I had no inclination nor power to move from this spot. For more than an
hour, my faculties and limbs seemed to be deprived of all activity.
The door below creaked on its hinges, and steps ascended the stairs. My
wandering and confused thoughts were instantly recalled by these sounds,
and dropping the curtain of the bed, I moved to a part of the room
where any one who entered should be visible; such are the vibrations of
sentiment, that notwithstanding the seeming fulfilment of my fears,
and increase of my danger, I was conscious, on this occasion, to no
turbulence but that of curiosity.
At length he entered the apartment, and I recognized my brother. It was
the same Wieland whom I had ever seen. Yet his features were pervaded by
a new expression. I supposed him unacquainted with the fate of his wife,
and his appearance confirmed this persuasion. A brow expanding into
exultation I had hitherto never seen in him, yet such a brow did he now
wear. Not only was he unapprized of the disaster that had happened,
but some joyous occurrence had betided. What a reverse was preparing to
annihilate his transitory bliss! No husband ever doated more fondly, for
no wife ever claimed so boundless a devotion. I was not uncertain as to
the effects to flow from the discovery of her fate. I confided not at
all in the efforts of his reason or his piety. There were few evils
which his modes of thinking would not disarm of their sting; but here,
all opiates to grief, and all compellers of patience were vain. This
spectacle would be unavoidably followed by the outrages of desperation,
and a rushing to death.
For the present, I neglected to ask myself what motive brought him
hither. I was only fearful of the effects to flow from the sight of the
dead. Yet could it be long concealed from him? Some time and speedily
he would obtain this knowledge. No stratagems could considerably or
usefully prolong his ignorance. All that could be sought was to take
away the abruptness of the change, and shut out the confusion of
despair, and the inroads of madness: but I knew my brother, and knew
that all exertions to console him would be fruitless.
What could I say? I was mute, and poured forth those tears on his
account, which my own unhappiness had been unable to extort. In the
midst of my tears, I was not unobservant of his motions. These were of
a nature to rouse some other sentiment than grief or, at least, to mix
with it a portion of astonishment.
His countenance suddenly became troubled. His hands were clasped with a
force that left the print of his nails in his flesh. His eyes were fixed
on my feet. His brain seemed to swell beyond its continent. He did not
cease to breathe, but his breath was stifled into groans. I had never
witnessed the hurricane of human passions. My element had, till lately,
been all sunshine and calm. I was unconversant with the altitudes and
energies of sentiment, and was transfixed with inexplicable horror by
the symptoms which I now beheld.
After a silence and a conflict which I could not interpret, he lifted
his eyes to heaven, and in broken accents exclaimed, "This is too much!
Any victim but this, and thy will be done. Have I not sufficiently
attested my faith and my obedience? She that is gone, they that have
perished, were linked with my soul by ties which only thy command would
have broken; but here is sanctity and excellence surpassing human. This
workmanship is thine, and it cannot be thy will to heap it into ruins."
Here suddenly unclasping his hands, he struck one of them against his
forehead, and continued--"Wretch! who made thee quicksighted in the
councils of thy Maker? Deliverance from mortal fetters is awarded to
this being, and thou art the minister of this decree."
So saying, Wieland advanced towards me. His words and his motions were
without meaning, except on one supposition. The death of Catharine was
already known to him, and that knowledge, as might have been suspected,
had destroyed his reason. I had feared nothing less; but now that I
beheld the extinction of a mind the most luminous and penetrating that
ever dignified the human form, my sensations were fraught with new and
insupportable anguish.
I had not time to reflect in what way my own safety would be effected by
this revolution, or what I had to dread from the wild conceptions of a
madman. He advanced towards me. Some hollow noises were wafted by the
breeze. Confused clamours were succeeded by many feet traversing the
grass, and then crowding into the piazza.
These sounds suspended my brother's purpose, and he stood to listen. The
signals multiplied and grew louder; perceiving this, he turned from me,
and hurried out of my sight. All about me was pregnant with motives to
astonishment. My sister's corpse, Wieland's frantic demeanour, and, at
length, this crowd of visitants so little accorded with my foresight,
that my mental progress was stopped. The impulse had ceased which was
accustomed to give motion and order to my thoughts.
Footsteps thronged upon the stairs, and presently many faces shewed
themselves within the door of my apartment. These looks were full of
alarm and watchfulness. They pryed into corners as if in search of
some fugitive; next their gaze was fixed upon me, and betokened all the
vehemence of terror and pity. For a time I questioned whether these were
not shapes and faces like that which I had seen at the bottom of the
stairs, creatures of my fancy or airy existences. My eye wandered from
one to another, till at length it fell on a countenance which I well
knew. It was that of Mr. Hallet. This man was a distant kinsman of my
mother, venerable for his age, his uprightness, and sagacity. He had
long discharged the functions of a magistrate and good citizen. If any
terrors remained, his presence was sufficient to dispel them.
He approached, took my hand with a compassionate air, and said in a low
voice, "Where, my dear Clara, are your brother and sister?" I made no
answer, but pointed to the bed. His attendants drew aside the curtain,
and while their eyes glared with horror at the spectacle which they
beheld, those of Mr. Hallet overflowed with tears.
After considerable pause, he once more turned to me. "My dear girl,
this sight is not for you. Can you confide in my care, and that of Mrs.
Baynton's? We will see performed all that circumstances require."
