I was still in a most profound sleep, when I was woke by some one
shaking me rudely by the arm; and starting up, I found my chamber full
of the officers of justice. By my side stood an alguacil, and at my
table, a sort of escribano was already taking a precise account of the
state of the apartment, while in conjunction with him, various members
of the Holy Brotherhood were examining without ceremony every article
of my apparel.
For a moment or two, the surprise, mingled with the consciousness of
what might be laid to my charge, confounded and bewildered me, and I
gazed about upon all that was taking place with the stupid stare of
one still half asleep. I soon, however, recovered myself, and
hurriedly determined in my own mind the line of conduct that it was
necessary to pursue, both for the purpose of saving myself, and
shielding the unfortunate girl, of whose crime I doubted not that I
should be accused.
The alguacil was proceeding, with a face in which he had concentrated
all the stray beams of transmitted authority, to question me in a very
high tone respecting my occupations of the foregoing night; when I cut
him short by demanding what he and his myrmidons did in my apartment,
and warning him, that if he expected to extort money from me by such a
display, he was labouring in vain. The worthy officer expressed
himself as much offended at this insinuation as if it had been true,
and informed me that he had come to arrest me on the charge of having
the night before murdered in cold blood one Father Acevido, and cast
him into the fosse below the old wall. He farther added, that a
messenger had been sent for the corregidor, who was at a small town
not far off, and that he was expected in an hour.
"Well, then," replied I, boldly, "wake me when he comes, and make as
little noise as possible at present," and I turned round on my other
side, as if to address myself to sleep. My real purpose, however, was
twofold: to gain time for thought, and to avoid all questions from the
alguacil, till I had learned upon what grounds I was accused.
But in this I was defeated by Father Francis, who interfered with the
best intentions in the world, and advancing, addressed me in French,
whereupon the alguacil instantly stopped him, declaring he would not
have any conversation in a foreign tongue.
"Houssaye!" cried I, turning to the old soldier, and pointing to the
alguacil, while I spoke out in Spanish,--"if that fellow meddles any
more kick him down stairs. And now, my good father, what were you
about to say?"
This conduct, impudent as it was, I well knew was the only thing that
could save me from being questioned and cross-examined by the inferior
officers before the arrival of the corregidor. If I answered, I might
embarrass myself in my after-defence, and if I refused to answer, my
contumacy would be construed into guilt; all that remained, therefore,
was to treat the alguacils with a degree of scorn which would check
their interrogation in its very commencement, and which was in some
degree justified by the well-known corruption and mercenary character
of the inferior officers of the Spanish police. This proceeding seemed
to have the full effect which I intended; for the pompous official not
only ceased his questions, but at the hint of being kicked, suffered
Father Francis to go on, judging very wisely, that, however justice
might afterwards avenge him, his posteriors would at all events suffer
in the meantime.
"My dear Louis," said the good priest, "you had better rise and clear
yourself from the accusation of these men. Every one in this house
knows your innocence; but here is an officer of the _real hacienda_
without, who swears that he saw the murderer enter this house, and we
have all suffered ourselves to be examined previous to your having
been disturbed. Rise, then, and when you have dressed yourself, permit
him to see that you are not the person, and probably by answering the
questions of these people, you may save yourself from being dragged
before the corregidor, like a culprit."
I replied with the same bold tone which I had at first assumed, and
still speaking aloud in Spanish, "In regard to answering any questions
put to me by these knaves, who are but as the skirts of the robe of
office, I shall certainly not demean myself so far; but, to whatever
the corregidor chooses to demand, I will reply instantly, for I am
sure that he will not countenance a plot of this kind, which, beyond
all doubt, has been contrived to extort money from a stranger; I will
rise, however, as you seem to wish it, and then all the world may look
at me as long as they will."
I accordingly rose and dressed myself, putting on, though I own it was
not without much reluctance, the same murrey-coloured suit I had worn
the night before. As soon as I was dressed, the officer of the _real
hacienda_ was called in, and immediately pointed me out, saying, "That
is the man!" in so positive a tone, that it required all the
resolution I possessed to demand, with a contemptuous smile, "Pray,
sir, how much is it you expect to extort from me, by averring such a
notorious falsehood?--Take notice, if it be above half a rial, you
shall not have it."
