Within these three years the house in question was inhabited by its
builder, a respectable citizen, together with his wife, a woman of much
intelligence, and possessed of considerable beauty, though no longer
young. They had for many years kept a creditable academy; but had, a
short time before the commencement of this relation, retired with ample
means from the exercise of their honourable profession, built this
house, and with an only child, a handsome girl of sixteen, here dwelt,
as far as their neighbours could judge, contented and happy. It is
certain that they were well considered and respected by all who knew
anything of them.
One afternoon, whilst the master was busied in his garden before the
house, a passing wayfarer halted by his fence, and besought some
refreshment. The accent of the stranger was foreign, and his aspect and
whole appearance, although haggard and miserably needy, still bore
evidence of better days, as his address did of gentle condition.
After a moment's questioning, Mr. C---- asked the hungered and weary
traveller to enter his house; and, with the hospitable promptitude of
country life, a comfortable meal was set before him.
Before another hour had elapsed, so strongly did the stranger's story of
himself interest the kind nature of his host, this act of common charity
was succeeded by an invitation to him to remain for a few days as the
guest of the house, which was thankfully accepted.
Senhor Mina, for this was the guest's name, was, as he said, a political
exile, and having strong claims of a pecuniary kind upon the American
government, he was on his way to the capital to prosecute them; when,
through a total failure of his resources, he became exposed to the
misery and want from which this providential chance had so happily
rescued him. His appearance at this point arose from his inability to
pay his fare on board the steam-boat; where some altercation taking
place between him and the captain, who charged him with a design to
cheat, it ended in his being summarily set ashore to make the best of
his way to the end of his journey.
The senhor was a scholar, was intelligent, and, what was better,
interesting, having visited many lands, and encountered many of the
adventurous perils of war and travel. He was here a penniless soldier in
"the land of the brave"--a friendless exile for liberty in the "home of
the free." He talked well; and by his enthusiastic discourses in favour
of equality and independence,--topics which possess a charm for most
American ears,--he quickly gained an interest in the best feelings of
his honest host. He sang as all Spaniards sing, and touched the guitar
as only Spaniards can; and with this artillery won yet more suddenly the
love of his host's frail wife.
Time passed rapidly in a little circle so happily constituted to banish
tedium: nor was business wanting to occupy a due share, for the senhor
despatched many letters; and, having established a correspondence with
the foreign-office, the necessity for his own presence at the seat of
government next became manifest. This was no sooner made known to Mr.
C---- than ample means were placed at Senhor Mina's disposal; when, with
the best wishes of the whole family, he took a short farewell of
Pennsylvania.
The absence of the interesting stranger was signalized by a change in
the habits and condition of this household as sudden as that which had
attended his first introduction to it. Mrs. C---- grew gradually
fretful, restless, and anxious; which might well be, for her husband was
on a sudden laid up with sickness, and their only child studiously
shunned their society, locking herself within her chamber, or moping
about the grounds she had so lately bounded over in the buoyancy of
health and happy youth.
The sequel was not long in arriving: the sick man daily grew worse and
weaker; and his wife, as was perfectly natural, daily grew more wretched
and impatient. She was assiduous to a jealous degree in the performance
of her duties and close attendance on her husband's bed; she mixed his
medicines, prepared his food and such diluents as were considered best
calculated to allay the fever that for ever burned him up. With his hand
within her's, she watched his last agonies, which were protracted and
extreme; and received from his lips grateful acknowledgments of her
unwearied kindness, and his dying blessing.
So far all went unsuspectedly and well: for one month the widow lived
unseen and retired, as became a sorrowing woman; but about the end of
that period, to the great surprise of the neighbourhood, she was made
again a bride by the grateful stranger, Senhor Mina.
And now it was that men began to shake their heads and find their
tongues; comments upon the shameless precipitancy of this wedding were
everywhere heard, mixed up with strange surmises, and suspicions too
horrible to remain long suppressed.
Curious inquiries were next made amongst the domestics, and one servant
girl quickly called to mind having noticed a sediment in the remains of
a basin of soup prepared by her mistress for the sick man, which having
been thrown to the poultry, together with some of the rice, these had
all since withered and died; nay, a hardy hog even, whose portion had
been small, with difficulty weathered an attack of sickness which had
quickly followed.
A legal inquiry was next demanded by the roused public, upon which such
strong evidence appeared as to render the exhumation of the body
necessary: the contents of the stomach were yet in a condition to admit
of chemical analyzation, and the exhibition of a large portion of
arsenic was by these means proven past doubt.
The unconscious senhor--with whom, during this part of the process, they
had prevented the miserable woman holding any communication--was
meantime busily prosecuting his affairs, whatever they were, amidst the
gaieties of Washington. One night, upon his return from a public ball,
he was arrested by an officer who had just reached his quarters with a
criminal warrant, taken back to the scene of his ingratitude, and,
together with the partner of his crime, put upon trial for the murder of
his benefactor.
The guilt of both parties was established, I believe, beyond a doubt;
but some legal loophole was found by which the woman was permitted to
elude the capital punishment, and condemned to live. The ungrateful
guest was sentenced to be hanged: shortly before the time of execution
he made full confession of his having planned and instigated the
poisoning of his unsuspecting host, and died the death of an assassin.
Here is a suite of horrors, plainly and briefly set down, sufficient to
supply stuff for any murder-loving three-volume novelist; yet is there
one other, and that not least, to be added; for it appeared in the
progress of the trial, and time in the ordinary course confirmed this
evidence, that the poor child, the daughter of the murderess, had fallen
a victim to the lust of this devil, Mina.
The fate of the girl and her infant I could not rightly learn; all that
was known, indeed, being her removal to some distant part of the
continent. The mother, it was believed, yet resided within the walls her
guilt has made for ever infamous.
The house is always pointed out to the passing stranger, and was, when I
saw it, no unfit monument of its owner's crime, and the curse which so
quickly followed on it. Its fences were thrown down, its outhouses in
ruin, the paths about it overgrown with filthy weeds; and the latticed
window-shutters, once gay as green paint could make them, now dirty and
broken, were left to swing loose from every wall. Still, evidences of
its being inhabited were exhibited about the yard, where a dog and a few
fowls lay basking; and suspended from the branch of a blighted tree,
standing near the fallen entrance-gate, hung an ill-inscribed sign,
bearing the inscription "_Temperance House_" in large characters.
A singular change,--the abode of the grossest lust, and the scene of the
foulest murder, perhaps, ever combined in the full catalogue of crime,
changed into a temple to Temperance.