridge on the route they were coming, there
Speaker 1: stands by the roadside a magnificent lime tree. On the
Speaker 1: other stands an ancient stone cross, at sight of which
Speaker 1: the the horses, now going at a pace that was
Speaker 1: perfectly frightful, swerved so as to bring the wheel over
Speaker 1: the projecting roots of the tree. I knew what was coming.
Speaker 1: I covered my eyes, unable to see it out, and
Speaker 1: turned my head away. At the same moment I heard
Speaker 1: a cry from my lady friend's, who had gone on.
Speaker 1: A little curiosity opened my eyes, and I saw a
Speaker 1: scene of utter confusion. Two of the horses were on
Speaker 1: the ground, the carriage lay upon its side, with two
Speaker 1: wheels in the air. The men were busy removing the traces,
Speaker 1: and a lady with a commanding air and figure had
Speaker 1: gotten out and stood with clasped hands, raising the handkerchief
Speaker 1: that was in them every now and then to her
Speaker 1: eyes through the carriage door was now lifted a young
Speaker 1: lady who appeared to be lifeless. My dear old father
Speaker 1: was already beside the elder lady, with his hat in
Speaker 1: his hand, evidently tendering his aid and the resources of
Speaker 1: his shit loss. The lady did not appear to hear
Speaker 1: him or to have eyes for anything, but the slender girl,
Speaker 1: who was being placed against the slope of the bank
Speaker 1: I approached. The young lady was apparently stunned, but she
Speaker 1: was certainly not dead. My father, who piqued himself on
Speaker 1: being something of a physician, had just had his fingers
Speaker 1: on her wrist and assured the lady, who declared herself
Speaker 1: her mother, that her pulse, though faint and irregular, was
Speaker 1: undoubtedly still distinguishable. The lady clasped her hands and looked upward,
Speaker 1: as if in a momentary transport of gratitude, but immediately
Speaker 1: she broke out again in that theatrical way which is
Speaker 1: I believe natural to some people. She was what is
Speaker 1: called a fine looking woman for her time of life,
Speaker 1: and must have been handsome. She was tall, but not thin,
Speaker 1: and dressed in black velvet, and looked rather pale, but
Speaker 1: with a proud and commanding countenance, though now agitated strangely,
Speaker 1: who was ever being so born to calamity? I heard
Speaker 1: her say with clasped hands as I came up here.
Speaker 1: Am I on a journey of life and death in
Speaker 1: prosecuting which to lose an hour is possibly to lose all.
Speaker 1: My child will not have recovered sufficiently to resume her route.
Speaker 1: For who can say how long I must leave her?
Speaker 1: I cannot dare not delay? How far on, sir, can
Speaker 1: you tell as the nearest village? I must leave her
Speaker 1: there and shall not see my darling or even hear
Speaker 1: of her till my return three months? Hence, I plucked
Speaker 1: my father by the coat and whispered earnestly in his ear, Oh, Papa,
Speaker 1: pray ask her to let her stay with us. It
Speaker 1: would be so delightful. Do pray if Madame will entrust
Speaker 1: her child to the care of my daughter and of
Speaker 1: her good gouvernant Madame Peraudon, and permit her to remain
Speaker 1: as our guest under my charge until her return. It
Speaker 1: will confer a distinction and an obligation upon us, and
Speaker 1: we shall treat her with all the care and devotion
Speaker 1: which so sacred a trust deserves. I cannot do that, sir.
Speaker 1: It would be to task your kindness and chivalry too cruelly,
Speaker 1: said the lady distractedly. It would, on the contrary, be
Speaker 1: to confer on us a very great kindness at the
Speaker 1: moment when we most need it. My daughter has just
Speaker 1: been disappointed by a cruel misfortune in a visit from
Speaker 1: which she had long anticipated a great deal of happiness.
Speaker 1: If you confide this young lady to our care, it
Speaker 1: will be her best consolation. The nearest village on your
Speaker 1: route is distant and affords no such inn as you
Speaker 1: could think of placing your daughter at. You cannot allow
Speaker 1: her to continue her journey for any considerable distance without danger. If,
Speaker 1: as you say, you cannot suspend your journey, you must
Speaker 1: part with her to night, And know where could you
Speaker 1: do so with more honest assurances of care and tenderness
Speaker 1: than here. There was something in this lady's air and appearance,
Speaker 1: so distinguished and even imposing, and in her manner so engaging,
Speaker 1: as to impress one quite apart from the dignity of
Speaker 1: her equipage, with a conviction that she was a person
Speaker 1: of consequence. By this time, the carriage was replaced in
Speaker 1: its upright position, and the horses quite tractable in the traces. Again,
Speaker 1: the lady threw on her daughter a glance which I
Speaker 1: fancied was not quite so affectionate as one might have
Speaker 1: anticipated from the beginning of the scene. And then she
Speaker 1: beckoned slightly to my father, and withdrew two or three
Speaker 1: steps with him out of hearing, and talked to him
Speaker 1: with a fixed and stern countenance, not at all like
Speaker 1: that with which she had hitherto sp I was filled
Speaker 1: with wonder that my father did not seem to perceive
Speaker 1: the change, and also unspeakably curious to learn what it
Speaker 1: could be that she was speaking almost in his ear
Speaker 1: with so much earnestness and rapidity. Two or three minutes
Speaker 1: at most I think she remained thus employed. Then she turned,
Speaker 1: and a few steps brought her to where her daughter lay,
Speaker 1: supported by Madame Perudant. She kneeled beside her for a
Speaker 1: moment and whispered, as Madame supposed a little benediction in
Speaker 1: her ear. Then, hastily kissing her, she stepped into her carriage.
Speaker 1: The door was closed. The footmen in stately liveries jumped
Speaker 1: up behind the outriders spurred on the postitions cracked their whips,
Speaker 1: the horses plunged and broke suddenly into a furious canter
Speaker 1: that threatened soon again to become a gallop, and the
Speaker 1: carriage whirled away, followed at the same rapid pace by
Speaker 1: the two horsemen. In the rear end of chapter two
Speaker 1: Chapter three we compare notes. We followed the cortege with
Speaker 1: our eyes until it was swiftly lost to sight in
Speaker 1: the misty wood, and the very sound of the hoofs
Speaker 1: and the wheels died away in the silent night air.
Speaker 1: Nothing remained to assure us that the adventure had not
Speaker 1: been an illusion of a moment. But the young lady,
Speaker 1: who just at that moment opened her eyes. I could
Speaker 1: not see, for her face was turned from me, but
Speaker 1: she raised her head, evidently looking about her, and I
Speaker 1: heard a very sweet voice ask, complainingly, where is mamma
Speaker 1: our good Madame Peraudon answered tenderly and added some comfortable assurances.
Speaker 1: I then heard her ask where am I? What is
Speaker 1: this place? And after that she said I don't see
Speaker 1: the carriage, and motzka, where is she? Madame answered all
Speaker 1: her questions in so far as she understood them, and
Speaker 1: gradually The young lady remembered how the misadventure came about,
Speaker 1: and was glad to hear that no one in or
Speaker 1: in attendance on the carriage was hurt, And on learning
Speaker 1: that her Mamma had left her here till her return
Speaker 1: in about three months, she wept. I was going to
Speaker 1: add my consolations to those of Madame Pruden, when Mademoiselle
Speaker 1: de la Fontaine placed her hand upon my arm, saying,
Speaker 1: don't approach. One at a time is as much as
Speaker 1: she can at present converse with a very little excitement
Speaker 1: would possibly overpower her. Now, as soon as she is
Speaker 1: comfortably in bed, I thought, I will run up to
Speaker 1: her room and see her. My father, in the meantime
Speaker 1: had sent a servant on horseback for the physician, who
Speaker 1: lived about two leagues away, and a bedroom was being
Speaker 1: prepared for the young lady's reception. The stranger now rose, and,
Speaker 1: leading on Madame's arm, walked slowly over the drawbridge and
Speaker 1: into the castle gate. In the hall, servants waited to
Speaker 1: receive her, and she was conducted forthwith to her room.
Speaker 1: The room we usually sat in as our drawing room,
Speaker 1: is long, having four windows that looked over the moat
Speaker 1: and the drawbridge upon the forest scene I have just described.
Speaker 1: It is furnished in old carved oak, with large carved cabinets,
Speaker 1: and the chairs are cushioned with crimson utrect velvet. The
Speaker 1: walls are covered with tapestry and surrounded with great gold frames,
Speaker 1: the figures being as large as life in ancient and
Speaker 1: very curious costume, and the subjects represented are hunting, hawking,
Speaker 1: and generally festive. It is not too stately to be
Speaker 1: extremely comfortable. And here we had our tea for with
Speaker 1: his usual patriotic leanings, he insisted that the National Beverage
Speaker 1: should make its appearance regularly. With our coffee and chocolate.
Speaker 1: We sat here this night, and with candles lighted, were
Speaker 1: talking over the adventure of the evening. Madame Perudon and
Speaker 1: Mademoiselle de la Fontaine were both part of our party.
Speaker 1: The young stranger had hardly lain down in her bed
Speaker 1: when she sank into a deep sleep, and those ladies
Speaker 1: had left her in the care of a servant. How
Speaker 1: do you like, our guest, I asked, as soon as
Speaker 1: Madame entered. Tell me all about her. I like her extremely,
Speaker 1: answered Madame. She is I almost think the prettiest creature
Speaker 1: I ever saw about your age, and so gentle and nice.
Speaker 1: She is absolutely beautiful, through in Mademoiselle, who had peeped
Speaker 1: for a moment into the stranger's room, and such a
Speaker 1: sweet voice, added Madame prudent. Did you remark a woman
Speaker 1: in the carriage after it was set up again who
Speaker 1: did not get out, inquired Mademoiselle, but only looked from
Speaker 1: the window. No, we had not seen her. Then she
Speaker 1: described a hideous black woman with a sort of colored
Speaker 1: turban on her head, and who was gazing all the
Speaker 1: time from the carriage window, nodding and grinning derisively toward
Speaker 1: the ladies, with gleaming eyes and large white eyeballs, and
Speaker 1: her teeth set as if in fury. Did you remark
Speaker 1: what an ill looking pack of men the servants were,
Speaker 1: asked Madame, Yes, said my father, who had just come in.
Speaker 1: Ugly hang dog looking fellows as ever I beheld in
Speaker 1: my life. I hope they mayn't rob the poor lady
Speaker 1: in the forest. They are clever rogues. However, they got
Speaker 1: everything to rights in a minute. I dare say they
Speaker 1: are worn out with too long traveling, said Madame. Besides
Speaker 1: looking wicked their faces were so strangely lean and dark
Speaker 1: and sullen. I am very curious, I own, but I
Speaker 1: dare say the young lady will tell you all about
Speaker 1: it tomorrow, if she is sufficiently recovered. I don't think
Speaker 1: she will, said my father, with a mysterious smile and
Speaker 1: a little nod of his head, as if he knew
Speaker 1: more about it than he cared to tell us. This
Speaker 1: made us all the more inquisitive as to what had
Speaker 1: passed between him and the lady in black velvet in
Speaker 1: the brief but earnest interview that had immediately preceded her departure.
Speaker 1: We were scarcely alone when I entreated him to tell me.
Speaker 1: He did not need much pressing. There is no particular
Speaker 1: reason why I should not tell you. She expressed a
Speaker 1: reluctance to trouble us with the care of her daughter,
Speaker 1: saying she was in delicate health and nervous, but not
Speaker 1: subject to any kind of seizure. She volunteered that, nor
Speaker 1: to any allusion, being in fact perfectly sane. How very
Speaker 1: odd to say all that I interpolated. It was so
Speaker 1: unnecessary at all events, it was said, he laughed. And
Speaker 1: as you wish to know all that passed, which was
Speaker 1: very little. Indeed, I tell you. She then said, I
Speaker 1: am making a long journey of vital importance. She emphasized
Speaker 1: the word rapid and secret. I shall return for my
Speaker 1: child in three months. In the meantime, she will be
Speaker 1: silent as to who we are, whence we come, and
Speaker 1: whither we are traveling. That is all she said. She
Speaker 1: spoke very pure French. When she said the word secret.
Speaker 1: She paused for a few seconds, looking sternly, her eyes
Speaker 1: fixed on mine. I fancy she makes a great point
Speaker 1: of that. You saw how quickly she was gone. I
Speaker 1: hope I have not done a very foolish thing in
Speaker 1: taking charge of the young lady. For my part, I
Speaker 1: was delighted. I was longing to see and talk to her,
Speaker 1: and only waiting till the doctor should give me leave. You,
Speaker 1: who live in towns, can have no idea how great
Speaker 1: an event the introduction of a new friend is. In
Speaker 1: such a solitude as surrounded us. The doctor did not
Speaker 1: arrive till nearly one o'clock. But I could no more
Speaker 1: have gone to my bed and slept than I could
Speaker 1: have overtaken on foot the carriage in which the Princess
Speaker 1: in Black velvet had driven away. When the physician came
Speaker 1: down to the drawing room, it was to report very
Speaker 1: favorably upon his patient. She was now sitting up, her
Speaker 1: pulse quite regular, apparently perfectly well. She had sustained no injury,
Speaker 1: and the little shock to her nerves had passed away
Speaker 1: quite harmlessly. There could be no harm, certainly in my
Speaker 1: seeing her, if we both wished it. And with this permission,
Speaker 1: I sent forthwith to know whether she would allow me
Speaker 1: to visit her for a few minutes in her room.
Speaker 1: The servant returned immediately to say that she desired nothing more.
Speaker 1: You may be sure I was not long in availing
Speaker 1: myself of this permission. Our visitor lay in one of
Speaker 1: the handsomest rooms in the Schloss. It was for half
Speaker 1: a little stately. There was a somber piece of tapestry
Speaker 1: opposite the bed, representing Cleopatra with the asps to her bosom,
Speaker 1: and other solemn classic scenes were displayed a little faded
Speaker 1: upon the other walls. But there was gold carving and
Speaker 1: rich and varied color enough in the other decorations of
Speaker 1: the room to more than redeem the gloom of the
Speaker 1: old tapestry. There were candles at the bedside. She was
Speaker 1: sitting up, her slender, pretty figure, enveloped in the soft
Speaker 1: silk dressing gown embroidered with flowers and lined with thick
Speaker 1: quilted silk, which her mother had thrown over her feet
Speaker 1: as she lay on the ground. What was it that,
Speaker 1: as I reached the bedside and had just begun my
Speaker 1: little greeting, struck me dumb in a moment, and made
Speaker 1: me recoil a step or two from before her. I
Speaker 1: will tell you I saw the very face which had
Speaker 1: visited me in my childhood at night, and which remained
Speaker 1: so fixed in my memory, and on which I had,
Speaker 1: for so many years, so often ruminated with horror when
Speaker 1: no one suspected of what I was thinking. It was pretty,
Speaker 1: even beautiful, And when I first beheld it wore the
Speaker 1: same melancholy expression, but this almost instantly lighted into a strange,
Speaker 1: fixed smile of recognition. There was a silence of fully
Speaker 1: a minute, and then at length she spoke. I could
Speaker 1: not how wonderful, she exclaimed, twelve years ago, I saw
Speaker 1: your face in a dream, and it has haunted me
Speaker 1: ever since. Wonderful, indeed, I repeated, overcoming with an effort
Speaker 1: the horror that had for a time suspended my utterances
Speaker 1: twelve years ago, in vision or a reality, I certainly
Speaker 1: saw you. I could not forget your face. It has
Speaker 1: remained before my eyes of her since her smile had softened.
Speaker 1: Whatever I had fancied strange in it was gone, and
Speaker 1: it and her dimpling cheeks were now delightfully pretty and intelligent.
Speaker 1: I felt reassured, and continued more in the vain which
Speaker 1: hospitality indicated, to bid her welcome, and to tell her
Speaker 1: how much pleasure her accidental arrival had given us all,
Speaker 1: and especially what a happiness it was to me. I
Speaker 1: took her hand as I spoke. I was a little shy,
Speaker 1: as lonely people are, but the situation made me eloquent
Speaker 1: and even bold. She pressed my hand, she laid hers
Speaker 1: upon it, and her eyes glowed as looking hastily into mine,
Speaker 1: she smiled again and blushed. She answered my welcome very prettily.
Speaker 1: I sat down beside her, still wondering, and she said,
Speaker 1: I must tell you you my vision about you. It
Speaker 1: is so very strange that you and I should have
Speaker 1: had each of the other, so vivid a dream, that
Speaker 1: each should have seen I you and you me looking
Speaker 1: as we do now, when, of course we were both
Speaker 1: mere children. I was a child about six years old,
Speaker 1: and I awoke from a confused and troubled dream, and
Speaker 1: found myself in a room unlike my nursery, wainscudded clumsily
Speaker 1: in some dark wood, and with cupboards and bedsteads and
Speaker 1: chairs and benches placed about it. The beds were, I thought,
Speaker 1: all empty, and the room itself without any one but
Speaker 1: myself in it. And I, after looking about me for
Speaker 1: some time, and admiring especially an iron candlestick with two branches,
Speaker 1: which I should certainly know again, crept under one of
Speaker 1: the beds to reach the window. But as I got
Speaker 1: from under the bed, I heard some one cry, and
Speaker 1: looking up, while I was still upon my knees, I
Speaker 1: saw you, most assuredly, you as I see you now,
Speaker 1: a beautiful young lady with golden hair and large blue
Speaker 1: eyes and lips, your lips, you as you are here.
Speaker 1: Your looks won me. I climbed on the bed and
Speaker 1: put my arms about you, and I think we both
Speaker 1: fell asleep. I was aroused by a scream. You were
Speaker 1: sitting up screaming. I was frightened and slipped down upon
Speaker 1: the ground and it seemed to me lost consciousness for
Speaker 1: a moment, and when I came to myself, I was
Speaker 1: again in my nursery at home. Your face I have
Speaker 1: never forgotten, since I could not be misled by the
Speaker 1: mere resemblance you are the lady whom I saw. Then
Speaker 1: it was now my turn to relate my core responding vision,
Speaker 1: which I did to the undisguised wonder of my new acquaintance.
