It is ungenerous to give a man occasion to blush at his own ignorance in
one thing, who perhaps may excel us in many.
* * * * *
* * * *
THE VICTIM OF MAGICAL DELUSION.
_OR, INTERESTING MEMOIRS OF MIGUEL, DUKE DE CA*I*A._
Unfolding Many Curious Unknown Historical Facts.
_Translated from the German of Tschink._
(Continued from page 6.)
“But, my Lord,” he continued, folding his hands, “will you be able to
pardon the manifold injuries which you have received from me, if I can
convince you that I have been only the tool of greater impostors.”
“Speak frankly and without reserve! I will forgive you every thing.”
“My Lord!---you are in dreadful hands. That _Unknown_---”
“Who is he?” I interrupted him impatiently.
“_Who_ he is, I do not know! as sure as I am going to appear before the
omniscient searcher of hearts, I do not know it. He always has observed
the greatest secrecy on that head. ‘I am who I am!’ he always replied,
when I questioned him on that point, ‘and I never am what I seem to be!’
Three days before you made your first appearance at the castle of the
Countess, he came late at night to the gate, disguised as a beggar, and
enquired for me. Supposing that he wanted alms, I gave him a piece of
money. He raised a loud laughter, whilst he took a handful of ducats out
of his pocket, and put them in mine. ‘This is only a prelude to what I
am going to do for you,’ said he, without paying the least regard to my
astonishment, ‘if you will assist me in executing a plan which I have
formed, without betraying our connection to the Countess.’ ‘And what
plan is it?’ ‘It is a very innocent one,’ he replied, ‘I wish to work
some miracles in the castle, and should be glad if you would assist me.
‘For what purpose?’ ‘I want to make two people happy,’ was his reply,
‘the Countess, and a young nobleman, who will arrive within three days.
The Countess abandons herself too much to her grief, on account of her
deceased husband, and I know no better means to cure her of it, than to
banish the dead husband from her heart by a living lover. As a mediator
between the Countess and the young nobleman, I must render myself
important to both, and for that purpose I must work miracles; if I
succeed in getting the sway over their understanding, then I shall
easily make myself master of their hearts.’ He then asked me whether he
could rely on me, and if the rest of the servants could not be gained by
money? I assured him of my readiness to serve him, and promised to
attempt the latter, in which I succeeded. My fellow servants were easily
bribed, because they were persuaded that it was a laudable, or at least
an innocent undertaking in which they were to be engaged. The cheat
which was to be played on you and the Countess was believed to be
innocent, as it appeared to be a means of gaining a salutary purpose. To
be brief, I informed the _Unknown_ the day following, that all of us
were firmly determined to assist him in the execution of his plan;
a resolution which he again rewarded with a handful of ducats.
“As soon as the Countess was gone to bed, I introduced the generous
stranger to my fellow servants. He soon convinced us that he was no
stranger in the castle; for he knew every apartment, and every corner.
‘I was acquainted with the Prince of Ge**,’ he said, ‘the former
possessor of the castle. He was extremely fond of physic, and chemistry,
and his great skill in these sciences procured him publicly, the name of
a man of great learning, and privately that of a sorcerer. His rank
protected him against the fate which would have been the portion of
every body else, if suspected of sorcery. He built the castle in this
forest, in order to indulge here, without being interrupted by intruding
visitors, his inclination for physical and chemical operations, by means
of which he frightened many uninvited guests out of the castle. The most
extraordinary tricks he played in the last room, on the first floor,
which is connected by means of a machine, with a secret apartment on the
ground floor. The latter having neither a door or windows, has very
likely not yet been discovered by any of the inhabitants of the castle.’
This is really the case. The _Unknown_ demanded a candle, and requested
us to follow him. He led us to a wall which we never had noticed. There
he took a stone out of the floor, put his arm into the opening, and
pushed a part of the wooden wall back. We followed him through the
aperture of a small room, where we instantly beheld the machine of which
we had been speaking. It consisted of a strong spring, which was
connected with a large wooden cone, fitted in the ceiling, and fastened
by a bolt. As soon as the bolt was pushed back, and somebody placed
himself on the cone in the upper apartment, the spring was pressed down
and the person sunk into the lower apartment, between four posts, in the
joints of which the cone was sliding down. However as soon as one jumped
from the cone, the spring made it snap back by the elastic force into
its former place. In order to convince us of it, the _Unknown_ mounted
up to the ceiling upon a ladder which was in the room, and suspended
some heavy weights to hooks which were fastened to the under part of the
cone, which made it slide down as soon as he removed the bolt, and was
forced up again into its former place, by the elastic force of the
spring, as soon as he had taken away the weights. This machine could not
be perceived in the upper apartment, the floor of which consisted of
cubical squares, resembling in form, colour and position, the moveable
cone to which they seemed to be closely joined.
