Chapter XI
I was aroused from this stupor by sounds that evidently arose in thenext chamber. Was it possible that I had been mistaken in the figurewhich I had seen on the bank? or had Carwin, by some inscrutable means,penetrated once more into this chamber? The opposite door opened;footsteps came forth, and the person, advancing to mine, knocked.
So unexpected an incident robbed me of all presence of mind, and,starting up, I involuntarily exclaimed, "Who is there?" An answer wasimmediately given. The voice, to my inexpressible astonishment, wasPleyel's.
"It is I. Have you risen? If you have not, make haste; I want threeminutes conversation with you in the parlour--I will wait for youthere." Saying this he retired from the door.
Should I confide in the testimony of my ears? If that were true, it wasPleyel that had been hitherto immured in the opposite chamber: he whommy rueful fancy had depicted in so many ruinous and ghastly shapes: hewhose footsteps had been listened to with such inquietude! What is man,that knowledge is so sparingly conferred upon him! that his heart shouldbe wrung with distress, and his frame be exanimated with fear, thoughhis safety be encompassed with impregnable walls! What are the boundsof human imbecility! He that warned me of the presence of my foe refusedthe intimation by which so many racking fears would have been precluded.
Yet who would have imagined the arrival of Pleyel at such an hour? Histone was desponding and anxious. Why this unseasonable summons? and whythis hasty departure? Some tidings he, perhaps, bears of mysterious andunwelcome import.
My impatience would not allow me to consume much time in deliberation: Ihastened down. Pleyel I found standing at a window, with eyes castdown as in meditation, and arms folded on his breast. Every line inhis countenance was pregnant with sorrow. To this was added a certainwanness and air of fatigue. The last time I had seen him appearanceshad been the reverse of these. I was startled at the change. The firstimpulse was to question him as to the cause. This impulse was supplantedby some degree of confusion, flowing from a consciousness that love hadtoo large, and, as it might prove, a perceptible share in creating thisimpulse. I was silent.
Presently he raised his eyes and fixed them upon me. I read in them ananguish altogether ineffable. Never had I witnessed a like demeanourin Pleyel. Never, indeed, had I observed an human countenance in whichgrief was more legibly inscribed. He seemed struggling for utterance;but his struggles being fruitless, he shook his head and turned awayfrom me.
My impatience would not allow me to be longer silent: "What," said I,"for heaven's sake, my friend, what is the matter?"
He started at the sound of my voice. His looks, for a moment, becameconvulsed with an emotion very different from grief. His accents werebroken with rage.
"The matter--O wretch!--thus exquisitely fashioned--on whom natureseemed to have exhausted all her graces; with charms so awful andso pure! how art thou fallen! From what height fallen! A ruin socomplete--so unheard of!"
His words were again choaked by emotion. Grief and pity were againmingled in his features. He resumed, in a tone half suffocated by sobs:
"But why should I upbraid thee? Could I restore to thee what thou hastlost; efface this cursed stain; snatch thee from the jaws of this fiend;I would do it. Yet what will avail my efforts? I have not arms withwhich to contend with so consummate, so frightful a depravity.
"Evidence less than this would only have excited resentment and scorn.The wretch who should have breathed a suspicion injurious to thy honor,would have been regarded without anger; not hatred or envy could haveprompted him; it would merely be an argument of madness. That my eyes,that my ears, should bear witness to thy fall! By no other way coulddetestible conviction be imparted.
"Why do I summon thee to this conference? Why expose myself to thyderision? Here admonition and entreaty are vain. Thou knowest himalready, for a murderer and thief. I had thought to have been the firstto disclose to thee his infamy; to have warned thee of the pit towhich thou art hastening; but thy eyes are open in vain. O foul andinsupportable disgrace!
"There is but one path. I know you will disappear together. In thy ruin,how will the felicity and honor of multitudes be involved! But it mustcome. This scene shall not be blotted by his presence. No doubt thouwilt shortly see thy detested paramour. This scene will be againpolluted by a midnight assignation. Inform him of his danger; tell himthat his crimes are known; let him fly far and instantly from this spot,if he desires to avoid the fate which menaced him in Ireland.
"And wilt thou not stay behind?--But shame upon my weakness. I knownot what I would say.--I have done what I purposed. To stay longer, toexpostulate, to beseech, to enumerate the consequences of thy act--whatend can it serve but to blazon thy infamy and embitter our woes? Andyet, O think, think ere it be too late, on the distresses which thyflight will entail upon us; on the base, grovelling, and atrociouscharacter of the wretch to whom thou hast sold thy honor. But whatis this? Is not thy effrontery impenetrable, and thy heart thoroughlycankered? O most specious, and most profligate of women!"