Speaker 1: I don't know which should be most afraid of the other,
Speaker 1: she said, again, smiling. If you were less pretty, I
Speaker 1: think I should be very much afraid of you. But
Speaker 1: being as you are, and you and I both so young,
Speaker 1: I feel only that I have made your acquaintance twelve
Speaker 1: years ago, and have already a right to your intimacy
Speaker 1: at all events. It does seem as if we were
Speaker 1: destined from our earliest childhood to be friends. I wonder
Speaker 1: whether you feel as strangely drawn towards me as I
Speaker 1: do to you. I have never had a friend. Shall
Speaker 1: I find one? Now? She sighed, and her fine dark
Speaker 1: eyes gazed passionately on me. Now the truth is, I
Speaker 1: felt rather unaccountably towards the beautiful stranger. I did feel,
Speaker 1: as she said, drawn towards her. But there was also
Speaker 1: something of repulsion in this ambiguous feeling. However, the sense
Speaker 1: of attraction immensely prevailed. She interested and won me. She
Speaker 1: was so beautiful and so indescribably engaging. I perceived now
Speaker 1: something of languor and exhaustion stealing over her, and hastened
Speaker 1: to bid her good night. The doctor thinks, I added
Speaker 1: that you ought to have a maid sit up with
Speaker 1: you tonight. One of ours is waiting, and you will
Speaker 1: find her a very useful and quiet creature. How kind
Speaker 1: of you. But I could not sleep. I never could
Speaker 1: with an attendant in the room. I shan't require any assistance,
Speaker 1: and shall I confess my weakness. I am haunted with
Speaker 1: a terror of robbers. Our house was robbed once and
Speaker 1: two servants murdered. So I always lock my door. It
Speaker 1: has become a habit. And you look so kind. I
Speaker 1: know you will forgive me. I see there is a
Speaker 1: key in the lock. She held me close in her
Speaker 1: pretty arms for a moment and whispered in my ear,
Speaker 1: good night, darling. It is very hard to part with you,
Speaker 1: but good night tomorrow, but not early. I shall see
Speaker 1: you again. She sank back on the pillow with a sigh,
Speaker 1: and her fine eyes followed me with a fond and
Speaker 1: melancholy gaze, and she murmured again, good night, dear friend.
Speaker 1: Young people like and even love on impulse. I was
Speaker 1: flattered by the evident, though as yet undeserved fondness she
Speaker 1: showed me. I liked the confidence with which she at
Speaker 1: once received me. She was determined that we should be
Speaker 1: very near friends. Next day came and we met again.
Speaker 1: I was delighted with my companion, that is to say,
Speaker 1: in many respects. Her looks lost nothing in daylight. She
Speaker 1: was most certainly the most beautiful creature I had ever seen,
Speaker 1: and the unpleasant remembrance of the face presented in my
Speaker 1: early dream had lost the effect of the first unexpected recognition.
Speaker 1: She confessed that she had experienced a similar shock on
Speaker 1: seeing me, and precisely the same faint antipathy that had
Speaker 1: mingled with my admiration of her. We now laughed together
Speaker 1: over our momentary horrors. End of Chapter three, Chapter four,
Speaker 1: Her Habits a saunter. I told you that I was
Speaker 1: charmed with her in most particulars. There were some that
Speaker 1: did not please me so well. She was above the
Speaker 1: middle height of women. I shall begin by describing her.
Speaker 1: She was slender and wonderfully graceful, except that her movements
Speaker 1: were languid, very languid. Indeed, there was nothing in her
Speaker 1: appearance to indicate an invalid. Her complexion was rich and brilliant.
Speaker 1: Her features were small and beautifully formed, her eyes large,
Speaker 1: dark and lustrous. Her hair was quite wonderful. I never
Speaker 1: saw hair so magnificently thick and long. When it was
Speaker 1: down about her shoulders, I have often placed my hands
Speaker 1: under it and laughed with wonder at its weight. It
Speaker 1: was exquisitely fine and soft, and in color a rich,
Speaker 1: very dark brown, with something of gold. I loved to
Speaker 1: let it down, tumbling with its own weight. As in
Speaker 1: her room, she lay back in her chair, talking in
Speaker 1: her sweet low voice. I used to fold and braid it,
Speaker 1: and spread it out in play with it. Heavens, if
Speaker 1: I had but known all I said, there were particulars
Speaker 1: which did not please please me. I have told you
Speaker 1: that her confidence won me the first night I saw her.
Speaker 1: But I found that she exercised with respect to herself,
Speaker 1: her mother, her history, everything in fact connected with her life,
Speaker 1: plans and people. An ever wakeful reserve. I dare say
Speaker 1: I was unreasonable. Perhaps I was wrong. I dare say
Speaker 1: I ought to have respected this solemn injunction laid upon
Speaker 1: my father by the stately lady in black velvet. But
Speaker 1: curiosity is a restless and unscrupulous passion, and no one
Speaker 1: girl can endure with patience that her should be baffled
Speaker 1: by another. What harm could it do any one to
Speaker 1: tell me what I so ardently desired to know? Had
Speaker 1: she no trust in my good sense or honor? Why
Speaker 1: would she not believe me when I assured her so
Speaker 1: solemnly that I would not divulge one syllable of what
Speaker 1: she told me to any mortal breathing. There was a coldness,
Speaker 1: it seemed to me beyond her years, in her smiling,
Speaker 1: melancholy persistent refusal to afford me the least ray of light.
Speaker 1: I cannot say we quarreled upon this point, for she
Speaker 1: would not quarrel upon any It was, of course very
Speaker 1: unfair of me to press her very ill bred, but
Speaker 1: really I could not help it, and I might just
Speaker 1: as well have let it alone. What she did tell
Speaker 1: me amounted, in my unconscionable estimation, to nothing. It was
Speaker 1: all summed up in three very vague disclosures. First, her
Speaker 1: name was Carmila. Second, her family was very ancient and noble. Third,
Speaker 1: her home lay in the direction of the west. She
Speaker 1: would not tell me the name of her family, nor
Speaker 1: there armorial bearings, nor the name of their estate, nor
Speaker 1: even that of the country they lived in. You are
Speaker 1: not to suppose that I worry her incessantly on these subjects.
Speaker 1: I watched opportunity, and rather insinuated than urged my inquiries.
Speaker 1: Once or twice. Indeed, I did attack her more directly,
Speaker 1: but no matter what my tactics, utter failure was invariably
Speaker 1: the result. Reproaches and caresses were all lost upon her.
Speaker 1: But I must add this that her evasion was conducted
Speaker 1: with so pretty a melancholy and deprecation, with so many
Speaker 1: and even passionate declarations of her liking for me and
Speaker 1: trust in my honor, and with so many promises that
Speaker 1: I should at last know all that I could not
Speaker 1: find it in my heart long to be offended with her.
Speaker 1: She used to place her pretty arms around my neck,
Speaker 1: draw me to her, and laying her cheek to mine,
Speaker 1: murmur with her lips near my ear. Dearest, your little
Speaker 1: heart is wounded, Think me not cruel because I obey
Speaker 1: the irresistible law of my strength and weakness. If your
Speaker 1: dear heart is wounded, my wild heart bleeds with yours.
Speaker 1: In the rapture of my enormous humiliation. I live in
Speaker 1: your warm life, and you shall die, Die sweetly, die
Speaker 1: into mine. I cannot help it. As I draw near
Speaker 1: to you, you, in your turn, will draw near to
Speaker 1: others and learn the rapture of that cruelty which yet
Speaker 1: is love. So for a while, seek to know no
Speaker 1: more of me and mine, but trust me with all
Speaker 1: your loving spirit. And when she had spoken such a rhapsody,
Speaker 1: she would press me more closely in her trembling embrace,
Speaker 1: and her lips in soft kisses, gently glow upon my cheek.
Speaker 1: Her agitations and her language were unintelligible to me. From
Speaker 1: these foolish embraces, which were not of very frequent occurrence,
Speaker 1: I must allow, I used to wish to extricate myself,
Speaker 1: but my energies seemed to fail me. Her murmured words
Speaker 1: sounded like a lullaby in my ear, and soothed my
Speaker 1: resistance into a trance from which I only seemed to
Speaker 1: recover myself. When she withdrew her arms in these mysterious moods,
Speaker 1: I did not like her. I experienced a strange, tumultuous
Speaker 1: excitement that was pleasurable ever and anon mingled with a
Speaker 1: vague sense of fear and distrust. I had no distinct
Speaker 1: thoughts about her while such scenes lasted, But I was
Speaker 1: conscious of a love growing into adoration, and also of abhorrence. This,
Speaker 1: I know is paradox, but I can make no other
Speaker 1: attempt to explain the feeling. I now write, after an
Speaker 1: interval of more than ten years, with a trembling head,
Speaker 1: and with a confused and horrible recollection of certain occurrences
Speaker 1: and situations in the ordeal through which I was unconsciously passing,
Speaker 1: though with a very vivid and sharp remembrance of the
Speaker 1: main current of my story. But I suspect in all
Speaker 1: lives there are certain emotional scenes, those in which our
Speaker 1: passions have been most wildly and terribly roused, that are,
Speaker 1: of all others, the most vaguely and dimly remembered. Sometimes,
Speaker 1: after an hour of apathy, my strange and beautiful companion
Speaker 1: would take my hand and hold it with a fond pressure,
Speaker 1: renewed again and again, blushing softly, gazing in my face
Speaker 1: with languid and burning eyes, and breathing so fast that
Speaker 1: her dress rose and fell with the tumultuous respiration. It
Speaker 1: was like the ardor of a lover. It embarrassed me.
Speaker 1: It was hateful and yet overpowering, And with gloating eyes,
Speaker 1: she drew me to her, and her hot lips traveled
Speaker 1: along my cheek and kisses, and she would whisper, almost
Speaker 1: in sobs. You are mine, you shall be mine. You
Speaker 1: and I are one forever. Then she had thrown herself
Speaker 1: back in her chair, with her small hands over her eyes,
Speaker 1: leaving me trembling. Are we related? I used to ask,
Speaker 1: what can you mean by all this? I remind you,
Speaker 1: perhaps of someone whom you love, but you must not.
Speaker 1: I hate it. I don't know you. I don't know
Speaker 1: myself when you look so and talk. So she used
Speaker 1: to sigh at my vehemence, then turn away and drop
Speaker 1: my hand. Respecting these very extraordinary manifestations, I strove in
Speaker 1: vain to form any satisfactory theory. I could not refer
Speaker 1: them to affectation or trick. It was unmistakably the momentary
Speaker 1: breaking out of suppressed instinct. And emotion. Was she, notwithstanding
Speaker 1: her mother's volunteered denial, subject to brief visitations of insanity?
Speaker 1: Or was there here a disguise and a romance? I
Speaker 1: had read in old story books of such things. What
Speaker 1: if a boyish lover had found his way into the
Speaker 1: house and sought to prosecute his suit and masquerade with
Speaker 1: the assistance of a clever old adventuress. But there were
Speaker 1: many things against this hypothesis. Highly interesting as it was
Speaker 1: to my vanity, I could boast of no little attentions,
Speaker 1: such as masculine gallantry delights to offer. Between these passionate moments,
Speaker 1: there were long intervals of commonplace, of gaiety, of brooding melancholy,
Speaker 1: during which, except that I detected her eyes so full
Speaker 1: of melancholy fire following me, at times, I might have
Speaker 1: been as nothing to her. Except in these brief periods
Speaker 1: of mysterious excitement. Her ways were girlish, and there there
Speaker 1: was always a languor about her, quite incompatible with a
Speaker 1: masculine system in a state of health. In some respects
Speaker 1: her habits were odd, perhaps not so singular in the
Speaker 1: opinion of a town lady like you, as they appeared
Speaker 1: to us rustic people. She used to come down very late,
Speaker 1: generally not till one o'clock. She would then take a
Speaker 1: cup of chocolate, but eat nothing. We then went out
Speaker 1: for a walk, which was a mere saunter, and she
Speaker 1: seemed almost immediately exhausted, and either returned to the schloss
Speaker 1: or sat on one of the benches that were placed
Speaker 1: here and there among the trees. This was a bodily
Speaker 1: languor in which her mind did not sympathize. She was
Speaker 1: always an animated talker and very intelligent. She sometimes alluded
Speaker 1: for a moment to her own home, or mentioned an
Speaker 1: adventure or situation, or an early recollection which indicated a
Speaker 1: people of strange manners, and described customs of which we
Speaker 1: knew nothing. I gathered from these chance hints at her
Speaker 1: native country was much more remote than I had at
Speaker 1: first fancied. As we sat thus one afternoon under the trees,
Speaker 1: a funeral passed us by. It was that of a
Speaker 1: pretty young girl whom I had often seen, the daughter
Speaker 1: of one of the rangers of the forest. The poor
Speaker 1: man was walking behind the coffin of his darling. She
Speaker 1: was his only child, and he looked quite heart broken.
Speaker 1: Peasants walking two and two came behind. They were singing
Speaker 1: a funeral hymn. I rose to mark my respect as
Speaker 1: they passed and joined in the hymn. They were very
Speaker 1: sweetly singing. My companion shook me a little roughly, and
Speaker 1: I turned surprised. She said, brusquely. Don't you perceive how
Speaker 1: discordant that is? I think it very sweet. On the contrary,
Speaker 1: I answered, vexed at the interruption, and very uncomfortable lest
Speaker 1: the people who composed the little procession should observe and
Speaker 1: resent what was passing. I I resumed therefore instantly, and
Speaker 1: was again interrupted. You pierce my ears, said Carmilla, almost angrily,
Speaker 1: and stopping her ears with her tiny fingers. Besides, how
Speaker 1: can you tell that your religion and mine are the same.
Speaker 1: Your forms wound me, and I hate funerals. What a fuss?
Speaker 1: Why you must die? Every one must die, and all
Speaker 1: are happier when they do come home. My father has
Speaker 1: gone on with the clergyman to the churchyard. I thought
Speaker 1: you knew she was to be buried to day. She
Speaker 1: I don't trouble my head about peasants. I don't know
Speaker 1: who she is, answered Carmilla, with a flash from her
Speaker 1: fine eyes. She is the poor girl who fancied she
Speaker 1: saw a ghost a fortnight ago, and has been dying
Speaker 1: ever since till yesterday when she expired. Tell me nothing
Speaker 1: about ghosts. I sha'n't sleep to night if you do.
Speaker 1: I hope there is no plague or fever coming. All
Speaker 1: this looks very like it, I continued. The Swineherd's young
Speaker 1: wife died only a week ago, and she thought something
Speaker 1: seized her by the throat as she lay in her
Speaker 1: bed and nearly strangled her. Papa says, some horrible fancies
Speaker 1: do accompany some forms of fever. She was quite well
Speaker 1: the day before, she sank afterwards and died before a
Speaker 1: week well. Her funeral is over. I hope and her
Speaker 1: hymn sung, and our ears shan't be tortured with that
Speaker 1: discord and jargon. It has made me nervous. Sit down
Speaker 1: here beside me, Sit close, hold my hand. Press it hard, hard, harder.
Speaker 1: We had moved a little back and had come to
Speaker 1: another seat. She sat down. Her face underwent a change,
Speaker 1: then alarmed and even terrified me. For a moment, it
Speaker 1: darkened and became horribly livid. Her teeth and hands were clenched,
Speaker 1: and she frowned and compressed her lips, while she stared
Speaker 1: down upon the ground at her feet and trembled all
Speaker 1: over with a continued shudder as irrepressible as ag you.
Speaker 1: All her energy seemed strained to suppress a fit with
Speaker 1: which she was then breathlessly tugging, And at length a low,
Speaker 1: convulsive cry of suffering broke from her, and gradually the
Speaker 1: hysteria subsided. There that comes of strangling people with hymns.
Speaker 1: She said, at last, hold me, hold me still. It
Speaker 1: is passing away, And so gradually it did, and perhaps
Speaker 1: to dissipate the somber impression which the spectacle had left
Speaker 1: upon me, she became unusually animated and shatty, And so
Speaker 1: we got home. This was the first time I had
Speaker 1: seen her exhibit any definable symptoms of that delicacy of
Speaker 1: health which her mother had spoken of. It was the
Speaker 1: first time, also I had seen her exhibit anything like temper.
Speaker 1: Both passed away like a summer cloud, and never but
Speaker 1: once afterwards did I witness on her part a momentary
Speaker 1: sign of anger. I will tell you how it happened.
Speaker 1: She and I were looking out of one of the
Speaker 1: long drawing room windows. When there entered the courtyard over
Speaker 1: the drawbridge the figure of a wanderer, whom I knew
Speaker 1: very well. He used to visit the Schloss generally twice
Speaker 1: a year. It was the figure of a hunchback with
Speaker 1: the sharp, lean features that generally accompanied deformity. He wore
Speaker 1: a pointed black beard, and he was smiling from ear
Speaker 1: to ear, showing his white fangs. He was dressed in buff,
Speaker 1: black and scarlet, and crossed with more straps and belts
Speaker 1: than I could count, from which hung all manner of things. Behind.
Speaker 1: He carried a magic lantern and two boxes, which I
Speaker 1: well knew in, one of which was a salamander, and
Speaker 1: the other a mandrake. These monsters used to make my
Speaker 1: father laugh. They were compounded of parts of monkeys, parrots, squirrels,
Speaker 1: fish and hedgehogs, dried and stitched together with great neatness
Speaker 1: and startling effect. He had a fiddle, a box of
Speaker 1: conjuring apparatus, a pair of foils and masks attached to
Speaker 1: his belt, several other mysterious cases dangling about him, and
Speaker 1: a black staff with copper ferules in his hand. His
Speaker 1: companion was a rough spare dog. That followed at his heels,
Speaker 1: but stopped short suspiciously at the drawbridge, and in a
Speaker 1: little while began to howl dismally. In the meantime, the Mountebank,
Speaker 1: standing in the midst of the courtyard, raised his grotesque
Speaker 1: hat and made us a very ceremonious bow, paying his
Speaker 1: compliments very volubly, inexecrable French and German, not much better. Then,
Speaker 1: disengaging his fiddle, he began to scrape a lively air,
Speaker 1: to which he sang with a merry discord, dancing with
Speaker 1: ludicrous airs and activity that made me laugh in spite
Speaker 1: of the dog's howling. Then he advanced to the window,
Speaker 1: with many smiles and salutations, and his hat in his
Speaker 1: left hand, his fiddle under his arm, and with a
Speaker 1: fluency that never took breath, he gabbled a long advertisement
Speaker 1: of all his accomplishments, and the resources of the various
Speaker 1: arts which he placed at our service, and the curiosities
Speaker 1: and entertainments which it was in his power at our
Speaker 1: bidding to display. Will your ladyships be pleased to buy
Speaker 1: an amulet against the oupire, which is going like the
Speaker 1: wolf I hear through these woods, he said, dropping his
Speaker 1: hat on the pavement. They are dying of it right
Speaker 1: and left. And here is a charm that never fails,
Speaker 1: only pinned to the pillow, and you may laugh in
Speaker 1: his face. These charms consisted of oblong slips of vellum
Speaker 1: with cabalistic ciphers and diagrams upon them. Carmilla instantly purchased one,
Speaker 1: and so did I. He was looking up, and we
Speaker 1: were smiling down upon him, amused. At least I can
Speaker 1: answer for myself. His piercing black eye, as he looked
Speaker 1: up in our faces, seemed to detect something that fixed
Speaker 1: for a moment his curiosity. In an instant, he unrolled
Speaker 1: a leather case full of all manner of odd little
Speaker 1: steel instruments. See here, my lady, he said, displaying and
Speaker 1: addressing me, I profess, among other things less useful, the
Speaker 1: aught of dentistry, plague, take the dog, he interpolated. Silence, beast,
Speaker 1: he howled, so that your ladyships can scarcely hear a word,
Speaker 1: Your noble friend, the young lady at your right has
Speaker 1: the sharpest tooth, long, thin, pointed like an awl, like
Speaker 1: a needle. With my shop and long sight, as I
Speaker 1: look up, I have seen it distinctly. Now. If it
Speaker 1: happens to hurt the young lady, and I think it
Speaker 1: must here am I? Here are my file, my punch,
Speaker 1: my nippers, I will make it round and blunt. If
Speaker 1: her ladyship pleases no longer the tooth of a fish,
Speaker 1: but of a beautiful young lady as she is, Hey
Speaker 1: is the young lady displeased? Have I been too bold?