"If you were to give me all that you possess, young gentleman,"
answered the man, calmly and civilly, "I would still aver the same
thing--that you are the man who cast the dead body of Father Acevido
into the fosse last night, while I was on duty, seeing that no
contraband things were brought into the city. I tracked you through
the streets till you entered this house, and I took good care to
remark your person so as to identify it anywhere."
The man was so clear in his statement, and I knew it to be so true,
that the blood mounted up into my face, in spite of every effort I
could make to maintain my air of scornful indignation.
"Ha, ha! you colour!" said the alguacil; "what do you say to that, my
young don?"
"I say," replied I, turning upon him fiercely, "that this man's story
has been well contrived, and that he tells it coolly; but, depend on
it, my good friend, when I have cleared myself of this, my remembrance
and thanks shall light upon your shoulders in the most tangible form I
can discover. But now, take me to the corregidor; only, while I am
gone, let some honest person stay and watch these gentry who are
fingering my apparel, or they will save Senor Escribano the trouble of
making a very long catalogue."
A crowd of persons were round the door, gossiping with an alguacil,
who had been left there as a sort of guard; and the moment I was
brought out, the noise they were making very much increased with the
vociferous delight which all vulgar minds experience on beholding
criminals. It is a strange, devilish propensity that in human nature:
the child loves to torture the fly or the worm, the serf runs to see
the victim struggling at the gallows, or writhing on the wheel; and it
is in the child and the vulgar that human nature shines out in its
original metal, unsilvered over by the false hue of education. Those
who have best defended man, attribute his passion for scenes of blood
and horror to the renewed feeling which he thence derives of his own
security. And is there, then, no way of showing him not cruel, but by
proving him base? Must he ever be vilely selfish, if he is not
savagely brutal?
The populace roared, as I came forth, with such a shout as we may
suppose those refined tigers the Romans bestowed on the devoted
gladiator when he entered the arena. I felt certain the sounds must
reach another person, to whose bosom they would convey greater pangs
than even to mine; and though I could not pause to observe anything
minutely, as I was hurried on, I glanced my eye up towards the window
on the other side of the way, and I am sure I saw a female hand rest
on one of the bars of the _jalousie_.
Scarcely two minutes were occupied in bringing me round to the great
entrance of the corregidor's house; and finding that he had not
arrived, the alguacils made me sit down in a large hall, keeping every
one else out, even Father Francis and Houssaye; and enjoying my
society, uninterrupted by the presence of any one but the servants of
the corregidor.
Whether it was done on purpose, or not, I cannot say; but first one
dropped away, and then another, till I was left alone with the chief
alguacil, who, the moment they were all gone, addressed me with a
meaning sort of smile--"Now, young sir," said he, "what would you give
to get off?"
Doubtless, as many bargains are made in halls of justice as on the
exchange, and I was even then very well aware that such is the case;
but I knew not whether, if my offers did not equal the incorruptible
officer's expectation, my words might not be made use of against
myself, and therefore I simply replied, "Nothing!" At the same time, I
cannot deny that I would willingly have given my whole inheritance to
have been safe on the other side of the Pyrenees.
No long time was allowed for deliberation, for a moment after, the
corregidor arrived, and, as if by magic, I found myself instantly
surrounded by all the alguacils and servants who had before
disappeared.
The magistrate did not pass through the hall wherein I was detained,
but after a few minutes, probably spent by him in receiving an account
of the whole transaction, an officer approached, and led me to a small
audience-room, in which he was seated. Before him was a table with a
clerk, and behind him two doors leading to the domestic parts of his
dwelling.
He appeared to me about sixty, and was as noble a looking man as I had
ever beheld. In his face I could trace all his daughter's features,
raised and strengthened into the perfection of masculine beauty; and,
though his hair was as white as snow, and time had laid a long wrinkle
or two across the broad expanse of his forehead, yet age, in other
respects, had dealt mildly with him, and left the fine arch of his lip
unbroken, nor stolen one ray of light from his clear intellectual eye.
