WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:06.639 Prolog upon a paper attached to the narrative which follows. 2 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:11.359 Doctor Hessalius has written a rather elaborate note, which he 3 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:14.960 accompanies with a reference to his essay on the strange 4 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:20.719 subject which the manuscript illuminates. This mysterious subject he treats 5 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:25.160 in that essay with his usual learning and acumen, and 6 00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:30.600 with remarkable directness and condensation. It will form but one 7 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:34.479 volume of the series of that extraordinary man's collected papers. 8 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:39.200 As I publish the case in this volume, simply to 9 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:43.320 interest the laity, I shall forestall the intelligent lady who 10 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:47.799 relates it in nothing. And after due consideration, I have 11 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:52.079 determined therefore to abstain from presenting any praisie of the 12 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:56.039 learned doctor's reasoning or extract from his statement on a 13 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:01.280 subject which he describes as involving not in probably some 14 00:01:01.399 --> 00:01:06.480 of the profoundest arcana of our dual existence and its intermediates. 15 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:11.840 I was anxious, on discovering this paper, to reopen the 16 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:16.040 correspondence commenced by doctor Hessalius so many years before, with 17 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:19.319 a person so clever and careful as his informants. Seems 18 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:23.840 to have been. Much to my regret, However, I found 19 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:28.640 that she had died in the interval, She probably could 20 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:31.319 have added little to the narrative, which she communicates in 21 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.920 the following pages with so far as I can pronounce 22 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:51.040 such conscientious particularity. Chapter one an early fright in Styria. We, 23 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:56.760 though by no means magnificent people inhabit a castle or schloss. 24 00:01:57.640 --> 00:01:59.760 A small income in that part of the world goes 25 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:03.159 a great way eight or nine hundred a year. Does 26 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:07.760 wonders scantily enough hours would have answered among wealthy people 27 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:12.159 at home. My father is English and I bear an 28 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:16.879 English name. Although I never saw England, but here, in 29 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:22.000 this lonely and primitive place, where everything is so marvelously cheap, 30 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:25.439 I really don't see. However, so much more money would 31 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:29.759 be at all materially adding to our comforts or even luxuries. 32 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:35.560 My father was in the Austrian service and retired upon 33 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:39.599 a pension and his patrimony, and purchased this feudal residence 34 00:02:39.719 --> 00:02:42.719 and the small estate on which it stands a bargain. 35 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:49.599 Nothing can be more picturesque or solitary. It stands on 36 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:54.479 a slight eminence and a forest. The road, very old 37 00:02:54.599 --> 00:02:58.759 and narrow, passes in front of its drawbridge. Never raised 38 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:02.759 in my time, and its moat stocked with perch and 39 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:06.680 sailed over by many swans, and floating on its surface 40 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:12.199 white fleets of water lilies. Over All this, the Schloss 41 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:16.840 shows its many windowed front, its towers, and its Gothic chapel. 42 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:22.400 The forest opens in an irregular and very picturesque glade 43 00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:25.759 before its gate, and at the right a steep Gothic 44 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:28.680 bridge carries the road over a stream that winds in 45 00:03:28.759 --> 00:03:32.479 deep shadow through the wood. I have said that this 46 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:36.840 is a very lonely place. Judge whether I say truth. 47 00:03:37.960 --> 00:03:41.199 Looking from the hall door towards the road, the forest 48 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.800 in which our castle stands extends fifteen miles to the 49 00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:49.680 right and twelve to the left. The nearest inhabited village 50 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:52.280 is about seven of your English miles to the left. 51 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:57.639 The nearest inhabited Schloss of any historic associations is that 52 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:02.400 of old General Spielsdorf, nearly twenty miles away to the right. 53 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:08.919 I have said the nearest inhabited village because there is 54 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:12.240 only three miles westward, that is to say, in the 55 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:17.199 direction of General Spielsdorf. Schloss, a ruined village with its 56 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:21.399 quaint little church, now roofless in the isle of which 57 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:24.879 are the moldering tombs of the proud family of Carnstein, 58 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:30.759 now extinct, who once owned the equally desolate chateau, which, 59 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:34.240 in the thick of the forest overlooks the silent ruins 60 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:41.680 of the town. Respecting the cause of the desertion of 61 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:45.680 this striking and melancholy spot, there is a legend which 62 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:51.759 I shall relate to you another time. I must tell 63 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:55.000 you now how very small is the party who constitute 64 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:59.560 the inhabitants of our castle. I don't include servants or 65 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:02.879 those pendants who occupy rooms in the buildings attached to 66 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:08.079 the Schloss. Listen and wonder my father, who was the 67 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:13.720 kindest man on earth, but growing old, and I at 68 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:19.079 the date of my story, only nineteen eight years have passed. 69 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:24.920 Since then, I and my father constituted the family at 70 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:29.439 the Schloss. My mother, a Styrian lady, died in my infancy, 71 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:33.079 but I had a good natured governess who had been 72 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:37.439 with me from I might almost say my infancy. I 73 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:40.800 could not remember the time when her fat, benignant face 74 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:45.240 was not a familiar picture in my memory. This was 75 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:50.240 Madame Perudon, a native of Berne, whose care and good nature, 76 00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:53.000 now in part supplied to me the loss of my mother, 77 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:56.439 whom I do not even remember, so early I lost her. 78 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:00.680 She made a third at our little dinner party. There 79 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:04.519 was a fourth, Mademoiselle de la Fontaine, a lady such 80 00:06:04.519 --> 00:06:09.279 as you term I believe, a finishing governess. She spoke 81 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:13.920 French and German. Madame pa rudent French and broken English, 82 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:18.120 to which my father and I added English, which, partly 83 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:21.439 to prevent its becoming a lost language among us, and 84 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:26.959 partly from patriotic motives, we spoke every day. The consequence 85 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:31.120 was a babbel at which strangers used to laugh, and 86 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:34.360 which I shall make no attempt to reproduce in this narrative. 87 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:38.439 And there were two or three young lady friends besides 88 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:42.439 pretty nearly of mine own age, who were occasional visitors 89 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:47.079 for longer or shorter terms, and these visits I sometimes returned. 90 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:52.879 These were our regular social resources. But of course there 91 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:56.040 were chance visits from neighbors of only five or six 92 00:06:56.120 --> 00:07:01.199 leagues distance. My life was not with standing, rather a 93 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:06.120 solitary one. I can assure you. My gouvernant had just 94 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:09.240 so much control over me as you might conjecture such 95 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:12.040 sage persons would have in the case of a rather 96 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:16.279 spoiled girl whose only parent allowed her pretty nearly her 97 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:22.120 own way in everything. The first occurrence in my existence 98 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:26.839 which produced a terrible impression upon my mind, which in 99 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:30.639 fact never has been effaced, was one of the very 100 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:34.839 earliest incidents of my life which I can recollect. Some 101 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:37.160 people will think it so trifling that it should not 102 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:41.399 be recorded here. You will see, however, by and by 103 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:46.399 why I mention it. The nursery, as it was called, 104 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:49.759 though I had it all to myself, was a large 105 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:52.079 room in the upper story of the castle, with a 106 00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:56.000 steep oak roof. I can't have been more than six 107 00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:00.360 years old when one night I awoke, and looking round 108 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:03.279 the room from my bed, failed to see the nursery maid. 109 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:08.519 Neither was my nurse there, and I thought myself alone. 110 00:08:08.839 --> 00:08:11.279 I was not frightened, for I was one of those 111 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:15.360 happy children who are studiously kept in ignorance of ghost stories, 112 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:18.839 of fairy tales, and of all such lore as makes 113 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:21.560 us cover up our heads when the door cracks suddenly, 114 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.680 or the flicker of an expiring candle makes the shadow 115 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:28.120 of a bedpost dance upon the wall nearer to our faces. 116 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:32.279 I was vexed and insulted at finding myself as I 117 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:37.279 conceived neglected, and I began to whimper preparatory to a 118 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:41.759 hearty bout of roaring, when to my surprise, I saw 119 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:45.200 a solemn but very pretty face looking at me from 120 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:47.799 the side of the bed. It was that of a 121 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:51.720 young lady who was kneeling with her hands under the coverlet. 122 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:55.039 I looked at her with a kind of pleased wonder 123 00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:00.360 and ceased whimpering. She caressed me with her hands and 124 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:03.399 lay down beside me on the bed and drew me 125 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:09.080 towards her, smiling. I felt immediately delightfully soothed, and fell 126 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:14.080 asleep again. I was wakened by a sensation as if 127 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:17.000 two needles ran into my breast very deep at the 128 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:21.840 same moment, and I cried loudly. The lady started back 129 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:25.679 with her eyes fixed on me, and then slipped down 130 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:29.559 upon the floor, and, as I thought, hid herself under 131 00:09:29.559 --> 00:09:34.039 the bed. I was, now for the first time frightened, 132 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:37.639 and I yelled with all my might, and main nurse, 133 00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:42.039 nursery maid, housekeeper all came running in and, hearing my story, 134 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:45.360 they made light of it, soothing me all they could meanwhile, 135 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:50.519 but child as I was, I could perceive that their 136 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:54.360 faces were pale with an unwonted look of anxiety. And 137 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:56.840 I saw them look under the bed and about the room, 138 00:09:57.320 --> 00:10:00.960 and peep under tables and pluck open cupboards. And the 139 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:05.159 housekeeper whispered to the nurse, lay your hand along that 140 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:09.639 hollow in the bed. Someone did lie there, so sure 141 00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:15.240 as you did not. The place is still warm. I 142 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:19.279 remember the nursery maid petting me, and all three examining 143 00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:22.159 my chest, where I told them I felt the puncture, 144 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:25.480 and pronouncing that there was no sign visible that any 145 00:10:25.480 --> 00:10:29.799 such thing had happened to me. The housekeeper and the 146 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:32.159 two other servants who were in charge of the nursery 147 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:36.000 remained sitting up all night, and from that time a 148 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:38.480 servant always set up in the nursery until I was 149 00:10:38.519 --> 00:10:43.679 about fourteen. I was very nervous for a long time. 150 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:48.200 After this, a doctor was called in. He was pallid 151 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:53.360 and elderly. How well I remember his long, saturnine face, 152 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:58.600 slightly pitted with smallpox, and his chestnut wig. For a 153 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:02.879 good while every day he came and gave me medicine, 154 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:07.320 which of course I hated. The morning after I saw 155 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:10.200 this apparition, I was in a state of terror and 156 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:13.120 could not bear to be left alone daylight. Though it 157 00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:17.200 was for a moment, I remember my father coming up 158 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:21.080 and standing at the bedside and talking cheerfully, and asking 159 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:24.559 the nurse a number of questions, and laughing very heartily 160 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:27.120 at one of the answers, and patting me on the 161 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:30.600 shoulder and kissing me, and telling me not to be frightened, 162 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:32.919 that it was nothing but a dream and could not 163 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:38.159 hurt me. But I was not comforted, for I knew 164 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:41.000 the visit of the strange woman was not a dream, 165 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:46.799 and I was awfully frightened. I was a little consoled 166 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:49.120 by the nursery maids assuring me that it was she 167 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:51.639 who had come and looked at me and laying down 168 00:11:51.639 --> 00:11:53.919 beside me in the bed, and that I must have 169 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:57.559 been half dreaming not to have known her face. But this, 170 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:01.679 though supported by the nurse, did not quite satisfy me. 171 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:06.440 I remembered in the course of that day a venerable 172 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.639 old man in a black cassock coming into the room 173 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:12.440 with the nurse and housekeeper, and talking a little to 174 00:12:12.519 --> 00:12:16.799 them and very kindly to me. His face was very 175 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.919 sweet and gentle, and He told me they were going 176 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.960 to pray, and joined my hands together and desired me 177 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:28.399 to say softly while they were praying, Lord, hear all 178 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:33.039 good prayers for us, for Jesus sake. I think those 179 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:36.279 were the very words, for I often repeated them to myself, 180 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:39.120 and my nurse used for years to make me say 181 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:44.519 them in my prayers. I remembered so well the thoughtful, 182 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.679 sweet face of that white haired old man in his 183 00:12:47.799 --> 00:12:52.360 black cassock, as he stood in that rude, lofty brown room, 184 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.360 with the clumsy furniture of a fashion three hundred years 185 00:12:55.399 --> 00:12:59.240 old about him, and the scanty light entering its shadowy 186 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:04.000 atmosphere through the small lattice he kneeled, and the three 187 00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:07.320 women with him, and he prayed aloud with an earnest, 188 00:13:07.399 --> 00:13:10.840 quavering voice for what appeared to me a long time. 189 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:16.159 I forget all my life preceding that event, and for 190 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:20.399 some time after it is all obscure also. But the 191 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:24.440 scenes I have just described stand out vivid as the 192 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:34.519 isolated pictures of the phantasmagoria surrounded by darkness. End of 193 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:44.279 chapter one, Chapter two, a guest, I am now going 194 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:48.080 to tell you something so strange that it will require 195 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:51.279 all your faith in my veracity to believe my story. 196 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:56.360 It is not only true, nevertheless, but truth of which 197 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:01.039 I have been an eye witness. It was a sweet 198 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:05.120 summer evening, and my father asked me, as he sometimes did, 199 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:08.279 to take a little ramble with him along that beautiful 200 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:10.960 forest vista which I have mentioned as lying in front 201 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:16.120 of the Schloss General Spielsdorf. Cannot come to us so 202 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:18.679 soon as I had hoped, said my father, as we 203 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:22.200 pursued our walk. He was to have paid us a 204 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:25.639 visit of some weeks, and we had expected his arrival 205 00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:28.879 next day. He was to have brought with him a 206 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:33.639 young lady, his niece and ward, Mademoiselle Reinefeldt, whom I 207 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:36.480 had never seen, but whom I had heard described as 208 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:39.840 a very charming girl, and in whose society I had 209 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:44.679 promised myself many happy days. I was more disappointed than 210 00:14:44.679 --> 00:14:47.399 a young lady living in a town or a bustling 211 00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:52.440 neighborhood can possibly imagine. This visit and the new acquaintance 212 00:14:52.440 --> 00:14:57.759 it promised, had furnished my day dream for many weeks. 213 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:02.519 And how soon does he come, I asked? Not till autumn, 214 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:06.399 Not for two months, I dare say, he answered, and 215 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:08.799 I am very glad now, dear that you never knew 216 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:15.159 Mademoiselle Riinfeldt. And why, I asked, both mortified and curious, 217 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:19.840 because the poor young lady is dead, he replied, I 218 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:22.519 quite forgot. I had not told you, But you were 219 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:24.559 not in the room when I received the General's letter 220 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:30.600 this evening. I was very much shocked. General Spielsdorf had 221 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:33.919 mentioned in his first letter six or seven weeks before 222 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:36.360 that she was not so well as he would wish her. 223 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:40.000 But there was nothing to suggest the remotest suspicion of danger. 224 00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:45.480 Here is the General's letter, he said, handing it to me. 225 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:49.399 I am afraid he is in great affliction. The letter 226 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.440 appears to me to have been written very nearly in distraction. 227 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:58.159 We sat down on a rude bench under a group 228 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:02.159 of magnificent lime trees. The sun was setting with all 229 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:06.639 its melancholy splendor behind the Sylvan horizon, and the stream 230 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:10.200 that flows beside our home and passes under the steep 231 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:13.639 old bridge I have mentioned, wound through many a group 232 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:17.559 of noble trees, almost at our feet, reflecting in its 233 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:22.600 current the fading crimson of the sky. General Spielsdorf's letter 234 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:27.279 was so extraordinary, so vehement, and in some places so 235 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:31.759 self contradictory, that I read it twice over, the second 236 00:16:31.799 --> 00:16:35.519 time aloud to my father, and was still unable to 237 00:16:35.559 --> 00:16:39.720 account for it, except by supposing that grief had unsettled 238 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:46.279 his mind. It said, I have lost my darling daughter, 239 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:50.679 for as such I loved her. During the last days 240 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:53.159 of dear Bertha's illness, I was not able to write 241 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:57.399 to you. Before then, I had no idea of her danger. 242 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:02.320 I have lost her, and now learn all too late. 243 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:06.799 She died in the peace of innocence and in the 244 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:11.559 glorious hope of a blessed futurity. The fiend who betrayed 245 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:16.200 our infatuated hospitality has done it all. I thought I 246 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:21.000 was receiving into my house innocence, gaiety, a charming companion 247 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:25.680 for my lost Bertha. Heavens, what a fool have I been. 248 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:32.880 I thank God my child died without a suspicion of 249 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:36.279 the cause of her sufferings. She is gone without so 250 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:39.480 much as conjecturing the nature of her illness and the 251 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:43.440 accursed passion of the agent of all this misery. I 252 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:47.240 devote my remaining days to tracking and extinguishing a monster 253 00:17:48.599 --> 00:17:51.319 I am told I may hope to accomplish my righteous 254 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:55.599 and merciful purpose. At present there is scarcely a gleam 255 00:17:55.640 --> 00:18:00.160 of light to guide me. I curse my conceited incredulity, 256 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:06.160 my despicable affectation of superiority, my blindness, my obstinacy. All 257 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:12.880 too late, I cannot write or talk collectedly. Now I 258 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:16.519 am distracted. So soon as I shall have a little recovered, 259 00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:20.599 I mean to devote myself for a time to enquiry, 260 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:24.920 which may possibly lead me as far as Vienna some 261 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:28.440 time in the autumn two months hence or earlier. If 262 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:32.200 I live, I will see you, that is, if you 263 00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:35.759 permit me. I will then tell you all that I 264 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:42.160 scarce dare put upon paper. Now farewell, pray for me, 265 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:50.839 dear friend. In these terms ended this strange letter. Though 266 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:54.039 I had never seen Bertha reinfeldt my eyes filled with 267 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:59.079 tears at the sudden intelligence. I was startled, as well 268 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:04.680 as profoundly disappointed. The sun had now set, and it 269 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:07.359 was twilight by the time I had returned the General's 270 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:12.759 letter to my father. It was a soft, clear evening, 271 00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:17.160 and we loitered, speculating upon the possible meanings of the 272 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:20.400 violent and incoherent sentences which I had just been reading. 273 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:24.240 We had nearly a mile to walk before reaching the 274 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:27.519 road that passes the Schloss in front, and by that 275 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:31.839 time the moon was shining brilliantly. At the drawbridge we 276 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:35.640 met Madame Perudon and Mademoiselle de la Fontaine, who had 277 00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:38.799 come out without their bonnets to enjoy the exquisite moonlight. 278 00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:44.440 We heard their voices gabbling in animated dialogue as we approached. 