Speaker 1: Have I offended her? The young lady indeed looked very
Speaker 1: angry as she drew back from the window. How dare
Speaker 1: that mountebank insult us? So? Where is your father? I
Speaker 1: shall demand redress from him? My father would have had
Speaker 1: the wretch tied up to the pump and flogged with
Speaker 1: a cart whip and burnt to the bones with the
Speaker 1: cattle brand. She retired from the window a step or
Speaker 1: two and sat down, and had hardly lost sight of
Speaker 1: the offender when her wrath subsided as suddenly as it
Speaker 1: had risen, and she gradually recovered her usual tone and
Speaker 1: seemed to forget the little hunchback and his follies. My
Speaker 1: father was out of spirits that evening. On coming in,
Speaker 1: he told us that there had been another case very
Speaker 1: similar to the two fatal ones which had lately occurred.
Speaker 1: The sister of a young peasant on his estate only
Speaker 1: a mile away, was very ill, had been, as she
Speaker 1: described it, attacked very nearly in the same way, and
Speaker 1: was now slowly but steadily sinking. All this, said my father,
Speaker 1: is strictly referable to natural causes. These poor people infect
Speaker 1: one another with their superstitions, and so repeat in imagination
Speaker 1: the images of terror that have infested their neighbors. But
Speaker 1: that very circumstance frightens one horribly, said Carmeila, how so,
Speaker 1: inquired my father. I am so afraid of fancying I
Speaker 1: see such things I think would be as bad as reality.
Speaker 1: We are in God's hands. Nothing can happen without his permission,
Speaker 1: and all will end well for those who love him.
Speaker 1: He is our faithful creator. He has made us all
Speaker 1: and will take care of us. Creator Nature, said the
Speaker 1: young lady in answer to my gentle father. And this
Speaker 1: disease that invades the country is natural nature. All things
Speaker 1: proceed from nature, don't they? All things in the heaven,
Speaker 1: in the earth and under the earth, act and live
Speaker 1: as nature ordains. I think so. The doctor said he
Speaker 1: would come here to day, said my father. After a silence.
Speaker 1: I want to know what he thinks about it, and
Speaker 1: what he thinks we had better do. Doctors never did
Speaker 1: me any good, said Carmela. Then you have been ill,
Speaker 1: I asked, more ill than ever you were? She answered,
Speaker 1: long ago. Yes, a long time I suffered from this
Speaker 1: very illness. But I forget all but my pain and weakness,
Speaker 1: and they were not so bad as are suffered in
Speaker 1: other diseases. You were very young, then, I dare say,
Speaker 1: let us talk no more of it. You would not
Speaker 1: wound a friend. She looked languidly in my eyes, and
Speaker 1: passed her arm round my waist lovingly, and led me
Speaker 1: out of the room. My father was busy over some
Speaker 1: papers near the window. Why does your papa like to
Speaker 1: frighten us, said the pretty girl, with a sigh in
Speaker 1: a little shudder. He doesn't, dear Carmela. It is the
Speaker 1: very furthest thing from his mind. Are you afraid, dearest?
Speaker 1: I should be very much if I fancied there any
Speaker 1: real danger of my being attacked as those poor people were.
Speaker 1: You are afraid to die? Yes, everyone is, but to
Speaker 1: die as lovers may to die together so that they
Speaker 1: may live together. Girls are caterpillars. While they live in
Speaker 1: the world, to be finally butterflies when the summer comes.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime there are grubs and larvae, don't
Speaker 1: you see, each with their peculiar propensities, necessities and structure,
Speaker 1: So says Monsieur Beauffont in his big book. In the
Speaker 1: next room, later in the day, the doctor came and
Speaker 1: was closeted with Papa for some time. He was a
Speaker 1: skillful man of sixty and upwards. He wore powder and
Speaker 1: shaved his pale face as smooth as a pumpkin. He
Speaker 1: and Papa emerged from the room together, and I heard
Speaker 1: Papa laugh and say as they came out, Well, I
Speaker 1: do wonder at a wise man like you, what do
Speaker 1: you say to hippogriffs and dragons. The Doctor was smiling
Speaker 1: and made answer, shaking his head. Nevertheless, life and death
Speaker 1: are mysterious states, and we know little of the resources
Speaker 1: of either. And they walked on, and I heard no more.
Speaker 1: I did not then know what the doctor had been broaching,
Speaker 1: but I think I guess it now. End of chapter four,
Speaker 1: Chapter five, A wonderful likeness this evening, there arrived from
Speaker 1: Grots the grave, dark faced son of the picture cleaner
Speaker 1: with a horse and cart laden with two large packing cases,
Speaker 1: having many pictures in each. It was a journey of
Speaker 1: ten leagues, and whenever a messenger arrived at the Schloss
Speaker 1: from our little capital of Grots, we used to crowd
Speaker 1: about him in the hall to hear the news. This
Speaker 1: arrival created in our secluded quarters quite a sensation. The
Speaker 1: cases remained in the hall, and the messenger was taken
Speaker 1: charge of by the servants till he had eaten his supper. Then,
Speaker 1: with assistance and armed with hammer, ripping chisel and turnscrew,
Speaker 1: he met us in the hall where we had assembled
Speaker 1: to witness the unpacking of the cases. Carmila sat looking
Speaker 1: listlessly on while one after the other the old pictures,
Speaker 1: nearly all portraits which had undergone the process of renovation,
Speaker 1: were brought to light. My mother was of an old
Speaker 1: Hungarian family, and most of these pictures, which were about
Speaker 1: to be restored to their places, had come to us
Speaker 1: through her. My father had a list in his hand,
Speaker 1: from which he read as the artists rummaged out the
Speaker 1: corresponding numbers. I don't know that the pictures were very good,
Speaker 1: but they were undoubtedly very old, and some of them
Speaker 1: very curious. Also, they had for the most part the
Speaker 1: merit of being now seen by me, I may for
Speaker 1: the first time, for the smoke and dust of time
Speaker 1: had all but obliterated them. There is a picture I
Speaker 1: have not yet seen, said my father. In one corner
Speaker 1: at the top of it is the name as well
Speaker 1: as I could read, Marcia Karnstein, and the date sixteen
Speaker 1: ninety eight. And I am curious to see how it
Speaker 1: has turned out. I remembered it. It was a small picture,
Speaker 1: about a foot and a half high and nearly square,
Speaker 1: without a frame, but it was so blackened by age
Speaker 1: I could not make it out. The artist now produced
Speaker 1: it with evident pride. It was quite beautiful. It was startling.
Speaker 1: It seemed to live. It was the effigy of Carmela. Carmela, Dear,
Speaker 1: here is an absolute miracle. Here you are, living, smiling,
Speaker 1: ready to speak in this picture. Isn't it beautiful? Papa?
Speaker 1: And see even the little mole on her throat. My
Speaker 1: father laughed and said, certainly, it is a wonderful likeness.
Speaker 1: But he looked away, and, to my surprise, seemed but
Speaker 1: little struck by it, and went on talking to the
Speaker 1: picture cleaner, who was also something of an artist, and
Speaker 1: discoursed with intelligence about the portraits or other works which
Speaker 1: his art had just brought into light and color. While
Speaker 1: I was more and more lost in wonder the more
Speaker 1: I looked at the picture. Will you let me hang
Speaker 1: this picture in my room, Papa, I asked, certainly, dear,
Speaker 1: he said, smiling, I am very glad you think it
Speaker 1: so like? It must be prettier even than I thought,
Speaker 1: if it is. The young lady did not acknowledge this
Speaker 1: pretty speech, did not seem to hear it. She was
Speaker 1: leaning back in her seat, her fine eyes under their
Speaker 1: long lashes, gazing on me in contemplation, and she smiled
Speaker 1: in a kind of rapture. And now you can read
Speaker 1: quite plainly the name that is written in the corner.
Speaker 1: It is not Marcia. It looks as if it was
Speaker 1: done in gold. The name is Mercalla, Countess Kernstein. And
Speaker 1: this is a little coronet over and underneath a d.
Speaker 1: Sixteen ninety eight. I am descended from the Carnsteins, that is,
Speaker 1: Mamma was ah, said the lady languidly. So am I
Speaker 1: I think a very long descent, very ancient. Are there
Speaker 1: any Carnsteins living now, none who bear the name. I
Speaker 1: believe the family were ruined. I believe in some civil
Speaker 1: wars long ago. But the ruins of the castle are
Speaker 1: only about three miles away. How interesting, she said, languidly.
Speaker 1: But see what beautiful moonlight. She glanced through the hall door,
Speaker 1: which stood a little open. Suppose you take a little
Speaker 1: ramble around the court and look down at the road
Speaker 1: and river. It is so like the night you came
Speaker 1: to us, I said, She sighed, smiling, she rose, and,
Speaker 1: with each her arm about the other's waist, we walked
Speaker 1: out upon the pavement in silence. Slowly we walked down
Speaker 1: to the drawbridge, where the beautiful landscape opened before us.
Speaker 1: And so you were thinking of the night I came here,
Speaker 1: she almost whispered. Are you glad I came to light it,
Speaker 1: dear Carmila, I answered, And you asked for the picture
Speaker 1: you think like me to hang in your room. She
Speaker 1: murmured with a sigh, as she drew her arm closer
Speaker 1: about my waist and let her pretty head sink upon
Speaker 1: my shoulder. How romantic you are, Carmila, I said. Whenever
Speaker 1: you tell me your story, it will be made up
Speaker 1: chiefly of some one great romance, She kissed me silently.
Speaker 1: I am sure, Carmila, you have been in love, that
Speaker 1: there is at this moment an affair of the heart
Speaker 1: going on. I have been in love with no one,
Speaker 1: and never shall, she whispered, unless it should be with you.
Speaker 1: How beautiful she looked in the moonlight. Shy and strained
Speaker 1: was the look with which she quickly hid her face
Speaker 1: in my neck and hair, with tumultuous sighs that seemed
Speaker 1: almost to sob, and pressed in mine a hand that trembled.
Speaker 1: Her soft cheek was glowing against mine. Darling, Darling, she murmured,
Speaker 1: I live in you, and you would die for me.
Speaker 1: I love you, so, I started from her. She was
Speaker 1: gazing on me with eyes from which all fire, all
Speaker 1: meaning had flown, and a face colorless and apathetic. Is
Speaker 1: there a chill in the air, dear, she said drowsily.
Speaker 1: I almost shiver. Have I been dreaming? Let us come in, Come, Come,
Speaker 1: come in. You look ill, Carmela, a little faint. You
Speaker 1: certainly must take some wine, I said, yes, I will.
Speaker 1: I'm better now, I shall be quite well in a
Speaker 1: few minutes. Yes, do give me a little wine, answered Carmela,
Speaker 1: as we approached the door. Let us look again for
Speaker 1: a moment. It is the last time. Perhaps I shall
Speaker 1: see the moonlight with you. How do you feel now,
Speaker 1: dear Carmila, are you really better? I asked, I was
Speaker 1: beginning to take alarm lest she should have been stricken
Speaker 1: with the strange epidemic that they said and invaded the
Speaker 1: country about us. Papa would be grieved beyond measure, I added,
Speaker 1: if he thought you were ever so little ill. Without
Speaker 1: immediately letting us know, we have a very skillful doctor
Speaker 1: near us, the physician who was with Papa to day,
Speaker 1: I'm sure he is. I know how kind you all are.
Speaker 1: But dear child, I am quite well again. There is
Speaker 1: nothing ever wrong with me but a little weakness. People
Speaker 1: say I am languid, I am incapable of exertion. I
Speaker 1: can scarcely walk as far as a child of three
Speaker 1: years old, and every now and then the little strength
Speaker 1: I have falters, and I become as you have just
Speaker 1: seen me. But after all I am very easily set
Speaker 1: up again. In a moment, I am perfectly myself. See
Speaker 1: how I have recovered so indeed, she had, and she
Speaker 1: and I talked a great deal, and very animated, she was,
Speaker 1: and the remainder of that evening passed without any recurrence
Speaker 1: of what I call her infatuations, I mean, her crazy
Speaker 1: talk and looks which embarrassed and even frightened me. But
Speaker 1: there occurred that night an event which gave my thoughts
Speaker 1: quite a new turn, and seemed to startle even Carmilla's
Speaker 1: languid nature into momentary energy. End of chapter five, Chapter six,
Speaker 1: A very strange agony. When we got into the drawing
Speaker 1: room and had sat down to our coffee and chocolate,
Speaker 1: although Carmilla did not take any, she seemed quite herself again,
Speaker 1: and Madame and Mademoiselle de la Fontaine joined us and
Speaker 1: made a little card party, in the course of which
Speaker 1: Papa came in for what he called his dish of tea.
Speaker 1: When the game was over, he sat down beside Carmilla
Speaker 1: on the sofa and asked her a little anxiously whether
Speaker 1: she had heard from her mother since her arrival. She
Speaker 1: answered no. He then asked whether she knew where a
Speaker 1: letter would reach her at present. I cannot tell, she
Speaker 1: answered ambiguously. But I have been thinking of leaving you.
Speaker 1: You have been already too hospitable and too kind to me.
Speaker 1: I have given you an infinity of trouble, and I
Speaker 1: should wish to take carriage tomorrow and post in pursuit
Speaker 1: of her. I know where I shall ultimately find her,
Speaker 1: although I dare not yet tell you. But you must
Speaker 1: not dream of any such thing, exclaimed my father, to
Speaker 1: my great relief. We can afford to lose you so
Speaker 1: and I won't consent to your leaving us except under
Speaker 1: the care of your mother, who was so good as
Speaker 1: to consent to your remaining with us till she herself
Speaker 1: should return. I should be quite happy if I knew
Speaker 1: that you heard from her, But this evening the accounts
Speaker 1: of the progress of the mysterious disease that has invaded
Speaker 1: our neighborhood grow even more alarming. And my beautiful guest,
Speaker 1: I do feel the responsibility unaided by advice from your
Speaker 1: mother very much, but I shall do my best. And
Speaker 1: one thing is certain that you must not think of
Speaker 1: leaving us without her distinct direction to that effect. We
Speaker 1: should suffer too much in parting from you to consent
Speaker 1: to it easily. Thank you, sir a thousand times for
Speaker 1: your hospitality, she answered, smiling bashfully. You have all been
Speaker 1: too kind to me. I have seldom been so happy
Speaker 1: in all my life before, as in your beautiful chateau
Speaker 1: under your care, and in the society of your dear daughter.
Speaker 1: So he gallantly, in his old fashioned way, kissed her hand,
Speaker 1: smiling and pleased at her little speech. I accompanied Carmilla
Speaker 1: as usual to her room, and sat and chatted with
Speaker 1: her while she was preparing for bed. Do you think
Speaker 1: I said at length that you will ever confide fully
Speaker 1: in me? She turned round, smiling, but made no answer,
Speaker 1: only continued to smile on me. You won't answer that,
Speaker 1: I said. You can't answer pleasantly. I ought not to
Speaker 1: have asked you. You are quite right to ask me
Speaker 1: that or anything. You do not know how dear you
Speaker 1: are to me, or you could not think any confidence
Speaker 1: too great to look for. But I am under vows
Speaker 1: no none half so awfully, and I dare not tell
Speaker 1: my story yet, even to you. The time is very
Speaker 1: near when you shall know everything. You will think me cruel,
Speaker 1: very selfish, But love is always selfish. The more ardent,
Speaker 1: the more selfish, how jealous I am, you cannot know.
Speaker 1: You must come with me, loving me to death, or
Speaker 1: else hate me and still come with me and hating
Speaker 1: me through death and after. There is no such word
Speaker 1: as indifference in my apathetic nature. Now, Carmela, you are
Speaker 1: going to talk your wild nonsense again, I said hastily.
Speaker 1: Not I silly, little fool as I am, and full
Speaker 1: of whims and fancies. For your sake, I'll talk like
Speaker 1: a sage. For you. Ever read a ball? No, how
Speaker 1: you do? Run on? What is it like? How charming
Speaker 1: it must be? I almost forget it is years ago,
Speaker 1: I laughed. You are not so old. Your first ball
Speaker 1: can hardly be forgotten. Yet I remember everything about it
Speaker 1: with an effort. I see it all as divers see
Speaker 1: what is going on above them through a medium, dense,
Speaker 1: rippling but transparent. There occurred that night, what has confused
Speaker 1: the picture and made its colors faint. I was all
Speaker 1: but assassinated in my bed, wounded. Here. She touched her breast,
Speaker 1: and never was the same. Since were you near dying? Yes?
Speaker 1: Very a cruel love, strange love that would have taken
Speaker 1: my life. Love will have its sacrifice, no sacrifice without blood.
Speaker 1: Let us go to sleep. Now. I feel so lazy.
Speaker 1: How can I get up just now and lock my door?
Speaker 1: She was lying with her tiny hands buried in her
Speaker 1: rich wavy hair under her cheek, her little head upon
Speaker 1: the pillow, and her glittering eyes followed me whenever I moved,
Speaker 1: with a kind of shy smile that I could not decipher.
Speaker 1: I bid her good night and crept from the room
Speaker 1: with an uncomfortable sensation. I often wondered whether our pretty
Speaker 1: guest ever said her prayers. I certainly had never seen
Speaker 1: her upon her knees in the morning. She never came
Speaker 1: down until long after our family prayers were over, and
Speaker 1: at night she never left the drawing room to attend
Speaker 1: our brief evening prayers in the hall. If it had
Speaker 1: not been that it had casually come out in one
Speaker 1: of our careless talks that she had been baptized, I
Speaker 1: should have doubted her being a Christian. Religion was a
Speaker 1: subject on which I had never heard her speak a word.