As I approached the table at which he was seated, he gazed at me with
a steady, but yet a feeling glance, and pointed to a seat:--"I am
sorry, sir," he said, "that one so young, so noble in appearance, and
especially a stranger to this country, should be accused before me of
a great and dreadful crime, by an officer who, having in all relations
of life conducted himself well, leaves no reason to suppose he acts on
culpable motives. The duty of my office is a strict one; and whatever
prepossession I may feel in your favour, all I can do is to receive
the accuser's evidence before you; and then, if no evident falsehood
appears in his testimony, to order your detention till the case can be
examined at large, and judged according to its merits."
In the calm dignity of his manner, and the mild firmness of his tone,
there was something far more appalling to my mind, knowing well, as I
did, the truth of the charge against me, than any menaces could have
been. I felt no inclination, and indeed no power, to treat the
accusation with that scorn and indignation which I had formerly
affected, but advancing towards the table at which the corregidor was
seated, I replied as calmly as I could, "You seem, sir, well inclined
to do me justice, and I must consequently leave my fate in your hands;
but before you commit me to a prison, which is in itself a punishment,
and consequently an act of injustice to an innocent man, permit me to
make one or two observations in my own defence."
"Certainly," replied the corregidor. "I hold myself bound to attend to
every reasonable argument you can adduce, although I am afraid my duty
will not permit me to interpose between an accused person and the
regular course of investigation. But proceed!"
"In the first place, then," I replied, "I have to protest my innocence
of the blood which is laid to my charge, in the most solemn manner--on
my honour as a gentleman, on my faith as a Christian. In the next
place, I have to ask whether there exists the least probability that I
should murder in cold blood a stranger, with whom I had no
acquaintance; for I defy any one to show that I knew one single priest
in this city, or was ever seen to speak to one. In addition to this,
which makes my guilt highly improbable, let me beg you to examine my
preceptor, my valet, and the proprietors of the house in which I
lodge."
"I am afraid that will be impossible in this stage of the business,"
replied the magistrate, "without some glaring discrepancy appears in
the accuser's testimony; but let him be called in."
Hitherto the audience-chamber had been occupied alone by the
corregidor, his secretary, two alguacils, and myself, but the moment
afterwards the doors were opened, and a rush of people took place from
without, filling up the space behind me. The presence of the multitude
made my heart beat, I confess, and turning my head, I beheld amongst
other faces those of Father Francis, of Houssaye, of the landlady of
our dwelling, and, lastly, of the Chevalier de Montenero. The last was
a countenance I wished not to behold, and the one glance of his eye
pained me more than all the busy whispering and observations of the
mob. The officer of the _real hacienda_ was now called forward, and
immediately swore positively to my person, as well as to having
tracked me through various turnings and windings to the end of the
street wherein I lodged, from whence he saw me enter the house in
which I was taken. He then clearly described the manner in which I had
cast the body over into the water, and its state and situation when he
found it, after having called the city guard to his assistance.
At this moment the Chevalier advanced through the crowd, and passing
round the table, took a seat beside the corregidor, who seemed to know
him well. "Will you permit me," said he, addressing the magistrate,
"to ask this man a few questions? I am deeply interested in the young
gentleman whom he accuses, and who, I feel sure, is incapable of
committing an action like that attributed to him. Do you permit me?"
The corregidor signified his assent; and the Chevalier, without a word
or a look towards me, proceeded to question my accuser with the keen
and rapid acumen of one long accustomed to hunt out truth through all
the intricacies in which human cunning can involve her. He did not,
indeed, attempt to puzzle or to frighten him, but by what he wrung
from him he gave a very different colouring to his evidence against
me. He made him own that he had but seen me in the shadow; that I had
never for a moment emerged into even the moonlight; and that when he
arrived at the end of the street where I lodged, he was so far behind
that he but caught a glimpse of my figure entering the house. The
Chevalier did more; he drew from him an acknowledgment that he had
entertained some doubts as to which house it was; and then he argued
how liable one might be to mistake the person of another under such
circumstances. "Even I myself," said the Chevalier, in a tone full of
meaning to my ears--"even I myself have been sometimes greatly
deceived in thinking I recognised those even I know best, when
circumstances have afterwards proved that it could not have been
them"--and he glanced his eye to my face with a look that I could not
misunderstand.