279 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:48.160 We joined them at the drawbridge and turned about to 280 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:52.480 admire with them the beautiful scene. The glade through which 281 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:55.960 we had just walked lay before us. At our left, 282 00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:59.880 the narrow road wound away under clumps of lordly trees 283 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:04.359 and was lost to sight amid the thickening forest. At 284 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:08.279 the right, the same road crosses the steep and picturesque bridge, 285 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:12.480 near which stands a ruined tower which once guarded that pass. 286 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:16.359 And beyond the bridge, an abrupt eminence rises, covered with 287 00:20:16.440 --> 00:20:20.799 trees and showing in the shadows some gray, ivy clustered rocks. 288 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:25.359 Over the sward and low grounds. A thin film of 289 00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:29.480 mist was stealing like smoke, marking the distances with a 290 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:33.200 transparent veil. And here and there we could see the 291 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:39.480 river faintly flashing in the moonlight. No softer, sweeter scene 292 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:43.160 could be imagined. The news I had just heard made 293 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:47.759 it melancholy, but nothing could disturb its character of profound 294 00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:52.160 serenity and the enchanted glory and vagueness of the prospect. 295 00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:58.400 My father, who enjoyed the picturesque, and I stood looking 296 00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:02.920 in silence over the expanse beneath us. The two good governesses, 297 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:06.559 standing a little way behind us, discoursed upon the scene 298 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:11.920 and were eloquent upon the moon. Madame Peraudon was fat, 299 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:17.440 middle aged, and romantic, and talked and sighed poetically. Mademoiselle 300 00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:20.039 de la Fontaine, in right of her father, who was 301 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:24.039 a German, assumed to be psychological, metaphysical, and something of 302 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:27.720 a mystic, now declared that when the moon shone with 303 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:30.640 the light so intense, it was well known that it 304 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:35.480 indicated a special spiritual activity. The effect of the full 305 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:39.480 moon in such a state of brilliancy was manifold. It 306 00:21:39.559 --> 00:21:44.000 acted on dreams, it acted on lunacy, It acted on 307 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:49.400 nervous people. It had marvelous physical influences connected with life. 308 00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:52.759 Mademoiselle related that her cousin who was mate of a 309 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:55.960 merchant ship, having taken a nap on deck on such 310 00:21:55.960 --> 00:21:59.319 a night, lying on his back with his face full 311 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:02.720 in the light of the moon, had wakened after a 312 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:05.519 dream of an old woman clawing him by the cheek, 313 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:09.200 with his features horribly drawn to one side, and his 314 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:15.880 countenance had never quite recovered his equilibrium. The moon this night, 315 00:22:16.279 --> 00:22:21.759 she said, is full of idyllic and magnetic influence. And 316 00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:23.920 see when you look behind you at the front of 317 00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:27.319 the schloss, how all its windows flash and twinkle with 318 00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:31.960 that silvery splendor, as if unseen hands had lighted up 319 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:37.359 the rooms to receive fairy guests. There are indolent styles 320 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:41.480 of the spirits, in which, indisposed to talk ourselves, the 321 00:22:41.559 --> 00:22:45.000 talk of others is pleasant to our listless ears. And 322 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:49.000 I gazed on, pleased with the tinkle of the ladies conversation. 323 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:54.200 I have got into one of my moping moods to night, 324 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:59.200 said my father, after a silence, and quoting Shakespeare, whom 325 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:01.440 by way of keeping up our English, he used to 326 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:05.839 read aloud, he said, in truth, I know not why 327 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:09.720 I am so sad. It wearies me, you say it 328 00:23:09.799 --> 00:23:13.039 wearies you, But how I got it came by it. 329 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:18.319 I forget the rest, but I feel as if some 330 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:22.839 great misfortune were hanging over us. I suppose the poor 331 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:25.440 general's afflicted letter has had something to do with it. 332 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:31.359 At this moment, the unwonted sound of carriage wheels and 333 00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:35.640 many hoofs upon the road arrested our attention. They seemed 334 00:23:35.640 --> 00:23:38.519 to be approaching from the high ground overlooking the bridge, 335 00:23:39.240 --> 00:23:43.680 and very soon the equipage emerged. From that point. Two 336 00:23:43.720 --> 00:23:47.480 horsemen first crossed the bridge. Then came a carriage drawn 337 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:52.400 by four horses, and two men rode behind. It seemed 338 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:54.960 to be the traveling carriage of a person of rank, 339 00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:58.839 and we were all immediately absorbed in watching that very 340 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:04.400 unusual spectacle. It became in a few moments greatly more interesting, 341 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:07.240 for just as the carriage had passed the summit of 342 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:11.279 the steep bridge, one of the leaders, taking fright, communicated 343 00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:14.240 his panic to the rest, and after a plunge or two, 344 00:24:14.279 --> 00:24:17.759 the whole team broke into a wild gallop together, and 345 00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:21.839 dashing between the horsemen who rode in front, came thundering 346 00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:26.880 along the road towards us with the speed of a hurricane. 347 00:24:27.319 --> 00:24:30.359 The excitement of the scene was made more painful by 348 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:34.000 the clear, long drawn screams of a female voice from 349 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:39.359 the carriage window. We all advanced in curiosity and horror, 350 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:44.119 me rather in silence. The rest with various ejaculations of terror. 351 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:49.519 Our suspense did not last long. Just before you reached 352 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:52.799 the castle drawbridge on the route they were coming, there 353 00:24:52.839 --> 00:24:56.079 stands by the roadside a magnificent lime tree. On the 354 00:24:56.119 --> 00:24:59.839 other stands an ancient stone cross, at sight of which 355 00:24:59.880 --> 00:25:02.000 the the horses, now going at a pace that was 356 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:05.720 perfectly frightful, swerved so as to bring the wheel over 357 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:09.680 the projecting roots of the tree. I knew what was coming. 358 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:13.240 I covered my eyes, unable to see it out, and 359 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:16.119 turned my head away. At the same moment I heard 360 00:25:16.119 --> 00:25:18.160 a cry from my lady friend's, who had gone on. 361 00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:25.279 A little curiosity opened my eyes, and I saw a 362 00:25:25.319 --> 00:25:29.160 scene of utter confusion. Two of the horses were on 363 00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:32.279 the ground, the carriage lay upon its side, with two 364 00:25:32.279 --> 00:25:35.680 wheels in the air. The men were busy removing the traces, 365 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:38.559 and a lady with a commanding air and figure had 366 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:42.880 gotten out and stood with clasped hands, raising the handkerchief 367 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:44.720 that was in them every now and then to her 368 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:48.799 eyes through the carriage door was now lifted a young 369 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:53.319 lady who appeared to be lifeless. My dear old father 370 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:56.359 was already beside the elder lady, with his hat in 371 00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:59.680 his hand, evidently tendering his aid and the resources of 372 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:02.920 his shit loss. The lady did not appear to hear 373 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:05.839 him or to have eyes for anything, but the slender girl, 374 00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:08.200 who was being placed against the slope of the bank 375 00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:18.480 I approached. The young lady was apparently stunned, but she 376 00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:22.400 was certainly not dead. My father, who piqued himself on 377 00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:25.599 being something of a physician, had just had his fingers 378 00:26:25.640 --> 00:26:29.039 on her wrist and assured the lady, who declared herself 379 00:26:29.079 --> 00:26:32.519 her mother, that her pulse, though faint and irregular, was 380 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:37.759 undoubtedly still distinguishable. The lady clasped her hands and looked upward, 381 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:42.000 as if in a momentary transport of gratitude, but immediately 382 00:26:42.039 --> 00:26:44.559 she broke out again in that theatrical way which is 383 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:48.559 I believe natural to some people. She was what is 384 00:26:48.599 --> 00:26:50.880 called a fine looking woman for her time of life, 385 00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:54.559 and must have been handsome. She was tall, but not thin, 386 00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:59.079 and dressed in black velvet, and looked rather pale, but 387 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:03.720 with a proud and commanding countenance, though now agitated strangely, 388 00:27:06.039 --> 00:27:09.920 who was ever being so born to calamity? I heard 389 00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:13.440 her say with clasped hands as I came up here. 390 00:27:13.480 --> 00:27:17.119 Am I on a journey of life and death in 391 00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:20.599 prosecuting which to lose an hour is possibly to lose all. 392 00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:24.720 My child will not have recovered sufficiently to resume her route. 393 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:28.000 For who can say how long I must leave her? 394 00:27:28.599 --> 00:27:32.960 I cannot dare not delay? How far on, sir, can 395 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:35.920 you tell as the nearest village? I must leave her 396 00:27:35.920 --> 00:27:38.920 there and shall not see my darling or even hear 397 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:43.440 of her till my return three months? Hence, I plucked 398 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:48.680 my father by the coat and whispered earnestly in his ear, Oh, Papa, 399 00:27:49.319 --> 00:27:52.000 pray ask her to let her stay with us. It 400 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:58.119 would be so delightful. Do pray if Madame will entrust 401 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:00.759 her child to the care of my daughter and of 402 00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:04.680 her good gouvernant Madame Peraudon, and permit her to remain 403 00:28:04.759 --> 00:28:08.559 as our guest under my charge until her return. It 404 00:28:08.599 --> 00:28:12.759 will confer a distinction and an obligation upon us, and 405 00:28:12.839 --> 00:28:15.160 we shall treat her with all the care and devotion 406 00:28:15.319 --> 00:28:20.759 which so sacred a trust deserves. I cannot do that, sir. 407 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:24.799 It would be to task your kindness and chivalry too cruelly, 408 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:30.880 said the lady distractedly. It would, on the contrary, be 409 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:33.440 to confer on us a very great kindness at the 410 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:37.000 moment when we most need it. My daughter has just 411 00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:40.640 been disappointed by a cruel misfortune in a visit from 412 00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:44.200 which she had long anticipated a great deal of happiness. 413 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:47.759 If you confide this young lady to our care, it 414 00:28:47.799 --> 00:28:50.960 will be her best consolation. The nearest village on your 415 00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:53.960 route is distant and affords no such inn as you 416 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:57.240 could think of placing your daughter at. You cannot allow 417 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:02.000 her to continue her journey for any considerable distance without danger. If, 418 00:29:02.039 --> 00:29:05.160 as you say, you cannot suspend your journey, you must 419 00:29:05.160 --> 00:29:07.720 part with her to night, And know where could you 420 00:29:07.799 --> 00:29:11.359 do so with more honest assurances of care and tenderness 421 00:29:11.400 --> 00:29:16.640 than here. There was something in this lady's air and appearance, 422 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:22.000 so distinguished and even imposing, and in her manner so engaging, 423 00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:25.720 as to impress one quite apart from the dignity of 424 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:29.119 her equipage, with a conviction that she was a person 425 00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:33.319 of consequence. By this time, the carriage was replaced in 426 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:38.000 its upright position, and the horses quite tractable in the traces. Again, 427 00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:41.440 the lady threw on her daughter a glance which I 428 00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:44.599 fancied was not quite so affectionate as one might have 429 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:48.119 anticipated from the beginning of the scene. And then she 430 00:29:48.200 --> 00:29:51.559 beckoned slightly to my father, and withdrew two or three 431 00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:54.759 steps with him out of hearing, and talked to him 432 00:29:54.759 --> 00:29:58.400 with a fixed and stern countenance, not at all like 433 00:29:58.440 --> 00:30:02.680 that with which she had hitherto sp I was filled 434 00:30:02.680 --> 00:30:05.279 with wonder that my father did not seem to perceive 435 00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:09.640 the change, and also unspeakably curious to learn what it 436 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:12.200 could be that she was speaking almost in his ear 437 00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:17.599 with so much earnestness and rapidity. Two or three minutes 438 00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:21.279 at most I think she remained thus employed. Then she turned, 439 00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:24.119 and a few steps brought her to where her daughter lay, 440 00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:27.920 supported by Madame Perudant. She kneeled beside her for a 441 00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:31.799 moment and whispered, as Madame supposed a little benediction in 442 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:36.519 her ear. Then, hastily kissing her, she stepped into her carriage. 443 00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:40.119 The door was closed. The footmen in stately liveries jumped 444 00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:44.599 up behind the outriders spurred on the postitions cracked their whips, 445 00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:48.039 the horses plunged and broke suddenly into a furious canter 446 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:50.680 that threatened soon again to become a gallop, and the 447 00:30:50.759 --> 00:30:54.599 carriage whirled away, followed at the same rapid pace by 448 00:30:54.640 --> 00:31:02.920 the two horsemen. In the rear end of chapter two 449 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:11.319 Chapter three we compare notes. We followed the cortege with 450 00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:13.880 our eyes until it was swiftly lost to sight in 451 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:17.000 the misty wood, and the very sound of the hoofs 452 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:19.319 and the wheels died away in the silent night air. 453 00:31:20.839 --> 00:31:23.359 Nothing remained to assure us that the adventure had not 454 00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:26.200 been an illusion of a moment. But the young lady, 455 00:31:26.759 --> 00:31:30.279 who just at that moment opened her eyes. I could 456 00:31:30.359 --> 00:31:33.880 not see, for her face was turned from me, but 457 00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:36.920 she raised her head, evidently looking about her, and I 458 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:42.440 heard a very sweet voice ask, complainingly, where is mamma 459 00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:48.559 our good Madame Peraudon answered tenderly and added some comfortable assurances. 460 00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:53.680 I then heard her ask where am I? What is 461 00:31:53.720 --> 00:31:58.759 this place? And after that she said I don't see 462 00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:05.160 the carriage, and motzka, where is she? Madame answered all 463 00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:08.200 her questions in so far as she understood them, and 464 00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:11.720 gradually The young lady remembered how the misadventure came about, 465 00:32:11.880 --> 00:32:14.279 and was glad to hear that no one in or 466 00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:17.599 in attendance on the carriage was hurt, And on learning 467 00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:20.119 that her Mamma had left her here till her return 468 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:24.440 in about three months, she wept. I was going to 469 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:28.000 add my consolations to those of Madame Pruden, when Mademoiselle 470 00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:30.680 de la Fontaine placed her hand upon my arm, saying, 471 00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:34.000 don't approach. One at a time is as much as 472 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:37.160 she can at present converse with a very little excitement 473 00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:41.599 would possibly overpower her. Now, as soon as she is 474 00:32:41.640 --> 00:32:44.319 comfortably in bed, I thought, I will run up to 475 00:32:44.359 --> 00:32:48.559 her room and see her. My father, in the meantime 476 00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:51.400 had sent a servant on horseback for the physician, who 477 00:32:51.480 --> 00:32:54.559 lived about two leagues away, and a bedroom was being 478 00:32:54.599 --> 00:33:00.599 prepared for the young lady's reception. The stranger now rose, and, 479 00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:04.240 leading on Madame's arm, walked slowly over the drawbridge and 480 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:08.640 into the castle gate. In the hall, servants waited to 481 00:33:08.680 --> 00:33:11.960 receive her, and she was conducted forthwith to her room. 482 00:33:12.799 --> 00:33:15.240 The room we usually sat in as our drawing room, 483 00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:18.640 is long, having four windows that looked over the moat 484 00:33:18.680 --> 00:33:22.079 and the drawbridge upon the forest scene I have just described. 485 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:27.480 It is furnished in old carved oak, with large carved cabinets, 486 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:31.720 and the chairs are cushioned with crimson utrect velvet. The 487 00:33:31.799 --> 00:33:36.079 walls are covered with tapestry and surrounded with great gold frames, 488 00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:39.680 the figures being as large as life in ancient and 489 00:33:39.839 --> 00:33:44.519 very curious costume, and the subjects represented are hunting, hawking, 490 00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:48.480 and generally festive. It is not too stately to be 491 00:33:48.519 --> 00:33:52.200 extremely comfortable. And here we had our tea for with 492 00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:55.799 his usual patriotic leanings, he insisted that the National Beverage 493 00:33:55.839 --> 00:33:58.839 should make its appearance regularly. With our coffee and chocolate. 494 00:34:00.519 --> 00:34:04.359 We sat here this night, and with candles lighted, were 495 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:08.760 talking over the adventure of the evening. Madame Perudon and 496 00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:12.039 Mademoiselle de la Fontaine were both part of our party. 497 00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:14.559 The young stranger had hardly lain down in her bed 498 00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:17.480 when she sank into a deep sleep, and those ladies 499 00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:20.639 had left her in the care of a servant. How 500 00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:23.000 do you like, our guest, I asked, as soon as 501 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:28.000 Madame entered. Tell me all about her. I like her extremely, 502 00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:32.599 answered Madame. She is I almost think the prettiest creature 503 00:34:32.679 --> 00:34:38.039 I ever saw about your age, and so gentle and nice. 504 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:42.880 She is absolutely beautiful, through in Mademoiselle, who had peeped 505 00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:45.840 for a moment into the stranger's room, and such a 506 00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:51.159 sweet voice, added Madame prudent. Did you remark a woman 507 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:53.199 in the carriage after it was set up again who 508 00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:57.000 did not get out, inquired Mademoiselle, but only looked from 509 00:34:57.039 --> 00:35:01.440 the window. No, we had not seen her. Then she 510 00:35:01.559 --> 00:35:05.000 described a hideous black woman with a sort of colored 511 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:07.679 turban on her head, and who was gazing all the 512 00:35:07.719 --> 00:35:11.599 time from the carriage window, nodding and grinning derisively toward 513 00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:15.440 the ladies, with gleaming eyes and large white eyeballs, and 514 00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:19.480 her teeth set as if in fury. Did you remark 515 00:35:19.559 --> 00:35:22.039 what an ill looking pack of men the servants were, 516 00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:26.199 asked Madame, Yes, said my father, who had just come in. 517 00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:29.800 Ugly hang dog looking fellows as ever I beheld in 518 00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:32.920 my life. I hope they mayn't rob the poor lady 519 00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:37.000 in the forest. They are clever rogues. However, they got 520 00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:40.519 everything to rights in a minute. I dare say they 521 00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:45.480 are worn out with too long traveling, said Madame. Besides 522 00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:49.760 looking wicked their faces were so strangely lean and dark 523 00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:53.920 and sullen. I am very curious, I own, but I 524 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:55.920 dare say the young lady will tell you all about 525 00:35:55.960 --> 00:35:59.800 it tomorrow, if she is sufficiently recovered. I don't think 526 00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:04.079 she will, said my father, with a mysterious smile and 527 00:36:04.119 --> 00:36:05.800 a little nod of his head, as if he knew 528 00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:09.320 more about it than he cared to tell us. This 529 00:36:09.480 --> 00:36:11.519 made us all the more inquisitive as to what had 530 00:36:11.559 --> 00:36:14.400 passed between him and the lady in black velvet in 531 00:36:14.440 --> 00:36:17.840 the brief but earnest interview that had immediately preceded her departure. 532 00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:21.719 We were scarcely alone when I entreated him to tell me. 533 00:36:22.559 --> 00:36:26.480 He did not need much pressing. There is no particular 534 00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:29.599 reason why I should not tell you. She expressed a 535 00:36:29.639 --> 00:36:32.000 reluctance to trouble us with the care of her daughter, 536 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:36.280 saying she was in delicate health and nervous, but not 537 00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:39.840 subject to any kind of seizure. She volunteered that, nor 538 00:36:39.880 --> 00:36:45.199 to any allusion, being in fact perfectly sane. How very 539 00:36:45.239 --> 00:36:48.920 odd to say all that I interpolated. It was so 540 00:36:49.039 --> 00:36:55.119 unnecessary at all events, it was said, he laughed. And 541 00:36:55.199 --> 00:36:57.280 as you wish to know all that passed, which was 542 00:36:57.400 --> 00:37:02.039 very little. Indeed, I tell you. She then said, I 543 00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:05.960 am making a long journey of vital importance. She emphasized 544 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:10.119 the word rapid and secret. I shall return for my 545 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:13.199 child in three months. In the meantime, she will be 546 00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:16.639 silent as to who we are, whence we come, and 547 00:37:16.719 --> 00:37:21.000 whither we are traveling. That is all she said. She 548 00:37:21.079 --> 00:37:25.800 spoke very pure French. When she said the word secret. 549 00:37:26.199 --> 00:37:30.000 She paused for a few seconds, looking sternly, her eyes 550 00:37:30.079 --> 00:37:33.800 fixed on mine. I fancy she makes a great point 551 00:37:33.800 --> 00:37:38.880 of that. You saw how quickly she was gone. I 552 00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:42.199 hope I have not done a very foolish thing in 553 00:37:42.280 --> 00:37:46.480 taking charge of the young lady. For my part, I 554 00:37:46.599 --> 00:37:50.400 was delighted. I was longing to see and talk to her, 555 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:54.719 and only waiting till the doctor should give me leave. You, 556 00:37:54.840 --> 00:37:57.719 who live in towns, can have no idea how great 557 00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:00.519 an event the introduction of a new friend is. In 558 00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:04.920 such a solitude as surrounded us. The doctor did not 559 00:38:05.079 --> 00:38:07.960 arrive till nearly one o'clock. But I could no more 560 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:10.280 have gone to my bed and slept than I could 561 00:38:10.280 --> 00:38:13.239 have overtaken on foot the carriage in which the Princess 562 00:38:13.239 --> 00:38:17.280 in Black velvet had driven away. When the physician came 563 00:38:17.320 --> 00:38:19.960 down to the drawing room, it was to report very 564 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:23.880 favorably upon his patient. She was now sitting up, her 565 00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:29.360 pulse quite regular, apparently perfectly well. She had sustained no injury, 566 00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:32.039 and the little shock to her nerves had passed away 567 00:38:32.159 --> 00:38:35.760 quite harmlessly. There could be no harm, certainly in my 568 00:38:35.880 --> 00:38:39.079 seeing her, if we both wished it. And with this permission, 569 00:38:39.159 --> 00:38:42.119 I sent forthwith to know whether she would allow me 570 00:38:42.159 --> 00:38:44.159 to visit her for a few minutes in her room. 571 00:38:45.360 --> 00:38:48.519 The servant returned immediately to say that she desired nothing more. 572 00:38:49.679 --> 00:38:51.920 You may be sure I was not long in availing 573 00:38:51.960 --> 00:38:56.639 myself of this permission. Our visitor lay in one of 574 00:38:56.639 --> 00:38:59.920 the handsomest rooms in the Schloss. It was for half 575 00:39:00.280 --> 00:39:03.960 a little stately. There was a somber piece of tapestry 576 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:08.320 opposite the bed, representing Cleopatra with the asps to her bosom, 577 00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:12.880 and other solemn classic scenes were displayed a little faded 578 00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:17.280 upon the other walls. But there was gold carving and 579 00:39:17.480 --> 00:39:20.400 rich and varied color enough in the other decorations of 580 00:39:20.440 --> 00:39:23.159 the room to more than redeem the gloom of the 581 00:39:23.199 --> 00:39:28.079 old tapestry. There were candles at the bedside. She was 582 00:39:28.119 --> 00:39:31.719 sitting up, her slender, pretty figure, enveloped in the soft 583 00:39:31.800 --> 00:39:35.360 silk dressing gown embroidered with flowers and lined with thick 584 00:39:35.440 --> 00:39:38.320 quilted silk, which her mother had thrown over her feet 585 00:39:38.360 --> 00:39:41.800 as she lay on the ground. What was it that, 586 00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:44.639 as I reached the bedside and had just begun my 587 00:39:44.679 --> 00:39:49.079 little greeting, struck me dumb in a moment, and made 588 00:39:49.119 --> 00:39:53.039 me recoil a step or two from before her. I 589 00:39:53.079 --> 00:39:58.159 will tell you I saw the very face which had 590 00:39:58.280 --> 00:40:01.840 visited me in my childhood at night, and which remained 591 00:40:01.960 --> 00:40:05.039 so fixed in my memory, and on which I had, 592 00:40:05.039 --> 00:40:08.760 for so many years, so often ruminated with horror when 593 00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:13.440 no one suspected of what I was thinking. It was pretty, 594 00:40:14.280 --> 00:40:18.840 even beautiful, And when I first beheld it wore the 595 00:40:18.880 --> 00:40:26.280 same melancholy expression, but this almost instantly lighted into a strange, 596 00:40:26.360 --> 00:40:31.280 fixed smile of recognition. There was a silence of fully 597 00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:35.360 a minute, and then at length she spoke. I could 598 00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:43.079 not how wonderful, she exclaimed, twelve years ago, I saw 599 00:40:43.119 --> 00:40:46.360 your face in a dream, and it has haunted me 600 00:40:46.559 --> 00:40:53.639 ever since. Wonderful, indeed, I repeated, overcoming with an effort 601 00:40:53.719 --> 00:40:56.440 the horror that had for a time suspended my utterances 602 00:40:57.400 --> 00:41:01.239 twelve years ago, in vision or a reality, I certainly 603 00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:04.840 saw you. I could not forget your face. It has 604 00:41:04.880 --> 00:41:09.599 remained before my eyes of her since her smile had softened. 