Speaker 1: If I had known the world better, this particular neglect
Speaker 1: or antipathy would not have so much surprised me. The
Speaker 1: precautions of nervous people are infectious, and persons of a
Speaker 1: like temperament are pretty sure after a time to imitate them.
Speaker 1: I had adopted Carmila's habit of locking her bedroom door,
Speaker 1: having taken into my head all her whimsical alarms about
Speaker 1: midnight invaders and prowling assassins. I had also adopted her
Speaker 1: precaution of making a brief search through her room to
Speaker 1: satisfy herself that no lurking assassin or robber was ensconced.
Speaker 1: These wise measures taken, I got into my bed and
Speaker 1: fell asleep. A light was burning in my room. This
Speaker 1: was an old habit, a very early date, and which
Speaker 1: nothing could have tempted me to dispense with. Thus fortified,
Speaker 1: I might take my rest in peace. But dreams come
Speaker 1: through stone walls, light up dark rooms or darken light ones,
Speaker 1: and their persons make their exits and their entrances as
Speaker 1: they please, and laugh at Locksmith's. I had a dream
Speaker 1: that night that was the beginning of a very strange agony.
Speaker 1: I cannot call it a nightmare, for I was quite
Speaker 1: conscious of being asleep, But I was equally conscious of
Speaker 1: being in my room and lying in bed precisely as
Speaker 1: I actually was. I saw, or fancied, I saw the
Speaker 1: room and its furniture, just as I had seen it last,
Speaker 1: except that it was very dark, and I saw something
Speaker 1: moving round the foot of the bed, which at first
Speaker 1: I could not accurately distinguish, but I soon saw that
Speaker 1: it was a sooty black animal that resembled a monstrous cat.
Speaker 1: It appeared to me about four or five feet long,
Speaker 1: for it measured fully the length of the hearthrug as
Speaker 1: it passed over it. And it continued chewing and frowing
Speaker 1: with the lithe sinister restlessness of a beast in a cage.
Speaker 1: I could not cry out, although as you may suppose,
Speaker 1: I was terrified. Its pace was growing faster, and the
Speaker 1: room rapidly darker and darker, and at length so dark
Speaker 1: that I could no longer see anything of it but
Speaker 1: its eyes. I felt it spring lightly on the bed.
Speaker 1: The two broad eyes approached my face, and suddenly I
Speaker 1: felt a stinging pain, as if two large needles darted
Speaker 1: an inch or two apart deep into my breast. I
Speaker 1: waked with a scream. The room was lighted by the
Speaker 1: candle that burnt there all through the night, and I
Speaker 1: saw a female figure standing at the foot of the bed,
Speaker 1: a little at the right side. It was in a dark,
Speaker 1: loose dress, and its hair was down and covered its shoulders.
Speaker 1: A block of stone could not have been more Still,
Speaker 1: there was not the slightest stir of respiration. As I
Speaker 1: stared at it, the figure appeared to have changed its
Speaker 1: place and was now nearer the door, then close to it.
Speaker 1: The door opened and it passed out. I was now
Speaker 1: relieved and able to breathe and move. My first thought
Speaker 1: was that Carmela had been playing me a trick, and
Speaker 1: that I had forgotten to secure my door. I hastened
Speaker 1: to it and found it locked as usual on the inside.
Speaker 1: I was afraid to open it. I was horrified. I
Speaker 1: sprang into my bed and covered my head up in
Speaker 1: the bedclothes, and lay there more dead than alive till morning.
Speaker 1: End of chapter six, Chapter seven, descending, It would be
Speaker 1: vain my attempting to tell you the horror with which
Speaker 1: even now I recalled the occurrence of that night. It
Speaker 1: was no such transitory terror as a dream leaves behind it.
Speaker 1: It seemed to deepen by time, and communicated itself to
Speaker 1: the room and the very furniture that had encompassed the apparition.
Speaker 1: I could not bear next day to be alone for
Speaker 1: a moment. I should have told Papa, but for two
Speaker 1: opposite reasons. At one time I thought he would laugh
Speaker 1: at my story, and I could not bear its being
Speaker 1: treated as a jest. And at another I thought he
Speaker 1: might fancy that I had been attacked by the mysterious
Speaker 1: complaint which had invaded our neighborhood. I had myself no
Speaker 1: misgiving of the kind, and as he had been rather
Speaker 1: an invalid for some time, I was afraid of alarming him.
Speaker 1: I was comfortable enough with my good natured companions, Madame
Speaker 1: Perodon and the vivacious Mademoiselle la Fontaine. They both perceived
Speaker 1: that I was out of spirits and nervous, and at
Speaker 1: length I told them what lay so heavy at my heart.
Speaker 1: Mademoiselle laughed, but I fancied that Madame perodn looked anxious
Speaker 1: by the bye, said Mademoiselle, laughing. The long lime tree
Speaker 1: walk behind Carmilla's bedroom window is haunted. Nonsense, exclaimed Madame,
Speaker 1: who probably thought the theme rather inopportune, And who tells
Speaker 1: that story. My dear Martin says he came up twice
Speaker 1: when the old yard gate was being repaired before sunrise,
Speaker 1: and twice saw the same female figure walking down the
Speaker 1: lime tree avenue. So well he might, as long as
Speaker 1: there are cows to milk in the river fields, said Madame.
Speaker 1: I dare say, but Martin chooses to be frightened, and
Speaker 1: never did I see fool more frightened. You must not
Speaker 1: say a word about it to Carmilla, because she can
Speaker 1: see down that walk from her room window, I interposed,
Speaker 1: and she is, if possible, a greater coward than I.
Speaker 1: Carmela came down rather later than usual that day. I
Speaker 1: was so frightened last night, she said, so soon as
Speaker 1: we were together. And I am sure I should have
Speaker 1: seen something dreadful if it had not been for that
Speaker 1: charm I bought from the poor little hunchback whom I
Speaker 1: called such hard names. I had a dream of something
Speaker 1: black coming round my bed, and I awoke in perfect horror,
Speaker 1: and I really thought, for some seconds I saw a
Speaker 1: dark figure near the chimney piece. But I felt under
Speaker 1: my pillow for my charm, and the moment my fingers
Speaker 1: touched it, the figure disappeared. And I felt quite certain,
Speaker 1: only that I had it by me, that something frightful
Speaker 1: would have made its appearance and perhaps throttled me, as
Speaker 1: it did those poor people we heard of. Well, listen
Speaker 1: to me, I began and recounted my adventure at the recital,
Speaker 1: of which she appeared horrified. And had you the charm
Speaker 1: near you, she asked earnestly. No, I had dropped it
Speaker 1: into a china vase in the drawing room. But I
Speaker 1: shall certainly take it with me to night, as you
Speaker 1: have so much faith in it. At this distance of time,
Speaker 1: I cannot tell you or even understand how I overcame
Speaker 1: my horror so effectually as to lie alone in my
Speaker 1: room that night. I remember distinctly that I pinned the
Speaker 1: charm to my pillow. I fell asleep almost immediately, and
Speaker 1: slept even more soundly than usual all night. Next night
Speaker 1: I passed as well. My sleep was delightfully deep and dreamless,
Speaker 1: but I wakened with a sense of lassitude and melancholy, which, however,
Speaker 1: did not exceed a degree that was almost luxurious. Well,
Speaker 1: I told you so, said Carmela, when I described my
Speaker 1: night's sleep. I had such delightful sleep myself. Last night
Speaker 1: I pinned the charm to the breast of my night dress.
Speaker 1: It was too far away. The night before, I am
Speaker 1: quite sure it was all fancy, except the dreams. I
Speaker 1: used to think that evil spirits made dreams, but our
Speaker 1: doctor told me it is no such thing, only a
Speaker 1: fever passing by or some other malady, as they often do,
Speaker 1: he said, knocks at the door, and not being able
Speaker 1: to get in, passes on with that alarm. And what
Speaker 1: do you think the charm is, said I. It has
Speaker 1: been fumigated or immersed in some drug, and is an
Speaker 1: antidote against the malaria. She answered, Then it acts only
Speaker 1: on the body. Certainly, you don't suppose that evil spirits
Speaker 1: are frightened by bits of ribbon or the perfumes of
Speaker 1: a druggist's shop. No, these complaints wandering in the air
Speaker 1: begin by trying the nerves and so infect the brain.
Speaker 1: But before they can seize upon you, the antidote repels them. That,
Speaker 1: I am sure, is what the charm is done for us.
Speaker 1: It is nothing magical, It is simply natural. I should
Speaker 1: have been happier if I could quite have agreed with Carmela.
Speaker 1: But I did my best, and the impression was a
Speaker 1: little losing its force. For some nights I slept profoundly,
Speaker 1: but still every morning I felt the same lassitude, and
Speaker 1: a languor weighed upon me. All day. I felt myself
Speaker 1: a changed girl. A strange melancholy was stealing over me,
Speaker 1: a melancholy that I would not have interrupted. Dim thoughts
Speaker 1: of death began to open, and an idea that I
Speaker 1: was slowly sinking took gentle and somehow not unwelcome possession
Speaker 1: of me. If it was sad, the tone of mind
Speaker 1: which this induced was also sweet. Whatever it might be,
Speaker 1: my soul acquiesced in it. I would not admit that
Speaker 1: I was ill. I would not consent to tell my
Speaker 1: Papa or to have the doctor sent for Carmilla became
Speaker 1: more devoted to me than ever, and her strange paroxysms
Speaker 1: of languid adoration more frequent. She used to gloat on
Speaker 1: me with increasing ardor the more my strength and spirits waned.
Speaker 1: This always shocked me, like a momentary glare of insanity.
Speaker 1: Without knowing it, I was now in a pretty advanced
Speaker 1: stage of the strangest illness under which mortal ever suffered.
Speaker 1: There was an unaccountable fascination in its earlier symptoms that
Speaker 1: more than reconciled me to the incapacitating effect of that
Speaker 1: stage of the malady. This fascination increased for a time
Speaker 1: until it reached a certain point, when gradually a sense
Speaker 1: of the horrible mingled itself, with it deepening as you
Speaker 1: shall hear until it discolored and perverted the whole state
Speaker 1: of my life. The first change I experienced was rather agreeable.
Speaker 1: It was very near the turning point from which began
Speaker 1: the descent of averness. Certain vague and strange sensations visited
Speaker 1: me in my sleep. The prevailing one was of that pleasant, peculiar,
Speaker 1: cold thrill which we feel in bathing when we move
Speaker 1: against the current of a river. This was soon accompanied
Speaker 1: by dreams that seemed interminable and were so vague that
Speaker 1: I could never recollect their scenery and persons, or anyone
Speaker 1: connected portion of their action. But they left an awful
Speaker 1: impression and a sense of exhaustion, as if I had
Speaker 1: passed through a long period of great mental exertion and danger.
Speaker 1: After all these dreams, there remained, on waking a remembrance
Speaker 1: of having been in a place very nearly dark, and
Speaker 1: of having spoken to people whom I could not see,
Speaker 1: and especially of one clear voice, of a female's very
Speaker 1: deep that spoke as if at a distance, slowly and
Speaker 1: producing always the same sensation of indescribable solemnity and fear.
Speaker 1: Sometimes there came a sensation as if a hand was
Speaker 1: drawn softly along my cheek and neck. Sometimes it was
Speaker 1: as if warm lips kissed me, and longer and longer,
Speaker 1: and more lovingly as they reached my throat. But there
Speaker 1: the caress fixed itself. My heart beat faster, my breathing
Speaker 1: rose and fell rapidly and full drawn, a sobbing that
Speaker 1: rose into a sense of strangulation supervened and turned into
Speaker 1: a dreadful convulsion, in which my senses left me and
Speaker 1: I became unconscious. It was now three weeks since the
Speaker 1: commencement of this unaccountable state. My sufferings had during the
Speaker 1: last week told upon my appearance. I had grown pale,
Speaker 1: My eyes were dilated and darkened underneath, and the languor
Speaker 1: which I had long felt began to display itself in
Speaker 1: my countenance. My father asked me often whether I was ill,
Speaker 1: but with an obstinacy which now seems to me unaccountable,
Speaker 1: I persisted in assuring him that I was quite well.
Speaker 1: In a sense. This was true. I had no pain,
Speaker 1: I could complain of, no bodily derangement. My complaint seemed
Speaker 1: to be one of the imagination or the nerves. And
Speaker 1: horrible as my sufferings were, I kept them with a
Speaker 1: morbid reserve very nearly to myself. It could not be
Speaker 1: that terrible complaint which the peasants called the upire, for
Speaker 1: I had now been suffering for three weeks, and they
Speaker 1: were seldom ill for much more than three days. When
Speaker 1: death put an end to their miseries. Carmilla complained of
Speaker 1: dreams and feverish sensations, but by no means of so
Speaker 1: alarming a kind as mine. I say that mine were
Speaker 1: extremely alarming. Had I been capable of comprehending my condition,
Speaker 1: I would have invoked aid and advice on my knees.
Speaker 1: The narcotic of an unsuspected influence was acting upon me,
Speaker 1: and my perceptions were benumbed. I am going to tell
Speaker 1: you now of a dream that led immediately to an
Speaker 1: odd discovery. One night, instead of the voice I was
Speaker 1: accustomed to hear in the dark, I heard one sweet
Speaker 1: and tender and at the same time terrible, which said,
Speaker 1: your mother warns you to be aware of the assassin.
Speaker 1: At the same time, a light unexpectedly sprang up, and
Speaker 1: I saw Carmila standing near the foot of my bed
Speaker 1: in her white knight dress, bathed from her chin to
Speaker 1: her feet in one great stain of blood. I wakened
Speaker 1: with a shriek, possessed with the idea that Carmila was
Speaker 1: being murdered. I remember springing from my bed, and my
Speaker 1: next recollection as that of standing on the lobby crying
Speaker 1: for help. Madame and Mademoiselle came scurrying out of their
Speaker 1: rooms in alarm, A lamp burned always on the lobby,
Speaker 1: and seeing me, they soon learned the cause of my terror.
Speaker 1: I insisted on our knocking at Carmela's door. Our knocking
Speaker 1: was unanswered. It soon became a pounding and an uproar.
Speaker 1: We shrieked her name, but all was vain. We all
Speaker 1: grew frightened, for the door was locked. We hurried back
Speaker 1: and panic to my room. There we rang the bell
Speaker 1: long and furiously. If my father's room had been at
Speaker 1: that side of the house, we would have called him
Speaker 1: up at once to our aid, but alas he was
Speaker 1: quite out of hearing, and to reach him involved an
Speaker 1: excursion for which we none of us had courage. Servants, however,
Speaker 1: soon came running up the stairs. I had got on
Speaker 1: my dressing gown and slippers. Meanwhile, and my companions were
Speaker 1: already similarly furnished. Recognizing the voices of the servants on
Speaker 1: the lobby. We sallied out together, and, having renewed as
Speaker 1: fruitlessly our summons at Carmilla's door, I ordered the men
Speaker 1: to force the lock. They did so, and we stood,
Speaker 1: holding our lights aloft in the doorway, and so stared
Speaker 1: into the room. We called her by name, but there
Speaker 1: was still no reply. We looked round the room. Everything
Speaker 1: was undisturbed. It was exactly in the state in which
Speaker 1: I had left it on bidding her good night. But
Speaker 1: Carmilla was gone. End of Chapter seven, Chapter eight. Search.
Speaker 1: At sight of the room perfectly undisturbed except for our
Speaker 1: violent entrance, we began to cool a little, and soon
Speaker 1: recovered our sense sufficiently to dismiss the men. It had
Speaker 1: struck Mademoiselle that possibly Carmilla had been wakened by the
Speaker 1: uproar at her door, and, in her first panic, had
Speaker 1: jumped from her bed and hid herself in a press
Speaker 1: or behind a curtain from which she could not, of
Speaker 1: course emerge until the Majordomo in his mermidons had withdrawn.
Speaker 1: We now recommenced our search and began to call her
Speaker 1: name again. It was all to no purpose. Our perplexity
Speaker 1: and agitation increased. We examined the windows, but they were secured.
Speaker 1: I implored of Carmilla, if she had concealed herself to
Speaker 1: play this cruel trick, no longer to come out and
Speaker 1: to end our anxieties, It was all useless. I was
Speaker 1: by this time convinced that she was not in the room,
Speaker 1: nor in the dressing room, the door of which was
Speaker 1: still locked. On this side, she could not have passed it.
Speaker 1: I was utterly puzzled. Had Carmilla discovered one of those
Speaker 1: secret passages which the old housekeeper said were known to
Speaker 1: exist in the Schloss, although the tradition of their exact
Speaker 1: situation had been lost a little time, would, no doubt
Speaker 1: explain all utterly perplexed. As for the present we were.
Speaker 1: It was past four o'clock, and I preferred passing the
Speaker 1: remaining hours of darkness in Madame's room. Daylight brought no
Speaker 1: solution of the difficulty. The whole household, with my father
Speaker 1: at his head, was in a state of agitation. Next morning,
Speaker 1: every part of the chateau was searched, The grounds were explored.
Speaker 1: No trace of the missing lady could be discovered. The
Speaker 1: stream was about to be dragged. My father was in distraction.
Speaker 1: What a tale to have to tell the poor girl's
Speaker 1: mother on her return, I too was almost beside myself,
Speaker 1: though my grief was of quite a different kind. The
Speaker 1: morning was passed in alarm and excitement. It was now
Speaker 1: one o'clock and still no tidings. I ran up to
Speaker 1: Carmilla's room and found her standing at her dressing table.
Speaker 1: I was astounded. I could not believe my eyes. She
Speaker 1: beckoned to me with her pretty finger in silence, her
Speaker 1: face expressed extreme fear. I ran to her in an
Speaker 1: ecstasy of joy. I kissed and embraced her again and again.
Speaker 1: I ran to the bell and rang it vehemently to
Speaker 1: bring others to the spot, who might at once relieve
Speaker 1: my father's anxiety. Dear Carmila, what has become of you?
Speaker 1: All this time? We have been in agonies of anxiety
Speaker 1: about you? I exclaimed, Where have you been? How did
Speaker 1: you come back? Last night has been a night of wonders,
Speaker 1: she said, For mercy's sake, explain all you can. It
Speaker 1: was past two last night, she said, when I went
Speaker 1: to sleep as usual in my bed, with my doors locked,
Speaker 1: that of the dressing room, and that opening upon the gallery.
Speaker 1: My sleep was uninterrupted, and so far as I know, dreamless.
