By the MARQUIS of FEREI*A.
Here a great deal is wanting in the memoirs of the Duke of Cami*a, which
I cannot leave unsupplied, otherwise an important part of his history
will be lost, and the rest remain obscure. To fill up this empty space,
will be the last duty of friendship I shall be able to perform for that
unhappy man. I shall, therefore, continue his mournful tale, till I can
connect again the thread of my narration to the remaining papers of the
Duke.
The grief assailing the heart of my unhappy friend soon depicted itself
so strongly in his countenance, that I began to tremble for his health.
Alas! my apprehension was but too soon realized, his sufferings being
increased, by an information he received from the brother of the new
King, to a degree which entirely overcame his enfeebled spirits.
“My dearest friend,” the Prince wrote to him, “I have not discontinued,
since your departure, the inquiries after your tutor, which I began when
you were here. However, I should undoubtedly have continued them with
the greatest prudence and activity, without coming any nearer to the
mark, if the very man whom I had been endeavouring to find out had not
spared me that fruitless talk.
“Yes, my friend, your tutor has personally surprised me in a most
pleasing manner. But, O! my friend, moderate your joy when reading these
lines. The meeting with that dear man was like airy vision, which
appears and vanishes again after a few moments. Your tutor came, and
went to those realms from whence no mortal can return.
“Five days are now elapsed, since he astonished me, one morning, by his
unexpected visit. I soon observed with surprise, that he returned the
manifestations of my joy with much restraint, while his inquisitive
looks were doubtfully directed at me. His relation soon unfolded this
mystery.
“Will you believe it, my friend, that in that very night, when we
expected him in vain with so much impatience and anxiety, he had been
taken up secretly, carried off, and imprisoned? He was on his way to my
house, when he met a carriage which he mistook for mine. In this opinion
he was confirmed, when the coachman stopt the horses, and a servant in
my livery opened the coach door for him. Two unknown gentlemen, who were
sitting in the carriage, begged him to get in, pretending to have been
sent by me to fetch him. He joined them without hesitation, and when the
coachman drove out of the town gate, instead of taking the road to my
house, he was told that one more guest was to be fetched. This pretended
guest made his appearance in the suburbs, and as soon as he had got in
the carriage, pointed a dagger at the heart of your tutor, while his two
associates seized and tied his hands. All this was effected before Count
Galvez could gain time for resistance, which would have been equally
dangerous and fruitless. He was told that if he would submit silently to
his fate, no injury should be offered him, but that he would be stabbed
without mercy if he should cry for assistance; at the same time he was
blind-folded, and after about half an hour’s ride the carriage stopped,
when your tutor was taken out of it, and conducted over several flights
of steps, through long passages, in a room where he was shut up, and
left alone.
“When Count Galvez removed the bandage from his eyes, he found himself
in a spacious apartment, lighted with lamps; two smaller rooms were on
each side, but none of them had windows. Some time after his arrival,
two masked men brought him victuals and drink, which afterwards was
repeated every noon and evening. He was in want of nothing, liberty
excepted. He could not leave his apartments, which were bolted on the
outside, and having not been able to persuade his masked attendants to
answer to his questions, he could not learn where he was imprisoned. The
frequent chiming of bells, the singing of hymns, which seemed to be very
near him, and several other circumstances, made him, however, suppose
that he was confined in a cloister.
“It is remarkable, that during his confinement, he was obliged to sit to
a sculptor, who executed his statue so masterly, that it resembled him
in the most striking manner. The artist too was masked and nothing could
persuade him to tell for what purpose the statue was designed.
“At length the wished for hour of enlargement arrived. The prisoner was
called up between one and two o’clock in the morning, and ordered to
prepare for his departure. He was blindfolded and conducted to the
street, where he was placed in a coach, and threatened with instant
death if he should dare to utter a syllable. After half an hour’s ride
he was taken out of the coach, upon which, his conductors drove away at
a furious rate. As soon as he perceived that he was alone, he removed
the bandage from his eyes, and found himself in a lonely part of the
suburbs, and with the first dawn of day called at my house.
“As soon as Count Galvez had finished his extraordinary tale, I summoned
my servants, in order to clear myself from a suspicion which afflicted
me severely, and examined them rigorously in his presence. It was,
however, proved that my horses and carriages, as well as my servants,
had been at home at the hour when the Count was carried off, which
rendered it very probable that the _Unknown_ must have imitated my
equipage and livery, in order to ensnare the Count with greater ease.
“Your tutor enquired much, and with great affection after you: I told
him as much as I knew, but he was not satisfied with it. The following
morning he departed for Lisb*n, in hopes of meeting you there, after a
long and painful separation. I rode on horseback by his carriage in
order to accompany him a few miles; the impatient desire of seeing you
soon made your tutor urge the postillion to press his horses onward; the
fellow was offended at the incessant solicitations of the Count, and
drove slower, which vexed our friend to such a degree, that he exhorted
the postillion rather warmly to proceed faster, adding some menaces. The
postillion being provoked by your tutor’s threats, whipped his horses
furiously, without taking proper notice of the neighbourhood of the
precipice, which you will recollect; the animals grew wild, and the
carriage was precipitated into the abyss. The Count scarcely breathed,
when he received assistance, and the postillion was dashed to pieces
against the rocks.
“I ordered instantly all possible care to be taken of our friend;
however, a violent vomiting of blood, the consequence of a contusion on
his breast, put an end to his life the subsequent day. A few minutes
before his death, he wrote the following note, but was soon interrupted
by a fainting fit.
“‘Ere while we were separated by men, but now we are going to be
disunited by God. I do not murmur; yet I should have been happy to see
you once more. On the brink of eternity I am expanding my hands,
blessing thee, excellent young man! Weep not at my death; we shall meet
again in yon blissful mansions, where all good men shall be reunited for
ever. Honour my memory by keeping firm to my principles, which from my
soul, flowed over in your mind.’”
Two mortal wounds like those which the ill-fated love affair, and the
death of Count Galvez inflicted on the heart of my friend, confined him
to a sick bed. Now happened what I had dreaded, without my having been
able to prevent it. Alumbrado, who was returned from his journey,
intruded on my friend, and soon traced out the safest road to his heart.
My friend was weak enough to communicate to him the situation in which
he was with regard to Amelia; and Alumbrado hesitated not a moment to
procure him the consent of his father. The power exercised by that man
over the Marquis was so great, that the latter suffered himself to be
persuaded to write to the Countess, and to invite her in the most
honourable and flattering manner, to render his son happy by giving him
her hand.
(_To be continued._)
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