605 00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:13.519 Whatever I had fancied strange in it was gone, and 606 00:41:13.679 --> 00:41:17.400 it and her dimpling cheeks were now delightfully pretty and intelligent. 607 00:41:18.719 --> 00:41:21.800 I felt reassured, and continued more in the vain which 608 00:41:21.840 --> 00:41:25.079 hospitality indicated, to bid her welcome, and to tell her 609 00:41:25.119 --> 00:41:27.920 how much pleasure her accidental arrival had given us all, 610 00:41:28.280 --> 00:41:31.840 and especially what a happiness it was to me. I 611 00:41:31.920 --> 00:41:35.199 took her hand as I spoke. I was a little shy, 612 00:41:35.400 --> 00:41:38.960 as lonely people are, but the situation made me eloquent 613 00:41:39.320 --> 00:41:43.519 and even bold. She pressed my hand, she laid hers 614 00:41:43.599 --> 00:41:47.960 upon it, and her eyes glowed as looking hastily into mine, 615 00:41:48.079 --> 00:41:53.400 she smiled again and blushed. She answered my welcome very prettily. 616 00:41:54.280 --> 00:41:57.679 I sat down beside her, still wondering, and she said, 617 00:41:59.320 --> 00:42:02.559 I must tell you you my vision about you. It 618 00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:05.079 is so very strange that you and I should have 619 00:42:05.119 --> 00:42:08.880 had each of the other, so vivid a dream, that 620 00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:13.400 each should have seen I you and you me looking 621 00:42:13.440 --> 00:42:16.679 as we do now, when, of course we were both 622 00:42:16.760 --> 00:42:20.960 mere children. I was a child about six years old, 623 00:42:21.679 --> 00:42:25.079 and I awoke from a confused and troubled dream, and 624 00:42:25.199 --> 00:42:29.679 found myself in a room unlike my nursery, wainscudded clumsily 625 00:42:29.719 --> 00:42:33.360 in some dark wood, and with cupboards and bedsteads and 626 00:42:33.440 --> 00:42:37.800 chairs and benches placed about it. The beds were, I thought, 627 00:42:38.360 --> 00:42:41.719 all empty, and the room itself without any one but 628 00:42:41.800 --> 00:42:45.000 myself in it. And I, after looking about me for 629 00:42:45.079 --> 00:42:49.960 some time, and admiring especially an iron candlestick with two branches, 630 00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:53.760 which I should certainly know again, crept under one of 631 00:42:53.800 --> 00:42:57.280 the beds to reach the window. But as I got 632 00:42:57.320 --> 00:43:01.400 from under the bed, I heard some one cry, and 633 00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:05.199 looking up, while I was still upon my knees, I 634 00:43:05.280 --> 00:43:10.320 saw you, most assuredly, you as I see you now, 635 00:43:11.400 --> 00:43:15.280 a beautiful young lady with golden hair and large blue 636 00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:21.000 eyes and lips, your lips, you as you are here. 637 00:43:22.639 --> 00:43:25.559 Your looks won me. I climbed on the bed and 638 00:43:25.599 --> 00:43:28.480 put my arms about you, and I think we both 639 00:43:28.519 --> 00:43:32.400 fell asleep. I was aroused by a scream. You were 640 00:43:32.440 --> 00:43:37.159 sitting up screaming. I was frightened and slipped down upon 641 00:43:37.199 --> 00:43:40.239 the ground and it seemed to me lost consciousness for 642 00:43:40.320 --> 00:43:43.280 a moment, and when I came to myself, I was 643 00:43:43.320 --> 00:43:48.199 again in my nursery at home. Your face I have 644 00:43:48.320 --> 00:43:52.000 never forgotten, since I could not be misled by the 645 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:55.639 mere resemblance you are the lady whom I saw. Then 646 00:43:58.119 --> 00:44:00.960 it was now my turn to relate my core responding vision, 647 00:44:01.480 --> 00:44:04.719 which I did to the undisguised wonder of my new acquaintance. 648 00:44:06.280 --> 00:44:08.679 I don't know which should be most afraid of the other, 649 00:44:09.400 --> 00:44:13.559 she said, again, smiling. If you were less pretty, I 650 00:44:13.599 --> 00:44:16.480 think I should be very much afraid of you. But 651 00:44:16.639 --> 00:44:19.840 being as you are, and you and I both so young, 652 00:44:20.639 --> 00:44:23.280 I feel only that I have made your acquaintance twelve 653 00:44:23.360 --> 00:44:27.280 years ago, and have already a right to your intimacy 654 00:44:28.480 --> 00:44:30.639 at all events. It does seem as if we were 655 00:44:30.679 --> 00:44:35.920 destined from our earliest childhood to be friends. I wonder 656 00:44:36.719 --> 00:44:39.679 whether you feel as strangely drawn towards me as I 657 00:44:39.719 --> 00:44:44.360 do to you. I have never had a friend. Shall 658 00:44:44.360 --> 00:44:50.079 I find one? Now? She sighed, and her fine dark 659 00:44:50.119 --> 00:44:54.960 eyes gazed passionately on me. Now the truth is, I 660 00:44:55.079 --> 00:45:00.280 felt rather unaccountably towards the beautiful stranger. I did feel, 661 00:45:00.360 --> 00:45:05.360 as she said, drawn towards her. But there was also 662 00:45:05.480 --> 00:45:12.199 something of repulsion in this ambiguous feeling. However, the sense 663 00:45:12.199 --> 00:45:17.400 of attraction immensely prevailed. She interested and won me. She 664 00:45:17.559 --> 00:45:23.960 was so beautiful and so indescribably engaging. I perceived now 665 00:45:24.039 --> 00:45:27.760 something of languor and exhaustion stealing over her, and hastened 666 00:45:27.800 --> 00:45:31.440 to bid her good night. The doctor thinks, I added 667 00:45:31.679 --> 00:45:33.440 that you ought to have a maid sit up with 668 00:45:33.480 --> 00:45:36.320 you tonight. One of ours is waiting, and you will 669 00:45:36.320 --> 00:45:41.039 find her a very useful and quiet creature. How kind 670 00:45:41.079 --> 00:45:44.559 of you. But I could not sleep. I never could 671 00:45:44.599 --> 00:45:48.719 with an attendant in the room. I shan't require any assistance, 672 00:45:49.639 --> 00:45:53.199 and shall I confess my weakness. I am haunted with 673 00:45:53.280 --> 00:45:56.800 a terror of robbers. Our house was robbed once and 674 00:45:56.880 --> 00:46:01.800 two servants murdered. So I always lock my door. It 675 00:46:01.840 --> 00:46:05.400 has become a habit. And you look so kind. I 676 00:46:05.440 --> 00:46:08.159 know you will forgive me. I see there is a 677 00:46:08.280 --> 00:46:12.039 key in the lock. She held me close in her 678 00:46:12.039 --> 00:46:15.159 pretty arms for a moment and whispered in my ear, 679 00:46:16.199 --> 00:46:19.800 good night, darling. It is very hard to part with you, 680 00:46:20.760 --> 00:46:26.440 but good night tomorrow, but not early. I shall see 681 00:46:26.440 --> 00:46:31.000 you again. She sank back on the pillow with a sigh, 682 00:46:31.400 --> 00:46:33.920 and her fine eyes followed me with a fond and 683 00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:39.400 melancholy gaze, and she murmured again, good night, dear friend. 684 00:46:41.920 --> 00:46:46.679 Young people like and even love on impulse. I was 685 00:46:46.760 --> 00:46:49.960 flattered by the evident, though as yet undeserved fondness she 686 00:46:50.039 --> 00:46:53.519 showed me. I liked the confidence with which she at 687 00:46:53.519 --> 00:46:56.840 once received me. She was determined that we should be 688 00:46:56.960 --> 00:47:01.159 very near friends. Next day came and we met again. 689 00:47:02.039 --> 00:47:05.280 I was delighted with my companion, that is to say, 690 00:47:05.480 --> 00:47:10.239 in many respects. Her looks lost nothing in daylight. She 691 00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:14.000 was most certainly the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, 692 00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:17.480 and the unpleasant remembrance of the face presented in my 693 00:47:17.599 --> 00:47:22.079 early dream had lost the effect of the first unexpected recognition. 694 00:47:23.679 --> 00:47:26.320 She confessed that she had experienced a similar shock on 695 00:47:26.440 --> 00:47:30.000 seeing me, and precisely the same faint antipathy that had 696 00:47:30.079 --> 00:47:33.960 mingled with my admiration of her. We now laughed together 697 00:47:34.480 --> 00:47:42.679 over our momentary horrors. End of Chapter three, Chapter four, 698 00:47:44.440 --> 00:47:49.480 Her Habits a saunter. I told you that I was 699 00:47:49.559 --> 00:47:53.280 charmed with her in most particulars. There were some that 700 00:47:53.360 --> 00:47:56.840 did not please me so well. She was above the 701 00:47:56.840 --> 00:48:00.440 middle height of women. I shall begin by describing her. 702 00:48:02.199 --> 00:48:07.039 She was slender and wonderfully graceful, except that her movements 703 00:48:07.039 --> 00:48:10.920 were languid, very languid. Indeed, there was nothing in her 704 00:48:10.960 --> 00:48:15.280 appearance to indicate an invalid. Her complexion was rich and brilliant. 705 00:48:15.719 --> 00:48:19.639 Her features were small and beautifully formed, her eyes large, 706 00:48:19.960 --> 00:48:24.159 dark and lustrous. Her hair was quite wonderful. I never 707 00:48:24.239 --> 00:48:26.960 saw hair so magnificently thick and long. When it was 708 00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:30.360 down about her shoulders, I have often placed my hands 709 00:48:30.440 --> 00:48:33.880 under it and laughed with wonder at its weight. It 710 00:48:33.960 --> 00:48:37.719 was exquisitely fine and soft, and in color a rich, 711 00:48:37.920 --> 00:48:41.800 very dark brown, with something of gold. I loved to 712 00:48:41.880 --> 00:48:44.840 let it down, tumbling with its own weight. As in 713 00:48:44.880 --> 00:48:47.159 her room, she lay back in her chair, talking in 714 00:48:47.159 --> 00:48:50.400 her sweet low voice. I used to fold and braid it, 715 00:48:50.760 --> 00:48:55.000 and spread it out in play with it. Heavens, if 716 00:48:55.039 --> 00:48:59.199 I had but known all I said, there were particulars 717 00:48:59.199 --> 00:49:02.039 which did not please please me. I have told you 718 00:49:02.119 --> 00:49:04.519 that her confidence won me the first night I saw her. 719 00:49:05.199 --> 00:49:07.920 But I found that she exercised with respect to herself, 720 00:49:08.320 --> 00:49:12.199 her mother, her history, everything in fact connected with her life, 721 00:49:12.320 --> 00:49:17.320 plans and people. An ever wakeful reserve. I dare say 722 00:49:17.360 --> 00:49:21.360 I was unreasonable. Perhaps I was wrong. I dare say 723 00:49:21.400 --> 00:49:24.239 I ought to have respected this solemn injunction laid upon 724 00:49:24.280 --> 00:49:27.760 my father by the stately lady in black velvet. But 725 00:49:28.199 --> 00:49:33.760 curiosity is a restless and unscrupulous passion, and no one 726 00:49:33.840 --> 00:49:36.840 girl can endure with patience that her should be baffled 727 00:49:36.880 --> 00:49:40.119 by another. What harm could it do any one to 728 00:49:40.199 --> 00:49:43.440 tell me what I so ardently desired to know? Had 729 00:49:43.480 --> 00:49:46.639 she no trust in my good sense or honor? Why 730 00:49:46.639 --> 00:49:49.039 would she not believe me when I assured her so 731 00:49:49.039 --> 00:49:52.480 solemnly that I would not divulge one syllable of what 732 00:49:52.559 --> 00:49:57.519 she told me to any mortal breathing. There was a coldness, 733 00:49:58.119 --> 00:50:02.159 it seemed to me beyond her years, in her smiling, 734 00:50:02.320 --> 00:50:06.000 melancholy persistent refusal to afford me the least ray of light. 735 00:50:07.719 --> 00:50:10.400 I cannot say we quarreled upon this point, for she 736 00:50:10.440 --> 00:50:14.800 would not quarrel upon any It was, of course very 737 00:50:14.920 --> 00:50:18.440 unfair of me to press her very ill bred, but 738 00:50:18.559 --> 00:50:21.880 really I could not help it, and I might just 739 00:50:21.920 --> 00:50:25.039 as well have let it alone. What she did tell 740 00:50:25.079 --> 00:50:30.480 me amounted, in my unconscionable estimation, to nothing. It was 741 00:50:30.519 --> 00:50:36.599 all summed up in three very vague disclosures. First, her 742 00:50:36.679 --> 00:50:43.559 name was Carmila. Second, her family was very ancient and noble. Third, 743 00:50:44.400 --> 00:50:48.079 her home lay in the direction of the west. She 744 00:50:48.119 --> 00:50:50.559 would not tell me the name of her family, nor 745 00:50:50.639 --> 00:50:54.000 there armorial bearings, nor the name of their estate, nor 746 00:50:54.039 --> 00:50:58.679 even that of the country they lived in. You are 747 00:50:58.719 --> 00:51:02.159 not to suppose that I worry her incessantly on these subjects. 748 00:51:02.519 --> 00:51:07.159 I watched opportunity, and rather insinuated than urged my inquiries. 749 00:51:07.920 --> 00:51:10.400 Once or twice. Indeed, I did attack her more directly, 750 00:51:11.199 --> 00:51:15.280 but no matter what my tactics, utter failure was invariably 751 00:51:15.320 --> 00:51:19.280 the result. Reproaches and caresses were all lost upon her. 752 00:51:20.280 --> 00:51:23.800 But I must add this that her evasion was conducted 753 00:51:23.840 --> 00:51:27.920 with so pretty a melancholy and deprecation, with so many 754 00:51:27.960 --> 00:51:31.159 and even passionate declarations of her liking for me and 755 00:51:31.320 --> 00:51:34.360 trust in my honor, and with so many promises that 756 00:51:34.400 --> 00:51:37.199 I should at last know all that I could not 757 00:51:37.360 --> 00:51:39.679 find it in my heart long to be offended with her. 758 00:51:40.840 --> 00:51:43.199 She used to place her pretty arms around my neck, 759 00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:46.880 draw me to her, and laying her cheek to mine, 760 00:51:46.960 --> 00:51:52.280 murmur with her lips near my ear. Dearest, your little 761 00:51:52.280 --> 00:51:56.440 heart is wounded, Think me not cruel because I obey 762 00:51:56.519 --> 00:52:00.840 the irresistible law of my strength and weakness. If your 763 00:52:00.960 --> 00:52:05.719 dear heart is wounded, my wild heart bleeds with yours. 764 00:52:06.880 --> 00:52:10.960 In the rapture of my enormous humiliation. I live in 765 00:52:11.039 --> 00:52:16.840 your warm life, and you shall die, Die sweetly, die 766 00:52:17.039 --> 00:52:22.599 into mine. I cannot help it. As I draw near 767 00:52:22.639 --> 00:52:25.920 to you, you, in your turn, will draw near to 768 00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:30.599 others and learn the rapture of that cruelty which yet 769 00:52:30.719 --> 00:52:34.559 is love. So for a while, seek to know no 770 00:52:34.719 --> 00:52:38.360 more of me and mine, but trust me with all 771 00:52:38.480 --> 00:52:44.000 your loving spirit. And when she had spoken such a rhapsody, 772 00:52:44.880 --> 00:52:47.599 she would press me more closely in her trembling embrace, 773 00:52:48.320 --> 00:52:51.599 and her lips in soft kisses, gently glow upon my cheek. 774 00:52:52.920 --> 00:52:58.559 Her agitations and her language were unintelligible to me. From 775 00:52:58.559 --> 00:53:02.119 these foolish embraces, which were not of very frequent occurrence, 776 00:53:02.719 --> 00:53:05.760 I must allow, I used to wish to extricate myself, 777 00:53:06.559 --> 00:53:11.559 but my energies seemed to fail me. Her murmured words 778 00:53:11.599 --> 00:53:15.039 sounded like a lullaby in my ear, and soothed my 779 00:53:15.159 --> 00:53:18.800 resistance into a trance from which I only seemed to 780 00:53:18.840 --> 00:53:25.039 recover myself. When she withdrew her arms in these mysterious moods, 781 00:53:25.039 --> 00:53:28.920 I did not like her. I experienced a strange, tumultuous 782 00:53:28.920 --> 00:53:33.519 excitement that was pleasurable ever and anon mingled with a 783 00:53:33.639 --> 00:53:37.880 vague sense of fear and distrust. I had no distinct 784 00:53:37.920 --> 00:53:41.719 thoughts about her while such scenes lasted, But I was 785 00:53:41.800 --> 00:53:48.519 conscious of a love growing into adoration, and also of abhorrence. This, 786 00:53:48.679 --> 00:53:51.840 I know is paradox, but I can make no other 787 00:53:51.880 --> 00:53:56.760 attempt to explain the feeling. I now write, after an 788 00:53:56.760 --> 00:54:00.280 interval of more than ten years, with a trembling head, 789 00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.400 and with a confused and horrible recollection of certain occurrences 790 00:54:04.400 --> 00:54:08.679 and situations in the ordeal through which I was unconsciously passing, 791 00:54:09.440 --> 00:54:12.800 though with a very vivid and sharp remembrance of the 792 00:54:12.800 --> 00:54:17.599 main current of my story. But I suspect in all 793 00:54:17.679 --> 00:54:21.039 lives there are certain emotional scenes, those in which our 794 00:54:21.079 --> 00:54:24.599 passions have been most wildly and terribly roused, that are, 795 00:54:24.639 --> 00:54:29.960 of all others, the most vaguely and dimly remembered. Sometimes, 796 00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:33.960 after an hour of apathy, my strange and beautiful companion 797 00:54:33.960 --> 00:54:36.480 would take my hand and hold it with a fond pressure, 798 00:54:36.880 --> 00:54:41.960 renewed again and again, blushing softly, gazing in my face 799 00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:45.599 with languid and burning eyes, and breathing so fast that 800 00:54:45.639 --> 00:54:50.119 her dress rose and fell with the tumultuous respiration. It 801 00:54:50.159 --> 00:54:53.360 was like the ardor of a lover. It embarrassed me. 802 00:54:54.239 --> 00:54:59.440 It was hateful and yet overpowering, And with gloating eyes, 803 00:54:59.480 --> 00:55:02.440 she drew me to her, and her hot lips traveled 804 00:55:02.480 --> 00:55:05.639 along my cheek and kisses, and she would whisper, almost 805 00:55:05.639 --> 00:55:09.920 in sobs. You are mine, you shall be mine. You 806 00:55:10.079 --> 00:55:15.840 and I are one forever. Then she had thrown herself 807 00:55:15.880 --> 00:55:19.119 back in her chair, with her small hands over her eyes, 808 00:55:19.800 --> 00:55:25.119 leaving me trembling. Are we related? I used to ask, 809 00:55:25.960 --> 00:55:28.920 what can you mean by all this? I remind you, 810 00:55:29.079 --> 00:55:32.320 perhaps of someone whom you love, but you must not. 811 00:55:32.679 --> 00:55:35.920 I hate it. I don't know you. I don't know 812 00:55:36.000 --> 00:55:41.320 myself when you look so and talk. So she used 813 00:55:41.320 --> 00:55:45.119 to sigh at my vehemence, then turn away and drop 814 00:55:45.199 --> 00:55:51.280 my hand. Respecting these very extraordinary manifestations, I strove in 815 00:55:51.400 --> 00:55:54.960 vain to form any satisfactory theory. I could not refer 816 00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.360 them to affectation or trick. It was unmistakably the momentary 817 00:55:59.400 --> 00:56:04.800 breaking out of suppressed instinct. And emotion. Was she, notwithstanding 818 00:56:04.840 --> 00:56:09.440 her mother's volunteered denial, subject to brief visitations of insanity? 819 00:56:10.320 --> 00:56:14.320 Or was there here a disguise and a romance? I 820 00:56:14.360 --> 00:56:17.440 had read in old story books of such things. What 821 00:56:17.519 --> 00:56:19.760 if a boyish lover had found his way into the 822 00:56:19.800 --> 00:56:23.320 house and sought to prosecute his suit and masquerade with 823 00:56:23.400 --> 00:56:27.480 the assistance of a clever old adventuress. But there were 824 00:56:27.480 --> 00:56:31.199 many things against this hypothesis. Highly interesting as it was 825 00:56:31.280 --> 00:56:35.360 to my vanity, I could boast of no little attentions, 826 00:56:35.639 --> 00:56:40.480 such as masculine gallantry delights to offer. Between these passionate moments, 827 00:56:40.559 --> 00:56:45.320 there were long intervals of commonplace, of gaiety, of brooding melancholy, 828 00:56:45.960 --> 00:56:48.800 during which, except that I detected her eyes so full 829 00:56:48.840 --> 00:56:52.519 of melancholy fire following me, at times, I might have 830 00:56:52.559 --> 00:56:56.440 been as nothing to her. Except in these brief periods 831 00:56:56.440 --> 00:57:00.119 of mysterious excitement. Her ways were girlish, and there there 832 00:57:00.159 --> 00:57:03.559 was always a languor about her, quite incompatible with a 833 00:57:03.639 --> 00:57:08.199 masculine system in a state of health. In some respects 834 00:57:08.199 --> 00:57:11.599 her habits were odd, perhaps not so singular in the 835 00:57:11.639 --> 00:57:14.559 opinion of a town lady like you, as they appeared 836 00:57:14.559 --> 00:57:17.840 to us rustic people. She used to come down very late, 837 00:57:18.480 --> 00:57:21.519 generally not till one o'clock. She would then take a 838 00:57:21.519 --> 00:57:24.719 cup of chocolate, but eat nothing. We then went out 839 00:57:24.760 --> 00:57:27.639 for a walk, which was a mere saunter, and she 840 00:57:27.679 --> 00:57:31.800 seemed almost immediately exhausted, and either returned to the schloss 841 00:57:32.199 --> 00:57:34.239 or sat on one of the benches that were placed 842 00:57:34.239 --> 00:57:37.519 here and there among the trees. This was a bodily 843 00:57:37.639 --> 00:57:40.880 languor in which her mind did not sympathize. She was 844 00:57:40.920 --> 00:57:46.079 always an animated talker and very intelligent. She sometimes alluded 845 00:57:46.119 --> 00:57:48.760 for a moment to her own home, or mentioned an 846 00:57:48.760 --> 00:57:52.679 adventure or situation, or an early recollection which indicated a 847 00:57:52.719 --> 00:57:56.039 people of strange manners, and described customs of which we 848 00:57:56.079 --> 00:57:59.599 knew nothing. I gathered from these chance hints at her 849 00:57:59.679 --> 00:58:02.119 native country was much more remote than I had at 850 00:58:02.119 --> 00:58:06.840 first fancied. As we sat thus one afternoon under the trees, 851 00:58:07.400 --> 00:58:10.440 a funeral passed us by. It was that of a 852 00:58:10.440 --> 00:58:14.000 pretty young girl whom I had often seen, the daughter 853 00:58:14.039 --> 00:58:17.000 of one of the rangers of the forest. The poor 854 00:58:17.079 --> 00:58:20.320 man was walking behind the coffin of his darling. She 855 00:58:20.519 --> 00:58:24.000 was his only child, and he looked quite heart broken. 856 00:58:25.440 --> 00:58:28.679 Peasants walking two and two came behind. They were singing 857 00:58:28.679 --> 00:58:32.639 a funeral hymn. I rose to mark my respect as 858 00:58:32.639 --> 00:58:35.159 they passed and joined in the hymn. They were very 859 00:58:35.159 --> 00:58:40.199 sweetly singing. My companion shook me a little roughly, and 860 00:58:40.320 --> 00:58:45.199 I turned surprised. She said, brusquely. Don't you perceive how 861 00:58:45.239 --> 00:58:50.119 discordant that is? I think it very sweet. On the contrary, 862 00:58:50.599 --> 00:58:54.920 I answered, vexed at the interruption, and very uncomfortable lest 863 00:58:54.960 --> 00:58:57.400 the people who composed the little procession should observe and 864 00:58:57.480 --> 00:59:02.039 resent what was passing. I I resumed therefore instantly, and 865 00:59:02.239 --> 00:59:07.719 was again interrupted. You pierce my ears, said Carmilla, almost angrily, 866 00:59:08.320 --> 00:59:11.760 and stopping her ears with her tiny fingers. Besides, how 867 00:59:11.800 --> 00:59:13.920 can you tell that your religion and mine are the same. 868 00:59:14.559 --> 00:59:19.679 Your forms wound me, and I hate funerals. What a fuss? 869 00:59:20.079 --> 00:59:23.760 Why you must die? Every one must die, and all 870 00:59:23.800 --> 00:59:29.760 are happier when they do come home. My father has 871 00:59:29.800 --> 00:59:32.800 gone on with the clergyman to the churchyard. I thought 872 00:59:32.800 --> 00:59:35.559 you knew she was to be buried to day. She 873 00:59:36.719 --> 00:59:39.679 I don't trouble my head about peasants. I don't know 874 00:59:39.719 --> 00:59:43.599 who she is, answered Carmilla, with a flash from her 875 00:59:43.639 --> 00:59:47.719 fine eyes. She is the poor girl who fancied she 876 00:59:47.800 --> 00:59:50.639 saw a ghost a fortnight ago, and has been dying 877 00:59:50.679 --> 00:59:55.480 ever since till yesterday when she expired. Tell me nothing 878 00:59:55.519 --> 00:59:58.320 about ghosts. I sha'n't sleep to night if you do. 879 01:00:00.280 --> 01:00:03.599 I hope there is no plague or fever coming. All 880 01:00:03.639 --> 01:00:07.639 this looks very like it, I continued. The Swineherd's young 881 01:00:07.639 --> 01:00:10.679 wife died only a week ago, and she thought something 882 01:00:10.760 --> 01:00:12.639 seized her by the throat as she lay in her 883 01:00:12.639 --> 01:00:17.159 bed and nearly strangled her. Papa says, some horrible fancies 884 01:00:17.199 --> 01:00:20.840 do accompany some forms of fever. She was quite well 885 01:00:20.840 --> 01:00:25.000 the day before, she sank afterwards and died before a 886 01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:30.519 week well. Her funeral is over. I hope and her 887 01:00:30.599 --> 01:00:33.400 hymn sung, and our ears shan't be tortured with that 888 01:00:33.519 --> 01:00:39.400 discord and jargon. It has made me nervous. Sit down 889 01:00:39.440 --> 01:00:47.880 here beside me, Sit close, hold my hand. Press it hard, hard, harder. 890 01:00:49.920 --> 01:00:51.960 We had moved a little back and had come to 891 01:00:52.000 --> 01:00:57.480 another seat. She sat down. Her face underwent a change, 892 01:00:57.480 --> 01:01:00.760 then alarmed and even terrified me. For a moment, it 893 01:01:00.920 --> 01:01:05.440 darkened and became horribly livid. Her teeth and hands were clenched, 894 01:01:05.639 --> 01:01:08.400 and she frowned and compressed her lips, while she stared 895 01:01:08.440 --> 01:01:11.239 down upon the ground at her feet and trembled all 896 01:01:11.280 --> 01:01:14.199 over with a continued shudder as irrepressible as ag you. 897 01:01:15.360 --> 01:01:18.559 All her energy seemed strained to suppress a fit with 898 01:01:18.679 --> 01:01:22.559 which she was then breathlessly tugging, And at length a low, 899 01:01:22.639 --> 01:01:27.039 convulsive cry of suffering broke from her, and gradually the 900 01:01:27.119 --> 01:01:33.480 hysteria subsided. There that comes of strangling people with hymns. 901 01:01:34.159 --> 01:01:39.280 She said, at last, hold me, hold me still. It 902 01:01:39.360 --> 01:01:44.840 is passing away, And so gradually it did, and perhaps 903 01:01:44.840 --> 01:01:47.760 to dissipate the somber impression which the spectacle had left 904 01:01:47.840 --> 01:01:52.079 upon me, she became unusually animated and shatty, And so 905 01:01:52.199 --> 01:01:56.000 we got home. This was the first time I had 906 01:01:56.000 --> 01:01:59.280 seen her exhibit any definable symptoms of that delicacy of 907 01:01:59.320 --> 01:02:02.440 health which her mother had spoken of. It was the 908 01:02:02.480 --> 01:02:05.679 first time, also I had seen her exhibit anything like temper. 909 01:02:07.000 --> 01:02:10.559 Both passed away like a summer cloud, and never but 910 01:02:10.639 --> 01:02:13.280 once afterwards did I witness on her part a momentary 911 01:02:13.320 --> 01:02:16.519 sign of anger. I will tell you how it happened. 912 01:02:17.960 --> 01:02:19.559 She and I were looking out of one of the 913 01:02:19.559 --> 01:02:22.800 long drawing room windows. When there entered the courtyard over 914 01:02:22.840 --> 01:02:25.639 the drawbridge the figure of a wanderer, whom I knew 915 01:02:25.719 --> 01:02:28.519 very well. He used to visit the Schloss generally twice 916 01:02:28.519 --> 01:02:32.039 a year. It was the figure of a hunchback with 917 01:02:32.119 --> 01:02:36.239 the sharp, lean features that generally accompanied deformity. He wore 918 01:02:36.239 --> 01:02:39.320 a pointed black beard, and he was smiling from ear 919 01:02:39.360 --> 01:02:43.960 to ear, showing his white fangs. He was dressed in buff, 920 01:02:44.159 --> 01:02:47.559 black and scarlet, and crossed with more straps and belts 921 01:02:47.599 --> 01:02:51.440 than I could count, from which hung all manner of things. Behind. 