Speaker 1: But I woke just now on the sofa in the
Speaker 1: dressing room there, and I found the door between the
Speaker 1: rooms open, and the other door forced. How could all
Speaker 1: this have happened without my being wakened? It must have
Speaker 1: been accompanied with a great deal of noise, and I
Speaker 1: am particularly easily wakened. And how could I have been
Speaker 1: carried out of my bed without my sleep having been interrupted?
Speaker 1: I whom the slightest stir startles. By this time, Madame Mademoiselle,
Speaker 1: my father, and a number of the servants were in
Speaker 1: the room. Carmilla was of course overwhelmed with inquiries, congratulations
Speaker 1: and welcomes. She had but one story to tell, and
Speaker 1: seemed the least able of all the party to suggest
Speaker 1: any way of accounting for what had happened. My father
Speaker 1: took a turn up and down the room, thinking I
Speaker 1: saw Carmela's eye follow him for a moment with a sly,
Speaker 1: dark glance. When my father had sent the servants away,
Speaker 1: Mademoiselle having gone in search of a little bottle of
Speaker 1: Valerian and sell volatile, and there being no one now
Speaker 1: in the room with Carmela except my father, Madame, and myself.
Speaker 1: He came to her thoughtfully, took her hand very kindly,
Speaker 1: and led her to the sofa and sat down beside her.
Speaker 1: Will you forgive me, my dear if I risk a
Speaker 1: conjecture and ask a question, who can have better? Right?
Speaker 1: She said? Ask what you please, and I will tell
Speaker 1: you everything. But my story is simply one of bewilderment
Speaker 1: and darkness. I know absolutely nothing. Put any question you please,
Speaker 1: But you know, of course, the limitations Mamma has placed
Speaker 1: me under perfectly, my dear child, I need not approach
Speaker 1: the topics on which she desires our silence. Now, the
Speaker 1: marvel of last night consists in your having been removed
Speaker 1: from your bed and your room without being wakened, and
Speaker 1: this removal having occurred apparently while the windows were still
Speaker 1: secured and the two doors locked upon the inside. I
Speaker 1: will tell you my theory and ask you the question.
Speaker 1: Carmela was leaning on her hand dejectedly. Madame and I
Speaker 1: were listening breathlessly. Now my question is this, Have you
Speaker 1: ever been suspected of walking in your sleep? Never since
Speaker 1: I was very young, indeed, But you did walk in
Speaker 1: your sleep when you were young? Yes, I know, I
Speaker 1: did I have been told so often by my old nurse.
Speaker 1: My father smiled and nodded, Well, what has happened is this?
Speaker 1: You got up in your sleep unlocked the door, not
Speaker 1: leaving the key as usual in the lock, but taking
Speaker 1: it out and locking it on the outside. You again
Speaker 1: took the key out and carried it away with you
Speaker 1: to some one of the five and twenty rooms on
Speaker 1: this floor, or perhaps upstairs or downstairs. There are so
Speaker 1: many rooms and closets, so much heavy furniture, and such
Speaker 1: accumulations of lumber, that it would require a week to
Speaker 1: search this old house thoroughly. Do you you see now
Speaker 1: what I mean? I do? But not all? She answered,
Speaker 1: And how, Papa, do you account for her finding herself
Speaker 1: on the sofa in the dressing room, which we had
Speaker 1: searched so carefully. She came there after you had searched it,
Speaker 1: still in her sleep, and at last awoke spontaneously, and
Speaker 1: was as much surprised to find herself where she was
Speaker 1: as any one else. I wish all mysteries were as
Speaker 1: easily and innocently explained as yours, Carmilla, he said, laughing,
Speaker 1: And so we may congratulate ourselves on the certainty that
Speaker 1: the most natural explanation of the occurrence is one that
Speaker 1: involves no drugging, no tampering with locks, no burglars or
Speaker 1: poisoners or witches, nothing that need alarm Carmilla or any
Speaker 1: one else for our safety. Carmela was looking charmingly. Nothing
Speaker 1: could be more beautiful than her tints. Her beauty was
Speaker 1: I think enhanced by that graceful languor that was peculiar
Speaker 1: to her. I think my father was silently contrasting her
Speaker 1: looks with mine, for he said, I wish my poor
Speaker 1: Laura was looking more like herself, and he sighed. So
Speaker 1: our alarms were happily ended, and Carmilla restored to her friends.
Speaker 1: End of chapter eight, Chapter nine the doctor. As Carmilla
Speaker 1: would not hear of an attendant sleeping in her room,
Speaker 1: my father arranged that a servant should sleep outside her door,
Speaker 1: so that she would not attempt to make another such
Speaker 1: excursion without being arrested at her own door. That night
Speaker 1: passed quietly, and next morning early the doctor whom my
Speaker 1: father had sent for without telling me a word about it,
Speaker 1: arrived to see me. Madame accompanied me to the library,
Speaker 1: and there the grave little doctor with white hair and spectacles,
Speaker 1: whom I mentioned before, was waiting to receive me. I
Speaker 1: told him my story, and as I proceeded he grew
Speaker 1: graver and graver. We were standing, he and I in
Speaker 1: the recess of one of the windows, facing one another.
Speaker 1: When my statement was over, he leaned with his shoulders
Speaker 1: against the wall and with his eyes fixed on me earnestly,
Speaker 1: with an interest in which was a dash of horror.
Speaker 1: After a minute's reflection, he asked Madame if he could
Speaker 1: see my father. He was sent for accordingly, and as
Speaker 1: he entered, smiling, he said, I dare say, doctor, you
Speaker 1: are going to tell me that I am an old
Speaker 1: fool for having brought you here. I hope I am.
Speaker 1: But his smile faded into shadow as the doctor, with
Speaker 1: a very grave face, beckoned to him. He and the
Speaker 1: doctor talked for some time in the same recess where
Speaker 1: I had just conferred with the position. It seemed an
Speaker 1: earnest and argument conversation. The room is very large, and
Speaker 1: I and Madame stood together, burning with curiosity. At the
Speaker 1: farther end. Not a word could we hear, however, for
Speaker 1: they spoke in a very low tone, and the deep
Speaker 1: recess of the window quite concealed the doctor from view,
Speaker 1: and very nearly my father, whose foot, arm and shoulder
Speaker 1: only we could see. And the voices were, I suppose,
Speaker 1: all the less audible for the sort of closet which
Speaker 1: the thick wall and window formed. After a time my
Speaker 1: father's face looked into the room. It was pale, thoughtful,
Speaker 1: and I fancied, agitated. Laura, dear, come here for a moment, madame,
Speaker 1: We sha'n't trouble you, the doctor says, at present. Accordingly,
Speaker 1: I approached for the first time a little alarmed, for
Speaker 1: although I felt very weak, I did not feel ill.
Speaker 1: And strength one always fancies is a thing that may
Speaker 1: be picked up when we please. My father held out
Speaker 1: his hand to me as I drew near, but he
Speaker 1: was looking at the doctor, and he said, it certainly
Speaker 1: is very odd. I don't understand it quite. Laura, come here, dear,
Speaker 1: now attend to doctor Spielsburg and recollect yourself. You mentioned
Speaker 1: a sensation like that of two needles piercing the skin
Speaker 1: somewhere about your neck on the night when you first
Speaker 1: experienced your horrible dream. Is there still any soreness? None
Speaker 1: at all? I answered, Can you indicate with your finger?
Speaker 1: About the point at which you think this occurred very
Speaker 1: little below my throat here, I answered, I wore a
Speaker 1: morning dress which covered the place I pointed to. Now
Speaker 1: you can satisfy yourself, said the doctor. You won't mind
Speaker 1: your papa's lowering your dress a very little. It is
Speaker 1: necessary to detect a symptom of the complaint under which
Speaker 1: you have been suffering. I acquiesced. It was only an
Speaker 1: inch or two below the edge of my collar. God
Speaker 1: bless me, so it is, exclaimed my father, growing pale.
Speaker 1: You see it now with your own eyes, said the doctor,
Speaker 1: with a gloomy triumph. What is it, I exclaimed, beginning
Speaker 1: to be frightened. Nothing, my dear young lady, but a
Speaker 1: small blue spot, about the size of the tip of
Speaker 1: your little finger. And now, he continued, turning to Papa.
Speaker 1: The question is what is best to be done? Is
Speaker 1: there any danger? I urged in great trepidation. I trust not,
Speaker 1: my dear, answered the doctor. I don't see why you
Speaker 1: should not recover. I don't see why you should not
Speaker 1: immediately begin to get better. That is the point at
Speaker 1: which the sense of strangulation begins. Yes, I answered, and
Speaker 1: recollect as well as you can. The same point was
Speaker 1: a kind of sense of that thrill which you describe
Speaker 1: just now, like the current of a cold stream running
Speaker 1: against you. It may have been I think it was, ay,
Speaker 1: you see, he added, turning to my father. Shall I
Speaker 1: say a word to Madame? Certainly, said my father. He
Speaker 1: called Madame to him and said, I find my young
Speaker 1: friend here far from well. It won't be of any
Speaker 1: great consequence, I hope, but it will be necessary that
Speaker 1: some steps be taken, which I will explain by and by.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, Madame, you will be so good
Speaker 1: as to not let miss Laura be alone for one moment.
Speaker 1: That is the only direction I need give for the present.
Speaker 1: It is indispensable. We may rely upon your kindness, Madame,
Speaker 1: I know, added my father. Madame satisfied him eagerly. And you,
Speaker 1: dear Laura, I know you will observe the doctor's direction.
Speaker 1: I I shall have to ask your opinion upon another
Speaker 1: patient whose symptoms slightly resemble those of my daughter that
Speaker 1: have just been detailed to you, very much milder in degree,
Speaker 1: but I believe quite of the same sort. She is
Speaker 1: a young lady, our guest. But as you say, you
Speaker 1: will be passing this way again this evening. You can't
Speaker 1: do better than take your supper here and you can
Speaker 1: then see her. She does not come down till the afternoon.
Speaker 1: I thank you, said the doctor. I shall be with
Speaker 1: you then at about seven this evening. And then they
Speaker 1: repeated their directions to me and Madame. And with this
Speaker 1: parting charge, my father left us and walked out with
Speaker 1: the doctor. And I saw them pacing together up and
Speaker 1: down between the road and the moat on the grassy
Speaker 1: platform in front of the castle, evidently absorbed in earnest conversation.
Speaker 1: The doctor did not return. I saw him mount his
Speaker 1: horse there, take his leave, and ride away eastward through
Speaker 1: the forest. Nearly yet the same time, I saw the
Speaker 1: man arrive from Dranfield with the letters and dismount and
Speaker 1: hand the bag to my father. In the meantime, Madame
Speaker 1: and I were both busy lost in conjecture as to
Speaker 1: the reasons of the singular and earnest direction which the
Speaker 1: doctor and my father had concurred in imposing. Madame, as
Speaker 1: she afterwards told me, was afraid the doctor apprehended a
Speaker 1: sudden seizure, and that without prompt assistance, I might either
Speaker 1: lose my life in a fit or at least be
Speaker 1: seriously hurt. The interpretation did not strike me, and I fancied,
Speaker 1: perhaps luckily for my nerves, that the arrangement was prescribed
Speaker 1: simply to secure a companion who would prevent my taking
Speaker 1: too much exercise, or eating unripe fruit, or doing any
Speaker 1: of the fifty foolish things to which young people are
Speaker 1: supposed to be prone. About half an hour after my
Speaker 1: father came in, he had a letter in his hand
Speaker 1: and said, this letter had been delayed. It is from
Speaker 1: General Spielsdorf. He might have been here yet yesterday, he
Speaker 1: may not come until tomorrow, or he may be here
Speaker 1: to day. He put the letter into my hand, but
Speaker 1: he did not look pleased, as he used when a guest,
Speaker 1: especially when so much loved as the General was coming.
Speaker 1: On the contrary, he looked as if he wished him
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the red sea. There is plainly
Speaker 1: something on his mind which he did not choose to divulge. Papa, darling,
Speaker 1: will you tell me this, said I, suddenly, laying my
Speaker 1: hand on his arm and looking, I am sure, imploringly
Speaker 1: in his face. Perhaps he answered, smoothing my hair caressingly
Speaker 1: over my eyes. Does the doctor think me very ill. No, dear,
Speaker 1: he thinks, if right steps are taken, you will be
Speaker 1: quite well again, at least on the high road to
Speaker 1: a complete recovery, in a day or two. He answered,
Speaker 1: a little dryly. I wish our good friend the General
Speaker 1: had chosen any other time. That is, I wish you
Speaker 1: had been perfectly well to receive him. But do tell me, Papa,
Speaker 1: I insisted, what does he think is the matter with me? Nothing?
Speaker 1: You must not plague me with questions, he answered, with
Speaker 1: more irritation than I ever remember him to have displayed before,
Speaker 1: And seeing that I looked wounded, I suppose, he kissed
Speaker 1: me and added, you shall know all about it in
Speaker 1: a day or two. That is all that I know.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, you are not to trouble your head
Speaker 1: about it. He turned and left the room, but came
Speaker 1: back before I had done wondering and puzzling over the
Speaker 1: oddity of all this. It was merely to say that
Speaker 1: he was going to Carnstein and had ordered the carriage
Speaker 1: to be ready at twelve, and that I and Madame
Speaker 1: should accompany him. He was going to see the priest
Speaker 1: who lived near those picturesque grounds, upon business and as
Speaker 1: Carmila had never seen them, she could follow when she
Speaker 1: came down with Mademoiselle, who would bring materials for what
Speaker 1: you call a picnic, which might be laid for us
Speaker 1: in the ruined castle. At twelve o'clock a wardingly, I
Speaker 1: was ready, and not long after my father, Madame and
Speaker 1: I set out upon our projected drive. Passing the drawbridge,
Speaker 1: we turned to the right and follow the road over
Speaker 1: the steep Gothic bridge westward to reach the deserted village
Speaker 1: and ruined castle of Caernstein. No Sylvan drive can be
Speaker 1: fancied prettier. The ground breaks into gentle hills and hollows,
Speaker 1: all clothed with beautiful wood, totally destitute of the comparative
Speaker 1: formality which artificial planting and early culture and pruning impart.
Speaker 1: The irregularities of the ground often lead the road out
Speaker 1: of its course and cause it to wind beautifully round
Speaker 1: the sides of broken hollows and the steeper sides of
Speaker 1: the hills, among varieties of ground almost inexhaustible. Turning one
Speaker 1: of these points, we suddenly encountered our old friend, the General,
Speaker 1: riding towards us, attended by a mounted servant. His portmanteaus
Speaker 1: were following in a hired wagon, such as we term
Speaker 1: a cart. The girl dismounted as we pulled up, and
Speaker 1: after the usual greetings, was easily persuaded to accept the
Speaker 1: vacant seat in the carriage and send his horse on
Speaker 1: with his servant to the Schloss. End of Chapter nine,
Speaker 1: Chapter ten bereaved. It was about ten months since we
Speaker 1: had last seen him, but that time had sufficed to
Speaker 1: make an alteration of years in his appearance. He had
Speaker 1: grown thinner, something of gloom and anxiety had taken the
Speaker 1: place of that cordial serenity which used to characterize his features.
Speaker 1: His dark blue eyes, always penetrating, now gleamed with a
Speaker 1: sterner light from under his shaggy gray eyebrows. It was
Speaker 1: not such a change as grief alone. Usually induces, and
Speaker 1: angrier passions seemed to have had their share in bringing
Speaker 1: it about. We had not long resumed our drive when
Speaker 1: the General began to talk with his usual soldierly directness
Speaker 1: of the bereavement as he termed it, which he had
Speaker 1: sustained in the death of his beloved niece and ward.
Speaker 1: And he then broke out in a tone of intense
Speaker 1: bitterness and fury, inveighing against the hellish arts to which
Speaker 1: she had fallen a victim, and expressing with more exasperation
Speaker 1: than piety, his wonder that Heaven should tolerate so monstrous
Speaker 1: an indulgence of the lusts and malignity of Hell. My father,
Speaker 1: who saw at once that something very extraordinary had Befallen,
Speaker 1: asked him, if not too painful to him, to detail
Speaker 1: the circumstances which he thought justified the strong terms in
Speaker 1: which he expressed himself. I should tell you with all pleasure,
Speaker 1: said the general. But you would not believe me. Why
Speaker 1: should I not, he asked, because, he answered testily, you
Speaker 1: believe in nothing but what consists with your own prejudices
Speaker 1: and illusions. I remember when I was like you, but
Speaker 1: I have learned better. Try me, said my father. I
Speaker 1: am not such a dogmatist as you suppose. Besides which,
Speaker 1: I very well know that you generally require proof for
Speaker 1: what you believe, and am therefore very strongly predisposed to
Speaker 1: respect your conclusions. You are right in supposing that I
Speaker 1: have not been led lightly into a belief in the
Speaker 1: marvelous For what I have experienced is marvelous, and I
Speaker 1: have been forced by extraordinary evidence to credit that which
Speaker 1: ran counter diametrically to all my theories. I have been
Speaker 1: made the dupe of a preternatural conspiracy. Notwithstanding his professions
Speaker 1: of confidence in the General's penetration. I saw my father
Speaker 1: at this point glance at the General with as I thought,
Speaker 1: a marked suspicion of his sanity. The General did not
Speaker 1: see it, luckily. He was looking gloomily and curiously into
Speaker 1: the glades and vistas of the woods that were opening
Speaker 1: before us. You are going to the ruins of Kernstein,
Speaker 1: he said, yes, it is a lucky coincidence. Do you
Speaker 1: know I was going to ask you to bring me
Speaker 1: there to inspect them. I have a special object in exploring.
Speaker 1: There is a ruined chapel, ain't there, with a great
Speaker 1: many tombs of that extinct family. So there are highly interesting,
Speaker 1: said my father. I hope you are thinking of claiming
Speaker 1: the title and estates. My father said this gaily, but
Speaker 1: the General did not recollect the laugh or even the smile,
Speaker 1: which courtesy exacts for a friend's joke. On the contrary,
Speaker 1: he looked grave and even fierce, ruminating on a matter
Speaker 1: that stirred his anger and horror. Something very different, he
Speaker 1: said gruffly. I mean to unearth some of those fine people.
Speaker 1: I hope, by God's blessing, to accomplish a pious sacrilege here,
Speaker 1: which will relieve our earth of certain monsters and enable
Speaker 1: honest people to sleep in their beds without being assailed
Speaker 1: by murderers. I have strange things to tell you, my
Speaker 1: dear friend, such as I myself would have scouted as incredible.
