whole front, excepting the wings and the towers. Narrow long passages
connect the wings with the main building; and the passage nearest my
side of the gallery, conducts you by a short flight of steps immediately
up to Miss Valmont's abode. But this is not the road we are to take,
because in a little room within that passage sleeps her attendant,
silent Andrew; and we choose not to pass so near him, lest perhaps these
resounding walls tell him of our footsteps.--Our's is a more intricate
path. The adjoining antichamber will lead us to a narrower stair-case;
descending this, we shall cross some of the lower apartments; and,
making a circuit, gain the bottom of the West Tower; from whence, alleys
and winding stone stairs will introduce us to the end of Miss Valmont's
gallery, opposite to that we must have entered had we gone in the
straight forward direction. We deem it advisable to descend with our
charge the same way, and to leave the castle by a little door in the
West Tower. It is, to be sure, on the wrong side, and will oblige us to
carry our burthen, if the young lady should not be disposed just then to
make use of her limbs, so much the further.
Griffiths' brother is a strong, bony, dark-looking fellow. Strength will
be necessary, if persuasion should fail; and I cannot spare more than
ten minutes to try the effects of my rhetoric. I will enter first; and,
should a shriek of surprise or shriek of rapture (remember my person,
Walter) escape her, the closed doors, distance of situation, and sleep
of security, will prevent Andrew from hearing. Indeed, should he,
mal-a-propos, interfere, it is only the extra trouble of _binding_ him
to good behaviour. It did once enter my thoughts to bribe this old
fellow to our purposes, but the attempt might have wrought a discovery.
Fearing nothing, he suspects nothing; absence of all care and a warm
night-cap lull him to repose:--and pleasant be his dreams.--Ours all the
hazard! Ours the reward! I have promised 500l. to Griffiths, and 100l.
to his brother. My share of the plunder is to them a secret.
Now, though I allow the damsel one squall, yet I positively interdict
any repetitions of the sort; and as, you know, I immediately became the
arbiter of her fate, the sooner I accustom her to implicit obedience,
the easier it will be to both in future.
Walter, I mend! My flagging spirits begin to bound and curvet. Oh! when
we are once seated in that chaise and four, which now waits our coming
in a retired corner, not above a hundred yards from the other side of
the moat, how will my imagination outstrip the speed of the horses!
Dost thou talk of pursuit, Walter.--No! no! I mock pursuit! Supposing we
get not away till three or four, we still shall have six or seven hours
advantage in point of time. Then the old dons won't dream which way we
are gone.--They do not know, what you and I do know, the great reward
attendant on my deed; and, sorrowfully remembering the wickedness and
sinfulness of their own youthful hearts, they will unrighteously judge
of me, and sit down piteously to lament the loss of the lady's honour,
whilst I, like a good Christian and worthy member of society, so far
from diminishing am increasing her stock of honour, for the honour of a
virgin is but a single portion, whereas, according to wise institutions,
the honour of a wife is twofold--she bearing her husband's honour and
her own. Pray heaven the cargo be not too mighty!
'Where is Lord Filmar?' says one of the party assembled at ten to-morrow
morning to breakfast in Monkton Hall parlour.
'Tell Griffiths to let his lordship know we expect him at
breakfast,'--says the earl.
'I told Mr. Griffiths, my lord,' replies the footman (one servant will
always lie for another), 'but he says his lordship is asleep.'
This produces many pleasant allusions to last night's intemperance among
the good souls; and they go to breakfast without me. Now, in the
steward's room, one wonders Mr. Griffiths is not come home, a second
wonders at my good nature and his faults, and a fourth wonders I do not
awake. Amidst all this wit and wonder, another hour or two passes; and
then two or three more probably in the surmises occasioned by the
discovery of my absence.
The servants of the castle in the mean time are employed in their usual
occupations, not at all surprised that their visitors had quitted them
early unseen, because it had been so intended by them. Andrew, indeed,
waits Miss Valmont's summons for breakfast, and deems it somewhat tardy.