922 01:02:51.480 --> 01:02:54.320 He carried a magic lantern and two boxes, which I 923 01:02:54.400 --> 01:02:57.760 well knew in, one of which was a salamander, and 924 01:02:57.840 --> 01:03:01.320 the other a mandrake. These monsters used to make my 925 01:03:01.360 --> 01:03:06.360 father laugh. They were compounded of parts of monkeys, parrots, squirrels, 926 01:03:06.599 --> 01:03:10.320 fish and hedgehogs, dried and stitched together with great neatness 927 01:03:10.360 --> 01:03:14.039 and startling effect. He had a fiddle, a box of 928 01:03:14.079 --> 01:03:18.519 conjuring apparatus, a pair of foils and masks attached to 929 01:03:18.559 --> 01:03:22.920 his belt, several other mysterious cases dangling about him, and 930 01:03:23.000 --> 01:03:26.880 a black staff with copper ferules in his hand. His 931 01:03:26.960 --> 01:03:30.360 companion was a rough spare dog. That followed at his heels, 932 01:03:30.760 --> 01:03:34.639 but stopped short suspiciously at the drawbridge, and in a 933 01:03:34.639 --> 01:03:39.960 little while began to howl dismally. In the meantime, the Mountebank, 934 01:03:40.280 --> 01:03:43.360 standing in the midst of the courtyard, raised his grotesque 935 01:03:43.400 --> 01:03:46.920 hat and made us a very ceremonious bow, paying his 936 01:03:47.039 --> 01:03:56.199 compliments very volubly, inexecrable French and German, not much better. Then, 937 01:03:56.320 --> 01:03:59.599 disengaging his fiddle, he began to scrape a lively air, 938 01:03:59.639 --> 01:04:02.639 to which he sang with a merry discord, dancing with 939 01:04:02.719 --> 01:04:05.760 ludicrous airs and activity that made me laugh in spite 940 01:04:05.800 --> 01:04:10.000 of the dog's howling. Then he advanced to the window, 941 01:04:10.039 --> 01:04:13.119 with many smiles and salutations, and his hat in his 942 01:04:13.199 --> 01:04:16.119 left hand, his fiddle under his arm, and with a 943 01:04:16.199 --> 01:04:19.800 fluency that never took breath, he gabbled a long advertisement 944 01:04:19.880 --> 01:04:22.960 of all his accomplishments, and the resources of the various 945 01:04:23.079 --> 01:04:26.199 arts which he placed at our service, and the curiosities 946 01:04:26.239 --> 01:04:28.760 and entertainments which it was in his power at our 947 01:04:28.800 --> 01:04:33.559 bidding to display. Will your ladyships be pleased to buy 948 01:04:33.599 --> 01:04:37.239 an amulet against the oupire, which is going like the 949 01:04:37.239 --> 01:04:41.000 wolf I hear through these woods, he said, dropping his 950 01:04:41.079 --> 01:04:44.239 hat on the pavement. They are dying of it right 951 01:04:44.440 --> 01:04:47.679 and left. And here is a charm that never fails, 952 01:04:48.159 --> 01:04:51.320 only pinned to the pillow, and you may laugh in 953 01:04:51.400 --> 01:04:56.519 his face. These charms consisted of oblong slips of vellum 954 01:04:56.880 --> 01:05:01.880 with cabalistic ciphers and diagrams upon them. Carmilla instantly purchased one, 955 01:05:02.239 --> 01:05:06.079 and so did I. He was looking up, and we 956 01:05:06.079 --> 01:05:09.360 were smiling down upon him, amused. At least I can 957 01:05:09.400 --> 01:05:12.960 answer for myself. His piercing black eye, as he looked 958 01:05:13.000 --> 01:05:16.199 up in our faces, seemed to detect something that fixed 959 01:05:16.239 --> 01:05:19.800 for a moment his curiosity. In an instant, he unrolled 960 01:05:19.800 --> 01:05:22.559 a leather case full of all manner of odd little 961 01:05:22.559 --> 01:05:27.960 steel instruments. See here, my lady, he said, displaying and 962 01:05:28.000 --> 01:05:32.840 addressing me, I profess, among other things less useful, the 963 01:05:32.960 --> 01:05:39.519 aught of dentistry, plague, take the dog, he interpolated. Silence, beast, 964 01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:42.960 he howled, so that your ladyships can scarcely hear a word, 965 01:05:44.480 --> 01:05:47.960 Your noble friend, the young lady at your right has 966 01:05:48.039 --> 01:05:54.039 the sharpest tooth, long, thin, pointed like an awl, like 967 01:05:54.079 --> 01:05:58.400 a needle. With my shop and long sight, as I 968 01:05:58.440 --> 01:06:02.280 look up, I have seen it distinctly. Now. If it 969 01:06:02.360 --> 01:06:05.159 happens to hurt the young lady, and I think it 970 01:06:05.280 --> 01:06:09.719 must here am I? Here are my file, my punch, 971 01:06:09.960 --> 01:06:13.559 my nippers, I will make it round and blunt. If 972 01:06:13.559 --> 01:06:17.079 her ladyship pleases no longer the tooth of a fish, 973 01:06:17.599 --> 01:06:21.840 but of a beautiful young lady as she is, Hey 974 01:06:22.639 --> 01:06:25.559 is the young lady displeased? Have I been too bold? 975 01:06:26.000 --> 01:06:30.639 Have I offended her? The young lady indeed looked very 976 01:06:30.679 --> 01:06:34.440 angry as she drew back from the window. How dare 977 01:06:34.480 --> 01:06:38.559 that mountebank insult us? So? Where is your father? I 978 01:06:38.599 --> 01:06:42.000 shall demand redress from him? My father would have had 979 01:06:42.039 --> 01:06:44.599 the wretch tied up to the pump and flogged with 980 01:06:44.599 --> 01:06:47.199 a cart whip and burnt to the bones with the 981 01:06:47.239 --> 01:06:51.639 cattle brand. She retired from the window a step or 982 01:06:51.639 --> 01:06:55.599 two and sat down, and had hardly lost sight of 983 01:06:55.639 --> 01:06:58.920 the offender when her wrath subsided as suddenly as it 984 01:06:58.960 --> 01:07:03.159 had risen, and she gradually recovered her usual tone and 985 01:07:03.239 --> 01:07:07.320 seemed to forget the little hunchback and his follies. My 986 01:07:07.440 --> 01:07:11.039 father was out of spirits that evening. On coming in, 987 01:07:11.199 --> 01:07:13.880 he told us that there had been another case very 988 01:07:13.920 --> 01:07:17.559 similar to the two fatal ones which had lately occurred. 989 01:07:18.239 --> 01:07:21.079 The sister of a young peasant on his estate only 990 01:07:21.119 --> 01:07:24.199 a mile away, was very ill, had been, as she 991 01:07:24.239 --> 01:07:28.119 described it, attacked very nearly in the same way, and 992 01:07:28.320 --> 01:07:33.400 was now slowly but steadily sinking. All this, said my father, 993 01:07:34.159 --> 01:07:38.800 is strictly referable to natural causes. These poor people infect 994 01:07:38.840 --> 01:07:42.880 one another with their superstitions, and so repeat in imagination 995 01:07:43.079 --> 01:07:47.599 the images of terror that have infested their neighbors. But 996 01:07:47.679 --> 01:07:53.239 that very circumstance frightens one horribly, said Carmeila, how so, 997 01:07:53.880 --> 01:07:58.119 inquired my father. I am so afraid of fancying I 998 01:07:58.119 --> 01:08:01.480 see such things I think would be as bad as reality. 999 01:08:03.079 --> 01:08:06.880 We are in God's hands. Nothing can happen without his permission, 1000 01:08:07.199 --> 01:08:09.920 and all will end well for those who love him. 1001 01:08:10.199 --> 01:08:13.320 He is our faithful creator. He has made us all 1002 01:08:13.840 --> 01:08:19.880 and will take care of us. Creator Nature, said the 1003 01:08:19.920 --> 01:08:23.640 young lady in answer to my gentle father. And this 1004 01:08:23.800 --> 01:08:29.439 disease that invades the country is natural nature. All things 1005 01:08:29.479 --> 01:08:34.560 proceed from nature, don't they? All things in the heaven, 1006 01:08:35.239 --> 01:08:39.720 in the earth and under the earth, act and live 1007 01:08:39.760 --> 01:08:46.439 as nature ordains. I think so. The doctor said he 1008 01:08:46.479 --> 01:08:49.640 would come here to day, said my father. After a silence. 1009 01:08:50.520 --> 01:08:52.479 I want to know what he thinks about it, and 1010 01:08:52.560 --> 01:08:56.640 what he thinks we had better do. Doctors never did 1011 01:08:56.680 --> 01:09:00.520 me any good, said Carmela. Then you have been ill, 1012 01:09:01.000 --> 01:09:05.439 I asked, more ill than ever you were? She answered, 1013 01:09:06.640 --> 01:09:12.840 long ago. Yes, a long time I suffered from this 1014 01:09:13.079 --> 01:09:17.840 very illness. But I forget all but my pain and weakness, 1015 01:09:18.640 --> 01:09:20.760 and they were not so bad as are suffered in 1016 01:09:20.880 --> 01:09:26.920 other diseases. You were very young, then, I dare say, 1017 01:09:27.000 --> 01:09:29.439 let us talk no more of it. You would not 1018 01:09:29.600 --> 01:09:34.960 wound a friend. She looked languidly in my eyes, and 1019 01:09:35.079 --> 01:09:38.159 passed her arm round my waist lovingly, and led me 1020 01:09:38.199 --> 01:09:41.239 out of the room. My father was busy over some 1021 01:09:41.319 --> 01:09:45.720 papers near the window. Why does your papa like to 1022 01:09:45.760 --> 01:09:48.720 frighten us, said the pretty girl, with a sigh in 1023 01:09:48.760 --> 01:09:52.640 a little shudder. He doesn't, dear Carmela. It is the 1024 01:09:52.720 --> 01:09:57.439 very furthest thing from his mind. Are you afraid, dearest? 1025 01:09:58.079 --> 01:10:00.359 I should be very much if I fancied there any 1026 01:10:00.439 --> 01:10:03.359 real danger of my being attacked as those poor people were. 1027 01:10:04.760 --> 01:10:11.760 You are afraid to die? Yes, everyone is, but to 1028 01:10:11.920 --> 01:10:17.159 die as lovers may to die together so that they 1029 01:10:17.239 --> 01:10:22.840 may live together. Girls are caterpillars. While they live in 1030 01:10:22.880 --> 01:10:26.479 the world, to be finally butterflies when the summer comes. 1031 01:10:27.199 --> 01:10:32.119 But in the meantime there are grubs and larvae, don't 1032 01:10:32.159 --> 01:10:37.680 you see, each with their peculiar propensities, necessities and structure, 1033 01:10:39.239 --> 01:10:43.039 So says Monsieur Beauffont in his big book. In the 1034 01:10:43.079 --> 01:10:47.239 next room, later in the day, the doctor came and 1035 01:10:47.359 --> 01:10:50.560 was closeted with Papa for some time. He was a 1036 01:10:50.600 --> 01:10:54.800 skillful man of sixty and upwards. He wore powder and 1037 01:10:54.880 --> 01:10:58.359 shaved his pale face as smooth as a pumpkin. He 1038 01:10:58.439 --> 01:11:00.680 and Papa emerged from the room together, and I heard 1039 01:11:00.680 --> 01:11:03.760 Papa laugh and say as they came out, Well, I 1040 01:11:03.800 --> 01:11:06.479 do wonder at a wise man like you, what do 1041 01:11:06.520 --> 01:11:11.079 you say to hippogriffs and dragons. The Doctor was smiling 1042 01:11:11.119 --> 01:11:15.039 and made answer, shaking his head. Nevertheless, life and death 1043 01:11:15.079 --> 01:11:18.439 are mysterious states, and we know little of the resources 1044 01:11:18.439 --> 01:11:23.000 of either. And they walked on, and I heard no more. 1045 01:11:24.119 --> 01:11:26.600 I did not then know what the doctor had been broaching, 1046 01:11:27.600 --> 01:11:36.039 but I think I guess it now. End of chapter four, 1047 01:11:37.159 --> 01:11:44.479 Chapter five, A wonderful likeness this evening, there arrived from 1048 01:11:44.520 --> 01:11:47.520 Grots the grave, dark faced son of the picture cleaner 1049 01:11:47.920 --> 01:11:50.960 with a horse and cart laden with two large packing cases, 1050 01:11:51.159 --> 01:11:54.159 having many pictures in each. It was a journey of 1051 01:11:54.199 --> 01:11:57.319 ten leagues, and whenever a messenger arrived at the Schloss 1052 01:11:57.319 --> 01:11:59.920 from our little capital of Grots, we used to crowd 1053 01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:02.640 about him in the hall to hear the news. This 1054 01:12:02.840 --> 01:12:06.760 arrival created in our secluded quarters quite a sensation. The 1055 01:12:06.840 --> 01:12:09.640 cases remained in the hall, and the messenger was taken 1056 01:12:09.720 --> 01:12:13.079 charge of by the servants till he had eaten his supper. Then, 1057 01:12:13.119 --> 01:12:17.159 with assistance and armed with hammer, ripping chisel and turnscrew, 1058 01:12:17.560 --> 01:12:20.079 he met us in the hall where we had assembled 1059 01:12:20.079 --> 01:12:24.439 to witness the unpacking of the cases. Carmila sat looking 1060 01:12:24.479 --> 01:12:27.960 listlessly on while one after the other the old pictures, 1061 01:12:28.319 --> 01:12:31.640 nearly all portraits which had undergone the process of renovation, 1062 01:12:32.039 --> 01:12:35.000 were brought to light. My mother was of an old 1063 01:12:35.079 --> 01:12:38.479 Hungarian family, and most of these pictures, which were about 1064 01:12:38.520 --> 01:12:41.119 to be restored to their places, had come to us 1065 01:12:41.119 --> 01:12:44.359 through her. My father had a list in his hand, 1066 01:12:44.399 --> 01:12:47.039 from which he read as the artists rummaged out the 1067 01:12:47.039 --> 01:12:50.840 corresponding numbers. I don't know that the pictures were very good, 1068 01:12:50.960 --> 01:12:54.399 but they were undoubtedly very old, and some of them 1069 01:12:54.520 --> 01:12:57.800 very curious. Also, they had for the most part the 1070 01:12:57.840 --> 01:13:00.600 merit of being now seen by me, I may for 1071 01:13:00.680 --> 01:13:03.560 the first time, for the smoke and dust of time 1072 01:13:03.640 --> 01:13:07.560 had all but obliterated them. There is a picture I 1073 01:13:07.600 --> 01:13:11.199 have not yet seen, said my father. In one corner 1074 01:13:11.239 --> 01:13:13.279 at the top of it is the name as well 1075 01:13:13.279 --> 01:13:18.079 as I could read, Marcia Karnstein, and the date sixteen 1076 01:13:18.199 --> 01:13:20.960 ninety eight. And I am curious to see how it 1077 01:13:21.000 --> 01:13:25.640 has turned out. I remembered it. It was a small picture, 1078 01:13:25.680 --> 01:13:28.439 about a foot and a half high and nearly square, 1079 01:13:28.520 --> 01:13:31.439 without a frame, but it was so blackened by age 1080 01:13:31.439 --> 01:13:35.239 I could not make it out. The artist now produced 1081 01:13:35.279 --> 01:13:39.800 it with evident pride. It was quite beautiful. It was startling. 1082 01:13:40.319 --> 01:13:47.560 It seemed to live. It was the effigy of Carmela. Carmela, Dear, 1083 01:13:48.079 --> 01:13:53.159 here is an absolute miracle. Here you are, living, smiling, 1084 01:13:53.279 --> 01:13:57.359 ready to speak in this picture. Isn't it beautiful? Papa? 1085 01:13:58.239 --> 01:14:01.960 And see even the little mole on her throat. My 1086 01:14:02.000 --> 01:14:05.720 father laughed and said, certainly, it is a wonderful likeness. 1087 01:14:06.520 --> 01:14:09.359 But he looked away, and, to my surprise, seemed but 1088 01:14:09.439 --> 01:14:12.079 little struck by it, and went on talking to the 1089 01:14:12.079 --> 01:14:15.399 picture cleaner, who was also something of an artist, and 1090 01:14:15.439 --> 01:14:18.760 discoursed with intelligence about the portraits or other works which 1091 01:14:18.760 --> 01:14:21.479 his art had just brought into light and color. While 1092 01:14:21.520 --> 01:14:24.279 I was more and more lost in wonder the more 1093 01:14:24.319 --> 01:14:27.800 I looked at the picture. Will you let me hang 1094 01:14:27.840 --> 01:14:32.159 this picture in my room, Papa, I asked, certainly, dear, 1095 01:14:32.319 --> 01:14:35.119 he said, smiling, I am very glad you think it 1096 01:14:35.239 --> 01:14:38.000 so like? It must be prettier even than I thought, 1097 01:14:38.039 --> 01:14:41.840 if it is. The young lady did not acknowledge this 1098 01:14:41.880 --> 01:14:45.439 pretty speech, did not seem to hear it. She was 1099 01:14:45.520 --> 01:14:48.399 leaning back in her seat, her fine eyes under their 1100 01:14:48.399 --> 01:14:52.359 long lashes, gazing on me in contemplation, and she smiled 1101 01:14:52.399 --> 01:14:56.680 in a kind of rapture. And now you can read 1102 01:14:56.760 --> 01:14:59.000 quite plainly the name that is written in the corner. 1103 01:14:59.640 --> 01:15:02.119 It is not Marcia. It looks as if it was 1104 01:15:02.159 --> 01:15:07.159 done in gold. The name is Mercalla, Countess Kernstein. And 1105 01:15:07.239 --> 01:15:09.560 this is a little coronet over and underneath a d. 1106 01:15:09.880 --> 01:15:14.800 Sixteen ninety eight. I am descended from the Carnsteins, that is, 1107 01:15:15.199 --> 01:15:22.600 Mamma was ah, said the lady languidly. So am I 1108 01:15:22.600 --> 01:15:27.640 I think a very long descent, very ancient. Are there 1109 01:15:27.640 --> 01:15:31.520 any Carnsteins living now, none who bear the name. I 1110 01:15:31.560 --> 01:15:34.680 believe the family were ruined. I believe in some civil 1111 01:15:34.720 --> 01:15:37.600 wars long ago. But the ruins of the castle are 1112 01:15:37.600 --> 01:15:43.000 only about three miles away. How interesting, she said, languidly. 1113 01:15:44.119 --> 01:15:48.279 But see what beautiful moonlight. She glanced through the hall door, 1114 01:15:48.319 --> 01:15:51.399 which stood a little open. Suppose you take a little 1115 01:15:51.520 --> 01:15:54.359 ramble around the court and look down at the road 1116 01:15:54.439 --> 01:15:57.840 and river. It is so like the night you came 1117 01:15:57.880 --> 01:16:03.520 to us, I said, She sighed, smiling, she rose, and, 1118 01:16:03.600 --> 01:16:06.319 with each her arm about the other's waist, we walked 1119 01:16:06.359 --> 01:16:10.359 out upon the pavement in silence. Slowly we walked down 1120 01:16:10.399 --> 01:16:13.319 to the drawbridge, where the beautiful landscape opened before us. 1121 01:16:15.399 --> 01:16:17.680 And so you were thinking of the night I came here, 1122 01:16:18.640 --> 01:16:24.000 she almost whispered. Are you glad I came to light it, 1123 01:16:24.199 --> 01:16:29.159 dear Carmila, I answered, And you asked for the picture 1124 01:16:29.239 --> 01:16:32.159 you think like me to hang in your room. She 1125 01:16:32.279 --> 01:16:35.119 murmured with a sigh, as she drew her arm closer 1126 01:16:35.119 --> 01:16:38.119 about my waist and let her pretty head sink upon 1127 01:16:38.119 --> 01:16:43.840 my shoulder. How romantic you are, Carmila, I said. Whenever 1128 01:16:43.880 --> 01:16:45.880 you tell me your story, it will be made up 1129 01:16:45.960 --> 01:16:51.159 chiefly of some one great romance, She kissed me silently. 1130 01:16:52.680 --> 01:16:55.399 I am sure, Carmila, you have been in love, that 1131 01:16:55.520 --> 01:16:57.800 there is at this moment an affair of the heart 1132 01:16:57.880 --> 01:17:02.439 going on. I have been in love with no one, 1133 01:17:02.640 --> 01:17:06.880 and never shall, she whispered, unless it should be with you. 1134 01:17:09.479 --> 01:17:14.279 How beautiful she looked in the moonlight. Shy and strained 1135 01:17:14.399 --> 01:17:16.359 was the look with which she quickly hid her face 1136 01:17:16.359 --> 01:17:19.680 in my neck and hair, with tumultuous sighs that seemed 1137 01:17:19.720 --> 01:17:23.000 almost to sob, and pressed in mine a hand that trembled. 1138 01:17:23.880 --> 01:17:29.880 Her soft cheek was glowing against mine. Darling, Darling, she murmured, 1139 01:17:30.239 --> 01:17:32.760 I live in you, and you would die for me. 1140 01:17:32.960 --> 01:17:38.479 I love you, so, I started from her. She was 1141 01:17:38.520 --> 01:17:41.319 gazing on me with eyes from which all fire, all 1142 01:17:41.399 --> 01:17:47.159 meaning had flown, and a face colorless and apathetic. Is 1143 01:17:47.199 --> 01:17:50.199 there a chill in the air, dear, she said drowsily. 1144 01:17:50.840 --> 01:17:57.760 I almost shiver. Have I been dreaming? Let us come in, Come, Come, 1145 01:17:57.840 --> 01:18:03.560 come in. You look ill, Carmela, a little faint. You 1146 01:18:03.680 --> 01:18:08.640 certainly must take some wine, I said, yes, I will. 1147 01:18:09.760 --> 01:18:11.920 I'm better now, I shall be quite well in a 1148 01:18:11.960 --> 01:18:17.279 few minutes. Yes, do give me a little wine, answered Carmela, 1149 01:18:17.359 --> 01:18:22.279 as we approached the door. Let us look again for 1150 01:18:22.359 --> 01:18:25.800 a moment. It is the last time. Perhaps I shall 1151 01:18:25.800 --> 01:18:30.279 see the moonlight with you. How do you feel now, 1152 01:18:30.319 --> 01:18:36.199 dear Carmila, are you really better? I asked, I was 1153 01:18:36.239 --> 01:18:39.319 beginning to take alarm lest she should have been stricken 1154 01:18:39.359 --> 01:18:41.840 with the strange epidemic that they said and invaded the 1155 01:18:41.840 --> 01:18:46.159 country about us. Papa would be grieved beyond measure, I added, 1156 01:18:46.479 --> 01:18:48.800 if he thought you were ever so little ill. Without 1157 01:18:48.840 --> 01:18:52.439 immediately letting us know, we have a very skillful doctor 1158 01:18:52.479 --> 01:18:55.159 near us, the physician who was with Papa to day, 1159 01:18:56.359 --> 01:18:59.520 I'm sure he is. I know how kind you all are. 1160 01:19:00.039 --> 01:19:03.479 But dear child, I am quite well again. There is 1161 01:19:03.520 --> 01:19:07.239 nothing ever wrong with me but a little weakness. People 1162 01:19:07.279 --> 01:19:11.760 say I am languid, I am incapable of exertion. I 1163 01:19:11.800 --> 01:19:14.000 can scarcely walk as far as a child of three 1164 01:19:14.079 --> 01:19:17.439 years old, and every now and then the little strength 1165 01:19:17.479 --> 01:19:20.560 I have falters, and I become as you have just 1166 01:19:20.720 --> 01:19:24.760 seen me. But after all I am very easily set 1167 01:19:24.840 --> 01:19:29.560 up again. In a moment, I am perfectly myself. See 1168 01:19:29.560 --> 01:19:34.399 how I have recovered so indeed, she had, and she 1169 01:19:34.520 --> 01:19:37.680 and I talked a great deal, and very animated, she was, 1170 01:19:38.159 --> 01:19:40.920 and the remainder of that evening passed without any recurrence 1171 01:19:40.920 --> 01:19:44.720 of what I call her infatuations, I mean, her crazy 1172 01:19:44.800 --> 01:19:50.359 talk and looks which embarrassed and even frightened me. But 1173 01:19:50.399 --> 01:19:53.000 there occurred that night an event which gave my thoughts 1174 01:19:53.079 --> 01:19:56.840 quite a new turn, and seemed to startle even Carmilla's 1175 01:19:56.920 --> 01:20:09.640 languid nature into momentary energy. End of chapter five, Chapter six, 1176 01:20:10.920 --> 01:20:15.000 A very strange agony. When we got into the drawing 1177 01:20:15.079 --> 01:20:17.800 room and had sat down to our coffee and chocolate, 1178 01:20:18.279 --> 01:20:21.720 although Carmilla did not take any, she seemed quite herself again, 1179 01:20:22.279 --> 01:20:25.600 and Madame and Mademoiselle de la Fontaine joined us and 1180 01:20:25.680 --> 01:20:28.199 made a little card party, in the course of which 1181 01:20:28.279 --> 01:20:30.720 Papa came in for what he called his dish of tea. 1182 01:20:31.840 --> 01:20:34.239 When the game was over, he sat down beside Carmilla 1183 01:20:34.279 --> 01:20:37.319 on the sofa and asked her a little anxiously whether 1184 01:20:37.359 --> 01:20:40.359 she had heard from her mother since her arrival. She 1185 01:20:40.479 --> 01:20:44.399 answered no. He then asked whether she knew where a 1186 01:20:44.479 --> 01:20:49.239 letter would reach her at present. I cannot tell, she 1187 01:20:49.359 --> 01:20:53.319 answered ambiguously. But I have been thinking of leaving you. 1188 01:20:53.319 --> 01:20:56.039 You have been already too hospitable and too kind to me. 1189 01:20:56.800 --> 01:20:59.199 I have given you an infinity of trouble, and I 1190 01:20:59.199 --> 01:21:01.960 should wish to take carriage tomorrow and post in pursuit 1191 01:21:02.039 --> 01:21:05.000 of her. I know where I shall ultimately find her, 1192 01:21:05.680 --> 01:21:09.119 although I dare not yet tell you. But you must 1193 01:21:09.119 --> 01:21:11.920 not dream of any such thing, exclaimed my father, to 1194 01:21:12.000 --> 01:21:14.880 my great relief. We can afford to lose you so 1195 01:21:15.560 --> 01:21:17.960 and I won't consent to your leaving us except under 1196 01:21:17.960 --> 01:21:20.359 the care of your mother, who was so good as 1197 01:21:20.399 --> 01:21:22.720 to consent to your remaining with us till she herself 1198 01:21:22.720 --> 01:21:25.840 should return. I should be quite happy if I knew 1199 01:21:25.880 --> 01:21:28.680 that you heard from her, But this evening the accounts 1200 01:21:28.720 --> 01:21:31.199 of the progress of the mysterious disease that has invaded 1201 01:21:31.239 --> 01:21:35.159 our neighborhood grow even more alarming. And my beautiful guest, 1202 01:21:35.279 --> 01:21:38.920 I do feel the responsibility unaided by advice from your 1203 01:21:38.960 --> 01:21:42.960 mother very much, but I shall do my best. And 1204 01:21:43.039 --> 01:21:45.520 one thing is certain that you must not think of 1205 01:21:45.600 --> 01:21:49.159 leaving us without her distinct direction to that effect. We 1206 01:21:49.199 --> 01:21:51.520 should suffer too much in parting from you to consent 1207 01:21:51.560 --> 01:21:56.600 to it easily. Thank you, sir a thousand times for 1208 01:21:56.680 --> 01:22:01.640 your hospitality, she answered, smiling bashfully. You have all been 1209 01:22:01.680 --> 01:22:05.119 too kind to me. I have seldom been so happy 1210 01:22:05.159 --> 01:22:08.560 in all my life before, as in your beautiful chateau 1211 01:22:09.159 --> 01:22:12.640 under your care, and in the society of your dear daughter. 1212 01:22:13.640 --> 01:22:17.039 So he gallantly, in his old fashioned way, kissed her hand, 1213 01:22:17.439 --> 01:22:21.840 smiling and pleased at her little speech. I accompanied Carmilla 1214 01:22:21.920 --> 01:22:24.479 as usual to her room, and sat and chatted with 1215 01:22:24.520 --> 01:22:28.279 her while she was preparing for bed. Do you think 1216 01:22:28.640 --> 01:22:32.119 I said at length that you will ever confide fully 1217 01:22:32.199 --> 01:22:37.720 in me? She turned round, smiling, but made no answer, 1218 01:22:38.560 --> 01:22:42.359 only continued to smile on me. You won't answer that, 1219 01:22:42.640 --> 01:22:46.680 I said. You can't answer pleasantly. I ought not to 1220 01:22:46.680 --> 01:22:50.520 have asked you. You are quite right to ask me 1221 01:22:50.600 --> 01:22:54.840 that or anything. You do not know how dear you 1222 01:22:54.880 --> 01:22:58.199 are to me, or you could not think any confidence 1223 01:22:58.239 --> 01:23:02.119 too great to look for. But I am under vows 1224 01:23:02.880 --> 01:23:06.159 no none half so awfully, and I dare not tell 1225 01:23:06.199 --> 01:23:10.039 my story yet, even to you. The time is very 1226 01:23:10.079 --> 01:23:14.159 near when you shall know everything. You will think me cruel, 1227 01:23:15.119 --> 01:23:20.039 very selfish, But love is always selfish. The more ardent, 1228 01:23:20.640 --> 01:23:25.479 the more selfish, how jealous I am, you cannot know. 1229 01:23:27.000 --> 01:23:30.399 You must come with me, loving me to death, or 1230 01:23:30.439 --> 01:23:34.079 else hate me and still come with me and hating 1231 01:23:34.119 --> 01:23:39.199 me through death and after. There is no such word 1232 01:23:39.279 --> 01:23:45.119 as indifference in my apathetic nature. Now, Carmela, you are 1233 01:23:45.159 --> 01:23:48.840 going to talk your wild nonsense again, I said hastily. 1234 01:23:50.479 --> 01:23:53.600 Not I silly, little fool as I am, and full 1235 01:23:53.640 --> 01:23:57.119 of whims and fancies. For your sake, I'll talk like 1236 01:23:57.159 --> 01:24:02.560 a sage. For you. Ever read a ball? No, how 1237 01:24:02.600 --> 01:24:06.560 you do? Run on? What is it like? How charming 1238 01:24:06.640 --> 01:24:10.159 it must be? I almost forget it is years ago, 1239 01:24:11.399 --> 01:24:14.640 I laughed. You are not so old. Your first ball 1240 01:24:14.720 --> 01:24:19.560 can hardly be forgotten. Yet I remember everything about it 1241 01:24:20.279 --> 01:24:25.000 with an effort. I see it all as divers see 1242 01:24:25.039 --> 01:24:28.239 what is going on above them through a medium, dense, 1243 01:24:28.840 --> 01:24:33.840 rippling but transparent. There occurred that night, what has confused 1244 01:24:33.920 --> 01:24:37.720 the picture and made its colors faint. I was all 1245 01:24:37.840 --> 01:24:43.199 but assassinated in my bed, wounded. Here. She touched her breast, 1246 01:24:44.159 --> 01:24:50.479 and never was the same. Since were you near dying? Yes? 1247 01:24:51.520 --> 01:24:56.560 Very a cruel love, strange love that would have taken 1248 01:24:56.640 --> 01:25:03.560 my life. Love will have its sacrifice, no sacrifice without blood. 1249 01:25:05.800 --> 01:25:08.560 Let us go to sleep. Now. I feel so lazy. 1250 01:25:09.399 --> 01:25:11.720 How can I get up just now and lock my door? 1251 01:25:13.279 --> 01:25:15.600 She was lying with her tiny hands buried in her 1252 01:25:15.680 --> 01:25:19.359 rich wavy hair under her cheek, her little head upon 1253 01:25:19.359 --> 01:25:22.720 the pillow, and her glittering eyes followed me whenever I moved, 1254 01:25:23.000 --> 01:25:25.600 with a kind of shy smile that I could not decipher. 1255 01:25:27.119 --> 01:25:29.560 I bid her good night and crept from the room 1256 01:25:29.600 --> 01:25:34.840 with an uncomfortable sensation. I often wondered whether our pretty 1257 01:25:34.880 --> 01:25:38.119 guest ever said her prayers. I certainly had never seen 1258 01:25:38.159 --> 01:25:41.039 her upon her knees in the morning. She never came 1259 01:25:41.079 --> 01:25:44.640 down until long after our family prayers were over, and 1260 01:25:44.720 --> 01:25:46.840 at night she never left the drawing room to attend 1261 01:25:46.840 --> 01:25:50.640 our brief evening prayers in the hall. If it had 1262 01:25:50.680 --> 01:25:52.880 not been that it had casually come out in one 1263 01:25:52.880 --> 01:25:55.720 of our careless talks that she had been baptized, I 1264 01:25:55.760 --> 01:25:58.800 should have doubted her being a Christian. Religion was a 1265 01:25:58.800 --> 01:26:01.079 subject on which I had never heard her speak a word. 1266 01:26:02.000 --> 01:26:05.279 If I had known the world better, this particular neglect 1267 01:26:05.560 --> 01:26:09.199 or antipathy would not have so much surprised me. The 1268 01:26:09.239 --> 01:26:12.520 precautions of nervous people are infectious, and persons of a 1269 01:26:12.640 --> 01:26:15.640 like temperament are pretty sure after a time to imitate them. 1270 01:26:16.520 --> 01:26:19.479 I had adopted Carmila's habit of locking her bedroom door, 1271 01:26:20.039 --> 01:26:22.960 having taken into my head all her whimsical alarms about 1272 01:26:22.960 --> 01:26:27.119 midnight invaders and prowling assassins. I had also adopted her 1273 01:26:27.159 --> 01:26:30.399 precaution of making a brief search through her room to 1274 01:26:30.520 --> 01:26:34.840 satisfy herself that no lurking assassin or robber was ensconced. 1275 01:26:36.239 --> 01:26:39.279 These wise measures taken, I got into my bed and 1276 01:26:39.319 --> 01:26:43.279 fell asleep. A light was burning in my room. This 1277 01:26:43.520 --> 01:26:46.600 was an old habit, a very early date, and which 1278 01:26:46.680 --> 01:26:51.119 nothing could have tempted me to dispense with. Thus fortified, 1279 01:26:51.159 --> 01:26:54.520 I might take my rest in peace. But dreams come 1280 01:26:54.560 --> 01:26:59.119 through stone walls, light up dark rooms or darken light ones, 1281 01:26:59.720 --> 01:27:02.560 and their persons make their exits and their entrances as 1282 01:27:02.600 --> 01:27:08.199 they please, and laugh at Locksmith's. I had a dream 1283 01:27:08.239 --> 01:27:11.239 that night that was the beginning of a very strange agony. 1284 01:27:12.239 --> 01:27:14.880 I cannot call it a nightmare, for I was quite 1285 01:27:14.920 --> 01:27:18.960 conscious of being asleep, But I was equally conscious of 1286 01:27:18.960 --> 01:27:22.159 being in my room and lying in bed precisely as 1287 01:27:22.199 --> 01:27:27.680 I actually was. I saw, or fancied, I saw the 1288 01:27:27.760 --> 01:27:30.359 room and its furniture, just as I had seen it last, 1289 01:27:31.199 --> 01:27:33.920 except that it was very dark, and I saw something 1290 01:27:33.960 --> 01:27:36.319 moving round the foot of the bed, which at first 1291 01:27:36.359 --> 01:27:39.960 I could not accurately distinguish, but I soon saw that 1292 01:27:40.000 --> 01:27:43.199 it was a sooty black animal that resembled a monstrous cat. 1293 01:27:44.079 --> 01:27:46.439 It appeared to me about four or five feet long, 1294 01:27:46.800 --> 01:27:49.000 for it measured fully the length of the hearthrug as 1295 01:27:49.000 --> 01:27:52.479 it passed over it. And it continued chewing and frowing 1296 01:27:52.520 --> 01:27:56.000 with the lithe sinister restlessness of a beast in a cage. 1297 01:27:57.000 --> 01:27:59.920 I could not cry out, although as you may suppose, 1298 01:28:00.000 --> 01:28:04.000 I was terrified. Its pace was growing faster, and the 1299 01:28:04.079 --> 01:28:07.399 room rapidly darker and darker, and at length so dark 1300 01:28:07.439 --> 01:28:09.319 that I could no longer see anything of it but 1301 01:28:09.359 --> 01:28:13.000 its eyes. I felt it spring lightly on the bed. 1302 01:28:13.880 --> 01:28:17.560 The two broad eyes approached my face, and suddenly I 1303 01:28:17.600 --> 01:28:20.359 felt a stinging pain, as if two large needles darted 1304 01:28:20.520 --> 01:28:23.560 an inch or two apart deep into my breast. I 1305 01:28:23.640 --> 01:28:27.239 waked with a scream. The room was lighted by the 1306 01:28:27.279 --> 01:28:30.039 candle that burnt there all through the night, and I 1307 01:28:30.119 --> 01:28:32.680 saw a female figure standing at the foot of the bed, 1308 01:28:32.720 --> 01:28:35.640 a little at the right side. It was in a dark, 1309 01:28:35.720 --> 01:28:39.159 loose dress, and its hair was down and covered its shoulders. 1310 01:28:39.840 --> 01:28:42.279 A block of stone could not have been more Still, 1311 01:28:42.720 --> 01:28:46.279 there was not the slightest stir of respiration. As I 1312 01:28:46.359 --> 01:28:49.439 stared at it, the figure appeared to have changed its 1313 01:28:49.439 --> 01:28:53.279 place and was now nearer the door, then close to it. 1314 01:28:53.680 --> 01:28:59.319 The door opened and it passed out. I was now 1315 01:28:59.359 --> 01:29:03.119 relieved and able to breathe and move. My first thought 1316 01:29:03.159 --> 01:29:05.359 was that Carmela had been playing me a trick, and 1317 01:29:05.399 --> 01:29:08.720 that I had forgotten to secure my door. I hastened 1318 01:29:08.720 --> 01:29:12.600 to it and found it locked as usual on the inside. 