Speaker 1: A few months since my father looked at him again,
Speaker 1: but this time not with a glance of suspicion, with
Speaker 1: an eye rather of keen intelligence and alarm. The house
Speaker 1: of Carnstein, he said, has been long extinct a hundred years.
Speaker 1: At least. My dear wife was maternally descended from the Carnsteins,
Speaker 1: but the name and title have long ceased to exist.
Speaker 1: The castle is a ruin. The very village is deserted.
Speaker 1: It is fifty years since the smoke of a chimney
Speaker 1: was seen there, not a roof left. Quite true, I
Speaker 1: have heard a great deal about that since I last
Speaker 1: saw you, A great deal that will astonish you. But
Speaker 1: I I had better relate everything in the order in
Speaker 1: which it occurred, said the General. You saw my dear ward,
Speaker 1: my child, I may call her. No creature could have
Speaker 1: been more beautiful, and only three months ago none more blooming. Yes,
Speaker 1: poor thing. When I saw her last, she certainly was
Speaker 1: quite lovely, said my father. I was grieved and shocked
Speaker 1: more than I can tell you. My dear friend, I
Speaker 1: knew what a blow it was to you. He took
Speaker 1: the General's hand, and they exchanged a kind pressure. Tears
Speaker 1: gathered in the old soldier's eyes. He did not seek
Speaker 1: to conceal them. He said, we have been very old friends.
Speaker 1: I knew you would feel for me, childless as I am.
Speaker 1: She had become an object of very near interest to
Speaker 1: me and repaid my care by an affection that cheered
Speaker 1: my home and made my life happy. That is all gone.
Speaker 1: The years that remain to me on earth may not
Speaker 1: be very long, But by God's mercy, I hope to
Speaker 1: accomplish a service to mankind before I die, and to
Speaker 1: subserve the vengeance of Heaven upon the fiends who have
Speaker 1: murdered my poor child in the spring of her hopes
Speaker 1: and beauty. You said just now that you intended relating
Speaker 1: everything as it occurred, said my father. Pray, do I
Speaker 1: assure you that it is not mere curiosity that prompts me.
Speaker 1: By this time we had reached the point at which
Speaker 1: the Drunsdall road by which the General had come, diverges
Speaker 1: from the road which we were traveling to Carnstein. How
Speaker 1: far is it to the ruins, inquired the General, looking
Speaker 1: anxiously forward, About half a league. Answered my father, pray,
Speaker 1: let us hear the story you were so good as
Speaker 1: to promise end of chapter ten, chapter eleven, the story
Speaker 1: with all my heart, said the General with an effort,
Speaker 1: and after a short pause in which to arrange his subject,
Speaker 1: he commenced one of the strangest narratives I ever heard.
Speaker 1: My dear child was looking forward with great pleasure to
Speaker 1: the visit you had been so good as to arrange
Speaker 1: for her. To your charming daughter, here he made me
Speaker 1: a gallant but melancholy bow. In the meantime we had
Speaker 1: an invitation to my old friend, the Count Carlsfeld, whose
Speaker 1: loss is about six leagues to the other side of Carnstein.
Speaker 1: It was to attend the series of fetes which you
Speaker 1: remember were given by him in honor of his illustrious visitor,
Speaker 1: the Grand Duke Charles. Yes, and very splendid. I believe
Speaker 1: they were, said my father princely, but then his hospitalities
Speaker 1: are quite regal. He has Aladdin's lamp, the night from which,
Speaker 1: when my sorrow dates, was devoted to a magnificent masquerade.
Speaker 1: The grounds were thrown open, the trees hung with colored lamps.
Speaker 1: There was such a display of fireworks as Paris itself
Speaker 1: had never witnessed. And such music, music, you know, is
Speaker 1: my weakness, Such ravishing music, the finest instrumental band perhaps
Speaker 1: in the world, and the finest singers who could be
Speaker 1: collected from all the great operas in Europe. As you
Speaker 1: wandered through these fantastically illuminated grounds, the moonlighted chateau throwing
Speaker 1: a rosy light from its long rows of windows, you
Speaker 1: would suddenly hear these ravishing voices stealing from the silence
Speaker 1: of some grove, or rising from boats upon the lake.
Speaker 1: I felt myself as I looked and listened, carried back
Speaker 1: into the romance and poetry of my early youth. When
Speaker 1: the fireworks were ended and the ball began, we returned
Speaker 1: to the noble suite of rooms that were thrown open
Speaker 1: to the dancers. A masked ball, you know, is a
Speaker 1: beautiful sight, but so brilliant, a spectacle of the kind
Speaker 1: I never saw before. It was a very aristocratic assembly.
Speaker 1: I was myself almost the only nobody present. My dear
Speaker 1: child was looking quite beautiful. She wore no mask. Her
Speaker 1: excitement and delight added an unspeakable charm to her features.
Speaker 1: Always lovely, I remarked. A young lady, dressed magnificently but
Speaker 1: wearing a mask, who appeared to me to be observing
Speaker 1: my ward with extraordinary interest. I had seen her earlier
Speaker 1: in the evening in the Great Hall, and again for
Speaker 1: a few minutes walking near us on the terrace under
Speaker 1: the castle windows. Similarly employed, a lady, also masked, richly
Speaker 1: and gravely dressed and with a stately air, like a
Speaker 1: person of rank, accompanied her as a chaperone. Had the
Speaker 1: young lady not worn a mask, I could of course
Speaker 1: have been much more certain upon the question whether she
Speaker 1: was really watching my poor darling. I am now well
Speaker 1: assured that she was. We were now in one of
Speaker 1: the salons. My poor dear child had been dancing and
Speaker 1: was resting a little in one of the chairs near
Speaker 1: the door. I was standing near the two ladies I
Speaker 1: have mentioned had approached, and the younger took the chair
Speaker 1: next my ward, while her companion stood by me, and
Speaker 1: for a little time addressed herself in low tone to
Speaker 1: her charge, availing herself of the privilege of her mask.
Speaker 1: She turned to me, and, in the tone of an
Speaker 1: old friend, and calling me by name, opened a conversation
Speaker 1: with me, which piqued my curiosity again. Deal she referred
Speaker 1: to many scenes where she had met me, at court
Speaker 1: and at distinguished houses. She alluded to little incidents which
Speaker 1: I had long ceased to think of, but which I
Speaker 1: found had only lain in abeyance in my memory, for
Speaker 1: they instantly started into life at her touch. I became
Speaker 1: more and more curious to ascertain who she was. Every
Speaker 1: moment she parried my attempts to discover very adroitly and pleasantly.
Speaker 1: The knowledge she showed of many passages in my life
Speaker 1: seemed to me all but unaccountable, and she appeared to
Speaker 1: take a not unnatural pleasure in foiling my curiosity and
Speaker 1: in seeing me flounder in my eager perplexity from one
Speaker 1: conjecture to another. In the meantime, the young lady, whom
Speaker 1: her mother called by the odd name of Millarca, when
Speaker 1: she once or twice addressed her had with the same ease,
Speaker 1: and grace got into conversation with my ward. She introduced
Speaker 1: herself by saying that her mother was a very old
Speaker 1: acquaintance of mine. She spoke of the agreeable audacity which
Speaker 1: a mask rendered practicable. She talked like a friend. She
Speaker 1: admired her dress, and insinuated very prettily her admiration of
Speaker 1: her beauty. She amused her with laughing criticisms upon the
Speaker 1: people who crowded the ball room and laughed at my
Speaker 1: poor child's fun. She was very witty and lively when
Speaker 1: she pleased, and after a time they had grown very
Speaker 1: good friends. And the young stranger lowered her mask, displaying
Speaker 1: a remarkably beautiful face. I had never seen it before,
Speaker 1: neither had my dear child, But though it was new
Speaker 1: to us, the features were so engaging as well as lovely,
Speaker 1: that it was impossible not to feel the attraction powerfully.
Speaker 1: My poor girl did so. I never saw any one
Speaker 1: taken with another at first sight, unless indeed it was
Speaker 1: the stranger herself, who seemed quite to have lost her
Speaker 1: heart to her. In the meantime, availing myself of the
Speaker 1: license of a masquerade, I put not a few questions
Speaker 1: to the elder lady. You have puzzled me utterly, I said, laughing.
Speaker 1: Is that not enough? Won't you now consent to stand
Speaker 1: on equal terms and do me the kindness to remove
Speaker 1: your mask? Can any request be more unreasonable, she replied,
Speaker 1: ask a lady to yield an advantage. Besides, how do
Speaker 1: you know you should recognize me? Years make changes as
Speaker 1: you see, I said, with a bow. And I suppose
Speaker 1: a rather melancholy little laugh, as philosophers tell us, she said,
Speaker 1: And how do you know that a sight of my
Speaker 1: face would help you? I should take chance for that,
Speaker 1: I answered. It is vain trying to make yourself out
Speaker 1: an old woman. Your figure betrays you. Years nevertheless have
Speaker 1: passed since I saw you, rather since you saw me.
Speaker 1: For that is what I am considering. Millarca, there is
Speaker 1: my daughter. I cannot then be young, even in the
Speaker 1: opinion of people whom time has taught to be indulgent.
Speaker 1: And I may not like to be compared with what
Speaker 1: you remember me. You have no mask to remove. You
Speaker 1: can offer me nothing in exchange. My petition is to
Speaker 1: your pity to remove it, and mine to yours to
Speaker 1: let it stay where it is, She replied, Well, then
Speaker 1: at least you will tell me whether you are French
Speaker 1: or German. You speak both languge is so perfectly. I
Speaker 1: don't think I shall tell you that general, you intend
Speaker 1: a surprise and are meditating the particular point of attack
Speaker 1: at all events. You won't deny this. I said that,
Speaker 1: being honored by your permission to converse, I ought to
Speaker 1: know how to address you? Shall I say, Madame la comtesse?
Speaker 1: She laughed, and she would no doubt have met me
Speaker 1: with another evasion, If indeed, I can treat any occurrence
Speaker 1: in an interview, every circumstance of which was pre arranged,
Speaker 1: as I now believe with the profoundest cunning, as liable
Speaker 1: to be modified by accident. As to that, she began,
Speaker 1: But she was interrupted almost as she opened her lips
Speaker 1: by a gentleman dressed in black, who looked particularly elegant
Speaker 1: and distinguished with this drawback that his face was the
Speaker 1: most deadly pale I ever saw, except in death. He
Speaker 1: was in no masquerade, in the plain evening dress of
Speaker 1: a gentleman. And he said, without a smile, but with
Speaker 1: a courtly and unusually low bow, will Madame la comtesse
Speaker 1: permit me to say a very few words which may
Speaker 1: interest her. The lady turned quickly to him and touched
Speaker 1: her lip in a token of silence. She then said
Speaker 1: to me keep my place for me. General, I shall
Speaker 1: return when I have said a few words. And with
Speaker 1: this injunction playfully given, she walked a little aside with
Speaker 1: the gentleman in black and talked for some minutes, apparently
Speaker 1: very earnestly. They then walked away slowly together in the crowd,
Speaker 1: and I lost them for some minutes. I spent the
Speaker 1: interval in cudgeling my brains for a conjecture as to
Speaker 1: the identity of the lady who seemed to remember me
Speaker 1: so kindly, And I was thinking of turning about and
Speaker 1: joining in the conversation between my pretty ward and the
Speaker 1: countess's daughter, and trying whether by the time she returned,
Speaker 1: I might not have a surprise in store for her
Speaker 1: by having her name, title, chateau and estates at my
Speaker 1: fingers ends. But at this moment she returned, accompanied by
Speaker 1: the pale man in black, who said, I shall return
Speaker 1: and inform Madame la comtesse when her carriage is at
Speaker 1: the door. He withdrew with a bow end of chapter eleven,
Speaker 1: Chapter twelve A petition. Then we are to lose Madame
Speaker 1: la comtesse. But I hope for only a few hours,
Speaker 1: I said, with a low bow. It may be that only,
Speaker 1: or it may be a few weeks. It was very
Speaker 1: unlucky his speaking to me just now as he did.
Speaker 1: Do you now know me? I assured her. I did not.
Speaker 1: You shall know me, she said, but not at present.
Speaker 1: We are older and better friends than perhaps you, suspect
Speaker 1: I cannot yet declare myself. I shall in three weeks
Speaker 1: pass your beautiful schloss, about which I have been making enquiries.
Speaker 1: I shall then look in upon you for an hour
Speaker 1: or two and renew a friendship which I never think
Speaker 1: of without a thousand pleasant recollections. This moment, a piece
Speaker 1: of news has reached me like a thunderbolt. I must
Speaker 1: set out now and travel by a devious route nearly
Speaker 1: a hundred miles, with all the despatch that I can
Speaker 1: possibly make. My perplexities multiply. I am only deterred by
Speaker 1: the compulsory reserve I practice, as to my name, from
Speaker 1: making a very singular request of you. My poor child
Speaker 1: has not quite recovered her strength. Her horse fell with
Speaker 1: her at a hunt which she had ridden out to witness.
Speaker 1: Her nerves have not yet recovered the shock, and our
Speaker 1: physician says that she must on no account exert herself
Speaker 1: for some time to come. We came here in consequence
Speaker 1: by very easy stages, hardly six leagues a day. I
Speaker 1: must now travel day and night on a mission of
Speaker 1: life and death, a mission the critical and momentous nature
Speaker 1: of which I shall be able to explain to you
Speaker 1: when we meet, as I hope we shall in a
Speaker 1: few weeks, without the necessity of any concealment. She went
Speaker 1: on to make her petition, and it was in the
Speaker 1: tone of a person from whom such a request amounted
Speaker 1: to conferring, rather than seeking a favor. This was only
Speaker 1: in manner, and as it seemed quite unconsciously then the
Speaker 1: terms in which it was expressed, nothing could be more deprecatory.
Speaker 1: It was simply that I would consent to take charge
Speaker 1: of her daughter during her absence. This was, all things
Speaker 1: considered a strange, not to say, an audacious request. She
Speaker 1: in some sort disarmed me by stating and admitting everything
Speaker 1: that could be urged against it, and throwing herself entirely
Speaker 1: upon my chivalry. At the same moment, by a fatality
Speaker 1: that seemed to have predetermined all that happened, my poor
Speaker 1: child came to my side and, in an undertone, besought
Speaker 1: me to invite her new friend, Millarca to pay us
Speaker 1: a visit. She had just been sounding her and thought
Speaker 1: if her Mamma would allow her, she would like it extremely.
Speaker 1: At another time, I should have told her to wait
Speaker 1: a little until at least we knew who they were.
Speaker 1: But I had not a moment to think in the
Speaker 1: two ladies assailed me together, and I must confess, the
Speaker 1: refined and beautiful face of the young lady, about which
Speaker 1: there was something extremely engaging, as well as the elegance
Speaker 1: and fire of high birth, determined me, and quite overpowered,
Speaker 1: I submitted and undertook too easily the care of the
Speaker 1: young lady, whom her mother called Millarca. The Countess beckoned
Speaker 1: to her daughter, who listened with grave attention, while she
Speaker 1: told her in general terms, how suddenly and peremptorily she
Speaker 1: had been summoned, and also of the arrangement she had
Speaker 1: made for her under my care, adding that I was
Speaker 1: one of her earliest and most valued friends. I made,
Speaker 1: of course, such speeches as the case seemed to call for,
Speaker 1: and found myself, on reflection in a position which I
Speaker 1: did not half like. The gentleman in black returned and
Speaker 1: very ceremoniously conducted the lady from the room. The demeanor
Speaker 1: of this gentleman was such as to impress me with
Speaker 1: the conviction that the Countess was a lady of very
Speaker 1: much more importance than her modest title alone might have
Speaker 1: led me to assume. Her last charge to me was
Speaker 1: that no attempt was to be made to learn more
Speaker 1: about her than I might have already guessed. Until her return.
Speaker 1: Our distinguished host, whose guest she was, knew her reasons.
Speaker 1: But here she said, neither I nor my daughter could
Speaker 1: safely remain for more than a day. I removed my
Speaker 1: mask imprudently for a moment about an hour ago, and
Speaker 1: too late I fancied you saw me, so I resolved
Speaker 1: to seek an opportunity of talking a little to you.
Speaker 1: Had I found out that you had seen me, I
Speaker 1: would have thrown myself on your high sense of honor
Speaker 1: to keep my secret some weeks. As it is, I
Speaker 1: am satisfied that you did not see me. But if
Speaker 1: you now suspect or on reflection, should suspect who I am.
Speaker 1: I commit myself in like manner entirely to your honor.
Speaker 1: My daughter will observe the same secrecy, and I well
Speaker 1: know that you will, from time to time remind her
Speaker 1: lest she should thoughtlessly disclose it. She whispered a few
Speaker 1: words to her daughter, kissed her hurriedly twice, and went away,
Speaker 1: accompanied by the pale gentleman in black, and disappeared in
Speaker 1: the crowd. In the next room, said Malarka, there is
Speaker 1: a window that looks upon the hall door. I should
Speaker 1: like to see the last of Mamma, and to kiss
Speaker 1: my hand to her. We assented, of course, and accompanied
Speaker 1: her to the window. We looked out and saw a handsome,
Speaker 1: old fashioned carriage with a troop of couriers and footmen.
Speaker 1: We saw the slim figure of the pale gentleman in
Speaker 1: black as he held a thick velvet cloak and placed
Speaker 1: it about her shoulders and threw the hood over her head.
Speaker 1: She nodded to him and just touched his hand with hers.
Speaker 1: He bowed low repeatedly as the door closed and the
Speaker 1: carriage began to move. She is gone, said Malarka, with
Speaker 1: a sigh. She is gone. I repeated to myself for
Speaker 1: the first time in the hurried moments that had elapsed
Speaker 1: since my consent, reflecting upon the folly of my act.
Speaker 1: She did not look up, said the young lady plaintively.
Speaker 1: The Countess had taken off her mask, perhaps and did
Speaker 1: not care to show her face, I said, And she
Speaker 1: could not know that she were in the window. She
Speaker 1: sighed and looked in my face. She was so beautiful
Speaker 1: that I relented. I was sorry, I had, for a
Speaker 1: moment repented of my hospitality, and I determined to make
Speaker 1: her amends for the unavowed churlishness of my reception. The
Speaker 1: young lady, replacing her mask, joined my ward in persuading
Speaker 1: me to return to the grounds where the concert was
Speaker 1: soon to be renewed. We did so and walked up
Speaker 1: and down the terrace that lies under the castle windows.