I made strenuous opposition to this request. I insisted on remaining
near her till she were interred. His remonstrances, however, and my own
feelings, shewed me the propriety of a temporary dereliction. Louisa
stood in need of a comforter, and my brother's children of a nurse. My
unhappy brother was himself an object of solicitude and care. At length,
I consented to relinquish the corpse, and go to my brother's, whose
house, I said, would need mistress, and his children a parent.
During this discourse, my venerable friend struggled with his tears, but
my last intimation called them forth with fresh violence. Meanwhile,
his attendants stood round in mournful silence, gazing on me and at each
other. I repeated my resolution, and rose to execute it; but he took my
hand to detain me. His countenance betrayed irresolution and reluctance.
I requested him to state the reason of his opposition to this measure.
I entreated him to be explicit. I told him that my brother had just been
there, and that I knew his condition. This misfortune had driven him
to madness, and his offspring must not want a protector. If he chose,
I would resign Wieland to his care; but his innocent and helpless babes
stood in instant need of nurse and mother, and these offices I would by
no means allow another to perform while I had life.
Every word that I uttered seemed to augment his perplexity and distress.
At last he said, "I think, Clara, I have entitled myself to some regard
from you. You have professed your willingness to oblige me. Now I call
upon you to confer upon me the highest obligation in your power. Permit
Mrs. Baynton to have the management of your brother's house for two or
three days; then it shall be yours to act in it as you please. No matter
what are my motives in making this request: perhaps I think your
age, your sex, or the distress which this disaster must occasion,
incapacitates you for the office. Surely you have no doubt of Mrs.
Baynton's tenderness or discretion." New ideas now rushed into my mind.
I fixed my eyes stedfastly on Mr. Hallet. "Are they well?" said I. "Is
Louisa well? Are Benjamin, and William, and Constantine, and Little
Clara, are they safe? Tell me truly, I beseech you!"
"They are well," he replied; "they are perfectly safe."
"Fear no effeminate weakness in me: I can bear to hear the truth. Tell
me truly, are they well?"
He again assured me that they were well.
"What then," resumed I, "do you fear? Is it possible for any calamity to
disqualify me for performing my duty to these helpless innocents? I
am willing to divide the care of them with Mrs. Baynton; I shall be
grateful for her sympathy and aid; but what should I be to desert them
at an hour like this!"
I will cut short this distressful dialogue. I still persisted in my
purpose, and he still persisted in his opposition. This excited my
suspicions anew; but these were removed by solemn declarations of their
safety. I could not explain this conduct in my friend; but at length
consented to go to the city, provided I should see them for a few
minutes at present, and should return on the morrow.
Even this arrangement was objected to. At length he told me they were
removed to the city. Why were they removed, I asked, and whither? My
importunities would not now be eluded. My suspicions were roused, and no
evasion or artifice was sufficient to allay them. Many of the audience
began to give vent to their emotions in tears. Mr. Hallet himself seemed
as if the conflict were too hard to be longer sustained. Something
whispered to my heart that havoc had been wider than I now witnessed.
I suspected this concealment to arise from apprehensions of the
effects which a knowledge of the truth would produce in me. I once
more entreated him to inform me truly of their state. To enforce my
entreaties, I put on an air of insensibility. "I can guess," said I,
"what has happened--They are indeed beyond the reach of injury, for they
are dead! Is it not so?" My voice faltered in spite of my courageous
efforts.
"Yes," said he, "they are dead! Dead by the same fate, and by the same
hand, with their mother!"
"Dead!" replied I; "what, all?"
"All!" replied he: "he spared _not one!_"
Allow me, my friends, to close my eyes upon the after-scene. Why should
I protract a tale which I already begin to feel is too long? Over this
scene at least let me pass lightly. Here, indeed, my narrative would be
imperfect. All was tempestuous commotion in my heart and in my brain. I
have no memory for ought but unconscious transitions and rueful sights.
I was ingenious and indefatigable in the invention of torments. I would
not dispense with any spectacle adapted to exasperate my grief. Each
pale and mangled form I crushed to my bosom. Louisa, whom I loved with
so ineffable a passion, was denied to me at first, but my obstinacy
conquered their reluctance.
They led the way into a darkened hall. A lamp pendant from the ceiling
was uncovered, and they pointed to a table. The assassin had defrauded
me of my last and miserable consolation. I sought not in her visage, for
the tinge of the morning, and the lustre of heaven. These had vanished
with life; but I hoped for liberty to print a last kiss upon her lips.
This was denied me; for such had been the merciless blow that destroyed
her, that not a _lineament remained!_
I was carried hence to the city. Mrs. Hallet was my companion and my
nurse. Why should I dwell upon the rage of fever, and the effusions
of delirium? Carwin was the phantom that pursued my dreams, the giant
oppressor under whose arm I was for ever on the point of being crushed.
Strenuous muscles were required to hinder my flight, and hearts of steel
to withstand the eloquence of my fears. In vain I called upon them to
look upward, to mark his sparkling rage and scowling contempt. All I
sought was to fly from the stroke that was lifted. Then I heaped upon my
guards the most vehement reproaches, or betook myself to wailings on the
haplessness of my condition.
This malady, at length, declined, and my weeping friends began to look
for my restoration. Slowly, and with intermitted beams, memory revisited
me. The scenes that I had witnessed were revived, became the theme
of deliberation and deduction, and called forth the effusions of more
rational sorrow.