The man, however, still swore decidedly to my person; and my good
friend the pompous alguacil, probably to repay me for the disrespect
with which I had treated him in the morning, now advanced, and pointed
out to the corregidor that my pourpoint had been washed in more than
one place.
This was quite sufficient. A loud murmur ran through the crowd; the
Chevalier clenched his teeth and was silent, and the corregidor's brow
gathered into a heavy frown:--but as he was in the very act of
ordering me to be conveyed to the town prison, one of the doors behind
him opened, and a servant entering, whispered something in his ear.
"I cannot come now!" cried the corregidor, hastily; "I am
busy--engaged in the duties of my office--and I will not be
disturbed."
"Then I am to give you this, sir," replied the servant, and, placing
in his hand a small note, he bowed and retired.
The corregidor opened the paper, and glanced his eye over its
contents. As he did so, his cheek became deadly pale, and the ball of
his eye seemed straining from its socket. "Wait, wait!" cried he at
length to the alguacils; "wait till I come back!" and, starting from
his seat, he retired by the same door which had admitted the servant.
As soon as he was gone, the restraint which respect for his person and
office had before imposed upon the people, seemed at once thrown off,
the murmur of voices canvassing the whole affair became loud and
general, and many persons advanced to look at me, though the officers
would not allow any one to speak to me. The Chevalier turned away, and
walking to one of the windows, folded his arms upon his breast, and
continued to look into the street, without offering me even a look of
consolation. I understood all the doubts that now tenanted his bosom,
and yet, though I knew their cause, I felt hurt and offended that he
should entertain them. In the meanwhile, I heard the tongue of our
good landlady, whose favour I had won by joking with her whenever I
met her on the stairs, now loud in my defence; and however weak an
organ may seem the tongue of an old woman, it in this instance, by
continual reiteration and replication, completely effected a
revolution in the popular feeling towards me; so much so, indeed, that
two monks, who had before been whispering that I ought to be given up
to the holy Inquisition, now took a different view of the case, and
declared they believed me innocent.
Half an hour--an hour elapsed, and yet the corregidor did not return,
during which time the feelings of my heart may easily be conceived. At
length, however, he came, but never, before or since, have I beheld
such a change take place in any man so rapidly. I have seen age come
on by slow degrees, one year after another, stealing still some
faculty or some power, till all was nothing--I have seen rapid disease
wear quickly away each grace of youth, and each energy of manhood; but
never but that once have I seen the pangs of the mind, in one single
hour, change health, and vigour, and noble bearing to age, infirmity,
and almost decrepitude.
A murmur of astonishment and grief ran through the people, by whom he
was much beloved. Casting himself recklessly in the chair, he turned
to his secretary. "Call the witnesses," said he, "that the accused
proposed to adduce.--This case is an obscure one.--Take their
evidence--I am not capable."
The clerk immediately desired me, in the name of the corregidor, to
bring forward any persons who were likely to disprove the testimony
against me.
Father Francis was of course the first I called. He swore that I had
left him, and entered my own chamber for the purpose of going to bed,
at ten o'clock on the night of the murder. He farther said, that he
had remained reading till one in the morning, and must have heard me
if I had gone down the stairs--which, indeed, would have been the case
if my step had been as heavy as it usually was.
As to Houssaye, he swore through thick and thin, and, could he have
known my wishes, would have witnessed anything I liked to dictate. In
the first place, he declared he had undressed me, and seen me in bed.
In the next, he vowed he had washed out several oil spots upon my
doublet the day before: and in the third, that he lay with his door,
at the top of the stairs, open all night; that he had never closed an
eye till daybreak, and, finally, that I had certainly never passed
that way. "I might have got out at the window, it was true," he
observed; "but that, my window being forty feet from the street, it
was not very probable I should have chosen such a means of descent."