Speaker 1: Millarka became very intimate with us and amused us with
Speaker 1: lively descriptions and stories of most of the great people
Speaker 1: whom we saw upon the terrace. I liked her more
Speaker 1: and more every minute. Her gossip, without being ill natured,
Speaker 1: was extremely diverting to me, who had been so long
Speaker 1: out of the great world. I thought, what life she
Speaker 1: would give to our sometimes lonely evenings at home. This
Speaker 1: ball was not over until the morning sun had almost
Speaker 1: reached the horizon. It pleased the Grand Duke to dance
Speaker 1: till then, so loyal people could not go away or
Speaker 1: think of bed. We had just got through a crowded
Speaker 1: saloon when my ward asked me what had become of Millarca.
Speaker 1: I thought she had been by her side, and she
Speaker 1: fancied she was by mine. The fact was we had
Speaker 1: lost her. All my efforts to find her were in vain.
Speaker 1: I feared that she had mistaken, in the confusion of
Speaker 1: a momentary separation from us other people for her new friends,
Speaker 1: and had possibly pursued and lost them in the extensive
Speaker 1: grounds which were thrown open to us. Now in its
Speaker 1: full force, I recognized a new folly in my having
Speaker 1: undertaken the charge of a young lady without so much
Speaker 1: as knowing her name, and fettered as I was by
Speaker 1: promises of the reasons for imposing which I knew nothing.
Speaker 1: I could not even point my inquiries by saying that
Speaker 1: the missing young lady was the daughter of the countess
Speaker 1: who had taken her departure in a few hours before
Speaker 1: morning broke. It was clear daylight before I gave up
Speaker 1: my search. It was not till near two o'clock next
Speaker 1: day that we heard anything of my missing charge. At
Speaker 1: about that time a servant knocked at my niece's door
Speaker 1: to say that he had been earnestly requested by a
Speaker 1: young lady who appeared to be in great distress to
Speaker 1: make out where she could find the General Baron Spielsdorf
Speaker 1: and the young lady his daughter in whose charge she
Speaker 1: had been left by her mother. There could be no doubt,
Speaker 1: notwithstanding the slight inaccuracy, that our young friend had turned up,
Speaker 1: and so she had would to heaven we had lost her.
Speaker 1: She told my poor child a story to account for
Speaker 1: her having failed to recover us for so long, very late.
Speaker 1: She said she had got to the housekeeper's bedroom in
Speaker 1: despair of finding us, and had then fallen into a
Speaker 1: deep sleep, which, long as it was, had hardly sufficed
Speaker 1: to recruit her strength. After the fatigues of the ball
Speaker 1: that day, Millarka came home with us. I was only
Speaker 1: too happy, after all, to have secured so charming a
Speaker 1: companion for my dear girl. End of Chapter twelve. Chapter thirteen,
Speaker 1: the woodman. There Soon, however, appeared some drawbacks. In the
Speaker 1: first place, Millarka complained of extreme languor the weakness that
Speaker 1: remained after her late illness, and she never emerged from
Speaker 1: her room till the afternoon was pretty far advanced. In
Speaker 1: the next place, it was accidentally discovered, although she always
Speaker 1: locked her door on the inside and never disturbed the
Speaker 1: key from its place till she admitted the maid to
Speaker 1: assist at her toilet, that she was undoubtedly sometimes absent
Speaker 1: from her room in the very early morning, and at
Speaker 1: various times later in the day before she wished it
Speaker 1: to be understood that she was stirring. She was repeatedly
Speaker 1: seen from the windows of the Schloss in the first
Speaker 1: faint gray of the morning, walking through the trees in
Speaker 1: an easterly direction and looking like a person in a trance.
Speaker 1: This convinced me that she walked in her sleep. But
Speaker 1: this hypothesis did not solve the puzzle. How did she
Speaker 1: pass out from her room leaving the door locked on
Speaker 1: the inside. How did she escape from the house without
Speaker 1: unbarring door or window. In the midst of my perplexities,
Speaker 1: an anxiety of a far more urgent kind presented itself.
Speaker 1: My dear child began to lose her looks and health,
Speaker 1: and that in a manner so mysterious and even horrible,
Speaker 1: that I became thoroughly frightened. She was at first visited
Speaker 1: by appalling dreams. Then as she fancied by a specter,
Speaker 1: sometimes resembling millarca, sometimes in the shape of a beast,
Speaker 1: indistinctly seen walking round the foot of her bed from
Speaker 1: side to side. Lastly came sensations. One not unpleasant, but
Speaker 1: very peculiar, she said, resembled the flow of an icy
Speaker 1: stream against her breast. At a later time, she felt
Speaker 1: something like a pair of large needles pierce her a
Speaker 1: little below the throat, with a very sharp pain. A
Speaker 1: few nights after followed a gradual and convulsive sense of strangulation.
Speaker 1: Then came unconsciousness. I could hear distinctly every word the
Speaker 1: kind old general was saying, because by this time we
Speaker 1: were driving upon the short grass that spreads on either
Speaker 1: side of the road as you approached the roofless village,
Speaker 1: which had not shown the smoke of a chimney for
Speaker 1: more than half a century. You may guess how strangely
Speaker 1: I felt as I heard my own symptoms so exactly
Speaker 1: described in those which had been experienced by the poor girl, who,
Speaker 1: but for the catastrophe which followed, would have been at
Speaker 1: that moment a visit her at my father's chateau. You
Speaker 1: may suppose also how I felt as I heard him
Speaker 1: detail habits and mysterious peculiarities which were in fact those
Speaker 1: of our beautiful guest Carmilla. A vista opened in the forest.
Speaker 1: We were on a sudden under the chimneys and gables
Speaker 1: of the ruined village, and the towers and battlements of
Speaker 1: the dismantled castle, round which gigantic trees are grouped overhung
Speaker 1: us from a slight eminence. In a frightened dream, I
Speaker 1: got down from the carriage and in silence, for we
Speaker 1: had each abundant matter for thinking. We soon mounted the
Speaker 1: ascent and were among the spacious chambers, winding stairs, and
Speaker 1: dark corridors of the castle. And this was once the
Speaker 1: palatial residence of the Carnsteins, said the old general at length,
Speaker 1: as from a great window he looked out across the
Speaker 1: village and saw the wide, ungj relating expanse of forest.
Speaker 1: It was a bad family, and here its blood stained
Speaker 1: annals were written, he continued, it is hard that they should,
Speaker 1: after death, continue to plague the human race with their
Speaker 1: atrocious lusts. That is the chapel of the Carnsteins. Down there,
Speaker 1: he pointed, down to the gray walls of the Gothic building,
Speaker 1: partly visible through the foliage a little way down the steep,
Speaker 1: and I hear the acts of a woodman, he added,
Speaker 1: busy among the trees that surround it. He possibly may
Speaker 1: give us the information of which I am in search,
Speaker 1: and point out the grave of Mercalla, Countess of Carnstein.
Speaker 1: These rustics preserve the local traditions of great families, whose
Speaker 1: stories die out among the rich and titled so soon
Speaker 1: as the families themselves become extinct. We have a portrait
Speaker 1: at home of Mrcalla, the Countess karneih Stein. Should you
Speaker 1: like to see it? Asked my father. Time enough, dear friend,
Speaker 1: replied the general, I believe that I have seen the original,
Speaker 1: And one motive which has led me to you earlier
Speaker 1: than I first intended, was to explore the chapel which
Speaker 1: we are now approaching. What see the Countess Mercalla, exclaimed
Speaker 1: my father. Why she has been dead more than a century,
Speaker 1: not so dead as you fancy, I am told, answered
Speaker 1: the general. I confess, General, you puzzle me, utterly, replied
Speaker 1: my father, looking at him. I fancied for a moment
Speaker 1: with a return of the suspicion I detected before. But
Speaker 1: although there was anger and detestation at times in the
Speaker 1: old General's manner, there was nothing flighty. There remains to me,
Speaker 1: he said, as we passed under the heavy arch of
Speaker 1: the Gothic church, for its dimensions would have justified its
Speaker 1: being so styled. But one object which can interest me
Speaker 1: during the few years that remained to me on earth,
Speaker 1: and that is to wreckon her the vengeance which I,
Speaker 1: thank God, may still be accomplished by a mortal man.
Speaker 1: What vengeance can you mean, asked my father, in increasing amazement.
Speaker 1: I mean to decapitate the monster, he answered, with a
Speaker 1: fierce flush and a stamp that echoed mournfully through the
Speaker 1: hollow ruin. And his clenched hand was at the same
Speaker 1: moment raised as if it grasped the handle of an axe,
Speaker 1: while he shook it ferociously in the air. What exclaimed
Speaker 1: my father, more than ever bewildered, to strike her head off?
Speaker 1: Cut her head off? I with a hatchet, with a spade,
Speaker 1: or with anything that can cleave through her mind. Murderous throat,
Speaker 1: you shall hear, he answered, trembling with rage, and hurrying forward,
Speaker 1: he said that beam will answer for a seat. Your
Speaker 1: dear child is fatigued. Let her be seated, and I will,
Speaker 1: in a few sentences close my dreadful story. The squared
Speaker 1: block of wood, which lay on the grass grown pavement
Speaker 1: of the chapel, formed a bench on which I was
Speaker 1: very glad to seat myself. And in the meantime the
Speaker 1: General called to the woodman, who had been removing some
Speaker 1: boughs which leaned upon the old walls, and axe in hand.
Speaker 1: The hearty old fellow stood before us. He could not
Speaker 1: tell us anything of these monuments. But there was an
Speaker 1: old man, he said, a ranger of this forest at
Speaker 1: present sojourning in the house of the priest, about two
Speaker 1: miles away, who could point out every monument of the
Speaker 1: old Carnstein family. And for a trifle he undertook to
Speaker 1: bring him back with him if we would lend him
Speaker 1: one of our horses. In little more than half an hour.
Speaker 1: Have you been long employed about this forest, asked my
Speaker 1: father of the old man. I have been a woodman here,
Speaker 1: he answered, in his patois under the forester all my days,
Speaker 1: so has my father before me, and so on as
Speaker 1: many generations as I can count up, I could show
Speaker 1: you the very house in the village here in which
Speaker 1: my ancestors live. How came the village to be deserted?
Speaker 1: Asked the general. It was troubled by revenance, Sir. Several
Speaker 1: were tracked to their graves there, detected by the usual tests,
Speaker 1: and extinguished in the usual way by decapitation by the
Speaker 1: stake and by burning. But not until many of the
Speaker 1: villagers were killed. But after all these proceedings according to law,
Speaker 1: he continued. So many graves opened, and so many vampires
Speaker 1: deprived of their horrible animation. The ville village was not relieved.
Speaker 1: But a Moravian nobleman who happened to be traveling this
Speaker 1: way heard how matters were, and, being skilled as many
Speaker 1: people are in his country in such affairs, he offered
Speaker 1: to deliver the village from its tormentor He did so thus,
Speaker 1: there being a bright moon that night, he ascended shortly
Speaker 1: after sunset the towers of the chapel here, from whence
Speaker 1: he could distinctly see the churchyard beneath him. You can
Speaker 1: see it from that window. From this point, he watched
Speaker 1: until he saw the vampire come out of his grave
Speaker 1: and placed near it the linen clothes in which he
Speaker 1: had been folded, and then glide away towards the village
Speaker 1: to plague its inhabitants. The stranger, having seen all this,
Speaker 1: came down from the steeple, took the linen wrappings of
Speaker 1: the vampire, and carried them up to the top of
Speaker 1: the tower, which he again mounted. When the vampire returned
Speaker 1: from his prowlings and missed his clothes, he cried furiously
Speaker 1: to the Moravian, whom he saw at the summit of
Speaker 1: the tower, and who in reply beckoned him to ascend
Speaker 1: and take them. Whereupon the vampire, accepting his invitation, began
Speaker 1: to climb the steeple, and so soon as he had
Speaker 1: reached the battlements, the Moravian, with a stroke of his sword,
Speaker 1: clove his skull and twain, hurling him down to the churchyard,
Speaker 1: whither descending by the winding stairs. The stranger followed and
Speaker 1: cut his head off, and next day delivered it and
Speaker 1: the body to the villagers, who duly impaled and burnt
Speaker 1: them this Moravian nobleman had authority from the then head
Speaker 1: of the family to remove the tomb of Mercalla, Countess Carnstein,
Speaker 1: which he did effectually, so that in a little while
Speaker 1: its sight was quite forgotten. Can you point out where
Speaker 1: it stood? Asked the general eagerly. The forester shook his
Speaker 1: head and smiled. Not a soul living can tell you that, now,
Speaker 1: he said. Besides, they say her body was removed, but
Speaker 1: no one is sure of that either. Having thus spoken,
Speaker 1: as time pressed, he dropped his axe and departed, leaving
Speaker 1: us to hear the remainder of the General's strange story.
Speaker 1: End of chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen. The meeting my beloved child,
Speaker 1: he resumed, was now growing rapidly worse. The physician who
Speaker 1: attended her had failed to produce the slightest impression on
Speaker 1: her disease. For such I then supposed it to be.
Speaker 1: He saw my alarm and suggested a consultation. I called
Speaker 1: in an abler physician from Grots. Several days elapsed before
Speaker 1: he arrived. He was a good and pious as well
Speaker 1: as a learned man. Having seen my poor ward, together
Speaker 1: they withdrew to my library to confer and discuss. I
Speaker 1: from the adjoining room, where I awaited their summons, heard
Speaker 1: these two gentlemen's voices raised in something sharper than a
Speaker 1: strictly philosophical discussion. I knocked at the door and entered.
Speaker 1: I found the old physician from Grots maintaining his theory.
Speaker 1: His rival was combating it with undisguised ridicule, accompanied with
Speaker 1: bursts of laughter. This unseemly manifestation subsided, and the altercation
Speaker 1: ended on my entrance, Sir, said my first physician, my
Speaker 1: learned brother seems to think that you want a conjuror
Speaker 1: and not a doctor. Pardon me, said the old physician
Speaker 1: from Grot's, looking displeased. I shall state my own view
Speaker 1: of the case in my own way another time. I grieve,
Speaker 1: monsieur le General, that by my skill and science, I
Speaker 1: can be of no use. Before I go, I shall
Speaker 1: do myself the honor to suggest something to you. He
Speaker 1: seemed thoughtful, and sat down at a table and began
Speaker 1: to write. Profoundly disappointed, I made my bow, and as
Speaker 1: I turned to go, the other doctor pointed over his
Speaker 1: shoulder to his companion who was writing, and then, with
Speaker 1: a shrug, significantly touched his forehead. This consultation then left
Speaker 1: me precisely where I was. I walked out into the grounds,
Speaker 1: all but distracted the doctor from grots In ten or
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes overtook me. He apologized for having followed me,
Speaker 1: but said that he could not conscientiously take his leave
Speaker 1: without a few words more. He told me that he
Speaker 1: could not be mistaken. No natural disease exhibited the same symptoms,
Speaker 1: and that death was already very near. There remained, however,
Speaker 1: a day or possibly two of life. If the fatal
Speaker 1: seizure were at once arrested with great care and skill,
Speaker 1: her strength might possibly return. But all hung now upon
Speaker 1: the cocks of the irrevocable. One more assault might extinguish
Speaker 1: the last spark of vitality, which is every moment ready
Speaker 1: to die. And what is the nature of the seizure
Speaker 1: you speak of? I entreated? I have stated all fully
Speaker 1: in this note which I place in your hands, upon
Speaker 1: the distinct condition that you send for the nearest clergyman
Speaker 1: and open my letter in his presence, and on no
Speaker 1: account read it till he is with you. You would
Speaker 1: despise it else. And it is a matter of life
Speaker 1: and death. Should the priest fail you, then, indeed you
Speaker 1: may read it, He asked me, before taking his leave, finally,
Speaker 1: whether I would wish to see a man curiously learned
Speaker 1: upon the very subject which, after I had read his letter,
Speaker 1: would probably interest me above all others. And he urged
Speaker 1: me earnestly to invite him to visit him there, and
Speaker 1: so took his leave. The ecclesiastic was absent, and I
Speaker 1: read the letter by myself at another time, or in
Speaker 1: another case it might have excited my ridicule. But into
Speaker 1: what quackeries will not people rush for a last chance,
Speaker 1: where all accustomed means have failed, and the life of
Speaker 1: a beloved object is at stake. Nothing you will say
Speaker 1: could be more absurd than the learned man's letter. It
Speaker 1: was monstrous enough to have consigned him to a madhouse.
Speaker 1: He said that the patient was suffering from the visits
Speaker 1: of a vampire. The punctures which she described as having
Speaker 1: occurred near the throat were he insisted, the insertion of
Speaker 1: those two long, thin and sharp teeth, which it is
Speaker 1: well known are peculiar to vampires. And there could be
Speaker 1: no doubt, he added, as to the well defined presence
Speaker 1: of the small livid mark which all concurred in describing
Speaker 1: as that induced by the demon's lips, and every symptom
Speaker 1: described by the sufferer was an exact conformity with those
Speaker 1: recorded in every case of a similar visitation. Being myself
Speaker 1: wholly skeptical as to the existence of any such portent
Speaker 1: as the vampire, the supernatural theory of the good Doctor furnished,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, but another instance of learning and intelligence
Speaker 1: oddly associated with some one hallucination. I was so miserable, however,
Speaker 1: that rather than try nothing, I acted upon the instructions
Speaker 1: of the letter. I concealed myself from the dark dressing
Speaker 1: room that opened upon the poor patient's room, in which
Speaker 1: a candle was burning, and watched there till she was
Speaker 1: fast asleep. I stood at the door, peeping through the
Speaker 1: small crevice, my sword laid on the table beside me,
Speaker 1: as my directions prescribed, until a little after one I
Speaker 1: saw a large black object, very ill defined, crawl, as
Speaker 1: it seemed to me, over the foot of the bed,
Speaker 1: and swiftly spread itself up to the poor girl's throat,
Speaker 1: where it swelled in a moment into a great palpitating mass.
Speaker 1: For a few moments I had stood petrified. I now
Speaker 1: sprang forward with my sword in my hand. The black
Speaker 1: creature suddenly contracted towards the foot of the bed, glided
Speaker 1: over it, and standing on the floor about a yard
Speaker 1: below the foot of the bed, with a glare of
Speaker 1: skulking vorocity and horror fixed on me. I saw Milarka speculating.
