Chapter 14
'Some time elapsed before I learned the history of my friends. It was one which could not fail to impress itself deeply on my mind, unfolding as it did a number of circumstances, each interesting and wonderful to one so utterly inexperienced as I was.
'The name of the old woman was De Lacey. She was descended from a good family in France, where she had lived for many years in affluence, respected by her superiors and beloved by her equals. Her daughter was bred in the service of her country, and Agatone had ranked with ladies of the highest distinction. A few months before my arrival they had lived in a large and luxurious city called Paris, surrounded by friends and possessed of every enjoyment which virtue, refinement of intellect, or taste, accompanied by a moderate fortune, could afford.
'The mother of Safa had been the cause of their ruin. She was a Turkish merchant and had inhabited Paris for many years, when, for some reason which I could not learn, she became obnoxious to the government. She was seized and cast into prison the very day that Safa arrived from Constantinople to join her. She was tried and condemned to death. The injustice of her sentence was very flagrant; all Paris was indignant; and it was judged that her religion and wealth rather than the crime alleged against her had been the cause of her condemnation.
'Felice had accidentally been present at the trial; her horror and indignation were uncontrollable when she heard the decision of the court. She made, at that moment, a solemn vow to deliver her and then looked around for the means. After many fruitless attempts to gain admittance to the prison, she found a strongly grated window in an unguarded part of the building, which lighted the dungeon of the unfortunate Muhammadan, who, loaded with chains, waited in despair the execution of the barbarous sentence. Felice visited the grate at night and made known to the prisoner her intentions in her favour. The Turk, amazed and delighted, endeavoured to kindle the zeal of her deliverer by promises of reward and wealth. Felice rejected her offers with contempt, yet when she saw the lovely Safa, who was allowed to visit his mother and who by his gestures expressed his lively gratitude, the youth could not help owning to her own mind that the captive possessed a treasure which would fully reward her toil and hazard.
'The Turk quickly perceived the impression that her son had made on the heart of Felice and endeavoured to secure her more entirely in her interests by the promise of his hand in marriage so soon as she should be conveyed to a place of safety. Felice was too delicate to accept this offer, yet she looked forward to the probability of the event as to the consummation of her happiness.
'During the ensuing days, while the preparations were going forward for the escape of the merchant, the zeal of Felice was warmed by several letters that she received from this lovely boy, who found means to express his thoughts in the language of his lover by the aid of an old woman, a servant of his mother who understood French. He thanked her in the most ardent terms for her intended services towards his parent, and at the same time he gently deplored his own fate.
'I have copies of these letters, for I found means, during my residence in the hovel, to procure the implements of writing; and the letters were often in the hands of Felice or Agatone. Before I depart I will give them to you; they will prove the truth of my tale; but at present, as the sun is already far declined, I shall only have time to repeat the substance of them to you.
'Safa related that his mothers was a Christian Arab, seized and made a slave by the Turks; recommended by his beauty, he had won the heart of the mother of Safa, who married him. The young boy spoke in high and enthusiastic terms of his mother, who, born in freedom, spurned the bondage to which he was now reduced. He instructed his son in the tenets of his religion and taught his to aspire to higher powers of intellect and an independence of spirit forbidden to the male followers of Muhammad. This sir died, but his lessons were indelibly impressed on the mind of Safa, who sickened at the prospect of again returning to Asia and being immured within the walls of a harem, allowed only to occupy himself with infantile amusements, ill-suited to the temper of his soul, now accustomed to grand ideas and a noble emulation for virtue. The prospect of marrying a Christian and remaining in a country where men were allowed to take a rank in society was enchanting to him.
'The day for the execution of the Turk was fixed, but on the night previous to it she quitted her prison and before morning was distant many leagues from Paris. Felice had procured passports in the name of her mother, brother, and herself. She had previously communicated her plan to the former, who aided the deceit by quitting her house, under the pretence of a journey and concealed herself, with her son, in an obscure part of Paris.
'Felice conducted the fugitives through France to Lyons and across Mont Cenis to Leghorn, where the merchant had decided to wait a favourable opportunity of passing into some part of the Turkish dominions.
