Fathom, whose own principles taught him to be suspicious, and ever upon
his guard against the treachery of his fellow-creatures, could have
dispensed with this instance of her care, in confining her guest to her
chamber, and began to be seized with strange fancies, when he observed
that there was no bolt on the inside of the door, by which he might
secure himself from intrusion. In consequence of these suggestions, he
proposed to take an accurate survey of every object in the apartment,
and, in the course of his inquiry, had the mortification to find the dead
body of a man, still warm, who had been lately stabbed, and concealed
beneath several bundles of straw.
Such a discovery could not fail to fill the breast of our hero with
unspeakable horror; for he concluded that he himself would undergo the
same fate before morning, without the interposition of a miracle in his
favour. In the first transports of his dread, he ran to the window, with
a view to escape by that outlet, and found his flight effectually
obstructed by divers strong bars of iron. Then his heart began to
palpitate, his hair to bristle up, and his knees to totter; his thoughts
teemed with presages of death and destruction; his conscience rose up in
judgment against him, and he underwent a severe paroxysm of dismay and
distraction. His spirits were agitated into a state of fermentation that
produced a species of resolution akin to that which is inspired by brandy
or other strong liquors, and, by an impulse that seemed supernatural, he
was immediately hurried into measures for his own preservation.
What upon a less interesting occasion his imagination durst not propose,
he now executed without scruple or remorse. He undressed the corpse that
lay bleeding among the straw, and, conveying it to the bed in his arms,
deposited it in the attitude of a person who sleeps at his ease; then he
extinguished the light, took possession of the place from whence the body
had been removed, and, holding a pistol ready cocked in each hand, waited
for the sequel with that determined purpose which is often the immediate
production of despair. About midnight he heard the sound of feet
ascending the ladder; the door was softly opened; he saw the shadow of
two men stalking towards the bed, a dark lanthorn being unshrouded,
directed their aim to the supposed sleeper, and he that held it thrust a
poniard to his heart; the force of the blow made a compression on the
chest, and a sort of groan issued from the windpipe of the defunct; the
stroke was repeated, without producing a repetition of the note, so that
the assassins concluded the work was effectually done, and retired for
the present with a design to return and rifle the deceased at their
leisure.
Never had our hero spent a moment in such agony as he felt during this
operation; the whole surface of his body was covered with a cold sweat,
and his nerves were relaxed with an universal palsy. In short, he
remained in a trance that, in all probability, contributed to his safety;
for, had he retained the use of his senses, he might have been discovered
by the transports of his fear. The first use he made of his retrieved
recollection, was to perceive that the assassins had left the door open
in their retreat; and he would have instantly availed himself of this
their neglect, by sallying out upon them, at the hazard of his life, had
he not been restrained by a conversation he overheard in the room below,
importing, that the ruffians were going to set out upon another
expedition, in hopes of finding more prey. They accordingly departed,
after having laid strong injunctions upon the old woman to keep the door
fast locked during their absence; and Ferdinand took his resolution
without farther delay. So soon as, by his conjecture, the robbers were
at a sufficient distance from the house, he rose from his lurking-place,
moved softly towards the bed, and, rummaging the pockets of the deceased,
found a purse well stored with ducats, of which, together with a silver
watch and a diamond ring, he immediately possessed himself without
scruple; then, descending with great care and circumspection into the
lower apartment, stood before the old beldame, before she had the least
intimation of his approach.
Accustomed as she was to the trade of blood, the hoary hag did not behold
this apparition without giving signs of infinite terror and astonishment,
believing it was no other than the spirit of her second guest, who had
been murdered; she fell upon her knees and began to recommend herself to
the protection of the saints, crossing herself with as much devotion as
if she had been entitled to the particular care and attention of Heaven.
Nor did her anxiety abate, when she was undeceived in this her
supposition, and understood it was no phantom, but the real substance of
the stranger, who, without staying to upbraid her with the enormity of
her crimes, commanded her, on pain of immediate death, to produce his
horse, to which being conducted, he set her upon the saddle without
delay, and, mounting behind, invested her with the management of the
reins, swearing, in a most peremptory tone, that the only chance she had
for her life, was in directing him safely to the next town; and that, so
soon as she should give him the least cause to doubt her fidelity in the
performance of that task, he would on the instant act the part of her
executioner.
This declaration had its effect upon the withered Hecate, who, with many
supplications for mercy and forgiveness, promised to guide him in safety
to a certain village at the distance of two leagues, where he might lodge
in security, and be provided with a fresh horse, or other convenience,
for pursuing his intended route. On these conditions he told her she
might deserve his clemency; and they accordingly took their departure
together, she being placed astride upon the saddle, holding the bridle in
one hand and a switch in the other; and our adventurer sitting on the
crupper, superintending her conduct, and keeping the muzzle of a pistol
close at her ear. In this equipage they travelled across part of the
same wood in which his guide had forsaken him; and it is not to be
supposed that he passed his time in the most agreeable reverie, while he
found himself involved in the labyrinth of those shades, which he
considered as the haunts of robbery and assassination.
Common fear was a comfortable sensation to what he felt in this
excursion. The first steps he had taken for his preservation were the
effects of mere instinct, while his faculties were extinguished or
suppressed by despair; but now, as his reflection began to recur, he was
haunted by the most intolerable apprehensions. Every whisper of the wind
through the thickets was swelled into the hoarse menaces of murder, the
shaking of the boughs was construed into the brandishing of poniards, and
every shadow of a tree became the apparition of a ruffian eager for
blood. In short, at each of these occurrences he felt what was
infinitely more tormenting than the stab of a real dagger; and at every
fresh fillip of his fear, he acted as a remembrancer to his conductress,
in a new volley of imprecations, importing, that her life was absolutely
connected with his opinion of his own safety.
Human nature could not longer subsist under such complicated terror. At
last he found himself clear of the forest, and was blessed with the
distant view of an inhabited place. He then began to exercise his
thoughts upon a new subject. He debated with himself, whether he should
make a parade of his intrepidity and public spirit, by disclosing his
achievement, and surrendering his guide to the penalty of the law; or
leave the old hag and her accomplices to the remorse of their own
consciences, and proceed quietly on his journey to Paris in undisturbed
possession of the prize he had already obtained. This last step he
determined to take, upon recollecting, that, in the course of his
information, the story of the murdered stranger would infallibly attract
the attention of justice, and, in that case, the effects he had borrowed
from the defunct must be refunded for the benefit of those who had a
right to the succession. This was an argument which our adventurer could
not resist; he foresaw that he should be stripped of his acquisition,
which he looked upon as the fair fruits of his valour and sagacity; and,
moreover, be detained as an evidence against the robbers, to the manifest
detriment of his affairs. Perhaps too he had motives of conscience, that
dissuaded him from bearing witness against a set of people whose
principles did not much differ from his own.
Influenced by such considerations, he yielded to the first importunity of
the beldame, whom he dismissed at a very small distance from the village,
after he had earnestly exhorted her to quit such an atrocious course of
life, and atone for her past crimes, by sacrificing her associates to the
demands of justice. She did not fail to vow a perfect reformation, and
to prostrate herself before him for the favour she had found; then she
betook herself to her habitation, with full purpose of advising her
fellow-murderers to repair with all despatch to the village, and impeach
our hero, who, wisely distrusting her professions, stayed no longer in
the place than to hire a guide for the next stage, which brought him to
the city of Chalons-sur-Marne.