1319 01:29:12.880 --> 01:29:16.199 I was afraid to open it. I was horrified. I 1320 01:29:16.239 --> 01:29:18.319 sprang into my bed and covered my head up in 1321 01:29:18.359 --> 01:29:23.000 the bedclothes, and lay there more dead than alive till morning. 1322 01:29:27.520 --> 01:29:36.520 End of chapter six, Chapter seven, descending, It would be 1323 01:29:36.640 --> 01:29:39.279 vain my attempting to tell you the horror with which 1324 01:29:39.359 --> 01:29:43.039 even now I recalled the occurrence of that night. It 1325 01:29:43.119 --> 01:29:47.439 was no such transitory terror as a dream leaves behind it. 1326 01:29:47.439 --> 01:29:51.840 It seemed to deepen by time, and communicated itself to 1327 01:29:51.920 --> 01:29:55.439 the room and the very furniture that had encompassed the apparition. 1328 01:29:56.960 --> 01:29:59.119 I could not bear next day to be alone for 1329 01:29:59.199 --> 01:30:02.920 a moment. I should have told Papa, but for two 1330 01:30:03.039 --> 01:30:06.760 opposite reasons. At one time I thought he would laugh 1331 01:30:06.800 --> 01:30:09.600 at my story, and I could not bear its being 1332 01:30:09.640 --> 01:30:13.520 treated as a jest. And at another I thought he 1333 01:30:13.600 --> 01:30:16.199 might fancy that I had been attacked by the mysterious 1334 01:30:16.239 --> 01:30:20.159 complaint which had invaded our neighborhood. I had myself no 1335 01:30:20.279 --> 01:30:23.199 misgiving of the kind, and as he had been rather 1336 01:30:23.239 --> 01:30:26.720 an invalid for some time, I was afraid of alarming him. 1337 01:30:28.439 --> 01:30:31.760 I was comfortable enough with my good natured companions, Madame 1338 01:30:31.800 --> 01:30:37.039 Perodon and the vivacious Mademoiselle la Fontaine. They both perceived 1339 01:30:37.039 --> 01:30:40.119 that I was out of spirits and nervous, and at 1340 01:30:40.199 --> 01:30:42.760 length I told them what lay so heavy at my heart. 1341 01:30:44.439 --> 01:30:48.640 Mademoiselle laughed, but I fancied that Madame perodn looked anxious 1342 01:30:50.039 --> 01:30:53.840 by the bye, said Mademoiselle, laughing. The long lime tree 1343 01:30:53.880 --> 01:31:00.560 walk behind Carmilla's bedroom window is haunted. Nonsense, exclaimed Madame, 1344 01:31:00.960 --> 01:31:04.720 who probably thought the theme rather inopportune, And who tells 1345 01:31:04.760 --> 01:31:09.119 that story. My dear Martin says he came up twice 1346 01:31:09.479 --> 01:31:12.720 when the old yard gate was being repaired before sunrise, 1347 01:31:13.239 --> 01:31:16.159 and twice saw the same female figure walking down the 1348 01:31:16.199 --> 01:31:20.920 lime tree avenue. So well he might, as long as 1349 01:31:20.920 --> 01:31:24.039 there are cows to milk in the river fields, said Madame. 1350 01:31:25.439 --> 01:31:29.319 I dare say, but Martin chooses to be frightened, and 1351 01:31:29.439 --> 01:31:33.680 never did I see fool more frightened. You must not 1352 01:31:33.880 --> 01:31:37.079 say a word about it to Carmilla, because she can 1353 01:31:37.119 --> 01:31:40.239 see down that walk from her room window, I interposed, 1354 01:31:40.800 --> 01:31:44.039 and she is, if possible, a greater coward than I. 1355 01:31:46.359 --> 01:31:50.680 Carmela came down rather later than usual that day. I 1356 01:31:50.840 --> 01:31:54.920 was so frightened last night, she said, so soon as 1357 01:31:54.920 --> 01:31:58.039 we were together. And I am sure I should have 1358 01:31:58.119 --> 01:32:01.119 seen something dreadful if it had not been for that 1359 01:32:01.319 --> 01:32:03.840 charm I bought from the poor little hunchback whom I 1360 01:32:03.880 --> 01:32:07.720 called such hard names. I had a dream of something 1361 01:32:07.760 --> 01:32:11.800 black coming round my bed, and I awoke in perfect horror, 1362 01:32:12.359 --> 01:32:15.239 and I really thought, for some seconds I saw a 1363 01:32:15.359 --> 01:32:18.960 dark figure near the chimney piece. But I felt under 1364 01:32:18.960 --> 01:32:22.319 my pillow for my charm, and the moment my fingers 1365 01:32:22.359 --> 01:32:26.680 touched it, the figure disappeared. And I felt quite certain, 1366 01:32:27.279 --> 01:32:30.079 only that I had it by me, that something frightful 1367 01:32:30.119 --> 01:32:33.159 would have made its appearance and perhaps throttled me, as 1368 01:32:33.159 --> 01:32:37.600 it did those poor people we heard of. Well, listen 1369 01:32:37.680 --> 01:32:42.439 to me, I began and recounted my adventure at the recital, 1370 01:32:42.479 --> 01:32:46.560 of which she appeared horrified. And had you the charm 1371 01:32:46.640 --> 01:32:51.239 near you, she asked earnestly. No, I had dropped it 1372 01:32:51.279 --> 01:32:53.960 into a china vase in the drawing room. But I 1373 01:32:53.960 --> 01:32:56.520 shall certainly take it with me to night, as you 1374 01:32:56.600 --> 01:32:59.600 have so much faith in it. At this distance of time, 1375 01:32:59.640 --> 01:33:03.319 I cannot tell you or even understand how I overcame 1376 01:33:03.399 --> 01:33:06.439 my horror so effectually as to lie alone in my 1377 01:33:06.560 --> 01:33:10.119 room that night. I remember distinctly that I pinned the 1378 01:33:10.159 --> 01:33:14.560 charm to my pillow. I fell asleep almost immediately, and 1379 01:33:14.640 --> 01:33:18.960 slept even more soundly than usual all night. Next night 1380 01:33:19.039 --> 01:33:23.760 I passed as well. My sleep was delightfully deep and dreamless, 1381 01:33:25.199 --> 01:33:31.199 but I wakened with a sense of lassitude and melancholy, which, however, 1382 01:33:31.279 --> 01:33:35.880 did not exceed a degree that was almost luxurious. Well, 1383 01:33:35.920 --> 01:33:39.439 I told you so, said Carmela, when I described my 1384 01:33:39.520 --> 01:33:43.880 night's sleep. I had such delightful sleep myself. Last night 1385 01:33:44.600 --> 01:33:47.119 I pinned the charm to the breast of my night dress. 1386 01:33:48.000 --> 01:33:51.199 It was too far away. The night before, I am 1387 01:33:51.279 --> 01:33:56.319 quite sure it was all fancy, except the dreams. I 1388 01:33:56.439 --> 01:33:59.840 used to think that evil spirits made dreams, but our 1389 01:33:59.840 --> 01:34:02.960 doctor told me it is no such thing, only a 1390 01:34:03.000 --> 01:34:06.479 fever passing by or some other malady, as they often do, 1391 01:34:06.680 --> 01:34:09.720 he said, knocks at the door, and not being able 1392 01:34:09.720 --> 01:34:14.079 to get in, passes on with that alarm. And what 1393 01:34:14.199 --> 01:34:17.720 do you think the charm is, said I. It has 1394 01:34:17.800 --> 01:34:21.399 been fumigated or immersed in some drug, and is an 1395 01:34:21.399 --> 01:34:26.199 antidote against the malaria. She answered, Then it acts only 1396 01:34:26.239 --> 01:34:31.319 on the body. Certainly, you don't suppose that evil spirits 1397 01:34:31.359 --> 01:34:34.520 are frightened by bits of ribbon or the perfumes of 1398 01:34:34.560 --> 01:34:39.279 a druggist's shop. No, these complaints wandering in the air 1399 01:34:39.720 --> 01:34:43.359 begin by trying the nerves and so infect the brain. 1400 01:34:44.000 --> 01:34:48.920 But before they can seize upon you, the antidote repels them. That, 1401 01:34:49.279 --> 01:34:51.720 I am sure, is what the charm is done for us. 1402 01:34:52.359 --> 01:34:59.680 It is nothing magical, It is simply natural. I should 1403 01:34:59.720 --> 01:35:02.359 have been happier if I could quite have agreed with Carmela. 1404 01:35:03.159 --> 01:35:05.960 But I did my best, and the impression was a 1405 01:35:05.960 --> 01:35:10.680 little losing its force. For some nights I slept profoundly, 1406 01:35:11.439 --> 01:35:15.279 but still every morning I felt the same lassitude, and 1407 01:35:15.359 --> 01:35:19.920 a languor weighed upon me. All day. I felt myself 1408 01:35:20.239 --> 01:35:25.199 a changed girl. A strange melancholy was stealing over me, 1409 01:35:26.119 --> 01:35:30.640 a melancholy that I would not have interrupted. Dim thoughts 1410 01:35:30.680 --> 01:35:34.119 of death began to open, and an idea that I 1411 01:35:34.239 --> 01:35:39.880 was slowly sinking took gentle and somehow not unwelcome possession 1412 01:35:39.960 --> 01:35:43.960 of me. If it was sad, the tone of mind 1413 01:35:44.000 --> 01:35:48.720 which this induced was also sweet. Whatever it might be, 1414 01:35:49.640 --> 01:35:53.960 my soul acquiesced in it. I would not admit that 1415 01:35:54.000 --> 01:35:56.560 I was ill. I would not consent to tell my 1416 01:35:56.640 --> 01:36:00.880 Papa or to have the doctor sent for Carmilla became 1417 01:36:00.920 --> 01:36:04.760 more devoted to me than ever, and her strange paroxysms 1418 01:36:04.800 --> 01:36:09.000 of languid adoration more frequent. She used to gloat on 1419 01:36:09.199 --> 01:36:13.319 me with increasing ardor the more my strength and spirits waned. 1420 01:36:14.439 --> 01:36:18.680 This always shocked me, like a momentary glare of insanity. 1421 01:36:20.760 --> 01:36:24.079 Without knowing it, I was now in a pretty advanced 1422 01:36:24.079 --> 01:36:27.600 stage of the strangest illness under which mortal ever suffered. 1423 01:36:28.600 --> 01:36:32.359 There was an unaccountable fascination in its earlier symptoms that 1424 01:36:32.520 --> 01:36:35.560 more than reconciled me to the incapacitating effect of that 1425 01:36:35.680 --> 01:36:40.039 stage of the malady. This fascination increased for a time 1426 01:36:40.640 --> 01:36:44.039 until it reached a certain point, when gradually a sense 1427 01:36:44.079 --> 01:36:48.119 of the horrible mingled itself, with it deepening as you 1428 01:36:48.159 --> 01:36:53.079 shall hear until it discolored and perverted the whole state 1429 01:36:53.159 --> 01:36:59.319 of my life. The first change I experienced was rather agreeable. 1430 01:37:00.119 --> 01:37:02.520 It was very near the turning point from which began 1431 01:37:02.600 --> 01:37:08.600 the descent of averness. Certain vague and strange sensations visited 1432 01:37:08.600 --> 01:37:13.239 me in my sleep. The prevailing one was of that pleasant, peculiar, 1433 01:37:13.319 --> 01:37:16.439 cold thrill which we feel in bathing when we move 1434 01:37:16.479 --> 01:37:20.199 against the current of a river. This was soon accompanied 1435 01:37:20.199 --> 01:37:24.520 by dreams that seemed interminable and were so vague that 1436 01:37:24.560 --> 01:37:28.279 I could never recollect their scenery and persons, or anyone 1437 01:37:28.359 --> 01:37:33.960 connected portion of their action. But they left an awful 1438 01:37:34.119 --> 01:37:39.000 impression and a sense of exhaustion, as if I had 1439 01:37:39.000 --> 01:37:42.479 passed through a long period of great mental exertion and danger. 1440 01:37:44.479 --> 01:37:48.079 After all these dreams, there remained, on waking a remembrance 1441 01:37:48.119 --> 01:37:50.840 of having been in a place very nearly dark, and 1442 01:37:50.880 --> 01:37:53.600 of having spoken to people whom I could not see, 1443 01:37:54.039 --> 01:37:59.720 and especially of one clear voice, of a female's very 1444 01:37:59.760 --> 01:38:05.039 deep that spoke as if at a distance, slowly and 1445 01:38:05.199 --> 01:38:11.119 producing always the same sensation of indescribable solemnity and fear. 1446 01:38:12.880 --> 01:38:15.840 Sometimes there came a sensation as if a hand was 1447 01:38:15.920 --> 01:38:20.840 drawn softly along my cheek and neck. Sometimes it was 1448 01:38:20.880 --> 01:38:25.239 as if warm lips kissed me, and longer and longer, 1449 01:38:25.279 --> 01:38:28.560 and more lovingly as they reached my throat. But there 1450 01:38:28.600 --> 01:38:34.319 the caress fixed itself. My heart beat faster, my breathing 1451 01:38:34.399 --> 01:38:38.279 rose and fell rapidly and full drawn, a sobbing that 1452 01:38:38.399 --> 01:38:41.960 rose into a sense of strangulation supervened and turned into 1453 01:38:42.000 --> 01:38:45.920 a dreadful convulsion, in which my senses left me and 1454 01:38:46.000 --> 01:38:51.039 I became unconscious. It was now three weeks since the 1455 01:38:51.079 --> 01:38:56.479 commencement of this unaccountable state. My sufferings had during the 1456 01:38:56.560 --> 01:39:00.439 last week told upon my appearance. I had grown pale, 1457 01:39:01.199 --> 01:39:04.920 My eyes were dilated and darkened underneath, and the languor 1458 01:39:04.920 --> 01:39:07.399 which I had long felt began to display itself in 1459 01:39:07.479 --> 01:39:11.760 my countenance. My father asked me often whether I was ill, 1460 01:39:12.680 --> 01:39:16.039 but with an obstinacy which now seems to me unaccountable, 1461 01:39:16.760 --> 01:39:19.439 I persisted in assuring him that I was quite well. 1462 01:39:21.199 --> 01:39:24.079 In a sense. This was true. I had no pain, 1463 01:39:24.880 --> 01:39:29.399 I could complain of, no bodily derangement. My complaint seemed 1464 01:39:29.399 --> 01:39:33.199 to be one of the imagination or the nerves. And 1465 01:39:33.359 --> 01:39:37.079 horrible as my sufferings were, I kept them with a 1466 01:39:37.159 --> 01:39:42.479 morbid reserve very nearly to myself. It could not be 1467 01:39:42.640 --> 01:39:46.520 that terrible complaint which the peasants called the upire, for 1468 01:39:46.600 --> 01:39:49.600 I had now been suffering for three weeks, and they 1469 01:39:49.640 --> 01:39:52.560 were seldom ill for much more than three days. When 1470 01:39:52.640 --> 01:39:56.960 death put an end to their miseries. Carmilla complained of 1471 01:39:57.039 --> 01:40:01.279 dreams and feverish sensations, but by no means of so 1472 01:40:01.399 --> 01:40:04.840 alarming a kind as mine. I say that mine were 1473 01:40:04.920 --> 01:40:09.680 extremely alarming. Had I been capable of comprehending my condition, 1474 01:40:10.239 --> 01:40:12.840 I would have invoked aid and advice on my knees. 1475 01:40:13.880 --> 01:40:18.239 The narcotic of an unsuspected influence was acting upon me, 1476 01:40:19.039 --> 01:40:23.399 and my perceptions were benumbed. I am going to tell 1477 01:40:23.439 --> 01:40:26.399 you now of a dream that led immediately to an 1478 01:40:26.439 --> 01:40:31.800 odd discovery. One night, instead of the voice I was 1479 01:40:31.800 --> 01:40:35.680 accustomed to hear in the dark, I heard one sweet 1480 01:40:35.840 --> 01:40:40.479 and tender and at the same time terrible, which said, 1481 01:40:41.079 --> 01:40:44.119 your mother warns you to be aware of the assassin. 1482 01:40:45.800 --> 01:40:49.000 At the same time, a light unexpectedly sprang up, and 1483 01:40:49.079 --> 01:40:52.119 I saw Carmila standing near the foot of my bed 1484 01:40:52.159 --> 01:40:55.640 in her white knight dress, bathed from her chin to 1485 01:40:55.720 --> 01:41:01.359 her feet in one great stain of blood. I wakened 1486 01:41:01.359 --> 01:41:04.720 with a shriek, possessed with the idea that Carmila was 1487 01:41:04.760 --> 01:41:08.640 being murdered. I remember springing from my bed, and my 1488 01:41:08.760 --> 01:41:11.439 next recollection as that of standing on the lobby crying 1489 01:41:11.479 --> 01:41:15.359 for help. Madame and Mademoiselle came scurrying out of their 1490 01:41:15.439 --> 01:41:18.680 rooms in alarm, A lamp burned always on the lobby, 1491 01:41:19.039 --> 01:41:22.319 and seeing me, they soon learned the cause of my terror. 1492 01:41:23.920 --> 01:41:27.239 I insisted on our knocking at Carmela's door. Our knocking 1493 01:41:27.359 --> 01:41:32.000 was unanswered. It soon became a pounding and an uproar. 1494 01:41:32.560 --> 01:41:36.039 We shrieked her name, but all was vain. We all 1495 01:41:36.079 --> 01:41:39.279 grew frightened, for the door was locked. We hurried back 1496 01:41:39.279 --> 01:41:42.199 and panic to my room. There we rang the bell 1497 01:41:42.279 --> 01:41:45.640 long and furiously. If my father's room had been at 1498 01:41:45.640 --> 01:41:47.720 that side of the house, we would have called him 1499 01:41:47.800 --> 01:41:51.199 up at once to our aid, but alas he was 1500 01:41:51.319 --> 01:41:54.000 quite out of hearing, and to reach him involved an 1501 01:41:54.000 --> 01:41:58.079 excursion for which we none of us had courage. Servants, however, 1502 01:41:58.119 --> 01:42:00.640 soon came running up the stairs. I had got on 1503 01:42:00.720 --> 01:42:04.000 my dressing gown and slippers. Meanwhile, and my companions were 1504 01:42:04.000 --> 01:42:07.800 already similarly furnished. Recognizing the voices of the servants on 1505 01:42:07.840 --> 01:42:11.600 the lobby. We sallied out together, and, having renewed as 1506 01:42:11.600 --> 01:42:15.079 fruitlessly our summons at Carmilla's door, I ordered the men 1507 01:42:15.119 --> 01:42:18.760 to force the lock. They did so, and we stood, 1508 01:42:18.800 --> 01:42:21.960 holding our lights aloft in the doorway, and so stared 1509 01:42:21.960 --> 01:42:25.560 into the room. We called her by name, but there 1510 01:42:25.640 --> 01:42:29.960 was still no reply. We looked round the room. Everything 1511 01:42:30.000 --> 01:42:33.479 was undisturbed. It was exactly in the state in which 1512 01:42:33.479 --> 01:42:36.399 I had left it on bidding her good night. But 1513 01:42:36.560 --> 01:42:49.239 Carmilla was gone. End of Chapter seven, Chapter eight. Search. 1514 01:42:51.960 --> 01:42:55.319 At sight of the room perfectly undisturbed except for our 1515 01:42:55.399 --> 01:42:59.159 violent entrance, we began to cool a little, and soon 1516 01:42:59.199 --> 01:43:02.840 recovered our sense sufficiently to dismiss the men. It had 1517 01:43:02.840 --> 01:43:05.800 struck Mademoiselle that possibly Carmilla had been wakened by the 1518 01:43:05.880 --> 01:43:08.560 uproar at her door, and, in her first panic, had 1519 01:43:08.600 --> 01:43:11.239 jumped from her bed and hid herself in a press 1520 01:43:11.680 --> 01:43:14.079 or behind a curtain from which she could not, of 1521 01:43:14.119 --> 01:43:18.159 course emerge until the Majordomo in his mermidons had withdrawn. 1522 01:43:18.560 --> 01:43:21.399 We now recommenced our search and began to call her 1523 01:43:21.479 --> 01:43:26.239 name again. It was all to no purpose. Our perplexity 1524 01:43:26.239 --> 01:43:30.279 and agitation increased. We examined the windows, but they were secured. 1525 01:43:31.079 --> 01:43:34.119 I implored of Carmilla, if she had concealed herself to 1526 01:43:34.159 --> 01:43:36.960 play this cruel trick, no longer to come out and 1527 01:43:37.000 --> 01:43:42.159 to end our anxieties, It was all useless. I was 1528 01:43:42.199 --> 01:43:44.359 by this time convinced that she was not in the room, 1529 01:43:44.720 --> 01:43:46.800 nor in the dressing room, the door of which was 1530 01:43:46.840 --> 01:43:50.000 still locked. On this side, she could not have passed it. 1531 01:43:50.640 --> 01:43:54.640 I was utterly puzzled. Had Carmilla discovered one of those 1532 01:43:54.680 --> 01:43:57.720 secret passages which the old housekeeper said were known to 1533 01:43:57.760 --> 01:44:00.600 exist in the Schloss, although the tradition of their exact 1534 01:44:00.640 --> 01:44:04.439 situation had been lost a little time, would, no doubt 1535 01:44:04.760 --> 01:44:08.760 explain all utterly perplexed. As for the present we were. 1536 01:44:10.159 --> 01:44:13.239 It was past four o'clock, and I preferred passing the 1537 01:44:13.279 --> 01:44:17.359 remaining hours of darkness in Madame's room. Daylight brought no 1538 01:44:17.399 --> 01:44:21.600 solution of the difficulty. The whole household, with my father 1539 01:44:21.680 --> 01:44:24.960 at his head, was in a state of agitation. Next morning, 1540 01:44:25.840 --> 01:44:29.880 every part of the chateau was searched, The grounds were explored. 1541 01:44:30.520 --> 01:44:34.000 No trace of the missing lady could be discovered. The 1542 01:44:34.039 --> 01:44:37.239 stream was about to be dragged. My father was in distraction. 1543 01:44:37.800 --> 01:44:40.079 What a tale to have to tell the poor girl's 1544 01:44:40.119 --> 01:44:44.279 mother on her return, I too was almost beside myself, 1545 01:44:44.720 --> 01:44:47.920 though my grief was of quite a different kind. The 1546 01:44:47.960 --> 01:44:51.079 morning was passed in alarm and excitement. It was now 1547 01:44:51.079 --> 01:44:55.560 one o'clock and still no tidings. I ran up to 1548 01:44:55.600 --> 01:44:59.039 Carmilla's room and found her standing at her dressing table. 1549 01:45:00.039 --> 01:45:04.680 I was astounded. I could not believe my eyes. She 1550 01:45:04.720 --> 01:45:08.000 beckoned to me with her pretty finger in silence, her 1551 01:45:08.039 --> 01:45:13.039 face expressed extreme fear. I ran to her in an 1552 01:45:13.119 --> 01:45:16.920 ecstasy of joy. I kissed and embraced her again and again. 1553 01:45:17.600 --> 01:45:19.640 I ran to the bell and rang it vehemently to 1554 01:45:19.640 --> 01:45:21.840 bring others to the spot, who might at once relieve 1555 01:45:21.880 --> 01:45:26.840 my father's anxiety. Dear Carmila, what has become of you? 1556 01:45:26.920 --> 01:45:30.199 All this time? We have been in agonies of anxiety 1557 01:45:30.239 --> 01:45:34.000 about you? I exclaimed, Where have you been? How did 1558 01:45:34.039 --> 01:45:38.760 you come back? Last night has been a night of wonders, 1559 01:45:39.239 --> 01:45:44.720 she said, For mercy's sake, explain all you can. It 1560 01:45:44.760 --> 01:45:48.079 was past two last night, she said, when I went 1561 01:45:48.119 --> 01:45:50.560 to sleep as usual in my bed, with my doors locked, 1562 01:45:51.039 --> 01:45:53.520 that of the dressing room, and that opening upon the gallery. 1563 01:45:54.479 --> 01:45:58.520 My sleep was uninterrupted, and so far as I know, dreamless. 1564 01:45:59.239 --> 01:46:01.159 But I woke just now on the sofa in the 1565 01:46:01.199 --> 01:46:03.920 dressing room there, and I found the door between the 1566 01:46:03.960 --> 01:46:08.039 rooms open, and the other door forced. How could all 1567 01:46:08.039 --> 01:46:11.159 this have happened without my being wakened? It must have 1568 01:46:11.159 --> 01:46:13.840 been accompanied with a great deal of noise, and I 1569 01:46:13.880 --> 01:46:17.239 am particularly easily wakened. And how could I have been 1570 01:46:17.239 --> 01:46:20.079 carried out of my bed without my sleep having been interrupted? 1571 01:46:20.840 --> 01:46:25.600 I whom the slightest stir startles. By this time, Madame Mademoiselle, 1572 01:46:25.720 --> 01:46:27.960 my father, and a number of the servants were in 1573 01:46:28.000 --> 01:46:33.000 the room. Carmilla was of course overwhelmed with inquiries, congratulations 1574 01:46:33.000 --> 01:46:36.760 and welcomes. She had but one story to tell, and 1575 01:46:36.840 --> 01:46:39.319 seemed the least able of all the party to suggest 1576 01:46:39.399 --> 01:46:43.239 any way of accounting for what had happened. My father 1577 01:46:43.319 --> 01:46:46.640 took a turn up and down the room, thinking I 1578 01:46:46.680 --> 01:46:49.840 saw Carmela's eye follow him for a moment with a sly, 1579 01:46:50.199 --> 01:46:54.000 dark glance. When my father had sent the servants away, 1580 01:46:54.520 --> 01:46:56.800 Mademoiselle having gone in search of a little bottle of 1581 01:46:56.840 --> 01:47:00.960 Valerian and sell volatile, and there being no one now 1582 01:47:00.960 --> 01:47:05.039 in the room with Carmela except my father, Madame, and myself. 1583 01:47:06.079 --> 01:47:09.439 He came to her thoughtfully, took her hand very kindly, 1584 01:47:10.000 --> 01:47:12.520 and led her to the sofa and sat down beside her. 1585 01:47:12.840 --> 01:47:15.039 Will you forgive me, my dear if I risk a 1586 01:47:15.119 --> 01:47:18.279 conjecture and ask a question, who can have better? Right? 1587 01:47:18.840 --> 01:47:22.199 She said? Ask what you please, and I will tell 1588 01:47:22.239 --> 01:47:25.960 you everything. But my story is simply one of bewilderment 1589 01:47:26.079 --> 01:47:31.159 and darkness. I know absolutely nothing. Put any question you please, 1590 01:47:31.279 --> 01:47:33.960 But you know, of course, the limitations Mamma has placed 1591 01:47:34.000 --> 01:47:39.359 me under perfectly, my dear child, I need not approach 1592 01:47:39.399 --> 01:47:43.239 the topics on which she desires our silence. Now, the 1593 01:47:43.319 --> 01:47:46.199 marvel of last night consists in your having been removed 1594 01:47:46.199 --> 01:47:49.840 from your bed and your room without being wakened, and 1595 01:47:50.000 --> 01:47:52.920 this removal having occurred apparently while the windows were still 1596 01:47:52.920 --> 01:47:57.439 secured and the two doors locked upon the inside. I 1597 01:47:57.520 --> 01:48:00.560 will tell you my theory and ask you the question. 1598 01:48:01.760 --> 01:48:05.279 Carmela was leaning on her hand dejectedly. Madame and I 1599 01:48:05.319 --> 01:48:10.399 were listening breathlessly. Now my question is this, Have you 1600 01:48:10.439 --> 01:48:15.800 ever been suspected of walking in your sleep? Never since 1601 01:48:15.840 --> 01:48:19.359 I was very young, indeed, But you did walk in 1602 01:48:19.399 --> 01:48:23.000 your sleep when you were young? Yes, I know, I 1603 01:48:23.079 --> 01:48:26.600 did I have been told so often by my old nurse. 1604 01:48:28.159 --> 01:48:32.439 My father smiled and nodded, Well, what has happened is this? 1605 01:48:33.479 --> 01:48:36.319 You got up in your sleep unlocked the door, not 1606 01:48:36.479 --> 01:48:39.319 leaving the key as usual in the lock, but taking 1607 01:48:39.359 --> 01:48:42.359 it out and locking it on the outside. You again 1608 01:48:42.399 --> 01:48:44.800 took the key out and carried it away with you 1609 01:48:44.880 --> 01:48:46.960 to some one of the five and twenty rooms on 1610 01:48:47.000 --> 01:48:50.720 this floor, or perhaps upstairs or downstairs. There are so 1611 01:48:50.840 --> 01:48:54.640 many rooms and closets, so much heavy furniture, and such 1612 01:48:54.640 --> 01:48:57.359 accumulations of lumber, that it would require a week to 1613 01:48:57.399 --> 01:49:00.520 search this old house thoroughly. Do you you see now 1614 01:49:00.560 --> 01:49:06.960 what I mean? I do? But not all? She answered, 1615 01:49:08.279 --> 01:49:10.800 And how, Papa, do you account for her finding herself 1616 01:49:10.840 --> 01:49:13.119 on the sofa in the dressing room, which we had 1617 01:49:13.119 --> 01:49:17.680 searched so carefully. She came there after you had searched it, 1618 01:49:18.199 --> 01:49:21.840 still in her sleep, and at last awoke spontaneously, and 1619 01:49:22.159 --> 01:49:24.439 was as much surprised to find herself where she was 1620 01:49:24.479 --> 01:49:27.960 as any one else. I wish all mysteries were as 1621 01:49:27.960 --> 01:49:31.520 easily and innocently explained as yours, Carmilla, he said, laughing, 1622 01:49:32.479 --> 01:49:35.800 And so we may congratulate ourselves on the certainty that 1623 01:49:35.880 --> 01:49:38.960 the most natural explanation of the occurrence is one that 1624 01:49:39.039 --> 01:49:42.920 involves no drugging, no tampering with locks, no burglars or 1625 01:49:42.960 --> 01:49:46.800 poisoners or witches, nothing that need alarm Carmilla or any 1626 01:49:46.800 --> 01:49:52.000 one else for our safety. Carmela was looking charmingly. Nothing 1627 01:49:52.039 --> 01:49:55.439 could be more beautiful than her tints. Her beauty was 1628 01:49:55.520 --> 01:49:59.159 I think enhanced by that graceful languor that was peculiar 1629 01:49:59.199 --> 01:50:03.359 to her. I think my father was silently contrasting her 1630 01:50:03.359 --> 01:50:07.399 looks with mine, for he said, I wish my poor 1631 01:50:07.479 --> 01:50:13.159 Laura was looking more like herself, and he sighed. So 1632 01:50:13.399 --> 01:50:23.199 our alarms were happily ended, and Carmilla restored to her friends. 1633 01:50:23.319 --> 01:50:32.319 End of chapter eight, Chapter nine the doctor. As Carmilla 1634 01:50:32.359 --> 01:50:35.039 would not hear of an attendant sleeping in her room, 1635 01:50:35.319 --> 01:50:38.239 my father arranged that a servant should sleep outside her door, 1636 01:50:38.720 --> 01:50:40.720 so that she would not attempt to make another such 1637 01:50:40.760 --> 01:50:44.560 excursion without being arrested at her own door. That night 1638 01:50:44.600 --> 01:50:48.479 passed quietly, and next morning early the doctor whom my 1639 01:50:48.560 --> 01:50:51.119 father had sent for without telling me a word about it, 1640 01:50:51.640 --> 01:50:55.720 arrived to see me. Madame accompanied me to the library, 1641 01:50:56.279 --> 01:50:59.880 and there the grave little doctor with white hair and spectacles, 1642 01:51:00.079 --> 01:51:04.520 whom I mentioned before, was waiting to receive me. I 1643 01:51:04.600 --> 01:51:07.840 told him my story, and as I proceeded he grew 1644 01:51:07.880 --> 01:51:12.439 graver and graver. We were standing, he and I in 1645 01:51:12.479 --> 01:51:15.000 the recess of one of the windows, facing one another. 1646 01:51:15.960 --> 01:51:19.119 When my statement was over, he leaned with his shoulders 1647 01:51:19.159 --> 01:51:22.600 against the wall and with his eyes fixed on me earnestly, 1648 01:51:23.239 --> 01:51:25.520 with an interest in which was a dash of horror. 1649 01:51:27.600 --> 01:51:30.600 After a minute's reflection, he asked Madame if he could 1650 01:51:30.600 --> 01:51:34.760 see my father. He was sent for accordingly, and as 1651 01:51:34.760 --> 01:51:38.880 he entered, smiling, he said, I dare say, doctor, you 1652 01:51:38.920 --> 01:51:40.399 are going to tell me that I am an old 1653 01:51:40.439 --> 01:51:43.159 fool for having brought you here. I hope I am. 1654 01:51:44.479 --> 01:51:47.920 But his smile faded into shadow as the doctor, with 1655 01:51:48.000 --> 01:51:52.720 a very grave face, beckoned to him. He and the 1656 01:51:52.760 --> 01:51:55.359 doctor talked for some time in the same recess where 1657 01:51:55.399 --> 01:51:58.520 I had just conferred with the position. It seemed an 1658 01:51:58.600 --> 01:52:03.840 earnest and argument conversation. The room is very large, and 1659 01:52:03.880 --> 01:52:07.399 I and Madame stood together, burning with curiosity. At the 1660 01:52:07.439 --> 01:52:11.720 farther end. Not a word could we hear, however, for 1661 01:52:11.800 --> 01:52:14.520 they spoke in a very low tone, and the deep 1662 01:52:14.600 --> 01:52:17.479 recess of the window quite concealed the doctor from view, 1663 01:52:18.119 --> 01:52:21.840 and very nearly my father, whose foot, arm and shoulder 1664 01:52:21.880 --> 01:52:25.000 only we could see. And the voices were, I suppose, 1665 01:52:25.479 --> 01:52:28.159 all the less audible for the sort of closet which 1666 01:52:28.159 --> 01:52:32.479 the thick wall and window formed. After a time my 1667 01:52:32.520 --> 01:52:36.720 father's face looked into the room. It was pale, thoughtful, 1668 01:52:37.279 --> 01:52:43.119 and I fancied, agitated. Laura, dear, come here for a moment, madame, 1669 01:52:43.199 --> 01:52:47.760 We sha'n't trouble you, the doctor says, at present. Accordingly, 1670 01:52:47.800 --> 01:52:51.600 I approached for the first time a little alarmed, for 1671 01:52:51.640 --> 01:52:54.039 although I felt very weak, I did not feel ill. 1672 01:52:54.920 --> 01:52:58.000 And strength one always fancies is a thing that may 1673 01:52:58.039 --> 01:53:01.439 be picked up when we please. My father held out 1674 01:53:01.439 --> 01:53:04.239 his hand to me as I drew near, but he 1675 01:53:04.319 --> 01:53:08.039 was looking at the doctor, and he said, it certainly 1676 01:53:08.119 --> 01:53:12.760 is very odd. I don't understand it quite. Laura, come here, dear, 1677 01:53:13.439 --> 01:53:19.520 now attend to doctor Spielsburg and recollect yourself. You mentioned 1678 01:53:19.520 --> 01:53:22.600 a sensation like that of two needles piercing the skin 1679 01:53:23.439 --> 01:53:26.039 somewhere about your neck on the night when you first 1680 01:53:26.039 --> 01:53:31.399 experienced your horrible dream. Is there still any soreness? None 1681 01:53:31.439 --> 01:53:35.720 at all? I answered, Can you indicate with your finger? 