“Besides this machine, he shewed us a crooked tube, which was fixed to
the ceiling, and reached down to the middle of the room. This tube, said
the _Unknown_, is in communication with the wall of the upper apartment
where it ends in the open jaw of one of the four lions which are
standing in the corner of that room. By means of that tube, one cannot
only hear very distinctly in this room what is spoken in the upper
apartment, but one hears equally distinctly what one speaks here,
without suspecting from whence the voice proceeds. You know, my lord,
from your own experience how well the _Unknown_ knew how to render these
machines serviceable to his plan.
“Before the _Unknown_ left the castle, he asked me in what apartment the
Countess was used to receive strangers? ‘In the room,’ I replied,
‘contiguous to that in the floor of which the moveable cone is
fixed.’--He left us with visible marks of satisfaction.
“The next day he came again to the castle, and meeting me at the gate,
exclaimed in accents of joy, ‘To-morrow already we must begin to work
miracles. I have invented a plan which cannot miscarry. The young
nobleman will come to the castle to-night. Place some lights in the
windows of the upper and lower apartments, that he may find his way to
the castle, and order the gates to be opened without delay, as soon as
you hear him ring the bell. The Countess, who will be gone to bed by
that time, cannot see him before to-morrow morning. When you shall have
introduced him to her, then you must return to her apartment, after a
short interval and deliver this box and the note which I am going to
give you, into the hands of the Countess. If you are asked who has
brought it, describe me as you have seen me the first time I came to the
castle gate. The young nobleman will be desirous to see and to speak to
me, but you must tell him that I had left the castle after the box and
the note had been delivered. He will order you to pursue me without
delay; however, I will save you that trouble, for I shall stay at the
castle, and surrender to you as soon as you shall want me. Keep some
cords ready, which must be cut asunder and slightly sewn again together.
With these cords you must tie me, and charge some of the servants to
conduct me to the Countess, pretending that I had refused obstinately to
return. Then I shall tear the cords asunder, fly into the adjoining
room, and bolt the door after me. Meanwhile you must expect me in the
lower apartment and unfasten the bolt beneath the cone, that I may sink
down as soon as I shall get upon the latter. When the cone shall have
snapt back into its former place, you must be ready to fasten it by
means of the bolt. When the Countess and her guest, impatient to seize
me, shall force open the door and find the room empty, they will fancy
me to be a supernatural being, not being acquainted with the secret of
the machine.’
“You know my Lord, how punctually and successfully this design has been
put into execution. An accident was the cause of a second more important
plan, the execution of which has not been less successful. The
_Unknown_, who after his disappearance was listening attentively, in the
secret chamber, heard among other discourses, by means of the tube, the
prayer which the Countess addressed to him on account of the apparition
of her deceased Lord. He reflected a few minutes on the possibility of
granting it, and promised to satisfy her wishes. The tube was the
channel through which the _Unknown_ conveyed his answer to the
Countess.”
Seized with astonishment at Paleski’s narration, and impatient to hear
its continuation, I had not interrupted him once; but now I could not
refrain any longer from speaking. “Then Amelia is really innocent?”
I exclaimed, “and was not privy to the artifices of the _Unknown?_”
“Not in the least!” Paleski replied, “as I wish to be saved! The
Countess is innocent; she has been deceived as well as your Lordship,
and probably her faith in the supernatural power of the _Unknown_, is
still as firm as it was then.”
This declaration lessened my anger at having been deceived in so
villainous a manner, I begged Paleski to continue his account.
“Does your Lordship recollect all the particulars of the apparition
scene?”
“Yes! I do.”
“Well, then I will explain it to you. On the day previous to the magical
farce, the _Unknown_ told me that he had gained over to our party the
brother-in-law of the Countess, who had arrived lately, in order to
surprise Amelia unexpected, and promised to act the part of the ghost--”
“Impossible!” I exclaimed, “you must be mistaken. At least you are not
speaking of Count Clairville?”
“Yes the very same person who is at present your travelling companion.”
A chilly tremor thrilled through my whole frame; my mind measured with a
look of horror the time past and present. I beheld myself in the power
of two men, one of whom had imposed upon my heart by means of the mask
of sincere friendship, and the other upon my understanding, by
displaying a shew of pretended supernatural powers, and both of whom
were leagued to work upon my credulity, and to make me run into the
greatest dangers.
(_To be continued._)
* * * * *