I need scarcely say, that though his deposition was assuredly a very
splendid effort of genius, yet there was, nevertheless, not a word of
truth in it.
The next person I called was the landlady, who gave evidence that she
found the door (which she had fastened the night before with various
bolts, bars, and locks, which she described,) exactly in the same
state as that in which she left it; and, in the end, availing herself
of her privilege, she turned round, and abused my accuser with great
volubility and effect.
The uncertain wind of popular opinion had now completely veered about;
and many of those who were behind me scrupled not to proclaim aloud
that I had established my innocence, the news of which, spreading to a
multitude of persons collected without, produced a shout amongst them,
which seemed painfully to affect the corregidor. "Hush!" cried he,
raising his hand,--"Hush! I entreat--I command! This young gentleman
is evidently innocent; but do not insult my sorrow. My good friends
and fellow-citizens," he proceeded, making a great effort to speak
calmly, "I have always tried to act towards you all as a common
father, and I am sure that you love me sufficiently to leave me, and
retire quietly and in silence, when I tell you, that I have now no
other children but yourselves. My daughter--is dead!" and covering his
eyes with his hands, he gave way to a passionate burst of tears.
A deep silence reigned for a moment or two amongst the people, as if
they could scarcely believe what they had heard: then one whispered to
another, and dropping gradually away, they left the audience chamber.
A momentary murmur was heard without, as the sad news was told and
commented in the crowd: it also died away, and all was silence.
But what were my own sensations? I can hardly tell. At first I stood
as one thunder-struck, with power to feel much, but not to reason on
it. It seemed as if I had killed her; and for long I could not
persuade myself that I was in no way accessory to her death. After a
moment or two, however, my thoughts were interrupted by the
corregidor, who recovered himself, and, wiping the tears from his
eyes, rose and turned towards Father Francis.
"Your pupil, sir," said he, in a calm, firm tone, "is free; but yet,
notwithstanding the melancholy event which has occurred in my family,
I will ask a few minutes' private conversation with him, as I wish to
give him some advice, which he may find of service. He shall return
home in half an hour. Signor Conde de Montenero," he proceeded,
speaking to the Chevalier, "I know you will pardon me in leaving you.
Young gentleman, will you accompany me?"
The Chevalier bowed, and retired with Father Francis and Houssaye, and
the corregidor led me into a long gallery, and thence into private
room beyond.
On the table lay my sword, which I had left behind the night before,
forgetting it in the agitation of the moment. The corregidor shut the
door, and pointed to the weapon with a look of that unutterable,
heart-broken despair, which was agonising even to behold. The thoughts
of all that had passed--the lovely enchanting girl that he had
lost--his passionate affection towards her--the knowledge he must now
have of her crime--the desolation of his age--the void that must be in
his heart--the horrid absence of love and of hope--the agony of
memory--I saw them all in that look, and they found their way to every
sympathy of my nature.
I must have been marble, or have wept--I could not help it; and the
old man cast himself upon my neck, and mingled his tears with mine.
"Count Louis," said the corregidor, after we had somewhat mastered our
first agitation, "I know all. My unfortunate child, before the poison
she had taken had completed her fatal intention, told me everything.
Her love for you--your generous self-sacrifice to her--all is
known to me. You pity me--I see you pity me. If you do, grant me
the only solace that my misery can have--respect my poor child's
memory!--Promise me--and I know your promise is inviolable--never
while you are in Spain, or to a Spaniard, on any account, or for any
reason, to divulge the fatal history, of which you are the only
depository; and even if you tell her story in other countries, oh! add
that her crimes were greatly her weak father's fault, who, with a
foolish fondness, gave way to all her inclinations, and thus pampered
the passions that proved her ruin and her death."
I could not refuse him; I promised--and was glad, at least, to see
that the assurance of my secrecy took some part, even though a small
one, from the load of misery that had fallen upon him. He spoke to me
long and tenderly, advising me to quit Spain as soon as possible, lest
the Inquisition should regard the matter as within their cognisance,
from the murdered man having been a priest. At length I took leave of
him, renewing my promise, and returned home, with a heart saddened and
rebuked, but I hope amended and improved.