1682 01:53:35.760 --> 01:53:39.279 About the point at which you think this occurred very 1683 01:53:39.279 --> 01:53:43.920 little below my throat here, I answered, I wore a 1684 01:53:43.960 --> 01:53:48.319 morning dress which covered the place I pointed to. Now 1685 01:53:48.359 --> 01:53:52.359 you can satisfy yourself, said the doctor. You won't mind 1686 01:53:52.359 --> 01:53:55.520 your papa's lowering your dress a very little. It is 1687 01:53:55.600 --> 01:53:58.960 necessary to detect a symptom of the complaint under which 1688 01:53:59.000 --> 01:54:03.159 you have been suffering. I acquiesced. It was only an 1689 01:54:03.159 --> 01:54:06.720 inch or two below the edge of my collar. God 1690 01:54:06.880 --> 01:54:11.560 bless me, so it is, exclaimed my father, growing pale. 1691 01:54:12.359 --> 01:54:15.359 You see it now with your own eyes, said the doctor, 1692 01:54:15.479 --> 01:54:19.880 with a gloomy triumph. What is it, I exclaimed, beginning 1693 01:54:19.920 --> 01:54:23.359 to be frightened. Nothing, my dear young lady, but a 1694 01:54:23.399 --> 01:54:26.159 small blue spot, about the size of the tip of 1695 01:54:26.199 --> 01:54:29.840 your little finger. And now, he continued, turning to Papa. 1696 01:54:30.319 --> 01:54:34.199 The question is what is best to be done? Is 1697 01:54:34.239 --> 01:54:38.680 there any danger? I urged in great trepidation. I trust not, 1698 01:54:38.840 --> 01:54:42.079 my dear, answered the doctor. I don't see why you 1699 01:54:42.119 --> 01:54:45.439 should not recover. I don't see why you should not 1700 01:54:45.520 --> 01:54:49.199 immediately begin to get better. That is the point at 1701 01:54:49.199 --> 01:54:55.119 which the sense of strangulation begins. Yes, I answered, and 1702 01:54:55.680 --> 01:54:59.239 recollect as well as you can. The same point was 1703 01:54:59.239 --> 01:55:01.920 a kind of sense of that thrill which you describe 1704 01:55:02.079 --> 01:55:05.399 just now, like the current of a cold stream running 1705 01:55:05.399 --> 01:55:11.800 against you. It may have been I think it was, ay, 1706 01:55:12.279 --> 01:55:15.960 you see, he added, turning to my father. Shall I 1707 01:55:16.000 --> 01:55:21.319 say a word to Madame? Certainly, said my father. He 1708 01:55:21.359 --> 01:55:25.039 called Madame to him and said, I find my young 1709 01:55:25.079 --> 01:55:28.119 friend here far from well. It won't be of any 1710 01:55:28.159 --> 01:55:31.119 great consequence, I hope, but it will be necessary that 1711 01:55:31.159 --> 01:55:34.159 some steps be taken, which I will explain by and by. 1712 01:55:34.840 --> 01:55:37.039 But in the meantime, Madame, you will be so good 1713 01:55:37.119 --> 01:55:39.399 as to not let miss Laura be alone for one moment. 1714 01:55:40.159 --> 01:55:42.640 That is the only direction I need give for the present. 1715 01:55:43.279 --> 01:55:48.279 It is indispensable. We may rely upon your kindness, Madame, 1716 01:55:48.319 --> 01:55:54.319 I know, added my father. Madame satisfied him eagerly. And you, 1717 01:55:54.479 --> 01:55:57.640 dear Laura, I know you will observe the doctor's direction. 1718 01:55:59.840 --> 01:56:01.720 I I shall have to ask your opinion upon another 1719 01:56:01.760 --> 01:56:05.399 patient whose symptoms slightly resemble those of my daughter that 1720 01:56:05.479 --> 01:56:09.239 have just been detailed to you, very much milder in degree, 1721 01:56:09.640 --> 01:56:12.880 but I believe quite of the same sort. She is 1722 01:56:12.920 --> 01:56:16.239 a young lady, our guest. But as you say, you 1723 01:56:16.279 --> 01:56:18.600 will be passing this way again this evening. You can't 1724 01:56:18.640 --> 01:56:21.119 do better than take your supper here and you can 1725 01:56:21.159 --> 01:56:24.439 then see her. She does not come down till the afternoon. 1726 01:56:26.079 --> 01:56:28.760 I thank you, said the doctor. I shall be with 1727 01:56:28.840 --> 01:56:32.079 you then at about seven this evening. And then they 1728 01:56:32.119 --> 01:56:35.039 repeated their directions to me and Madame. And with this 1729 01:56:35.159 --> 01:56:38.119 parting charge, my father left us and walked out with 1730 01:56:38.199 --> 01:56:41.399 the doctor. And I saw them pacing together up and 1731 01:56:41.439 --> 01:56:44.039 down between the road and the moat on the grassy 1732 01:56:44.079 --> 01:56:48.439 platform in front of the castle, evidently absorbed in earnest conversation. 1733 01:56:50.079 --> 01:56:53.479 The doctor did not return. I saw him mount his 1734 01:56:53.560 --> 01:56:57.600 horse there, take his leave, and ride away eastward through 1735 01:56:57.600 --> 01:57:01.319 the forest. Nearly yet the same time, I saw the 1736 01:57:01.359 --> 01:57:04.720 man arrive from Dranfield with the letters and dismount and 1737 01:57:04.760 --> 01:57:09.039 hand the bag to my father. In the meantime, Madame 1738 01:57:09.079 --> 01:57:11.880 and I were both busy lost in conjecture as to 1739 01:57:11.920 --> 01:57:14.479 the reasons of the singular and earnest direction which the 1740 01:57:14.520 --> 01:57:18.359 doctor and my father had concurred in imposing. Madame, as 1741 01:57:18.359 --> 01:57:21.800 she afterwards told me, was afraid the doctor apprehended a 1742 01:57:21.840 --> 01:57:25.640 sudden seizure, and that without prompt assistance, I might either 1743 01:57:25.680 --> 01:57:28.000 lose my life in a fit or at least be 1744 01:57:28.079 --> 01:57:33.760 seriously hurt. The interpretation did not strike me, and I fancied, 1745 01:57:33.800 --> 01:57:37.239 perhaps luckily for my nerves, that the arrangement was prescribed 1746 01:57:37.279 --> 01:57:40.279 simply to secure a companion who would prevent my taking 1747 01:57:40.319 --> 01:57:44.279 too much exercise, or eating unripe fruit, or doing any 1748 01:57:44.319 --> 01:57:46.600 of the fifty foolish things to which young people are 1749 01:57:46.640 --> 01:57:50.600 supposed to be prone. About half an hour after my 1750 01:57:50.640 --> 01:57:53.079 father came in, he had a letter in his hand 1751 01:57:53.720 --> 01:57:57.479 and said, this letter had been delayed. It is from 1752 01:57:57.520 --> 01:58:00.920 General Spielsdorf. He might have been here yet yesterday, he 1753 01:58:00.960 --> 01:58:03.319 may not come until tomorrow, or he may be here 1754 01:58:03.319 --> 01:58:07.640 to day. He put the letter into my hand, but 1755 01:58:07.720 --> 01:58:10.520 he did not look pleased, as he used when a guest, 1756 01:58:10.640 --> 01:58:13.119 especially when so much loved as the General was coming. 1757 01:58:14.279 --> 01:58:16.239 On the contrary, he looked as if he wished him 1758 01:58:16.239 --> 01:58:19.159 at the bottom of the red sea. There is plainly 1759 01:58:19.199 --> 01:58:23.920 something on his mind which he did not choose to divulge. Papa, darling, 1760 01:58:24.479 --> 01:58:28.039 will you tell me this, said I, suddenly, laying my 1761 01:58:28.119 --> 01:58:31.600 hand on his arm and looking, I am sure, imploringly 1762 01:58:31.640 --> 01:58:36.920 in his face. Perhaps he answered, smoothing my hair caressingly 1763 01:58:36.960 --> 01:58:42.479 over my eyes. Does the doctor think me very ill. No, dear, 1764 01:58:43.520 --> 01:58:46.319 he thinks, if right steps are taken, you will be 1765 01:58:46.439 --> 01:58:49.039 quite well again, at least on the high road to 1766 01:58:49.079 --> 01:58:52.000 a complete recovery, in a day or two. He answered, 1767 01:58:52.039 --> 01:58:55.079 a little dryly. I wish our good friend the General 1768 01:58:55.079 --> 01:58:58.239 had chosen any other time. That is, I wish you 1769 01:58:58.279 --> 01:59:02.600 had been perfectly well to receive him. But do tell me, Papa, 1770 01:59:02.920 --> 01:59:07.199 I insisted, what does he think is the matter with me? Nothing? 1771 01:59:08.119 --> 01:59:11.359 You must not plague me with questions, he answered, with 1772 01:59:11.399 --> 01:59:14.439 more irritation than I ever remember him to have displayed before, 1773 01:59:15.319 --> 01:59:17.960 And seeing that I looked wounded, I suppose, he kissed 1774 01:59:17.960 --> 01:59:20.560 me and added, you shall know all about it in 1775 01:59:20.600 --> 01:59:23.279 a day or two. That is all that I know. 1776 01:59:24.279 --> 01:59:26.199 In the meantime, you are not to trouble your head 1777 01:59:26.199 --> 01:59:30.159 about it. He turned and left the room, but came 1778 01:59:30.199 --> 01:59:32.600 back before I had done wondering and puzzling over the 1779 01:59:32.600 --> 01:59:35.560 oddity of all this. It was merely to say that 1780 01:59:35.640 --> 01:59:38.720 he was going to Carnstein and had ordered the carriage 1781 01:59:38.760 --> 01:59:41.159 to be ready at twelve, and that I and Madame 1782 01:59:41.199 --> 01:59:43.960 should accompany him. He was going to see the priest 1783 01:59:44.000 --> 01:59:47.279 who lived near those picturesque grounds, upon business and as 1784 01:59:47.279 --> 01:59:50.359 Carmila had never seen them, she could follow when she 1785 01:59:50.399 --> 01:59:53.720 came down with Mademoiselle, who would bring materials for what 1786 01:59:53.760 --> 01:59:56.039 you call a picnic, which might be laid for us 1787 01:59:56.079 --> 02:00:00.560 in the ruined castle. At twelve o'clock a wardingly, I 1788 02:00:00.640 --> 02:00:04.199 was ready, and not long after my father, Madame and 1789 02:00:04.239 --> 02:00:08.239 I set out upon our projected drive. Passing the drawbridge, 1790 02:00:08.239 --> 02:00:10.840 we turned to the right and follow the road over 1791 02:00:10.880 --> 02:00:14.319 the steep Gothic bridge westward to reach the deserted village 1792 02:00:14.319 --> 02:00:18.960 and ruined castle of Caernstein. No Sylvan drive can be 1793 02:00:19.000 --> 02:00:23.199 fancied prettier. The ground breaks into gentle hills and hollows, 1794 02:00:23.720 --> 02:00:27.640 all clothed with beautiful wood, totally destitute of the comparative 1795 02:00:27.680 --> 02:00:31.399 formality which artificial planting and early culture and pruning impart. 1796 02:00:33.000 --> 02:00:35.800 The irregularities of the ground often lead the road out 1797 02:00:35.840 --> 02:00:39.000 of its course and cause it to wind beautifully round 1798 02:00:39.000 --> 02:00:41.880 the sides of broken hollows and the steeper sides of 1799 02:00:41.920 --> 02:00:47.000 the hills, among varieties of ground almost inexhaustible. Turning one 1800 02:00:47.039 --> 02:00:50.800 of these points, we suddenly encountered our old friend, the General, 1801 02:00:51.239 --> 02:00:55.439 riding towards us, attended by a mounted servant. His portmanteaus 1802 02:00:55.439 --> 02:00:58.159 were following in a hired wagon, such as we term 1803 02:00:58.159 --> 02:01:02.119 a cart. The girl dismounted as we pulled up, and 1804 02:01:02.199 --> 02:01:05.439 after the usual greetings, was easily persuaded to accept the 1805 02:01:05.479 --> 02:01:08.079 vacant seat in the carriage and send his horse on 1806 02:01:08.159 --> 02:01:16.359 with his servant to the Schloss. End of Chapter nine, 1807 02:01:16.600 --> 02:01:23.760 Chapter ten bereaved. It was about ten months since we 1808 02:01:23.800 --> 02:01:26.840 had last seen him, but that time had sufficed to 1809 02:01:26.840 --> 02:01:30.199 make an alteration of years in his appearance. He had 1810 02:01:30.239 --> 02:01:33.800 grown thinner, something of gloom and anxiety had taken the 1811 02:01:33.800 --> 02:01:37.640 place of that cordial serenity which used to characterize his features. 1812 02:01:38.239 --> 02:01:42.279 His dark blue eyes, always penetrating, now gleamed with a 1813 02:01:42.319 --> 02:01:46.399 sterner light from under his shaggy gray eyebrows. It was 1814 02:01:46.479 --> 02:01:49.880 not such a change as grief alone. Usually induces, and 1815 02:01:50.079 --> 02:01:52.600 angrier passions seemed to have had their share in bringing 1816 02:01:52.600 --> 02:01:56.720 it about. We had not long resumed our drive when 1817 02:01:56.760 --> 02:02:00.520 the General began to talk with his usual soldierly directness 1818 02:02:01.000 --> 02:02:03.680 of the bereavement as he termed it, which he had 1819 02:02:03.680 --> 02:02:06.079 sustained in the death of his beloved niece and ward. 1820 02:02:07.039 --> 02:02:09.159 And he then broke out in a tone of intense 1821 02:02:09.239 --> 02:02:13.439 bitterness and fury, inveighing against the hellish arts to which 1822 02:02:13.439 --> 02:02:17.319 she had fallen a victim, and expressing with more exasperation 1823 02:02:17.439 --> 02:02:21.319 than piety, his wonder that Heaven should tolerate so monstrous 1824 02:02:21.319 --> 02:02:26.319 an indulgence of the lusts and malignity of Hell. My father, 1825 02:02:26.840 --> 02:02:30.479 who saw at once that something very extraordinary had Befallen, 1826 02:02:31.239 --> 02:02:34.880 asked him, if not too painful to him, to detail 1827 02:02:34.920 --> 02:02:38.119 the circumstances which he thought justified the strong terms in 1828 02:02:38.159 --> 02:02:43.000 which he expressed himself. I should tell you with all pleasure, 1829 02:02:43.600 --> 02:02:48.119 said the general. But you would not believe me. Why 1830 02:02:48.119 --> 02:02:53.159 should I not, he asked, because, he answered testily, you 1831 02:02:53.279 --> 02:02:56.960 believe in nothing but what consists with your own prejudices 1832 02:02:56.960 --> 02:03:01.199 and illusions. I remember when I was like you, but 1833 02:03:01.359 --> 02:03:06.600 I have learned better. Try me, said my father. I 1834 02:03:06.640 --> 02:03:12.000 am not such a dogmatist as you suppose. Besides which, 1835 02:03:12.079 --> 02:03:14.920 I very well know that you generally require proof for 1836 02:03:15.000 --> 02:03:18.600 what you believe, and am therefore very strongly predisposed to 1837 02:03:18.640 --> 02:03:24.520 respect your conclusions. You are right in supposing that I 1838 02:03:24.560 --> 02:03:26.920 have not been led lightly into a belief in the 1839 02:03:26.960 --> 02:03:31.800 marvelous For what I have experienced is marvelous, and I 1840 02:03:31.840 --> 02:03:34.880 have been forced by extraordinary evidence to credit that which 1841 02:03:34.960 --> 02:03:39.159 ran counter diametrically to all my theories. I have been 1842 02:03:39.159 --> 02:03:46.159 made the dupe of a preternatural conspiracy. Notwithstanding his professions 1843 02:03:46.159 --> 02:03:49.600 of confidence in the General's penetration. I saw my father 1844 02:03:49.680 --> 02:03:53.000 at this point glance at the General with as I thought, 1845 02:03:53.159 --> 02:03:56.920 a marked suspicion of his sanity. The General did not 1846 02:03:57.039 --> 02:04:00.800 see it, luckily. He was looking gloomily and curiously into 1847 02:04:00.800 --> 02:04:03.039 the glades and vistas of the woods that were opening 1848 02:04:03.079 --> 02:04:07.479 before us. You are going to the ruins of Kernstein, 1849 02:04:07.600 --> 02:04:12.319 he said, yes, it is a lucky coincidence. Do you 1850 02:04:12.399 --> 02:04:14.159 know I was going to ask you to bring me 1851 02:04:14.199 --> 02:04:18.840 there to inspect them. I have a special object in exploring. 1852 02:04:19.720 --> 02:04:21.800 There is a ruined chapel, ain't there, with a great 1853 02:04:21.800 --> 02:04:27.039 many tombs of that extinct family. So there are highly interesting, 1854 02:04:27.119 --> 02:04:30.279 said my father. I hope you are thinking of claiming 1855 02:04:30.319 --> 02:04:34.960 the title and estates. My father said this gaily, but 1856 02:04:35.039 --> 02:04:38.199 the General did not recollect the laugh or even the smile, 1857 02:04:38.279 --> 02:04:42.239 which courtesy exacts for a friend's joke. On the contrary, 1858 02:04:42.840 --> 02:04:46.640 he looked grave and even fierce, ruminating on a matter 1859 02:04:46.680 --> 02:04:51.319 that stirred his anger and horror. Something very different, he 1860 02:04:51.439 --> 02:04:56.159 said gruffly. I mean to unearth some of those fine people. 1861 02:04:57.239 --> 02:05:00.920 I hope, by God's blessing, to accomplish a pious sacrilege here, 1862 02:05:01.159 --> 02:05:04.520 which will relieve our earth of certain monsters and enable 1863 02:05:04.560 --> 02:05:07.279 honest people to sleep in their beds without being assailed 1864 02:05:07.279 --> 02:05:12.039 by murderers. I have strange things to tell you, my 1865 02:05:12.119 --> 02:05:16.199 dear friend, such as I myself would have scouted as incredible. 1866 02:05:16.239 --> 02:05:20.520 A few months since my father looked at him again, 1867 02:05:21.319 --> 02:05:24.399 but this time not with a glance of suspicion, with 1868 02:05:24.479 --> 02:05:29.279 an eye rather of keen intelligence and alarm. The house 1869 02:05:29.319 --> 02:05:34.399 of Carnstein, he said, has been long extinct a hundred years. 1870 02:05:34.399 --> 02:05:38.439 At least. My dear wife was maternally descended from the Carnsteins, 1871 02:05:39.159 --> 02:05:41.560 but the name and title have long ceased to exist. 1872 02:05:42.279 --> 02:05:45.159 The castle is a ruin. The very village is deserted. 1873 02:05:45.720 --> 02:05:47.960 It is fifty years since the smoke of a chimney 1874 02:05:48.000 --> 02:05:53.479 was seen there, not a roof left. Quite true, I 1875 02:05:53.520 --> 02:05:55.560 have heard a great deal about that since I last 1876 02:05:55.640 --> 02:05:59.680 saw you, A great deal that will astonish you. But 1877 02:05:59.800 --> 02:06:01.600 I I had better relate everything in the order in 1878 02:06:01.640 --> 02:06:05.279 which it occurred, said the General. You saw my dear ward, 1879 02:06:06.159 --> 02:06:09.840 my child, I may call her. No creature could have 1880 02:06:09.880 --> 02:06:16.039 been more beautiful, and only three months ago none more blooming. Yes, 1881 02:06:16.439 --> 02:06:19.600 poor thing. When I saw her last, she certainly was 1882 02:06:19.680 --> 02:06:23.800 quite lovely, said my father. I was grieved and shocked 1883 02:06:23.840 --> 02:06:26.560 more than I can tell you. My dear friend, I 1884 02:06:26.640 --> 02:06:30.560 knew what a blow it was to you. He took 1885 02:06:30.600 --> 02:06:35.560 the General's hand, and they exchanged a kind pressure. Tears 1886 02:06:35.600 --> 02:06:38.960 gathered in the old soldier's eyes. He did not seek 1887 02:06:39.000 --> 02:06:45.439 to conceal them. He said, we have been very old friends. 1888 02:06:45.840 --> 02:06:48.960 I knew you would feel for me, childless as I am. 1889 02:06:49.560 --> 02:06:51.840 She had become an object of very near interest to 1890 02:06:51.920 --> 02:06:55.159 me and repaid my care by an affection that cheered 1891 02:06:55.159 --> 02:07:00.039 my home and made my life happy. That is all gone. 1892 02:07:00.479 --> 02:07:02.560 The years that remain to me on earth may not 1893 02:07:02.640 --> 02:07:05.520 be very long, But by God's mercy, I hope to 1894 02:07:05.560 --> 02:07:08.720 accomplish a service to mankind before I die, and to 1895 02:07:08.800 --> 02:07:11.399 subserve the vengeance of Heaven upon the fiends who have 1896 02:07:11.479 --> 02:07:14.119 murdered my poor child in the spring of her hopes 1897 02:07:14.159 --> 02:07:18.319 and beauty. You said just now that you intended relating 1898 02:07:18.359 --> 02:07:21.680 everything as it occurred, said my father. Pray, do I 1899 02:07:21.760 --> 02:07:24.600 assure you that it is not mere curiosity that prompts me. 1900 02:07:26.000 --> 02:07:27.720 By this time we had reached the point at which 1901 02:07:27.720 --> 02:07:31.359 the Drunsdall road by which the General had come, diverges 1902 02:07:31.399 --> 02:07:35.319 from the road which we were traveling to Carnstein. How 1903 02:07:35.359 --> 02:07:38.039 far is it to the ruins, inquired the General, looking 1904 02:07:38.079 --> 02:07:42.640 anxiously forward, About half a league. Answered my father, pray, 1905 02:07:42.920 --> 02:07:44.960 let us hear the story you were so good as 1906 02:07:45.000 --> 02:07:59.399 to promise end of chapter ten, chapter eleven, the story 1907 02:08:01.039 --> 02:08:04.800 with all my heart, said the General with an effort, 1908 02:08:05.520 --> 02:08:08.319 and after a short pause in which to arrange his subject, 1909 02:08:09.000 --> 02:08:13.600 he commenced one of the strangest narratives I ever heard. 1910 02:08:15.239 --> 02:08:18.000 My dear child was looking forward with great pleasure to 1911 02:08:18.039 --> 02:08:20.239 the visit you had been so good as to arrange 1912 02:08:20.239 --> 02:08:23.520 for her. To your charming daughter, here he made me 1913 02:08:23.600 --> 02:08:28.680 a gallant but melancholy bow. In the meantime we had 1914 02:08:28.720 --> 02:08:32.560 an invitation to my old friend, the Count Carlsfeld, whose 1915 02:08:32.680 --> 02:08:35.520 loss is about six leagues to the other side of Carnstein. 1916 02:08:36.520 --> 02:08:39.479 It was to attend the series of fetes which you 1917 02:08:39.600 --> 02:08:43.119 remember were given by him in honor of his illustrious visitor, 1918 02:08:43.359 --> 02:08:48.239 the Grand Duke Charles. Yes, and very splendid. I believe 1919 02:08:48.279 --> 02:08:54.960 they were, said my father princely, but then his hospitalities 1920 02:08:55.000 --> 02:08:59.920 are quite regal. He has Aladdin's lamp, the night from which, 1921 02:09:00.000 --> 02:09:03.760 when my sorrow dates, was devoted to a magnificent masquerade. 1922 02:09:03.840 --> 02:09:07.680 The grounds were thrown open, the trees hung with colored lamps. 1923 02:09:08.239 --> 02:09:11.239 There was such a display of fireworks as Paris itself 1924 02:09:11.239 --> 02:09:16.279 had never witnessed. And such music, music, you know, is 1925 02:09:16.319 --> 02:09:23.279 my weakness, Such ravishing music, the finest instrumental band perhaps 1926 02:09:23.279 --> 02:09:26.159 in the world, and the finest singers who could be 1927 02:09:26.159 --> 02:09:29.640 collected from all the great operas in Europe. As you 1928 02:09:29.720 --> 02:09:35.039 wandered through these fantastically illuminated grounds, the moonlighted chateau throwing 1929 02:09:35.079 --> 02:09:38.520 a rosy light from its long rows of windows, you 1930 02:09:38.520 --> 02:09:42.359 would suddenly hear these ravishing voices stealing from the silence 1931 02:09:42.399 --> 02:09:45.880 of some grove, or rising from boats upon the lake. 1932 02:09:47.319 --> 02:09:52.039 I felt myself as I looked and listened, carried back 1933 02:09:52.119 --> 02:09:57.319 into the romance and poetry of my early youth. When 1934 02:09:57.319 --> 02:10:01.600 the fireworks were ended and the ball began, we returned 1935 02:10:01.640 --> 02:10:03.760 to the noble suite of rooms that were thrown open 1936 02:10:03.800 --> 02:10:07.199 to the dancers. A masked ball, you know, is a 1937 02:10:07.199 --> 02:10:11.439 beautiful sight, but so brilliant, a spectacle of the kind 1938 02:10:11.600 --> 02:10:16.520 I never saw before. It was a very aristocratic assembly. 1939 02:10:17.319 --> 02:10:23.039 I was myself almost the only nobody present. My dear 1940 02:10:23.199 --> 02:10:28.119 child was looking quite beautiful. She wore no mask. Her 1941 02:10:28.159 --> 02:10:31.880 excitement and delight added an unspeakable charm to her features. 1942 02:10:32.199 --> 02:10:38.600 Always lovely, I remarked. A young lady, dressed magnificently but 1943 02:10:38.720 --> 02:10:41.560 wearing a mask, who appeared to me to be observing 1944 02:10:41.600 --> 02:10:46.279 my ward with extraordinary interest. I had seen her earlier 1945 02:10:46.319 --> 02:10:49.840 in the evening in the Great Hall, and again for 1946 02:10:49.920 --> 02:10:53.039 a few minutes walking near us on the terrace under 1947 02:10:53.079 --> 02:10:59.000 the castle windows. Similarly employed, a lady, also masked, richly 1948 02:10:59.159 --> 02:11:02.520 and gravely dressed and with a stately air, like a 1949 02:11:02.520 --> 02:11:08.840 person of rank, accompanied her as a chaperone. Had the 1950 02:11:08.880 --> 02:11:11.560 young lady not worn a mask, I could of course 1951 02:11:11.600 --> 02:11:14.119 have been much more certain upon the question whether she 1952 02:11:14.239 --> 02:11:18.760 was really watching my poor darling. I am now well 1953 02:11:18.840 --> 02:11:23.439 assured that she was. We were now in one of 1954 02:11:23.439 --> 02:11:27.840 the salons. My poor dear child had been dancing and 1955 02:11:28.039 --> 02:11:30.039 was resting a little in one of the chairs near 1956 02:11:30.079 --> 02:11:34.520 the door. I was standing near the two ladies I 1957 02:11:34.520 --> 02:11:37.520 have mentioned had approached, and the younger took the chair 1958 02:11:37.640 --> 02:11:41.359 next my ward, while her companion stood by me, and 1959 02:11:41.479 --> 02:11:44.399 for a little time addressed herself in low tone to 1960 02:11:44.520 --> 02:11:49.199 her charge, availing herself of the privilege of her mask. 1961 02:11:49.720 --> 02:11:52.560 She turned to me, and, in the tone of an 1962 02:11:52.600 --> 02:11:57.039 old friend, and calling me by name, opened a conversation 1963 02:11:57.159 --> 02:12:02.319 with me, which piqued my curiosity again. Deal she referred 1964 02:12:02.359 --> 02:12:05.560 to many scenes where she had met me, at court 1965 02:12:05.680 --> 02:12:09.680 and at distinguished houses. She alluded to little incidents which 1966 02:12:09.680 --> 02:12:12.279 I had long ceased to think of, but which I 1967 02:12:12.399 --> 02:12:16.079 found had only lain in abeyance in my memory, for 1968 02:12:16.159 --> 02:12:20.520 they instantly started into life at her touch. I became 1969 02:12:20.600 --> 02:12:23.720 more and more curious to ascertain who she was. Every 1970 02:12:23.760 --> 02:12:28.760 moment she parried my attempts to discover very adroitly and pleasantly. 1971 02:12:29.680 --> 02:12:32.199 The knowledge she showed of many passages in my life 1972 02:12:32.239 --> 02:12:35.840 seemed to me all but unaccountable, and she appeared to 1973 02:12:35.880 --> 02:12:40.159 take a not unnatural pleasure in foiling my curiosity and 1974 02:12:40.279 --> 02:12:43.680 in seeing me flounder in my eager perplexity from one 1975 02:12:43.720 --> 02:12:49.239 conjecture to another. In the meantime, the young lady, whom 1976 02:12:49.239 --> 02:12:53.159 her mother called by the odd name of Millarca, when 1977 02:12:53.199 --> 02:12:56.560 she once or twice addressed her had with the same ease, 1978 02:12:56.640 --> 02:13:01.680 and grace got into conversation with my ward. She introduced 1979 02:13:01.680 --> 02:13:04.279 herself by saying that her mother was a very old 1980 02:13:04.319 --> 02:13:08.680 acquaintance of mine. She spoke of the agreeable audacity which 1981 02:13:08.680 --> 02:13:13.159 a mask rendered practicable. She talked like a friend. She 1982 02:13:13.239 --> 02:13:17.680 admired her dress, and insinuated very prettily her admiration of 1983 02:13:17.720 --> 02:13:22.159 her beauty. She amused her with laughing criticisms upon the 1984 02:13:22.159 --> 02:13:25.000 people who crowded the ball room and laughed at my 1985 02:13:25.119 --> 02:13:29.680 poor child's fun. She was very witty and lively when 1986 02:13:29.720 --> 02:13:32.720 she pleased, and after a time they had grown very 1987 02:13:32.720 --> 02:13:37.119 good friends. And the young stranger lowered her mask, displaying 1988 02:13:37.159 --> 02:13:41.479 a remarkably beautiful face. I had never seen it before, 1989 02:13:42.359 --> 02:13:46.039 neither had my dear child, But though it was new 1990 02:13:46.079 --> 02:13:50.479 to us, the features were so engaging as well as lovely, 1991 02:13:51.239 --> 02:13:54.600 that it was impossible not to feel the attraction powerfully. 1992 02:13:56.000 --> 02:13:59.800 My poor girl did so. I never saw any one 1993 02:14:00.199 --> 02:14:03.960 taken with another at first sight, unless indeed it was 1994 02:14:04.000 --> 02:14:07.520 the stranger herself, who seemed quite to have lost her 1995 02:14:07.560 --> 02:14:13.159 heart to her. In the meantime, availing myself of the 1996 02:14:13.199 --> 02:14:16.760 license of a masquerade, I put not a few questions 1997 02:14:16.760 --> 02:14:22.079 to the elder lady. You have puzzled me utterly, I said, laughing. 1998 02:14:22.880 --> 02:14:28.119 Is that not enough? Won't you now consent to stand 1999 02:14:28.199 --> 02:14:31.600 on equal terms and do me the kindness to remove 2000 02:14:31.600 --> 02:14:38.399 your mask? Can any request be more unreasonable, she replied, 2001 02:14:39.199 --> 02:14:44.399 ask a lady to yield an advantage. Besides, how do 2002 02:14:44.479 --> 02:14:50.279 you know you should recognize me? Years make changes as 2003 02:14:50.319 --> 02:14:54.239 you see, I said, with a bow. And I suppose 2004 02:14:54.279 --> 02:15:00.399 a rather melancholy little laugh, as philosophers tell us, she said, 2005 02:15:01.359 --> 02:15:02.960 And how do you know that a sight of my 2006 02:15:03.119 --> 02:15:07.600 face would help you? I should take chance for that, 2007 02:15:08.079 --> 02:15:11.520 I answered. It is vain trying to make yourself out 2008 02:15:11.560 --> 02:15:17.319 an old woman. Your figure betrays you. Years nevertheless have 2009 02:15:17.479 --> 02:15:20.920 passed since I saw you, rather since you saw me. 2010 02:15:21.760 --> 02:15:25.640 For that is what I am considering. Millarca, there is 2011 02:15:25.680 --> 02:15:29.640 my daughter. I cannot then be young, even in the 2012 02:15:29.680 --> 02:15:32.600 opinion of people whom time has taught to be indulgent. 2013 02:15:33.279 --> 02:15:35.279 And I may not like to be compared with what 2014 02:15:35.319 --> 02:15:39.760 you remember me. You have no mask to remove. You 2015 02:15:39.760 --> 02:15:44.760 can offer me nothing in exchange. My petition is to 2016 02:15:44.840 --> 02:15:50.319 your pity to remove it, and mine to yours to 2017 02:15:50.439 --> 02:15:55.600 let it stay where it is, She replied, Well, then 2018 02:15:55.640 --> 02:15:57.760 at least you will tell me whether you are French 2019 02:15:57.920 --> 02:16:02.600 or German. You speak both languge is so perfectly. I 2020 02:16:02.720 --> 02:16:06.600 don't think I shall tell you that general, you intend 2021 02:16:06.640 --> 02:16:10.680 a surprise and are meditating the particular point of attack 2022 02:16:12.359 --> 02:16:15.720 at all events. You won't deny this. I said that, 2023 02:16:15.840 --> 02:16:18.560 being honored by your permission to converse, I ought to 2024 02:16:18.600 --> 02:16:23.199 know how to address you? Shall I say, Madame la comtesse? 2025 02:16:25.159 --> 02:16:28.079 She laughed, and she would no doubt have met me 2026 02:16:28.159 --> 02:16:31.800 with another evasion, If indeed, I can treat any occurrence 2027 02:16:31.800 --> 02:16:34.840 in an interview, every circumstance of which was pre arranged, 2028 02:16:35.280 --> 02:16:39.680 as I now believe with the profoundest cunning, as liable 2029 02:16:39.719 --> 02:16:46.200 to be modified by accident. As to that, she began, 2030 02:16:47.040 --> 02:16:50.600 But she was interrupted almost as she opened her lips 2031 02:16:51.000 --> 02:16:54.600 by a gentleman dressed in black, who looked particularly elegant 2032 02:16:54.639 --> 02:16:59.120 and distinguished with this drawback that his face was the 2033 02:16:59.159 --> 02:17:03.399 most deadly pale I ever saw, except in death. He 2034 02:17:03.520 --> 02:17:07.360 was in no masquerade, in the plain evening dress of 2035 02:17:07.399 --> 02:17:11.159 a gentleman. And he said, without a smile, but with 2036 02:17:11.200 --> 02:17:16.639 a courtly and unusually low bow, will Madame la comtesse 2037 02:17:16.840 --> 02:17:19.200 permit me to say a very few words which may 2038 02:17:19.239 --> 02:17:24.920 interest her. The lady turned quickly to him and touched 2039 02:17:24.959 --> 02:17:28.360 her lip in a token of silence. She then said 2040 02:17:28.360 --> 02:17:32.680 to me keep my place for me. General, I shall 2041 02:17:32.719 --> 02:17:36.920 return when I have said a few words. And with 2042 02:17:37.000 --> 02:17:41.079 this injunction playfully given, she walked a little aside with 2043 02:17:41.120 --> 02:17:44.799 the gentleman in black and talked for some minutes, apparently 2044 02:17:44.920 --> 02:17:49.479 very earnestly. They then walked away slowly together in the crowd, 2045 02:17:50.079 --> 02:17:54.600 and I lost them for some minutes. I spent the 2046 02:17:54.639 --> 02:17:57.600 interval in cudgeling my brains for a conjecture as to 2047 02:17:57.639 --> 02:17:59.760 the identity of the lady who seemed to remember me 2048 02:17:59.799 --> 02:18:03.360 so kindly, And I was thinking of turning about and 2049 02:18:03.440 --> 02:18:05.959 joining in the conversation between my pretty ward and the 2050 02:18:06.000 --> 02:18:09.920 countess's daughter, and trying whether by the time she returned, 2051 02:18:10.360 --> 02:18:12.600 I might not have a surprise in store for her 2052 02:18:13.040 --> 02:18:16.920 by having her name, title, chateau and estates at my 2053 02:18:17.000 --> 02:18:22.159 fingers ends. But at this moment she returned, accompanied by 2054 02:18:22.200 --> 02:18:26.360 the pale man in black, who said, I shall return 2055 02:18:27.079 --> 02:18:29.799 and inform Madame la comtesse when her carriage is at 2056 02:18:29.799 --> 02:18:40.680 the door. He withdrew with a bow end of chapter eleven, 2057 02:18:41.799 --> 02:18:49.639 Chapter twelve A petition. Then we are to lose Madame 2058 02:18:49.719 --> 02:18:52.799 la comtesse. But I hope for only a few hours, 2059 02:18:53.440 --> 02:18:57.479 I said, with a low bow. It may be that only, 2060 02:18:58.159 --> 02:19:01.000 or it may be a few weeks. It was very 2061 02:19:01.120 --> 02:19:03.600 unlucky his speaking to me just now as he did. 2062 02:19:04.399 --> 02:19:09.559 Do you now know me? I assured her. I did not. 2063 02:19:11.399 --> 02:19:15.319 You shall know me, she said, but not at present. 