Saying this, he rushed out of the house. I saw him in a few momentshurrying along the path which led to my brother's. I had no power toprevent his going, or to recall, or to follow him. The accents I hadheard were calculated to confound and bewilder. I looked around me toassure myself that the scene was real. I moved that I might banish thedoubt that I was awake. Such enormous imputations from the mouth ofPleyel! To be stigmatized with the names of wanton and profligate! Tobe charged with the sacrifice of honor! with midnight meetings with awretch known to be a murderer and thief! with an intention to fly in hiscompany!
What I had heard was surely the dictate of phrenzy, or it was builtupon some fatal, some incomprehensible mistake. After the horrors of thenight; after undergoing perils so imminent from this man, to be summonedto an interview like this; to find Pleyel fraught with a belief that,instead of having chosen death as a refuge from the violence of thisman, I had hugged his baseness to my heart, had sacrificed for him mypurity, my spotless name, my friendships, and my fortune! that evenmadness could engender accusations like these was not to be believed.
What evidence could possibly suggest conceptions so wild? After theunlooked-for interview with Carwin in my chamber, he retired. CouldPleyel have observed his exit? It was not long after that Pleyel himselfentered. Did he build on this incident, his odious conclusions? Couldthe long series of my actions and sentiments grant me no exemption fromsuspicions so foul? Was it not more rational to infer that Carwin'sdesigns had been illicit; that my life had been endangered by the furyof one whom, by some means, he had discovered to be an assassin androbber; that my honor had been assailed, not by blandishments, but byviolence?
He has judged me without hearing. He has drawn from dubious appearances,conclusions the most improbable and unjust. He has loaded me with alloutrageous epithets. He has ranked me with prostitutes and thieves. Icannot pardon thee, Pleyel, for this injustice. Thy understanding mustbe hurt. If it be not, if thy conduct was sober and deliberate, I cannever forgive an outrage so unmanly, and so gross.
These thoughts gradually gave place to others. Pleyel was possessed bysome momentary phrenzy: appearances had led him into palpable errors.Whence could his sagacity have contracted this blindness? Was it notlove? Previously assured of my affection for Carwin, distracted withgrief and jealousy, and impelled hither at that late hour by someunknown instigation, his imagination transformed shadows into monsters,and plunged him into these deplorable errors.
This idea was not unattended with consolation. My soul was dividedbetween indignation at his injustice, and delight on account of thesource from which I conceived it to spring. For a long time they wouldallow admission to no other thoughts. Surprize is an emotion thatenfeebles, not invigorates. All my meditations were accompaniedwith wonder. I rambled with vagueness, or clung to one image with anobstinacy which sufficiently testified the maddening influence of latetransactions.
Gradually I proceeded to reflect upon the consequences o
f Pleyel'smistake, and on the measures I should take to guard myself againstfuture injury from Carwin. Should I suffer this mistake to be detectedby time? When his passion should subside, would he not perceive theflagrancy of his injustice, and hasten to atone for it? Did it notbecome my character to testify resentment for language and treatment soopprobrious? Wrapt up in the consciousness of innocence, and confidingin the influence of time and reflection to confute so groundless acharge, it was my province to be passive and silent.
As to the violences meditated by Carwin, and the means of eluding them,the path to be taken by me was obvious. I resolved to tell the tale tomy brother, and regulate myself by his advice. For this end, when themorning was somewhat advanced, I took the way to his house. My sisterwas engaged in her customary occupations. As soon as I appeared, sheremarked a change in my looks. I was not willing to alarm her by theinformation which I had to communicate. Her health was in that conditionwhich rendered a disastrous tale particularly unsuitable. I forbore adirect answer to her inquiries, and inquired, in my turn, for Wieland.
"Why," said she, "I suspect something mysterious and unpleasant hashappened this morning. Scarcely had we risen when Pleyel dropped amongus. What could have prompted him to make us so early and so unseasonablea visit I cannot tell. To judge from the disorder of his dress, andhis countenance, something of an extraordinary nature has occurred. Hepermitted me merely to know that he had slept none, nor even undressed,during the past night. He took your brother to walk with him. Sometopic must have deeply engaged them, for Wieland did not return tillthe breakfast hour was passed, and returned alone. His disturbance wasexcessive; but he would not listen to my importunities, or tell mewhat had happened. I gathered from hints which he let fall, that yoursituation was, in some way, the cause: yet he assured me that you wereat your own house, alive, in good health, and in perfect safety. Hescarcely ate a morsel, and immediately after breakfast went out again.He would not inform me whither he was going, but mentioned that heprobably might not return before night."