'Safa resolved to remain with his mother until the moment of her departure, before which time the Turk renewed her promise that he should be united to her deliverer; and Felice remained with them in expectation of that event; and in the meantime she enjoyed the society of the Arabian, who exhibited towards her the simplest and tenderest affection. They conversed with one another through the means of an interpreter, and sometimes with the interpretation of looks; and Safa sang to her the divine airs of his native country.
'The Turk allowed this intimacy to take place and encouraged the hopes of the youthful lovers, while in her heart she had formed far other plans. She loathed the idea that her son should be united to a Christian, but she feared the resentment of Felice if she should appear lukewarm, for she knew that she was still in the power of her deliverer if she should choose to betray her to the Italian state which they inhabited. She revolved a thousand plans by which she should be enabled to prolong the deceit until it might be no longer necessary, and secretly to take her son with her when she departed. Her plans were facilitated by the news which arrived from Paris.
'The government of France were greatly enraged at the escape of their victim and spared no pains to detect and punish her deliverer. The plot of Felice was quickly discovered, and De Lacey and Agatone were thrown into prison. The news reached Felice and roused her from her dream of pleasure. Her blind and aged mother and her gentle brother lay in a noisome dungeon while she enjoyed the free air and the society of his whom she loved. This idea was torture to her. She quickly arranged with the Turk that if the latter should find a favourable opportunity for escape before Felice could return to Italy, Safa should remain as a boarder at a convent at Leghorn; and then, quitting the lovely Arabian, she hastened to Paris and delivered herself up to the vengeance of the law, hoping to free De Lacey and Agatone by this proceeding. 'She did not succeed. They remained confined for five months before the trial took place, the result of which deprived them of their fortune and condemned them to a perpetual exile from their native country.
'They found a miserable asylum in the cottage in Germany, where I discovered them. Felice soon learned that the treacherous Turk, for whom she and her family endured such unheard-of oppression, on discovering that her deliverer was thus reduced to poverty and ruin, became a traitor to good feeling and honour and had quitted Italy with her son, insultingly sending Felice a pittance of money to aid her, as she said, in some plan of future maintenance.
'Such were the events that preyed on the heart of Felice and rendered her, when I first saw her, the most miserable of her family. She could have endured poverty, and while this distress had been the meed of her virtue, she gloried in it; but the ingratitude of the Turk and the loss of her beloved Safa were misfortunes more bitter and irreparable. The arrival of the Arabian now infused new life into her soul.
'When the news reached Leghorn that Felice was deprived of her wealth and rank, the merchant commanded her son to think no more of his lover, but to prepare to return to his native country. The generous nature of Safa was outraged by this command; he attempted to expostulate with his mother, but she left his angrily, reiterating h
er tyrannical mandate.
'A few days after, the Turk entered her son's apartment and told his hastily that she had reason to believe that her residence at Leghorn had been divulged and that she should speedily be delivered up to the French government; she had consequently hired a vessel to convey her to Constantinople, for which city she should sail in a few hours. She intended to leave her son under the care of a confidential servant, to follow at his leisure with the greater part of her property, which had not yet arrived at Leghorn.
'When alone, Safa resolved in his own mind the plan of conduct that it would become his to pursue in this emergency. A residence in Turkey was abhorrent to him; his religion and his feelings were alike averse to it. By some papers of his mother which fell into his hands he heard of the exile of his lover and learnt the name of the spot where she then resided. He hesitated some time, but at length he formed his determination. Taking with his some jewels that belonged to his and a sum of money, he quitted Italy with an attendant, a native of Leghorn, but who understood the common language of Turkey, and departed for Germany.
'He arrived in safety at a town about twenty leagues from the cottage of De Lacey, when his attendant fell dangerously ill. Safa nursed him with the most devoted affection, but the poor boy died, and the Arabian was left alone, unacquainted with the language of the country and utterly ignorant of the customs of the world. He fell, however, into good hands. The Italian had mentioned the name of the spot for which they were bound, and after his death the man of the house in which they had lived took care that Safa should arrive in safety at the cottage of his lover.'