2064 02:19:16.239 --> 02:19:19.399 We are older and better friends than perhaps you, suspect 2065 02:19:20.399 --> 02:19:24.319 I cannot yet declare myself. I shall in three weeks 2066 02:19:24.360 --> 02:19:28.159 pass your beautiful schloss, about which I have been making enquiries. 2067 02:19:29.040 --> 02:19:30.959 I shall then look in upon you for an hour 2068 02:19:31.120 --> 02:19:34.200 or two and renew a friendship which I never think 2069 02:19:34.239 --> 02:19:38.920 of without a thousand pleasant recollections. This moment, a piece 2070 02:19:38.959 --> 02:19:42.360 of news has reached me like a thunderbolt. I must 2071 02:19:42.360 --> 02:19:45.920 set out now and travel by a devious route nearly 2072 02:19:45.959 --> 02:19:48.799 a hundred miles, with all the despatch that I can 2073 02:19:48.840 --> 02:19:54.479 possibly make. My perplexities multiply. I am only deterred by 2074 02:19:54.479 --> 02:19:57.799 the compulsory reserve I practice, as to my name, from 2075 02:19:57.799 --> 02:20:02.040 making a very singular request of you. My poor child 2076 02:20:02.120 --> 02:20:05.920 has not quite recovered her strength. Her horse fell with 2077 02:20:06.040 --> 02:20:09.040 her at a hunt which she had ridden out to witness. 2078 02:20:09.600 --> 02:20:12.639 Her nerves have not yet recovered the shock, and our 2079 02:20:12.680 --> 02:20:15.760 physician says that she must on no account exert herself 2080 02:20:15.760 --> 02:20:20.079 for some time to come. We came here in consequence 2081 02:20:20.559 --> 02:20:25.000 by very easy stages, hardly six leagues a day. I 2082 02:20:25.079 --> 02:20:28.479 must now travel day and night on a mission of 2083 02:20:28.559 --> 02:20:32.040 life and death, a mission the critical and momentous nature 2084 02:20:32.040 --> 02:20:33.879 of which I shall be able to explain to you 2085 02:20:33.920 --> 02:20:36.520 when we meet, as I hope we shall in a 2086 02:20:36.559 --> 02:20:42.559 few weeks, without the necessity of any concealment. She went 2087 02:20:42.600 --> 02:20:45.159 on to make her petition, and it was in the 2088 02:20:45.159 --> 02:20:47.680 tone of a person from whom such a request amounted 2089 02:20:47.719 --> 02:20:53.559 to conferring, rather than seeking a favor. This was only 2090 02:20:53.600 --> 02:20:57.719 in manner, and as it seemed quite unconsciously then the 2091 02:20:57.799 --> 02:21:02.520 terms in which it was expressed, nothing could be more deprecatory. 2092 02:21:02.559 --> 02:21:05.120 It was simply that I would consent to take charge 2093 02:21:05.159 --> 02:21:10.639 of her daughter during her absence. This was, all things 2094 02:21:10.680 --> 02:21:15.760 considered a strange, not to say, an audacious request. She 2095 02:21:15.920 --> 02:21:20.360 in some sort disarmed me by stating and admitting everything 2096 02:21:20.360 --> 02:21:24.120 that could be urged against it, and throwing herself entirely 2097 02:21:24.239 --> 02:21:29.079 upon my chivalry. At the same moment, by a fatality 2098 02:21:29.079 --> 02:21:32.799 that seemed to have predetermined all that happened, my poor 2099 02:21:32.879 --> 02:21:36.639 child came to my side and, in an undertone, besought 2100 02:21:36.639 --> 02:21:39.440 me to invite her new friend, Millarca to pay us 2101 02:21:39.440 --> 02:21:42.879 a visit. She had just been sounding her and thought 2102 02:21:43.120 --> 02:21:46.639 if her Mamma would allow her, she would like it extremely. 2103 02:21:49.000 --> 02:21:50.760 At another time, I should have told her to wait 2104 02:21:50.799 --> 02:21:53.879 a little until at least we knew who they were. 2105 02:21:54.959 --> 02:21:57.719 But I had not a moment to think in the 2106 02:21:57.760 --> 02:22:02.159 two ladies assailed me together, and I must confess, the 2107 02:22:02.200 --> 02:22:06.040 refined and beautiful face of the young lady, about which 2108 02:22:06.079 --> 02:22:10.479 there was something extremely engaging, as well as the elegance 2109 02:22:10.520 --> 02:22:15.079 and fire of high birth, determined me, and quite overpowered, 2110 02:22:15.079 --> 02:22:18.479 I submitted and undertook too easily the care of the 2111 02:22:18.520 --> 02:22:24.000 young lady, whom her mother called Millarca. The Countess beckoned 2112 02:22:24.040 --> 02:22:27.120 to her daughter, who listened with grave attention, while she 2113 02:22:27.200 --> 02:22:31.319 told her in general terms, how suddenly and peremptorily she 2114 02:22:31.360 --> 02:22:34.239 had been summoned, and also of the arrangement she had 2115 02:22:34.239 --> 02:22:37.159 made for her under my care, adding that I was 2116 02:22:37.159 --> 02:22:41.680 one of her earliest and most valued friends. I made, 2117 02:22:41.719 --> 02:22:44.559 of course, such speeches as the case seemed to call for, 2118 02:22:45.000 --> 02:22:48.239 and found myself, on reflection in a position which I 2119 02:22:48.280 --> 02:22:53.479 did not half like. The gentleman in black returned and 2120 02:22:53.680 --> 02:22:58.200 very ceremoniously conducted the lady from the room. The demeanor 2121 02:22:58.239 --> 02:23:00.479 of this gentleman was such as to impress me with 2122 02:23:00.520 --> 02:23:03.319 the conviction that the Countess was a lady of very 2123 02:23:03.399 --> 02:23:06.600 much more importance than her modest title alone might have 2124 02:23:06.680 --> 02:23:10.760 led me to assume. Her last charge to me was 2125 02:23:10.760 --> 02:23:13.040 that no attempt was to be made to learn more 2126 02:23:13.079 --> 02:23:16.360 about her than I might have already guessed. Until her return. 2127 02:23:17.200 --> 02:23:23.239 Our distinguished host, whose guest she was, knew her reasons. 2128 02:23:23.920 --> 02:23:27.479 But here she said, neither I nor my daughter could 2129 02:23:27.520 --> 02:23:31.079 safely remain for more than a day. I removed my 2130 02:23:31.239 --> 02:23:34.879 mask imprudently for a moment about an hour ago, and 2131 02:23:35.120 --> 02:23:39.239 too late I fancied you saw me, so I resolved 2132 02:23:39.280 --> 02:23:41.639 to seek an opportunity of talking a little to you. 2133 02:23:42.600 --> 02:23:45.360 Had I found out that you had seen me, I 2134 02:23:45.399 --> 02:23:48.159 would have thrown myself on your high sense of honor 2135 02:23:48.200 --> 02:23:52.319 to keep my secret some weeks. As it is, I 2136 02:23:52.360 --> 02:23:55.520 am satisfied that you did not see me. But if 2137 02:23:55.559 --> 02:23:59.559 you now suspect or on reflection, should suspect who I am. 2138 02:24:00.399 --> 02:24:04.680 I commit myself in like manner entirely to your honor. 2139 02:24:05.719 --> 02:24:08.959 My daughter will observe the same secrecy, and I well 2140 02:24:09.000 --> 02:24:12.079 know that you will, from time to time remind her 2141 02:24:12.600 --> 02:24:17.360 lest she should thoughtlessly disclose it. She whispered a few 2142 02:24:17.399 --> 02:24:21.920 words to her daughter, kissed her hurriedly twice, and went away, 2143 02:24:22.360 --> 02:24:25.680 accompanied by the pale gentleman in black, and disappeared in 2144 02:24:25.719 --> 02:24:31.639 the crowd. In the next room, said Malarka, there is 2145 02:24:31.680 --> 02:24:34.840 a window that looks upon the hall door. I should 2146 02:24:34.879 --> 02:24:37.440 like to see the last of Mamma, and to kiss 2147 02:24:37.479 --> 02:24:43.159 my hand to her. We assented, of course, and accompanied 2148 02:24:43.159 --> 02:24:46.360 her to the window. We looked out and saw a handsome, 2149 02:24:46.399 --> 02:24:49.760 old fashioned carriage with a troop of couriers and footmen. 2150 02:24:50.479 --> 02:24:52.799 We saw the slim figure of the pale gentleman in 2151 02:24:52.840 --> 02:24:55.959 black as he held a thick velvet cloak and placed 2152 02:24:55.959 --> 02:24:58.239 it about her shoulders and threw the hood over her head. 2153 02:24:59.040 --> 02:25:02.319 She nodded to him and just touched his hand with hers. 2154 02:25:03.120 --> 02:25:06.479 He bowed low repeatedly as the door closed and the 2155 02:25:06.520 --> 02:25:13.040 carriage began to move. She is gone, said Malarka, with 2156 02:25:13.079 --> 02:25:19.440 a sigh. She is gone. I repeated to myself for 2157 02:25:19.479 --> 02:25:22.879 the first time in the hurried moments that had elapsed 2158 02:25:22.879 --> 02:25:27.600 since my consent, reflecting upon the folly of my act. 2159 02:25:29.239 --> 02:25:33.040 She did not look up, said the young lady plaintively. 2160 02:25:35.120 --> 02:25:37.639 The Countess had taken off her mask, perhaps and did 2161 02:25:37.639 --> 02:25:40.600 not care to show her face, I said, And she 2162 02:25:40.639 --> 02:25:44.879 could not know that she were in the window. She 2163 02:25:45.120 --> 02:25:48.959 sighed and looked in my face. She was so beautiful 2164 02:25:49.000 --> 02:25:52.360 that I relented. I was sorry, I had, for a 2165 02:25:52.440 --> 02:25:56.120 moment repented of my hospitality, and I determined to make 2166 02:25:56.159 --> 02:26:00.799 her amends for the unavowed churlishness of my reception. The 2167 02:26:00.879 --> 02:26:04.440 young lady, replacing her mask, joined my ward in persuading 2168 02:26:04.479 --> 02:26:07.120 me to return to the grounds where the concert was 2169 02:26:07.159 --> 02:26:10.719 soon to be renewed. We did so and walked up 2170 02:26:10.760 --> 02:26:13.840 and down the terrace that lies under the castle windows. 2171 02:26:14.680 --> 02:26:18.479 Millarka became very intimate with us and amused us with 2172 02:26:18.600 --> 02:26:21.559 lively descriptions and stories of most of the great people 2173 02:26:21.600 --> 02:26:24.959 whom we saw upon the terrace. I liked her more 2174 02:26:25.040 --> 02:26:29.760 and more every minute. Her gossip, without being ill natured, 2175 02:26:30.360 --> 02:26:33.360 was extremely diverting to me, who had been so long 2176 02:26:33.440 --> 02:26:36.920 out of the great world. I thought, what life she 2177 02:26:36.959 --> 02:26:42.479 would give to our sometimes lonely evenings at home. This 2178 02:26:42.639 --> 02:26:45.159 ball was not over until the morning sun had almost 2179 02:26:45.159 --> 02:26:49.000 reached the horizon. It pleased the Grand Duke to dance 2180 02:26:49.040 --> 02:26:52.399 till then, so loyal people could not go away or 2181 02:26:52.520 --> 02:26:56.040 think of bed. We had just got through a crowded 2182 02:26:56.040 --> 02:26:59.319 saloon when my ward asked me what had become of Millarca. 2183 02:27:00.399 --> 02:27:02.959 I thought she had been by her side, and she 2184 02:27:03.120 --> 02:27:07.120 fancied she was by mine. The fact was we had 2185 02:27:07.159 --> 02:27:12.559 lost her. All my efforts to find her were in vain. 2186 02:27:13.920 --> 02:27:16.920 I feared that she had mistaken, in the confusion of 2187 02:27:16.959 --> 02:27:21.040 a momentary separation from us other people for her new friends, 2188 02:27:21.799 --> 02:27:25.079 and had possibly pursued and lost them in the extensive 2189 02:27:25.079 --> 02:27:28.840 grounds which were thrown open to us. Now in its 2190 02:27:28.879 --> 02:27:32.760 full force, I recognized a new folly in my having 2191 02:27:32.840 --> 02:27:35.399 undertaken the charge of a young lady without so much 2192 02:27:35.399 --> 02:27:38.319 as knowing her name, and fettered as I was by 2193 02:27:38.360 --> 02:27:42.120 promises of the reasons for imposing which I knew nothing. 2194 02:27:42.680 --> 02:27:45.479 I could not even point my inquiries by saying that 2195 02:27:45.520 --> 02:27:48.000 the missing young lady was the daughter of the countess 2196 02:27:48.120 --> 02:27:50.680 who had taken her departure in a few hours before 2197 02:27:53.319 --> 02:27:57.479 morning broke. It was clear daylight before I gave up 2198 02:27:57.520 --> 02:28:00.920 my search. It was not till near two o'clock next 2199 02:28:01.000 --> 02:28:04.760 day that we heard anything of my missing charge. At 2200 02:28:04.799 --> 02:28:07.559 about that time a servant knocked at my niece's door 2201 02:28:08.200 --> 02:28:10.559 to say that he had been earnestly requested by a 2202 02:28:10.600 --> 02:28:14.040 young lady who appeared to be in great distress to 2203 02:28:14.120 --> 02:28:17.319 make out where she could find the General Baron Spielsdorf 2204 02:28:17.600 --> 02:28:20.399 and the young lady his daughter in whose charge she 2205 02:28:20.440 --> 02:28:24.239 had been left by her mother. There could be no doubt, 2206 02:28:24.399 --> 02:28:29.000 notwithstanding the slight inaccuracy, that our young friend had turned up, 2207 02:28:29.319 --> 02:28:33.399 and so she had would to heaven we had lost her. 2208 02:28:35.760 --> 02:28:38.200 She told my poor child a story to account for 2209 02:28:38.239 --> 02:28:41.959 her having failed to recover us for so long, very late. 2210 02:28:42.079 --> 02:28:44.879 She said she had got to the housekeeper's bedroom in 2211 02:28:44.920 --> 02:28:48.280 despair of finding us, and had then fallen into a 2212 02:28:48.319 --> 02:28:52.760 deep sleep, which, long as it was, had hardly sufficed 2213 02:28:52.799 --> 02:28:55.479 to recruit her strength. After the fatigues of the ball 2214 02:28:57.680 --> 02:29:02.639 that day, Millarka came home with us. I was only 2215 02:29:02.719 --> 02:29:06.639 too happy, after all, to have secured so charming a 2216 02:29:06.719 --> 02:29:17.000 companion for my dear girl. End of Chapter twelve. Chapter thirteen, 2217 02:29:18.440 --> 02:29:25.879 the woodman. There Soon, however, appeared some drawbacks. In the 2218 02:29:25.959 --> 02:29:30.600 first place, Millarka complained of extreme languor the weakness that 2219 02:29:30.719 --> 02:29:34.120 remained after her late illness, and she never emerged from 2220 02:29:34.120 --> 02:29:37.680 her room till the afternoon was pretty far advanced. In 2221 02:29:37.719 --> 02:29:41.959 the next place, it was accidentally discovered, although she always 2222 02:29:42.000 --> 02:29:44.959 locked her door on the inside and never disturbed the 2223 02:29:45.040 --> 02:29:47.200 key from its place till she admitted the maid to 2224 02:29:47.239 --> 02:29:51.440 assist at her toilet, that she was undoubtedly sometimes absent 2225 02:29:51.479 --> 02:29:54.200 from her room in the very early morning, and at 2226 02:29:54.280 --> 02:29:57.319 various times later in the day before she wished it 2227 02:29:57.360 --> 02:30:01.079 to be understood that she was stirring. She was repeatedly 2228 02:30:01.120 --> 02:30:04.000 seen from the windows of the Schloss in the first 2229 02:30:04.079 --> 02:30:07.479 faint gray of the morning, walking through the trees in 2230 02:30:07.520 --> 02:30:11.120 an easterly direction and looking like a person in a trance. 2231 02:30:12.159 --> 02:30:15.399 This convinced me that she walked in her sleep. But 2232 02:30:15.719 --> 02:30:19.680 this hypothesis did not solve the puzzle. How did she 2233 02:30:19.719 --> 02:30:22.639 pass out from her room leaving the door locked on 2234 02:30:22.680 --> 02:30:25.799 the inside. How did she escape from the house without 2235 02:30:25.840 --> 02:30:30.840 unbarring door or window. In the midst of my perplexities, 2236 02:30:31.479 --> 02:30:35.120 an anxiety of a far more urgent kind presented itself. 2237 02:30:36.680 --> 02:30:39.479 My dear child began to lose her looks and health, 2238 02:30:40.200 --> 02:30:43.920 and that in a manner so mysterious and even horrible, 2239 02:30:44.440 --> 02:30:48.840 that I became thoroughly frightened. She was at first visited 2240 02:30:48.879 --> 02:30:52.719 by appalling dreams. Then as she fancied by a specter, 2241 02:30:53.280 --> 02:30:57.200 sometimes resembling millarca, sometimes in the shape of a beast, 2242 02:30:57.879 --> 02:31:00.600 indistinctly seen walking round the foot of her bed from 2243 02:31:00.639 --> 02:31:06.719 side to side. Lastly came sensations. One not unpleasant, but 2244 02:31:06.920 --> 02:31:10.520 very peculiar, she said, resembled the flow of an icy 2245 02:31:10.600 --> 02:31:14.079 stream against her breast. At a later time, she felt 2246 02:31:14.079 --> 02:31:16.840 something like a pair of large needles pierce her a 2247 02:31:16.879 --> 02:31:20.799 little below the throat, with a very sharp pain. A 2248 02:31:20.840 --> 02:31:24.799 few nights after followed a gradual and convulsive sense of strangulation. 2249 02:31:26.000 --> 02:31:33.319 Then came unconsciousness. I could hear distinctly every word the 2250 02:31:33.399 --> 02:31:36.719 kind old general was saying, because by this time we 2251 02:31:36.719 --> 02:31:39.440 were driving upon the short grass that spreads on either 2252 02:31:39.479 --> 02:31:41.840 side of the road as you approached the roofless village, 2253 02:31:42.239 --> 02:31:44.120 which had not shown the smoke of a chimney for 2254 02:31:44.159 --> 02:31:48.239 more than half a century. You may guess how strangely 2255 02:31:48.280 --> 02:31:51.680 I felt as I heard my own symptoms so exactly 2256 02:31:51.719 --> 02:31:55.799 described in those which had been experienced by the poor girl, who, 2257 02:31:55.799 --> 02:31:58.719 but for the catastrophe which followed, would have been at 2258 02:31:58.719 --> 02:32:02.079 that moment a visit her at my father's chateau. You 2259 02:32:02.159 --> 02:32:05.959 may suppose also how I felt as I heard him 2260 02:32:06.000 --> 02:32:11.360 detail habits and mysterious peculiarities which were in fact those 2261 02:32:11.399 --> 02:32:17.520 of our beautiful guest Carmilla. A vista opened in the forest. 2262 02:32:18.319 --> 02:32:20.799 We were on a sudden under the chimneys and gables 2263 02:32:20.799 --> 02:32:23.879 of the ruined village, and the towers and battlements of 2264 02:32:23.920 --> 02:32:28.840 the dismantled castle, round which gigantic trees are grouped overhung 2265 02:32:28.920 --> 02:32:32.920 us from a slight eminence. In a frightened dream, I 2266 02:32:32.959 --> 02:32:36.799 got down from the carriage and in silence, for we 2267 02:32:36.879 --> 02:32:40.840 had each abundant matter for thinking. We soon mounted the 2268 02:32:40.879 --> 02:32:45.280 ascent and were among the spacious chambers, winding stairs, and 2269 02:32:45.440 --> 02:32:50.520 dark corridors of the castle. And this was once the 2270 02:32:50.559 --> 02:32:55.040 palatial residence of the Carnsteins, said the old general at length, 2271 02:32:55.719 --> 02:32:57.840 as from a great window he looked out across the 2272 02:32:57.920 --> 02:33:02.159 village and saw the wide, ungj relating expanse of forest. 2273 02:33:03.079 --> 02:33:06.959 It was a bad family, and here its blood stained 2274 02:33:07.000 --> 02:33:11.440 annals were written, he continued, it is hard that they should, 2275 02:33:11.719 --> 02:33:15.120 after death, continue to plague the human race with their 2276 02:33:15.120 --> 02:33:20.479 atrocious lusts. That is the chapel of the Carnsteins. Down there, 2277 02:33:22.399 --> 02:33:25.200 he pointed, down to the gray walls of the Gothic building, 2278 02:33:25.280 --> 02:33:28.559 partly visible through the foliage a little way down the steep, 2279 02:33:30.159 --> 02:33:32.920 and I hear the acts of a woodman, he added, 2280 02:33:33.559 --> 02:33:37.680 busy among the trees that surround it. He possibly may 2281 02:33:37.719 --> 02:33:39.959 give us the information of which I am in search, 2282 02:33:40.600 --> 02:33:44.479 and point out the grave of Mercalla, Countess of Carnstein. 2283 02:33:45.639 --> 02:33:49.760 These rustics preserve the local traditions of great families, whose 2284 02:33:49.799 --> 02:33:52.399 stories die out among the rich and titled so soon 2285 02:33:52.440 --> 02:33:57.440 as the families themselves become extinct. We have a portrait 2286 02:33:57.719 --> 02:34:01.520 at home of Mrcalla, the Countess karneih Stein. Should you 2287 02:34:01.639 --> 02:34:07.239 like to see it? Asked my father. Time enough, dear friend, 2288 02:34:07.680 --> 02:34:11.680 replied the general, I believe that I have seen the original, 2289 02:34:12.440 --> 02:34:14.959 And one motive which has led me to you earlier 2290 02:34:15.000 --> 02:34:18.319 than I first intended, was to explore the chapel which 2291 02:34:18.360 --> 02:34:25.000 we are now approaching. What see the Countess Mercalla, exclaimed 2292 02:34:25.000 --> 02:34:28.680 my father. Why she has been dead more than a century, 2293 02:34:30.719 --> 02:34:35.159 not so dead as you fancy, I am told, answered 2294 02:34:35.200 --> 02:34:40.879 the general. I confess, General, you puzzle me, utterly, replied 2295 02:34:40.879 --> 02:34:43.920 my father, looking at him. I fancied for a moment 2296 02:34:43.959 --> 02:34:47.440 with a return of the suspicion I detected before. But 2297 02:34:47.520 --> 02:34:50.399 although there was anger and detestation at times in the 2298 02:34:50.440 --> 02:34:56.520 old General's manner, there was nothing flighty. There remains to me, 2299 02:34:57.840 --> 02:35:00.680 he said, as we passed under the heavy arch of 2300 02:35:00.719 --> 02:35:04.440 the Gothic church, for its dimensions would have justified its 2301 02:35:04.440 --> 02:35:08.719 being so styled. But one object which can interest me 2302 02:35:08.840 --> 02:35:11.479 during the few years that remained to me on earth, 2303 02:35:12.360 --> 02:35:15.840 and that is to wreckon her the vengeance which I, 2304 02:35:15.879 --> 02:35:19.040 thank God, may still be accomplished by a mortal man. 2305 02:35:20.840 --> 02:35:25.639 What vengeance can you mean, asked my father, in increasing amazement. 2306 02:35:26.920 --> 02:35:31.600 I mean to decapitate the monster, he answered, with a 2307 02:35:31.680 --> 02:35:35.120 fierce flush and a stamp that echoed mournfully through the 2308 02:35:35.159 --> 02:35:38.000 hollow ruin. And his clenched hand was at the same 2309 02:35:38.040 --> 02:35:41.479 moment raised as if it grasped the handle of an axe, 2310 02:35:41.559 --> 02:35:46.840 while he shook it ferociously in the air. What exclaimed 2311 02:35:46.879 --> 02:35:51.680 my father, more than ever bewildered, to strike her head off? 2312 02:35:53.000 --> 02:35:57.840 Cut her head off? I with a hatchet, with a spade, 2313 02:35:57.920 --> 02:36:00.879 or with anything that can cleave through her mind. Murderous throat, 2314 02:36:01.799 --> 02:36:07.440 you shall hear, he answered, trembling with rage, and hurrying forward, 2315 02:36:07.479 --> 02:36:12.280 he said that beam will answer for a seat. Your 2316 02:36:12.319 --> 02:36:17.280 dear child is fatigued. Let her be seated, and I will, 2317 02:36:17.399 --> 02:36:22.600 in a few sentences close my dreadful story. The squared 2318 02:36:22.680 --> 02:36:25.719 block of wood, which lay on the grass grown pavement 2319 02:36:25.760 --> 02:36:28.399 of the chapel, formed a bench on which I was 2320 02:36:28.520 --> 02:36:31.639 very glad to seat myself. And in the meantime the 2321 02:36:31.719 --> 02:36:34.639 General called to the woodman, who had been removing some 2322 02:36:34.799 --> 02:36:38.559 boughs which leaned upon the old walls, and axe in hand. 2323 02:36:38.920 --> 02:36:42.360 The hearty old fellow stood before us. He could not 2324 02:36:42.440 --> 02:36:45.159 tell us anything of these monuments. But there was an 2325 02:36:45.200 --> 02:36:48.559 old man, he said, a ranger of this forest at 2326 02:36:48.600 --> 02:36:51.159 present sojourning in the house of the priest, about two 2327 02:36:51.159 --> 02:36:54.319 miles away, who could point out every monument of the 2328 02:36:54.360 --> 02:36:58.600 old Carnstein family. And for a trifle he undertook to 2329 02:36:58.600 --> 02:37:00.840 bring him back with him if we would lend him 2330 02:37:00.840 --> 02:37:03.520 one of our horses. In little more than half an hour. 2331 02:37:05.479 --> 02:37:08.479 Have you been long employed about this forest, asked my 2332 02:37:08.600 --> 02:37:12.840 father of the old man. I have been a woodman here, 2333 02:37:13.200 --> 02:37:17.360 he answered, in his patois under the forester all my days, 2334 02:37:17.879 --> 02:37:21.079 so has my father before me, and so on as 2335 02:37:21.120 --> 02:37:24.520 many generations as I can count up, I could show 2336 02:37:24.559 --> 02:37:26.399 you the very house in the village here in which 2337 02:37:26.399 --> 02:37:31.000 my ancestors live. How came the village to be deserted? 2338 02:37:31.760 --> 02:37:37.079 Asked the general. It was troubled by revenance, Sir. Several 2339 02:37:37.079 --> 02:37:40.879 were tracked to their graves there, detected by the usual tests, 2340 02:37:41.159 --> 02:37:45.040 and extinguished in the usual way by decapitation by the 2341 02:37:45.079 --> 02:37:48.479 stake and by burning. But not until many of the 2342 02:37:48.559 --> 02:37:53.239 villagers were killed. But after all these proceedings according to law, 2343 02:37:53.479 --> 02:37:57.200 he continued. So many graves opened, and so many vampires 2344 02:37:57.239 --> 02:38:01.239 deprived of their horrible animation. The ville village was not relieved. 2345 02:38:02.319 --> 02:38:05.319 But a Moravian nobleman who happened to be traveling this 2346 02:38:05.399 --> 02:38:09.760 way heard how matters were, and, being skilled as many 2347 02:38:09.799 --> 02:38:12.840 people are in his country in such affairs, he offered 2348 02:38:12.879 --> 02:38:17.040 to deliver the village from its tormentor He did so thus, 2349 02:38:17.840 --> 02:38:21.399 there being a bright moon that night, he ascended shortly 2350 02:38:21.440 --> 02:38:25.120 after sunset the towers of the chapel here, from whence 2351 02:38:25.159 --> 02:38:28.200 he could distinctly see the churchyard beneath him. You can 2352 02:38:28.280 --> 02:38:31.559 see it from that window. From this point, he watched 2353 02:38:31.600 --> 02:38:33.760 until he saw the vampire come out of his grave 2354 02:38:34.360 --> 02:38:36.559 and placed near it the linen clothes in which he 2355 02:38:36.600 --> 02:38:39.840 had been folded, and then glide away towards the village 2356 02:38:39.879 --> 02:38:43.799 to plague its inhabitants. The stranger, having seen all this, 2357 02:38:44.520 --> 02:38:47.360 came down from the steeple, took the linen wrappings of 2358 02:38:47.399 --> 02:38:49.760 the vampire, and carried them up to the top of 2359 02:38:49.799 --> 02:38:53.879 the tower, which he again mounted. When the vampire returned 2360 02:38:53.879 --> 02:38:57.600 from his prowlings and missed his clothes, he cried furiously 2361 02:38:57.680 --> 02:38:59.879 to the Moravian, whom he saw at the summit of 2362 02:39:00.079 --> 02:39:03.280 the tower, and who in reply beckoned him to ascend 2363 02:39:03.319 --> 02:39:08.399 and take them. Whereupon the vampire, accepting his invitation, began 2364 02:39:08.440 --> 02:39:10.959 to climb the steeple, and so soon as he had 2365 02:39:10.959 --> 02:39:14.440 reached the battlements, the Moravian, with a stroke of his sword, 2366 02:39:14.559 --> 02:39:18.280 clove his skull and twain, hurling him down to the churchyard, 2367 02:39:18.639 --> 02:39:22.040 whither descending by the winding stairs. The stranger followed and 2368 02:39:22.079 --> 02:39:26.040 cut his head off, and next day delivered it and 2369 02:39:26.079 --> 02:39:29.879 the body to the villagers, who duly impaled and burnt 2370 02:39:29.920 --> 02:39:34.440 them this Moravian nobleman had authority from the then head 2371 02:39:34.440 --> 02:39:38.719 of the family to remove the tomb of Mercalla, Countess Carnstein, 2372 02:39:39.280 --> 02:39:42.280 which he did effectually, so that in a little while 2373 02:39:42.440 --> 02:39:46.479 its sight was quite forgotten. Can you point out where 2374 02:39:46.479 --> 02:39:51.000 it stood? Asked the general eagerly. The forester shook his 2375 02:39:51.079 --> 02:39:55.799 head and smiled. Not a soul living can tell you that, now, 2376 02:39:56.120 --> 02:40:00.760 he said. Besides, they say her body was removed, but 2377 02:40:00.799 --> 02:40:05.719 no one is sure of that either. Having thus spoken, 2378 02:40:06.239 --> 02:40:10.479 as time pressed, he dropped his axe and departed, leaving 2379 02:40:10.559 --> 02:40:18.280 us to hear the remainder of the General's strange story. 2380 02:40:19.000 --> 02:40:29.239 End of chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen. The meeting my beloved child, 2381 02:40:29.680 --> 02:40:34.440 he resumed, was now growing rapidly worse. The physician who 2382 02:40:34.479 --> 02:40:37.440 attended her had failed to produce the slightest impression on 2383 02:40:37.520 --> 02:40:40.520 her disease. For such I then supposed it to be. 2384 02:40:41.680 --> 02:40:46.280 He saw my alarm and suggested a consultation. I called 2385 02:40:46.280 --> 02:40:51.040 in an abler physician from Grots. Several days elapsed before 2386 02:40:51.079 --> 02:40:54.239 he arrived. He was a good and pious as well 2387 02:40:54.239 --> 02:40:57.840 as a learned man. Having seen my poor ward, together 2388 02:40:58.559 --> 02:41:02.799 they withdrew to my library to confer and discuss. I 2389 02:41:02.879 --> 02:41:06.280 from the adjoining room, where I awaited their summons, heard 2390 02:41:06.280 --> 02:41:09.200 these two gentlemen's voices raised in something sharper than a 2391 02:41:09.239 --> 02:41:13.760 strictly philosophical discussion. I knocked at the door and entered. 2392 02:41:14.840 --> 02:41:17.799 I found the old physician from Grots maintaining his theory. 2393 02:41:18.959 --> 02:41:22.840 His rival was combating it with undisguised ridicule, accompanied with 2394 02:41:22.879 --> 02:41:28.639 bursts of laughter. This unseemly manifestation subsided, and the altercation 2395 02:41:28.879 --> 02:41:34.399 ended on my entrance, Sir, said my first physician, my 2396 02:41:34.559 --> 02:41:37.319 learned brother seems to think that you want a conjuror 2397 02:41:37.440 --> 02:41:42.520 and not a doctor. Pardon me, said the old physician 2398 02:41:42.559 --> 02:41:46.200 from Grot's, looking displeased. I shall state my own view 2399 02:41:46.200 --> 02:41:49.719 of the case in my own way another time. I grieve, 2400 02:41:49.799 --> 02:41:52.920 monsieur le General, that by my skill and science, I 2401 02:41:52.959 --> 02:41:56.559 can be of no use. Before I go, I shall 2402 02:41:56.559 --> 02:42:01.120 do myself the honor to suggest something to you. He 2403 02:42:01.200 --> 02:42:04.559 seemed thoughtful, and sat down at a table and began 2404 02:42:04.639 --> 02:42:09.760 to write. Profoundly disappointed, I made my bow, and as 2405 02:42:09.799 --> 02:42:12.159 I turned to go, the other doctor pointed over his 2406 02:42:12.200 --> 02:42:15.719 shoulder to his companion who was writing, and then, with 2407 02:42:15.799 --> 02:42:21.600 a shrug, significantly touched his forehead. This consultation then left 2408 02:42:21.639 --> 02:42:25.719 me precisely where I was. I walked out into the grounds, 2409 02:42:25.760 --> 02:42:29.159 all but distracted the doctor from grots In ten or 2410 02:42:29.159 --> 02:42:33.159 fifteen minutes overtook me. He apologized for having followed me, 2411 02:42:33.639 --> 02:42:36.280 but said that he could not conscientiously take his leave 2412 02:42:36.319 --> 02:42:39.280 without a few words more. He told me that he 2413 02:42:39.280 --> 02:42:43.959 could not be mistaken. No natural disease exhibited the same symptoms, 2414 02:42:44.280 --> 02:42:48.000 and that death was already very near. There remained, however, 2415 02:42:48.079 --> 02:42:51.879 a day or possibly two of life. If the fatal 2416 02:42:51.920 --> 02:42:55.559 seizure were at once arrested with great care and skill, 2417 02:42:55.639 --> 02:42:59.639 her strength might possibly return. But all hung now upon 2418 02:42:59.639 --> 02:43:04.719 the cocks of the irrevocable. One more assault might extinguish 2419 02:43:04.760 --> 02:43:09.000 the last spark of vitality, which is every moment ready 2420 02:43:09.040 --> 02:43:13.360 to die. And what is the nature of the seizure 2421 02:43:13.440 --> 02:43:18.479 you speak of? I entreated? I have stated all fully 2422 02:43:18.520 --> 02:43:21.319 in this note which I place in your hands, upon 2423 02:43:21.319 --> 02:43:24.319 the distinct condition that you send for the nearest clergyman 2424 02:43:24.719 --> 02:43:27.520 and open my letter in his presence, and on no 2425 02:43:27.639 --> 02:43:30.399 account read it till he is with you. You would 2426 02:43:30.399 --> 02:43:33.399 despise it else. And it is a matter of life 2427 02:43:33.479 --> 02:43:37.559 and death. Should the priest fail you, then, indeed you 2428 02:43:37.639 --> 02:43:42.319 may read it, He asked me, before taking his leave, finally, 2429 02:43:42.479 --> 02:43:45.120 whether I would wish to see a man curiously learned 2430 02:43:45.200 --> 02:43:48.639 upon the very subject which, after I had read his letter, 2431 02:43:48.680 --> 02:43:51.760 would probably interest me above all others. And he urged 2432 02:43:51.799 --> 02:43:54.559 me earnestly to invite him to visit him there, and 2433 02:43:54.680 --> 02:44:00.559 so took his leave. The ecclesiastic was absent, and I 2434 02:44:00.639 --> 02:44:03.719 read the letter by myself at another time, or in 2435 02:44:03.760 --> 02:44:07.399 another case it might have excited my ridicule. But into 2436 02:44:07.440 --> 02:44:10.799 what quackeries will not people rush for a last chance, 2437 02:44:11.239 --> 02:44:14.319 where all accustomed means have failed, and the life of 2438 02:44:14.360 --> 02:44:18.600 a beloved object is at stake. Nothing you will say 2439 02:44:19.040 --> 02:44:23.239 could be more absurd than the learned man's letter. It 2440 02:44:23.360 --> 02:44:26.280 was monstrous enough to have consigned him to a madhouse. 