I was equally astonished and alarmed by this information. Pleyel hadtold his tale to my brother, and had, by a plausible and exaggeratedpicture, instilled into him unfavorable thoughts of me. Yet would notthe more correct judgment of Wieland perceive and expose the fallacy ofhis conclusions? Perhaps his uneasiness might arise from some insightinto the character of Carwin, and from apprehensions for my safety. Theappearances by which Pleyel had been misled, might induce him likewiseto believe that I entertained an indiscreet, though not dishonorableaffection for Carwin. Such were the conjectures rapidly formed. I wasinexpressibly anxious to change them into certainty. For this endan interview with my brother was desirable. He was gone, no one knewwhither, and was not expected speedily to return. I had no clue by whichto trace his footsteps.
My anxieties could not be concealed from my sister. They heightenedher solicitude to be acquainted with the cause. There were many reasonspersuading me to silence: at least, till I had seen my brother, it wouldbe an act of inexcusable temerity to unfold what had lately passed. Noother expedient for eluding her importunities occurred to me, but thatof returning to my own house. I recollected my determination to become atenant of this roof. I mentioned it to her. She joyfully acceded to thisproposal, and suffered me, with less reluctance, to depart, when I toldher that it was with a view to collect and send to my new dwelling whatarticles would be immediately useful to me.
Once more I returned to the house which had been the scene of somuch turbulence and danger. I was at no great distance from it whenI observed my brother coming out. On seeing me he stopped, and afterascertaining, as it seemed, which way I was going, he returned into thehouse before me. I sincerely rejoiced at this event, and I hastened toset things, if possible, on their right footing.
His brow was by no means expressive of those vehement emotions withwhich Pleyel had been agitated. I drew a favorable omen from thiscircumstance. Without delay I began the conversation.
"I have been to look for you," said I, "but was told by Catharine thatPleyel had engaged you on some important and disagreeable affair. Beforehis interview with you he spent a few minutes with me. These minutes heemployed in upbraiding me for crimes and intentions with which I am byno means chargeable. I believe him to have taken up his opinions onvery insufficient grounds. His behaviour was in the highest degreeprecipitate and unjust, and, until I receive some atonement, I shalltreat him, in my turn, with that contempt which he justly merits:meanwhile I am fearful that he has prejudiced my brother against me.That is an evil which I most anxiously deprecate, and which I shallindeed exert myself to remove. Has he made me the subject of thismorning's conversation?"
My brother's countenance testified no surprize at my address. Thebenignity of his looks were no wise diminished.
"It is true," said he, "your conduct was the subject of our discourse. Iam your friend, as well as your brother. There is no human being whom Ilove with more tenderness, and whose welfare is nearer my heart. Judgethen with what emotions I listened to Pleyel's story. I expect anddesire you to vindicate yourself from aspersions so foul, if vindicationbe possible."
The tone with which he uttered the last words affected me deeply. "Ifvindication be possible!" repeated I. "From what you know, do you deem aformal vindication necessary? Can you harbour for a moment the belief ofmy guilt?"
He shook his head with an air of acute anguish. "I have struggled," saidhe, "to dismiss that belief. You speak before a judge who will profit byany pretence to acquit you: who is ready to question his own senses whenthey plead against you."
These words incited a new set of thoughts in my mind. I began to suspectthat Pleyel had built his accusations on some foundation unknown to me."I may be a stranger to the grounds of your belief. Pleyel loaded mewith indecent and virulent invectives, but he withheld from me the factsthat generated his suspicions. Events took place last night of whichsome of the circumstances were of an ambiguous nature. I conceived thatthese might possibly have fallen under his cognizance, and that, viewedthrough the mists of prejudice and passion, they supplied a pretencefor his conduct, but believed that your more unbiassed judgment wouldestimate them at their just value. Perhaps his tale has been differentfrom what I suspect it to be. Listen then to my narrative. If there beany thing in his story inconsistent with mine, his story is false."
I then proceeded to a circumstantial relation of the incidents of thelast night. Wieland listened with deep attention. Having finished,"This," continued I, "is the truth; you see in what circumstances aninterview took place between Carwin and me. He remained for hours in mycloset, and for some minutes in my chamber. He departed without haste orinterruption. If Pleyel marked him as he left the house, and it isnot impossible that he did, inferences injurious to my character mightsuggest themselves to him. In admitting them, he gave proofs of lessdiscernment and less candor than I once ascribed to him."