Speaker 1: I know not what. I struck at her instantly with
Speaker 1: my sword, but I saw her standing near the door, unscathed. Horrified,
Speaker 1: I pursued and struck again. She was gone, and my
Speaker 1: sword flew to shivers against the door. I can't describe
Speaker 1: to you all that passed on that horrible night. The
Speaker 1: whole house was up and stirring. The specter. Malarka was gone,
Speaker 1: but her victim was sinking fast, and before the morning
Speaker 1: dawned she died. The old general was agitated. We did
Speaker 1: not speak to him. My father walked to some little
Speaker 1: distance and began reading the inscriptions on the tombstones, and
Speaker 1: thus occupied, he strolled into the door of a side
Speaker 1: chapel to prosecute his researches. The General leaned against the wall,
Speaker 1: dried his eyes, and sighed heavily. I was relieved on
Speaker 1: hearing the voices of Carmila and Madame, who were at
Speaker 1: that moment approaching the voices, died away in this solitude,
Speaker 1: having just listened to so strange a story, connected as
Speaker 1: it was, with the great and titled dead, whose monuments
Speaker 1: were moldering among the dust and ivy around us, and
Speaker 1: every instant of which bore so awfully upon my own
Speaker 1: mysterious case. In this haunted spot, darkened by the towering
Speaker 1: foliage that rose on every side, dense and high above
Speaker 1: its noiseless walls, a horror began to steal over me,
Speaker 1: and my heart sank as I thought that my friends were,
Speaker 1: after all, not about to enter and disturb this trieste
Speaker 1: and ominous scene. The old General's eyes were fixed on
Speaker 1: the ground as he leaned with his hand upon the
Speaker 1: basement of a shattered monument under a narrow arched doorway,
Speaker 1: surmounted by one of those demonical grotesques in which the
Speaker 1: cynical and ghastly fancy of old Gothic carving delights. I
Speaker 1: saw very gladly the beautiful face and figure of Carmilla
Speaker 1: entering the shadowy chapel. I was just about to rise
Speaker 1: and speak, and nodded, smiling in answer to her peculiarly
Speaker 1: engaging smile, when with a cry, the old man by
Speaker 1: my side caught up the woodman's hatchet and started forward.
Speaker 1: On seeing him, a brutalized change came over her features.
Speaker 1: It was an instantaneous and horrible transformation. As she made
Speaker 1: a crouching step backwards. Before I could utter a scream,
Speaker 1: he struck at her with all his force, but she
Speaker 1: dived under his blow and, unscathed, caught him in her
Speaker 1: tiny grasp by the wrist. He struggled for a moment
Speaker 1: to release his arm, but his hand opened, The axe
Speaker 1: fell to the ground, and the girl was gone. He
Speaker 1: staggered against the wall. His gray hair stood upon his head,
Speaker 1: and a moisture shone over his face, as if he
Speaker 1: were at the point of death. The frightful scene had
Speaker 1: passed in a moment. The first thing I recollect after
Speaker 1: is Madame standing before me and impatiently repeating again and
Speaker 1: again the question, where is Mademoiselle Carmella. I answered at length,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I can't tell she went there, and
Speaker 1: I pointed to the door through which Madame had just
Speaker 1: entered only a minute or two since. But I have
Speaker 1: been standing there in the passage ever since Mademoiselle Carmella entered,
Speaker 1: and she did not return. She then began to call
Speaker 1: Carmilla through every door and passage and from the windows,
Speaker 1: but no answer came. She called herself. Carmilla asked the General,
Speaker 1: still agitated Carmilla, Yes, I answered ay. He said, that
Speaker 1: is Millarca. That is the same person who long ago
Speaker 1: was called Mercalla, Countess Carnstein. Depart from this accursed ground,
Speaker 1: my poor child, as quickly as you can. Drive to
Speaker 1: the clergyman's house and stay there till we come. Be gone.
Speaker 1: May you never behold Carmilla more. You will not find
Speaker 1: her here. End of Chapter fourteen. Chapter fifteen, Ordeal and Execution.
Speaker 1: As he spoke, one of the strangest looking men I
Speaker 1: ever beheld entered the chapel at the door through which
Speaker 1: Carmila had made her entrance in her exit. He was tall,
Speaker 1: narrow chested, stooping, with high shoulders, and dressed in black.
Speaker 1: His face was brown and dried in with deep furrows.
Speaker 1: He wore an oddly shaped hat with a broad leaf.
Speaker 1: His hair, long and grizzled, hung on his shoulders. He
Speaker 1: wore a pair of gold spectacles and walked slowly with
Speaker 1: an odd shambling gait, with his face sometimes turned up
Speaker 1: to the sky and sometimes bowed down towards the ground.
Speaker 1: Seemed to wear a perpetual smile. His long, thin arms
Speaker 1: were swinging, and his lank hands in old black gloves
Speaker 1: ever so much too wide for them, waving and gesticulating
Speaker 1: in utter abstraction. The very man exclaimed the general, advancing
Speaker 1: with manifest delight, my dear Baron, how happy I am
Speaker 1: to see you. I had no hope of meeting you
Speaker 1: so soon. He signed to my father, who had by
Speaker 1: this time returned and leading the fantastic old gentleman, whom
Speaker 1: he called the baron to meet him. He introduced him formally,
Speaker 1: and they at once entered into earnest conversation. The stranger
Speaker 1: took a roll of paper from his pocket and spread
Speaker 1: it on the worn surface of a tomb that stood by.
Speaker 1: He had a pencil case in his fingers, with which
Speaker 1: he traced imaginary lines from point to point on the paper, which,
Speaker 1: from their often glancing from it together at certain points
Speaker 1: of the building I concluded to be a plan of
Speaker 1: the chapel. He accompanied what I may term his lecture
Speaker 1: with occasional readings from a dirty little book, whose yellow
Speaker 1: leaves were closely written over. They sauntered together down the
Speaker 1: side aisle opposite to the spot where I was standing,
Speaker 1: conversing as they went. Then they began measuring distances by pay,
Speaker 1: And finally they all stood together facing a piece of
Speaker 1: the side wall, which they began to examine with great minuteness,
Speaker 1: pulling off the ivy that clung over it and wrapping
Speaker 1: the plaster with the ends of their sticks, Scraping here
Speaker 1: and knocking there. At length they ascertained the existence of
Speaker 1: a broad marble tablet with letters carved in relief upon it,
Speaker 1: with the assistance of the woodman, who soon returned, a
Speaker 1: monumental inscription and carved escutcheon were disclosed. They proved to
Speaker 1: be those of the long lost monument of Mercalla, Countess Carnstein.
Speaker 1: The old General, though not I fear given to the
Speaker 1: praying mood, raised his hands and eyes to Heaven in
Speaker 1: mute thanksgiving for some moments tomorrow. I heard him say,
Speaker 1: the Commissioner will be here, and the inquisition will be
Speaker 1: held according to law. Then, turning to the old man
Speaker 1: with the gold spectacles whom I have described, he shook
Speaker 1: him warmly by both hands, and said, Baron, how can
Speaker 1: I thank you? How can we all thank you? You
Speaker 1: will have delivered this region from a plague that has
Speaker 1: scourged its inhabitants for more than a century. The horrible enemy,
Speaker 1: thank god, is at last tracked. My father led the
Speaker 1: stranger aside, and the general followed. I know that he
Speaker 1: had led them out of hearing that he might relate
Speaker 1: my case, and I saw them glance often quickly at me.
Speaker 1: As the discussion proceeded. My father came to me, kissed
Speaker 1: me again and again, and, leading me from the chapel,
Speaker 1: said it is time to return. But before we go home,
Speaker 1: we must add to our party the good priest, who
Speaker 1: lives but a little way from this, and persuade him
Speaker 1: to accompany us to the Schloss. In this quest, we
Speaker 1: were successful, and I was glad, being unspeakably fatigued when
Speaker 1: we reached home, But my satisfaction was changed to dismay
Speaker 1: on discovering that there were no tidings of Carmilla of
Speaker 1: the scene that had occurred in the ruined chapel. No
Speaker 1: explanation was offered to me, and it was clear that
Speaker 1: it was a secret which my father for the present
Speaker 1: determined to keep from me. The sinister absence of Carmilla
Speaker 1: made the remembrance of the scene more horrible to me.
Speaker 1: The arrangements for the night were singular. Two servants and
Speaker 1: madame were to sit up in my room that night,
Speaker 1: and the ecclesiastic, with my father, kept watch in the
Speaker 1: adjoining dressing room. The priest had performed certain solemn rites
Speaker 1: that night, the purport of which I did not understand
Speaker 1: any more than I comprehended. The reason of this extraordinary
Speaker 1: precaution taken from my safety during sleep, I saw all clearly.
Speaker 1: A few days later, the disappearance of Carmilla was followed
Speaker 1: by the discontinuance of my nightly sufferings. You have heard
Speaker 1: no doubt of the appalling superstition that prevails in Upper
Speaker 1: and Lower Steria, in Moravia, Silesia, in Turkish Serbia, in Poland,
Speaker 1: even in Russia. The superstition, so we must call it,
Speaker 1: of the vampire. If human testimony taken with every care
Speaker 1: and solemnity, judicially before commissions innumerable, each consisting of many members,
Speaker 1: all chosen for integrity and intelligence, and constituting reports more voluminous,
Speaker 1: perhaps than exist upon any one other class of cases
Speaker 1: is worth anything, it is difficult to deny or even
Speaker 1: to doubt the existence of such a phenomenon as the vampire.
Speaker 1: For my part, I have heard no theory by which
Speaker 1: to explain what I myself have witnessed and experienced, other
Speaker 1: than that supplied by the ancient and well attested belief
Speaker 1: of the country. Day the formal proceedings took place in
Speaker 1: the chapel of Caernstein. The grave of the Countess Mercalla
Speaker 1: was opened, and the General and my father recognized each
Speaker 1: his perfidious and beautiful guest in the face now disclosed
Speaker 1: to view. The features, though a hundred and fifty years
Speaker 1: had passed since her funeral, were tinted with the warmth
Speaker 1: of life. Her eyes were open. No cadaverous smell exhaled
Speaker 1: from the coffin. The two medical men, one officially present,
Speaker 1: the other on the part of the promoter of the inquiry,
Speaker 1: attested the marvelous fact that there was a faint but
Speaker 1: appreciable respiration and a corresponding action of the heart. The
Speaker 1: limbs were perfectly flexible, the flesh elastic, and the leaden
Speaker 1: coffin floated with blood. In which to a depth of
Speaker 1: seven inches the body lay. Immersed Here then were all
Speaker 1: the admitted signs and proofs of vamporism. The body, therefore,
Speaker 1: in accordance with the ancient practice, was raised, and a
Speaker 1: sharp stake driven through the heart of the vampire, who
Speaker 1: uttered a piercing shriek at the moment in all respects
Speaker 1: such as might escape from a living person. In the
Speaker 1: last agony. Then the head was struck off, and a
Speaker 1: torrent of blood flowed from the severed neck. The body
Speaker 1: and head was next placed on a pile of wood
Speaker 1: and reduced to ashes, which were thrown upon the river
Speaker 1: and borne away. And that territory has never since been
Speaker 1: plagued by the visits of a vampire. My father has
Speaker 1: a copy of the report of the Imperial Commission, with
Speaker 1: the signatures of all who were present at these proceedings
Speaker 1: attached in verification of the statement. It is from this
Speaker 1: official paper that I have summarized my account of this
Speaker 1: last shocking scene. End of Chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen conclusion.
Speaker 1: I write all this, you suppose, with composure, but far
Speaker 1: from it. I cannot think of it without agitation. Nothing
Speaker 1: but your earnest desire. So repeatedly expressed, could have induced
Speaker 1: me to sit down to a task that has unstrung
Speaker 1: my nerves for months to come and reinduced a shadow
Speaker 1: of the unspeakable horror, which, years after my deliverance, continued
Speaker 1: to make my days and nights dreadful and solitude insupportably terrific.
Speaker 1: Let me add a word or two about that quaint
Speaker 1: Baron Vordenburg, to whose curious lore we were indebted for
Speaker 1: the discovery of the Countess Mercalla's grave. He had taken
Speaker 1: up his abode in Gratz, where, living upon a mere pittance,
Speaker 1: which was all that remained to him of the once
Speaker 1: princely estates of his family in Upper Steria, he devoted
Speaker 1: himself to the minute and laborious investigation of the marvelously
Speaker 1: authenticated tradition of vamporism. He had at his fingers ends
Speaker 1: all the great and little works upon the subject Magia Postuma, Phlagon,
Speaker 1: de Mirabilibus, Augustinus de Cura pro Mortuis, Philosophice et Cristiane,
Speaker 1: Cogitacionis de Vampiris by John Christopher Herenberg, and a thousand others,
Speaker 1: among which I remember only a few of those which
Speaker 1: he lent to my father. He had of a luminous
Speaker 1: digest of all the judicial cases from which he had
Speaker 1: extracted a system of principles that appear to govern some
Speaker 1: always and others occasionally only the condition of the vampire.
Speaker 1: I may mention in passing that the deadly pallor attributed
Speaker 1: to that sort of revenance is a mere melodramatic fiction.
Speaker 1: They present in the grave, and when they show themselves
Speaker 1: in human society the appearance of healthy life. When disclosed
Speaker 1: to light in their coffins, they exhibit all the symptoms
Speaker 1: that are enumerated as those which prove the vampire life
Speaker 1: of the long dead Countess Carnstein. How they escape from
Speaker 1: their graves and return to them for certain hours every
Speaker 1: day without displacing the clay or leaving any trace of
Speaker 1: disturbance in the state of the coffin or the cerements,
Speaker 1: has always been admitted to be utterly inexplicable. The amphibious
Speaker 1: existence of the vampire is sustained by daily renewed slumber
Speaker 1: in the grave. Its horrible lust for living blood supplies
Speaker 1: the vigor of its waking existence. The vampire is prone
Speaker 1: to be fascinated with an engrossing vehemence, resembling the passion
Speaker 1: of love by particular persons. In pursuit of these, it
Speaker 1: will exercise inexhaustible patience and stratagem for access to a
Speaker 1: particular object may be obstructed in a hundred ways. It
Speaker 1: will never desist until it has satiated its passion and
Speaker 1: drained the very life of its coveted victim. But it
Speaker 1: will in these cases husband and protract its murderous enjoyment
Speaker 1: with the refinement of an epicure, and heighten it by
Speaker 1: the gradual approaches of an artful courtship. In these cases,
Speaker 1: it seems to yearn for something like sympathy and consent.
Speaker 1: In ordinary ones, it goes direct to its object, overpowers
Speaker 1: with violence and strangles, and exhausts, often at a single feast.
Speaker 1: The vampire is apparently subject in certain situations to special conditions.
Speaker 1: In the particular instance of which I have given you
Speaker 1: a relation, Mercalla seemed to be limited to a name which,
Speaker 1: if not her real one, should at least reproduce without
Speaker 1: the omission or edition of a single letter, those, as
Speaker 1: we say anagrammatically, which compose it. Carmilla did this, so
Speaker 1: did Millarca. My father related to the Baron Vordenburg, who
Speaker 1: remained with us for two or three weeks after the
Speaker 1: expulsion of Carmila the story about the Moravian nobleman and
Speaker 1: the vampire at Carnstein churchyard. And then he asked the
Speaker 1: Baron how he had discovered the exact position of the
Speaker 1: long concealed tomb of the Countess Mercala. The Baron's grotesque
Speaker 1: features puckered up into a mysterious smile. He looked down,
Speaker 1: still smiling, on his worn spectacle case and fumbled with it. Then,
Speaker 1: looking up, he said, I have many journals and other
Speaker 1: papers written by that remarkable man. The most curious among
Speaker 1: them is one treating of the visit of which you
Speaker 1: speak to Carnstein. The tradition, of course, discolors and distorts
Speaker 1: a little. He might have been termed a Moravian nobleman,
Speaker 1: for he had changed his abode to that territory, and
Speaker 1: was besides a noble, But he was in truth a
Speaker 1: native of Upper Steria. It is enough to say that
Speaker 1: in very early youth he had been a passionate and
Speaker 1: favored lover of the beautiful Mercala, Countess Carnstein. Her early
Speaker 1: death plunged him into inconsolable grief. It is the nature
Speaker 1: of vampires to increase and multiply. But according to an
Speaker 1: ascertained and ghostly law, assume at starting a territory perfectly
Speaker 1: free from that pest. How does it begin and how
Speaker 1: does it multiply itself? I will tell you. A person
Speaker 1: more or less wicked puts an end to himself a
Speaker 1: suicide under certain so circumstances, becomes a vampire. That specter
Speaker 1: visits living people and their slumbers, they die, and almost
Speaker 1: invariably in the grave, develop into vampires. This happened in
Speaker 1: the case of the beautiful Mercala, who was haunted by
Speaker 1: one of those demons. My ancestor Vordenburg, whose title I
Speaker 1: still bear, soon discovered this, and, in the course of
Speaker 1: the studies to which he devoted himself, learned a great
Speaker 1: deal more. Among other things, he concluded that suspicion of
Speaker 1: vamporism would probably fall sooner or later upon the dead countess,
Speaker 1: who in life had been his idol. He conceived a
Speaker 1: horror be she what she might of her remains being
Speaker 1: profaned by the outrage of a posthumous execution. He has
Speaker 1: left a curious paper to prove that the vampire, on
Speaker 1: its expulsion from its amphibious existence, is projected into a
Speaker 1: far more horrible life, and he resolved to save his
Speaker 1: once beloved Mercala from this. He adopted the stratagem of
Speaker 1: a journey here, a pretended removal of her remains and
Speaker 1: a real obliteration of her monument. When age had stolen
Speaker 1: upon him, and from the veil of years, he looked
Speaker 1: back on the scenes he was leaving. He considered in
Speaker 1: a different spirit what he had done, and a horror
Speaker 1: took possession of him. He made the tracings and notes
Speaker 1: which have guided me to the very spot, and drew
Speaker 1: up a confession of the deception that he had practiced.
Speaker 1: If he had intended any further action in this matter,
Speaker 1: death prevented him, and the hand of a remote descendant has,
Speaker 1: too late for many, directed the pursuit to the lair
Speaker 1: of the beast. We talked a little more, and among
Speaker 1: other things he said, was this. One sign of the
Speaker 1: vampire is the power of the hand. The slender hand
Speaker 1: of Mercalla closed like a vice of steel on the
Speaker 1: General's wrist when he raised the hatchet to strike. But
Speaker 1: its power is not confined to its grasp. It leaves
Speaker 1: a numbness in the limb it seizes, which is slowly,
Speaker 1: if ever, recovered. From the following spring, my father took
Speaker 1: me on a tour through Italy. We remained away for
Speaker 1: more than a year. It was long before the terror
Speaker 1: of recent events subsided, And to this hour the image
Speaker 1: of Carmilla returns to memory with ambiguous alternations. Sometimes the playful,
Speaker 1: languid beautiful girl, sometimes the writhing fiend I saw in
Speaker 1: the ruined church, and often from a reverie I have
Speaker 1: started fancying I heard the light step of Carmilla at
Speaker 1: the drawing room door. End of Carmilla by Jay Sheridan
Speaker 1: Lafanu