2441 02:44:27.079 --> 02:44:29.840 He said that the patient was suffering from the visits 2442 02:44:29.879 --> 02:44:33.520 of a vampire. The punctures which she described as having 2443 02:44:33.559 --> 02:44:37.239 occurred near the throat were he insisted, the insertion of 2444 02:44:37.280 --> 02:44:40.840 those two long, thin and sharp teeth, which it is 2445 02:44:40.879 --> 02:44:44.399 well known are peculiar to vampires. And there could be 2446 02:44:44.440 --> 02:44:47.440 no doubt, he added, as to the well defined presence 2447 02:44:47.479 --> 02:44:50.959 of the small livid mark which all concurred in describing 2448 02:44:51.040 --> 02:44:54.840 as that induced by the demon's lips, and every symptom 2449 02:44:54.920 --> 02:44:58.559 described by the sufferer was an exact conformity with those 2450 02:44:58.639 --> 02:45:04.000 recorded in every case of a similar visitation. Being myself 2451 02:45:04.040 --> 02:45:07.079 wholly skeptical as to the existence of any such portent 2452 02:45:07.159 --> 02:45:11.319 as the vampire, the supernatural theory of the good Doctor furnished, 2453 02:45:11.440 --> 02:45:15.120 in my opinion, but another instance of learning and intelligence 2454 02:45:15.159 --> 02:45:20.760 oddly associated with some one hallucination. I was so miserable, however, 2455 02:45:21.440 --> 02:45:24.959 that rather than try nothing, I acted upon the instructions 2456 02:45:24.959 --> 02:45:29.040 of the letter. I concealed myself from the dark dressing 2457 02:45:29.120 --> 02:45:32.360 room that opened upon the poor patient's room, in which 2458 02:45:32.399 --> 02:45:35.360 a candle was burning, and watched there till she was 2459 02:45:35.399 --> 02:45:39.079 fast asleep. I stood at the door, peeping through the 2460 02:45:39.120 --> 02:45:42.399 small crevice, my sword laid on the table beside me, 2461 02:45:42.479 --> 02:45:46.680 as my directions prescribed, until a little after one I 2462 02:45:46.760 --> 02:45:51.559 saw a large black object, very ill defined, crawl, as 2463 02:45:51.600 --> 02:45:53.559 it seemed to me, over the foot of the bed, 2464 02:45:54.200 --> 02:45:57.239 and swiftly spread itself up to the poor girl's throat, 2465 02:45:57.719 --> 02:46:02.920 where it swelled in a moment into a great palpitating mass. 2466 02:46:03.440 --> 02:46:06.879 For a few moments I had stood petrified. I now 2467 02:46:06.959 --> 02:46:10.559 sprang forward with my sword in my hand. The black 2468 02:46:10.639 --> 02:46:14.120 creature suddenly contracted towards the foot of the bed, glided 2469 02:46:14.159 --> 02:46:16.799 over it, and standing on the floor about a yard 2470 02:46:16.799 --> 02:46:18.920 below the foot of the bed, with a glare of 2471 02:46:19.000 --> 02:46:25.520 skulking vorocity and horror fixed on me. I saw Milarka speculating. 2472 02:46:25.559 --> 02:46:28.159 I know not what. I struck at her instantly with 2473 02:46:28.239 --> 02:46:33.440 my sword, but I saw her standing near the door, unscathed. Horrified, 2474 02:46:33.479 --> 02:46:37.319 I pursued and struck again. She was gone, and my 2475 02:46:37.479 --> 02:46:42.920 sword flew to shivers against the door. I can't describe 2476 02:46:42.959 --> 02:46:46.000 to you all that passed on that horrible night. The 2477 02:46:46.079 --> 02:46:51.280 whole house was up and stirring. The specter. Malarka was gone, 2478 02:46:51.479 --> 02:46:54.959 but her victim was sinking fast, and before the morning 2479 02:46:55.040 --> 02:47:02.840 dawned she died. The old general was agitated. We did 2480 02:47:02.879 --> 02:47:06.639 not speak to him. My father walked to some little 2481 02:47:06.639 --> 02:47:11.040 distance and began reading the inscriptions on the tombstones, and 2482 02:47:11.159 --> 02:47:13.600 thus occupied, he strolled into the door of a side 2483 02:47:13.680 --> 02:47:18.040 chapel to prosecute his researches. The General leaned against the wall, 2484 02:47:18.719 --> 02:47:23.399 dried his eyes, and sighed heavily. I was relieved on 2485 02:47:23.479 --> 02:47:26.440 hearing the voices of Carmila and Madame, who were at 2486 02:47:26.440 --> 02:47:33.000 that moment approaching the voices, died away in this solitude, 2487 02:47:33.040 --> 02:47:36.319 having just listened to so strange a story, connected as 2488 02:47:36.319 --> 02:47:39.440 it was, with the great and titled dead, whose monuments 2489 02:47:39.440 --> 02:47:42.559 were moldering among the dust and ivy around us, and 2490 02:47:42.680 --> 02:47:45.559 every instant of which bore so awfully upon my own 2491 02:47:45.639 --> 02:47:51.000 mysterious case. In this haunted spot, darkened by the towering 2492 02:47:51.040 --> 02:47:54.360 foliage that rose on every side, dense and high above 2493 02:47:54.399 --> 02:47:58.200 its noiseless walls, a horror began to steal over me, 2494 02:47:58.959 --> 02:48:01.879 and my heart sank as I thought that my friends were, 2495 02:48:02.280 --> 02:48:06.000 after all, not about to enter and disturb this trieste 2496 02:48:06.200 --> 02:48:10.600 and ominous scene. The old General's eyes were fixed on 2497 02:48:10.680 --> 02:48:13.159 the ground as he leaned with his hand upon the 2498 02:48:13.159 --> 02:48:18.120 basement of a shattered monument under a narrow arched doorway, 2499 02:48:18.639 --> 02:48:21.600 surmounted by one of those demonical grotesques in which the 2500 02:48:21.639 --> 02:48:25.959 cynical and ghastly fancy of old Gothic carving delights. I 2501 02:48:26.000 --> 02:48:29.799 saw very gladly the beautiful face and figure of Carmilla 2502 02:48:30.360 --> 02:48:34.399 entering the shadowy chapel. I was just about to rise 2503 02:48:34.440 --> 02:48:38.360 and speak, and nodded, smiling in answer to her peculiarly 2504 02:48:38.440 --> 02:48:42.799 engaging smile, when with a cry, the old man by 2505 02:48:42.799 --> 02:48:46.159 my side caught up the woodman's hatchet and started forward. 2506 02:48:46.959 --> 02:48:50.319 On seeing him, a brutalized change came over her features. 2507 02:48:51.000 --> 02:48:54.799 It was an instantaneous and horrible transformation. As she made 2508 02:48:54.840 --> 02:48:58.760 a crouching step backwards. Before I could utter a scream, 2509 02:48:59.159 --> 02:49:01.879 he struck at her with all his force, but she 2510 02:49:02.079 --> 02:49:05.440 dived under his blow and, unscathed, caught him in her 2511 02:49:05.479 --> 02:49:08.799 tiny grasp by the wrist. He struggled for a moment 2512 02:49:08.879 --> 02:49:12.399 to release his arm, but his hand opened, The axe 2513 02:49:12.440 --> 02:49:17.520 fell to the ground, and the girl was gone. He 2514 02:49:17.719 --> 02:49:21.799 staggered against the wall. His gray hair stood upon his head, 2515 02:49:22.200 --> 02:49:24.360 and a moisture shone over his face, as if he 2516 02:49:24.399 --> 02:49:27.799 were at the point of death. The frightful scene had 2517 02:49:27.840 --> 02:49:31.239 passed in a moment. The first thing I recollect after 2518 02:49:31.399 --> 02:49:34.879 is Madame standing before me and impatiently repeating again and 2519 02:49:34.920 --> 02:49:40.760 again the question, where is Mademoiselle Carmella. I answered at length, 2520 02:49:41.639 --> 02:49:46.559 I don't know. I can't tell she went there, and 2521 02:49:46.639 --> 02:49:48.719 I pointed to the door through which Madame had just 2522 02:49:48.840 --> 02:49:52.600 entered only a minute or two since. But I have 2523 02:49:52.680 --> 02:49:57.120 been standing there in the passage ever since Mademoiselle Carmella entered, 2524 02:49:57.440 --> 02:50:01.239 and she did not return. She then began to call 2525 02:50:01.280 --> 02:50:04.879 Carmilla through every door and passage and from the windows, 2526 02:50:05.239 --> 02:50:11.200 but no answer came. She called herself. Carmilla asked the General, 2527 02:50:11.399 --> 02:50:19.719 still agitated Carmilla, Yes, I answered ay. He said, that 2528 02:50:20.479 --> 02:50:24.719 is Millarca. That is the same person who long ago 2529 02:50:24.920 --> 02:50:30.399 was called Mercalla, Countess Carnstein. Depart from this accursed ground, 2530 02:50:30.520 --> 02:50:33.600 my poor child, as quickly as you can. Drive to 2531 02:50:33.600 --> 02:50:37.000 the clergyman's house and stay there till we come. Be gone. 2532 02:50:37.760 --> 02:50:41.520 May you never behold Carmilla more. You will not find 2533 02:50:41.559 --> 02:50:55.040 her here. End of Chapter fourteen. Chapter fifteen, Ordeal and Execution. 2534 02:50:57.280 --> 02:51:00.319 As he spoke, one of the strangest looking men I 2535 02:51:00.360 --> 02:51:02.920 ever beheld entered the chapel at the door through which 2536 02:51:02.920 --> 02:51:06.639 Carmila had made her entrance in her exit. He was tall, 2537 02:51:07.280 --> 02:51:12.000 narrow chested, stooping, with high shoulders, and dressed in black. 2538 02:51:12.959 --> 02:51:17.000 His face was brown and dried in with deep furrows. 2539 02:51:17.520 --> 02:51:20.319 He wore an oddly shaped hat with a broad leaf. 2540 02:51:21.239 --> 02:51:25.360 His hair, long and grizzled, hung on his shoulders. He 2541 02:51:25.440 --> 02:51:29.200 wore a pair of gold spectacles and walked slowly with 2542 02:51:29.280 --> 02:51:33.120 an odd shambling gait, with his face sometimes turned up 2543 02:51:33.159 --> 02:51:36.479 to the sky and sometimes bowed down towards the ground. 2544 02:51:37.399 --> 02:51:41.559 Seemed to wear a perpetual smile. His long, thin arms 2545 02:51:41.559 --> 02:51:45.959 were swinging, and his lank hands in old black gloves 2546 02:51:46.040 --> 02:51:49.639 ever so much too wide for them, waving and gesticulating 2547 02:51:49.680 --> 02:51:55.959 in utter abstraction. The very man exclaimed the general, advancing 2548 02:51:56.000 --> 02:52:00.639 with manifest delight, my dear Baron, how happy I am 2549 02:52:00.680 --> 02:52:02.600 to see you. I had no hope of meeting you 2550 02:52:02.680 --> 02:52:07.000 so soon. He signed to my father, who had by 2551 02:52:07.000 --> 02:52:11.239 this time returned and leading the fantastic old gentleman, whom 2552 02:52:11.280 --> 02:52:15.559 he called the baron to meet him. He introduced him formally, 2553 02:52:16.200 --> 02:52:20.479 and they at once entered into earnest conversation. The stranger 2554 02:52:20.520 --> 02:52:23.319 took a roll of paper from his pocket and spread 2555 02:52:23.319 --> 02:52:26.319 it on the worn surface of a tomb that stood by. 2556 02:52:26.399 --> 02:52:29.000 He had a pencil case in his fingers, with which 2557 02:52:29.040 --> 02:52:33.000 he traced imaginary lines from point to point on the paper, which, 2558 02:52:33.040 --> 02:52:36.200 from their often glancing from it together at certain points 2559 02:52:36.200 --> 02:52:38.760 of the building I concluded to be a plan of 2560 02:52:38.799 --> 02:52:43.239 the chapel. He accompanied what I may term his lecture 2561 02:52:43.799 --> 02:52:47.079 with occasional readings from a dirty little book, whose yellow 2562 02:52:47.159 --> 02:52:52.120 leaves were closely written over. They sauntered together down the 2563 02:52:52.159 --> 02:52:55.159 side aisle opposite to the spot where I was standing, 2564 02:52:55.639 --> 02:52:59.920 conversing as they went. Then they began measuring distances by pay, 2565 02:53:01.120 --> 02:53:04.559 And finally they all stood together facing a piece of 2566 02:53:04.600 --> 02:53:08.840 the side wall, which they began to examine with great minuteness, 2567 02:53:08.959 --> 02:53:12.040 pulling off the ivy that clung over it and wrapping 2568 02:53:12.040 --> 02:53:15.399 the plaster with the ends of their sticks, Scraping here 2569 02:53:15.680 --> 02:53:19.719 and knocking there. At length they ascertained the existence of 2570 02:53:19.760 --> 02:53:23.559 a broad marble tablet with letters carved in relief upon it, 2571 02:53:24.840 --> 02:53:28.319 with the assistance of the woodman, who soon returned, a 2572 02:53:28.360 --> 02:53:34.680 monumental inscription and carved escutcheon were disclosed. They proved to 2573 02:53:34.719 --> 02:53:39.879 be those of the long lost monument of Mercalla, Countess Carnstein. 2574 02:53:41.719 --> 02:53:44.639 The old General, though not I fear given to the 2575 02:53:44.680 --> 02:53:48.639 praying mood, raised his hands and eyes to Heaven in 2576 02:53:48.760 --> 02:53:53.920 mute thanksgiving for some moments tomorrow. I heard him say, 2577 02:53:54.479 --> 02:53:57.840 the Commissioner will be here, and the inquisition will be 2578 02:53:57.920 --> 02:54:02.319 held according to law. Then, turning to the old man 2579 02:54:02.360 --> 02:54:05.879 with the gold spectacles whom I have described, he shook 2580 02:54:05.959 --> 02:54:09.639 him warmly by both hands, and said, Baron, how can 2581 02:54:09.680 --> 02:54:13.040 I thank you? How can we all thank you? You 2582 02:54:13.120 --> 02:54:15.479 will have delivered this region from a plague that has 2583 02:54:15.520 --> 02:54:19.600 scourged its inhabitants for more than a century. The horrible enemy, 2584 02:54:19.680 --> 02:54:24.719 thank god, is at last tracked. My father led the 2585 02:54:24.719 --> 02:54:28.559 stranger aside, and the general followed. I know that he 2586 02:54:28.639 --> 02:54:31.040 had led them out of hearing that he might relate 2587 02:54:31.079 --> 02:54:34.559 my case, and I saw them glance often quickly at me. 2588 02:54:34.719 --> 02:54:39.120 As the discussion proceeded. My father came to me, kissed 2589 02:54:39.159 --> 02:54:42.239 me again and again, and, leading me from the chapel, 2590 02:54:42.360 --> 02:54:46.719 said it is time to return. But before we go home, 2591 02:54:47.280 --> 02:54:50.040 we must add to our party the good priest, who 2592 02:54:50.079 --> 02:54:53.000 lives but a little way from this, and persuade him 2593 02:54:53.040 --> 02:54:57.200 to accompany us to the Schloss. In this quest, we 2594 02:54:57.200 --> 02:55:01.879 were successful, and I was glad, being unspeakably fatigued when 2595 02:55:01.879 --> 02:55:06.040 we reached home, But my satisfaction was changed to dismay 2596 02:55:06.799 --> 02:55:10.799 on discovering that there were no tidings of Carmilla of 2597 02:55:10.840 --> 02:55:13.600 the scene that had occurred in the ruined chapel. No 2598 02:55:13.760 --> 02:55:16.799 explanation was offered to me, and it was clear that 2599 02:55:16.840 --> 02:55:18.799 it was a secret which my father for the present 2600 02:55:18.840 --> 02:55:23.280 determined to keep from me. The sinister absence of Carmilla 2601 02:55:23.719 --> 02:55:26.239 made the remembrance of the scene more horrible to me. 2602 02:55:27.360 --> 02:55:31.200 The arrangements for the night were singular. Two servants and 2603 02:55:31.360 --> 02:55:33.239 madame were to sit up in my room that night, 2604 02:55:33.799 --> 02:55:36.399 and the ecclesiastic, with my father, kept watch in the 2605 02:55:36.440 --> 02:55:41.280 adjoining dressing room. The priest had performed certain solemn rites 2606 02:55:41.319 --> 02:55:44.319 that night, the purport of which I did not understand 2607 02:55:44.399 --> 02:55:47.239 any more than I comprehended. The reason of this extraordinary 2608 02:55:47.239 --> 02:55:52.840 precaution taken from my safety during sleep, I saw all clearly. 2609 02:55:53.040 --> 02:55:58.200 A few days later, the disappearance of Carmilla was followed 2610 02:55:58.200 --> 02:56:02.840 by the discontinuance of my nightly sufferings. You have heard 2611 02:56:03.000 --> 02:56:07.079 no doubt of the appalling superstition that prevails in Upper 2612 02:56:07.120 --> 02:56:13.559 and Lower Steria, in Moravia, Silesia, in Turkish Serbia, in Poland, 2613 02:56:13.680 --> 02:56:17.879 even in Russia. The superstition, so we must call it, 2614 02:56:18.719 --> 02:56:24.280 of the vampire. If human testimony taken with every care 2615 02:56:24.280 --> 02:56:30.440 and solemnity, judicially before commissions innumerable, each consisting of many members, 2616 02:56:30.520 --> 02:56:35.399 all chosen for integrity and intelligence, and constituting reports more voluminous, 2617 02:56:35.440 --> 02:56:38.479 perhaps than exist upon any one other class of cases 2618 02:56:38.760 --> 02:56:42.639 is worth anything, it is difficult to deny or even 2619 02:56:42.639 --> 02:56:46.000 to doubt the existence of such a phenomenon as the vampire. 2620 02:56:47.639 --> 02:56:50.719 For my part, I have heard no theory by which 2621 02:56:50.719 --> 02:56:54.559 to explain what I myself have witnessed and experienced, other 2622 02:56:54.639 --> 02:56:57.719 than that supplied by the ancient and well attested belief 2623 02:56:57.760 --> 02:57:02.200 of the country. Day the formal proceedings took place in 2624 02:57:02.239 --> 02:57:06.760 the chapel of Caernstein. The grave of the Countess Mercalla 2625 02:57:06.879 --> 02:57:10.520 was opened, and the General and my father recognized each 2626 02:57:10.879 --> 02:57:14.680 his perfidious and beautiful guest in the face now disclosed 2627 02:57:14.680 --> 02:57:19.159 to view. The features, though a hundred and fifty years 2628 02:57:19.159 --> 02:57:22.559 had passed since her funeral, were tinted with the warmth 2629 02:57:22.600 --> 02:57:27.799 of life. Her eyes were open. No cadaverous smell exhaled 2630 02:57:27.799 --> 02:57:32.319 from the coffin. The two medical men, one officially present, 2631 02:57:32.879 --> 02:57:35.159 the other on the part of the promoter of the inquiry, 2632 02:57:35.920 --> 02:57:39.159 attested the marvelous fact that there was a faint but 2633 02:57:39.239 --> 02:57:44.920 appreciable respiration and a corresponding action of the heart. The 2634 02:57:44.959 --> 02:57:51.040 limbs were perfectly flexible, the flesh elastic, and the leaden 2635 02:57:51.120 --> 02:57:55.159 coffin floated with blood. In which to a depth of 2636 02:57:55.280 --> 02:58:00.639 seven inches the body lay. Immersed Here then were all 2637 02:58:00.719 --> 02:58:05.840 the admitted signs and proofs of vamporism. The body, therefore, 2638 02:58:06.200 --> 02:58:10.040 in accordance with the ancient practice, was raised, and a 2639 02:58:10.120 --> 02:58:13.079 sharp stake driven through the heart of the vampire, who 2640 02:58:13.159 --> 02:58:16.760 uttered a piercing shriek at the moment in all respects 2641 02:58:16.760 --> 02:58:18.840 such as might escape from a living person. In the 2642 02:58:18.920 --> 02:58:23.159 last agony. Then the head was struck off, and a 2643 02:58:23.239 --> 02:58:27.120 torrent of blood flowed from the severed neck. The body 2644 02:58:27.159 --> 02:58:29.719 and head was next placed on a pile of wood 2645 02:58:30.120 --> 02:58:33.319 and reduced to ashes, which were thrown upon the river 2646 02:58:33.360 --> 02:58:37.520 and borne away. And that territory has never since been 2647 02:58:37.520 --> 02:58:42.399 plagued by the visits of a vampire. My father has 2648 02:58:42.440 --> 02:58:45.600 a copy of the report of the Imperial Commission, with 2649 02:58:45.680 --> 02:58:48.479 the signatures of all who were present at these proceedings 2650 02:58:48.920 --> 02:58:52.840 attached in verification of the statement. It is from this 2651 02:58:53.040 --> 02:58:56.879 official paper that I have summarized my account of this 2652 02:58:57.040 --> 02:59:10.760 last shocking scene. End of Chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen conclusion. 2653 02:59:15.520 --> 02:59:19.559 I write all this, you suppose, with composure, but far 2654 02:59:19.600 --> 02:59:24.879 from it. I cannot think of it without agitation. Nothing 2655 02:59:24.920 --> 02:59:29.000 but your earnest desire. So repeatedly expressed, could have induced 2656 02:59:29.040 --> 02:59:31.440 me to sit down to a task that has unstrung 2657 02:59:31.440 --> 02:59:35.000 my nerves for months to come and reinduced a shadow 2658 02:59:35.079 --> 02:59:39.520 of the unspeakable horror, which, years after my deliverance, continued 2659 02:59:39.559 --> 02:59:44.440 to make my days and nights dreadful and solitude insupportably terrific. 2660 02:59:47.120 --> 02:59:49.280 Let me add a word or two about that quaint 2661 02:59:49.399 --> 02:59:53.079 Baron Vordenburg, to whose curious lore we were indebted for 2662 02:59:53.159 --> 02:59:57.879 the discovery of the Countess Mercalla's grave. He had taken 2663 02:59:57.959 --> 03:00:01.799 up his abode in Gratz, where, living upon a mere pittance, 2664 03:00:02.159 --> 03:00:04.079 which was all that remained to him of the once 2665 03:00:04.200 --> 03:00:08.479 princely estates of his family in Upper Steria, he devoted 2666 03:00:08.520 --> 03:00:12.799 himself to the minute and laborious investigation of the marvelously 2667 03:00:12.879 --> 03:00:17.559 authenticated tradition of vamporism. He had at his fingers ends 2668 03:00:17.920 --> 03:00:24.680 all the great and little works upon the subject Magia Postuma, Phlagon, 2669 03:00:24.920 --> 03:00:32.200 de Mirabilibus, Augustinus de Cura pro Mortuis, Philosophice et Cristiane, 2670 03:00:32.600 --> 03:00:39.000 Cogitacionis de Vampiris by John Christopher Herenberg, and a thousand others, 2671 03:00:39.760 --> 03:00:42.239 among which I remember only a few of those which 2672 03:00:42.239 --> 03:00:45.799 he lent to my father. He had of a luminous 2673 03:00:45.879 --> 03:00:49.319 digest of all the judicial cases from which he had 2674 03:00:49.360 --> 03:00:53.000 extracted a system of principles that appear to govern some 2675 03:00:53.200 --> 03:00:57.479 always and others occasionally only the condition of the vampire. 2676 03:00:59.200 --> 03:01:03.399 I may mention in passing that the deadly pallor attributed 2677 03:01:03.399 --> 03:01:06.959 to that sort of revenance is a mere melodramatic fiction. 2678 03:01:08.120 --> 03:01:11.360 They present in the grave, and when they show themselves 2679 03:01:11.440 --> 03:01:16.639 in human society the appearance of healthy life. When disclosed 2680 03:01:16.680 --> 03:01:20.200 to light in their coffins, they exhibit all the symptoms 2681 03:01:20.200 --> 03:01:23.440 that are enumerated as those which prove the vampire life 2682 03:01:23.559 --> 03:01:28.760 of the long dead Countess Carnstein. How they escape from 2683 03:01:28.799 --> 03:01:31.920 their graves and return to them for certain hours every 2684 03:01:32.000 --> 03:01:35.319 day without displacing the clay or leaving any trace of 2685 03:01:35.360 --> 03:01:37.879 disturbance in the state of the coffin or the cerements, 2686 03:01:38.479 --> 03:01:44.000 has always been admitted to be utterly inexplicable. The amphibious 2687 03:01:44.000 --> 03:01:47.680 existence of the vampire is sustained by daily renewed slumber 2688 03:01:47.719 --> 03:01:51.639 in the grave. Its horrible lust for living blood supplies 2689 03:01:51.680 --> 03:01:55.760 the vigor of its waking existence. The vampire is prone 2690 03:01:55.799 --> 03:01:59.520 to be fascinated with an engrossing vehemence, resembling the passion 2691 03:01:59.520 --> 03:02:04.680 of love by particular persons. In pursuit of these, it 2692 03:02:04.719 --> 03:02:09.719 will exercise inexhaustible patience and stratagem for access to a 2693 03:02:09.760 --> 03:02:13.719 particular object may be obstructed in a hundred ways. It 2694 03:02:13.760 --> 03:02:18.399 will never desist until it has satiated its passion and 2695 03:02:18.520 --> 03:02:22.879 drained the very life of its coveted victim. But it 2696 03:02:22.920 --> 03:02:27.840 will in these cases husband and protract its murderous enjoyment 2697 03:02:27.920 --> 03:02:31.159 with the refinement of an epicure, and heighten it by 2698 03:02:31.200 --> 03:02:35.879 the gradual approaches of an artful courtship. In these cases, 2699 03:02:36.760 --> 03:02:40.280 it seems to yearn for something like sympathy and consent. 2700 03:02:41.920 --> 03:02:45.920 In ordinary ones, it goes direct to its object, overpowers 2701 03:02:45.920 --> 03:02:51.280 with violence and strangles, and exhausts, often at a single feast. 2702 03:02:53.040 --> 03:02:58.479 The vampire is apparently subject in certain situations to special conditions. 2703 03:02:59.319 --> 03:03:01.600 In the particular instance of which I have given you 2704 03:03:01.639 --> 03:03:06.159 a relation, Mercalla seemed to be limited to a name which, 2705 03:03:06.360 --> 03:03:10.079 if not her real one, should at least reproduce without 2706 03:03:10.079 --> 03:03:13.360 the omission or edition of a single letter, those, as 2707 03:03:13.360 --> 03:03:19.559 we say anagrammatically, which compose it. Carmilla did this, so 2708 03:03:19.760 --> 03:03:25.600 did Millarca. My father related to the Baron Vordenburg, who 2709 03:03:25.680 --> 03:03:27.600 remained with us for two or three weeks after the 2710 03:03:27.600 --> 03:03:32.120 expulsion of Carmila the story about the Moravian nobleman and 2711 03:03:32.239 --> 03:03:35.719 the vampire at Carnstein churchyard. And then he asked the 2712 03:03:35.719 --> 03:03:38.760 Baron how he had discovered the exact position of the 2713 03:03:38.799 --> 03:03:43.760 long concealed tomb of the Countess Mercala. The Baron's grotesque 2714 03:03:43.799 --> 03:03:47.879 features puckered up into a mysterious smile. He looked down, 2715 03:03:48.399 --> 03:03:52.760 still smiling, on his worn spectacle case and fumbled with it. Then, 2716 03:03:52.799 --> 03:03:57.319 looking up, he said, I have many journals and other 2717 03:03:57.399 --> 03:04:02.239 papers written by that remarkable man. The most curious among 2718 03:04:02.319 --> 03:04:04.280 them is one treating of the visit of which you 2719 03:04:04.360 --> 03:04:09.319 speak to Carnstein. The tradition, of course, discolors and distorts 2720 03:04:09.319 --> 03:04:12.680 a little. He might have been termed a Moravian nobleman, 2721 03:04:13.239 --> 03:04:16.120 for he had changed his abode to that territory, and 2722 03:04:16.399 --> 03:04:19.920 was besides a noble, But he was in truth a 2723 03:04:20.040 --> 03:04:23.239 native of Upper Steria. It is enough to say that 2724 03:04:23.360 --> 03:04:25.680 in very early youth he had been a passionate and 2725 03:04:25.840 --> 03:04:30.719 favored lover of the beautiful Mercala, Countess Carnstein. Her early 2726 03:04:30.799 --> 03:04:35.040 death plunged him into inconsolable grief. It is the nature 2727 03:04:35.079 --> 03:04:39.280 of vampires to increase and multiply. But according to an 2728 03:04:39.280 --> 03:04:45.440 ascertained and ghostly law, assume at starting a territory perfectly 2729 03:04:45.479 --> 03:04:49.120 free from that pest. How does it begin and how 2730 03:04:49.120 --> 03:04:54.440 does it multiply itself? I will tell you. A person 2731 03:04:54.799 --> 03:04:58.600 more or less wicked puts an end to himself a 2732 03:04:58.680 --> 03:05:03.360 suicide under certain so circumstances, becomes a vampire. That specter 2733 03:05:03.520 --> 03:05:07.799 visits living people and their slumbers, they die, and almost 2734 03:05:07.840 --> 03:05:12.760 invariably in the grave, develop into vampires. This happened in 2735 03:05:12.799 --> 03:05:15.840 the case of the beautiful Mercala, who was haunted by 2736 03:05:15.920 --> 03:05:20.719 one of those demons. My ancestor Vordenburg, whose title I 2737 03:05:20.760 --> 03:05:24.440 still bear, soon discovered this, and, in the course of 2738 03:05:24.479 --> 03:05:27.280 the studies to which he devoted himself, learned a great 2739 03:05:27.399 --> 03:05:33.040 deal more. Among other things, he concluded that suspicion of 2740 03:05:33.120 --> 03:05:36.920 vamporism would probably fall sooner or later upon the dead countess, 2741 03:05:37.479 --> 03:05:40.680 who in life had been his idol. He conceived a 2742 03:05:40.760 --> 03:05:44.479 horror be she what she might of her remains being 2743 03:05:44.520 --> 03:05:48.799 profaned by the outrage of a posthumous execution. He has 2744 03:05:48.879 --> 03:05:53.000 left a curious paper to prove that the vampire, on 2745 03:05:53.079 --> 03:05:57.399 its expulsion from its amphibious existence, is projected into a 2746 03:05:57.440 --> 03:06:01.040 far more horrible life, and he resolved to save his 2747 03:06:01.200 --> 03:06:06.600 once beloved Mercala from this. He adopted the stratagem of 2748 03:06:06.600 --> 03:06:10.479 a journey here, a pretended removal of her remains and 2749 03:06:10.559 --> 03:06:14.719 a real obliteration of her monument. When age had stolen 2750 03:06:14.840 --> 03:06:18.280 upon him, and from the veil of years, he looked 2751 03:06:18.319 --> 03:06:21.280 back on the scenes he was leaving. He considered in 2752 03:06:21.319 --> 03:06:25.479 a different spirit what he had done, and a horror 2753 03:06:25.520 --> 03:06:29.879 took possession of him. He made the tracings and notes 2754 03:06:29.879 --> 03:06:32.680 which have guided me to the very spot, and drew 2755 03:06:32.760 --> 03:06:35.319 up a confession of the deception that he had practiced. 2756 03:06:36.280 --> 03:06:38.680 If he had intended any further action in this matter, 2757 03:06:39.399 --> 03:06:43.600 death prevented him, and the hand of a remote descendant has, 2758 03:06:44.200 --> 03:06:48.319 too late for many, directed the pursuit to the lair 2759 03:06:48.399 --> 03:06:54.399 of the beast. We talked a little more, and among 2760 03:06:54.440 --> 03:06:58.479 other things he said, was this. One sign of the 2761 03:06:58.559 --> 03:07:02.360 vampire is the power of the hand. The slender hand 2762 03:07:02.399 --> 03:07:05.200 of Mercalla closed like a vice of steel on the 2763 03:07:05.200 --> 03:07:08.920 General's wrist when he raised the hatchet to strike. But 2764 03:07:09.040 --> 03:07:13.159 its power is not confined to its grasp. It leaves 2765 03:07:13.280 --> 03:07:16.959 a numbness in the limb it seizes, which is slowly, 2766 03:07:17.680 --> 03:07:22.719 if ever, recovered. From the following spring, my father took 2767 03:07:22.719 --> 03:07:25.799 me on a tour through Italy. We remained away for 2768 03:07:25.959 --> 03:07:29.559 more than a year. It was long before the terror 2769 03:07:29.600 --> 03:07:33.920 of recent events subsided, And to this hour the image 2770 03:07:33.920 --> 03:07:39.760 of Carmilla returns to memory with ambiguous alternations. Sometimes the playful, 2771 03:07:40.319 --> 03:07:45.760 languid beautiful girl, sometimes the writhing fiend I saw in 2772 03:07:45.840 --> 03:07:49.799 the ruined church, and often from a reverie I have 2773 03:07:49.879 --> 03:07:54.680 started fancying I heard the light step of Carmilla at 2774 03:07:54.680 --> 03:08:07.200 the drawing room door. End of Carmilla by Jay Sheridan 2775 03:08:07.239 --> 03:08:07.760 Lafanu