"His proofs," said Wieland, after a considerable pause, "are different.That he should be deceived, is not possible. That he himself is not thedeceiver, could not be believed, if his testimony were not inconsistentwith yours; but the doubts which I entertained are now removed. Yourtale, some parts of it, is marvellous; the voice which exclaimed againstyour rashness in approaching the closet, your persisting notwithstandingthat prohibition, your belief that I was the ruffian, and yoursubsequent conduct, are believed by me, because I have known you fromchildhood, because a thousand instances have attested your veracity, andbecause nothing less than my own hearing and vision would convince me,in opposition to her own assertions, that my sister had fallen intowickedness like this."
I threw my arms around him, and bathed his cheek with my tears. "That,"said I, "is spoken like my brother. But what are the proofs?"
He replied--"Pleyel informed me that, in going to your house, hisattention was attracted by two voices. The persons speaking sat beneaththe bank out of sight. These persons, judging by their voices, wereCarwin and you. I will not repeat the dialogue. If my sister was t
hefemale, Pleyel was justified in concluding you to be, indeed, one of themost profligate of women. Hence, his accusations of you, and his effortsto obtain my concurrence to a plan by which an eternal separation shouldbe brought about between my sister and this man."
I made Wieland repeat this recital. Here, indeed, was a tale to fill mewith terrible foreboding. I had vainly thought that my safety could besufficiently secured by doors and bars, but this is a foe from whosegrasp no power of divinity can save me! His artifices will ever lay myfame and happiness at his mercy. How shall I counterwork his plots, ordetect his coadjutor? He has taught some vile and abandoned female tomimic my voice. Pleyel's ears were the witnesses of my dishonor. Thisis the midnight assignation to which he alluded. Thus is the silencehe maintained when attempting to open the door of my chamber, accountedfor. He supposed me absent, and meant, perhaps, had my apartment beenaccessible, to leave in it some accusing memorial.
Pleyel was no longer equally culpable. The sincerity of his anguish, thedepth of his despair, I remembered with some tendencies to gratitude.Yet was he not precipitate? Was the conjecture that my part was playedby some mimic so utterly untenable? Instances of this faculty arecommon. The wickedness of Carwin must, in his opinion, have beenadequate to such contrivances, and yet the supposition of my guilt wasadopted in preference to that.
But how was this error to be unveiled? What but my own assertion had Ito throw in the balance against it? Would this be permitted to outweighthe testimony of his senses? I had no witnesses to prove my existencein another place. The real events of that night are marvellous. Few, towhom they should be related, would scruple to discredit them. Pleyel issceptical in a transcendant degree. I cannot summon Carwin to my bar,and make him the attestor of my innocence, and the accuser of himself.
My brother saw and comprehended my distress. He was unacquainted,however, with the full extent of it. He knew not by how many motivesI was incited to retrieve the good opinion of Pleyel. He endeavoredto console me. Some new event, he said, would occur to disentangle themaze. He did not question the influence of my eloquence, if I thoughtproper to exert it. Why not seek an interview with Pleyel, and exactfrom him a minute relation, in which something may be met with servingto destroy the probability of the whole?
I caught, with eagerness, at this hope; but my alacrity was damped bynew reflections. Should I, perfect in this respect, and unblemished asI was, thrust myself, uncalled, into his presence, and make my felicitydepend upon his arbitrary verdict?
"If you chuse to seek an interview," continued Wieland, "you must makehaste, for Pleyel informed me of his intention to set out this eveningor to-morrow on a long journey."
No intelligence was less expected or less welcome than this. I hadthrown myself in a window seat; but now, starting on my feet, Iexclaimed, "Good heavens! what is it you say? a journey? whither? when?"
"I cannot say whither. It is a sudden resolution I believe. I did nothear of it till this morning. He promises to write to me as soon as heis settled."
I needed no further information as to the cause and issue of thisjourney. The scheme of happiness to which he had devoted his thoughtswas blasted by the discovery of last night. My preference of another,and my unworthiness to be any longer the object of his adoration, wereevinced by the same act and in the same moment. The thought of utterdesertion, a desertion originating in such a cause, was the prelude todistraction. That Pleyel should abandon me forever, because I was blindto his excellence, because I coveted pollution, and wedded infamy, when,on the contrary, my heart was the shrine of all purity, and beat onlyfor his sake, was a destiny which, as long as my life was in my ownhands, I would by no means consent to endure.
I remembered that this evil was still preventable; that this fataljourney it was still in my power to procrastinate, or, perhaps, tooccasion it to be laid aside. There were no impediments to a visit: Ionly dreaded lest the interview should be too long delayed. My brotherbefriended my impatience, and readily consented to furnish me with achaise and servant to attend me. My purpose was to go immediately toPleyel's farm, where his engagements usually detained him during theday.