He concludes her walk to be unusually pleasing, and eats his own repast
in peace and quietness. At length, his thoughts verge towards the
extraordinary, and he inclines to seek further.
No, Andrew, 'tis in vain you search. No fair wood-nymph greets your eye.
No voice answers to your call.----Ay! ay! assemble them:--hold your
convocations in the great hall:--crowd, closer and closer:--whisper your
suspicions, lest the dread ear of Valmont catch the tidings, that--_she
is gone!_--Who shall carry these tidings to Mr. Valmont?--Not I! not I!
not I! answers every voice at once; and up to the hall door drives his
coach and six. Away fly the pale culprits!--Jostling against each other,
confusion retards their speed, and the dreadful secret is in part
betrayed.
Fye! Mr. Valmont, fye! don't swear! don't call hard names!
Can't you hear him, Walter, declaring his rage, and threatening his
vengeance?--I can.
Ill news fly fast. Mr. Valmont's horses are not unharnessed.--Turn your
eyes to Monkton Hall. See the squire enter--See the earl turn pale; the
baronet attempt to look sorry; and see them, as I before observed,
sitting in judgment on me, and putting their own black constructions on
my innocent praise-worthy intentions.
Assuredly, Walter, could I have commanded every circumstance in my own
way, it could not have happened more favourably. Mr. Valmont's porter is
ill, and has been removed from the lodge into the house to be better
nursed. Two grooms were deputed to take care of the draw-bridge. Mr.
Valmont absent, we found it down; and down it remains now.--With what
art Griffiths drew off the postilion, while I got into the chaise! The
lad had not a suspicion he carried more than two--I crouched to the
bottom, as they got out; and Griffiths whip'd up the blinds in an
instant. He gave me one complete fright, for we had agreed the postilion
should follow them into the house to be paid, while I freed myself;
imagine how I trembled to hear them discharging him on the spot, and he
thanking and wishing their honours good night.
'Stop my boy,' at length, cried Griffiths; 'hasn't thou got a wet
jacket?'
'Yes, indeed, master,' replied the postilion, ''tis well soaked.'
'Why you griping old fellow,' this was addressed to the butler, who had
come out to meet them, 'you grow as stingy as your master!--Why don't
you offer the lad a little inside clothing? Come, postilion, come, you
shall go in and drink my health in a bumper. But first, my boy, lead
your horses under that arch, and they escape being wetter.' Then
singing, he led the whole train into the back part of the castle.
Now this thought of the arch was the luckiest imaginable; for, had any
of the grooms by chance staid loitering about the yard, the chaise was
then so effectually screened, they could not have seen me descend from
it. Turning on the right side of the arch, I crept along the front of
the castle, crossed the inner court, and the hall door, with one gentle
push, gave me admittance. Had the door been fastened, I must have waited
there till Griffiths could steal an opportunity to let me in. In this
part of the castle 'twas dark, as darkness itself; but as I had been in
this apartment before, and came by the great stair-case, I found my way
hither without trip or stumble. Griff----I fancied,--Nay, I'm sure, I
heard a noise!--yet, all is silent again.--It was like the creaking of a
door, and like something falling.----Rat's probably; the midnight
tenants of the mansion.
Good God, how slowly the minutes move! only seventeen minutes and a half
after twelve!--Astonishing!--that must be hail surely! I never heard
rain drive with such impetuosity.--The casements tremble. I could almost
fancy the building rocks with the tempest's violence.
What wonders will not education, custom, and habit accomplish! Miss
Valmont, I dare say, feels no horror in listening to such sounds, nor
tracing these murmuring galleries, lonely staircases, &c. I should not
exist six months in this castle.--She must, indeed, be a strange
unformed being!--Her portrait, that I told you of, hangs in this very
room; and on my conscience it would persuade me she is an animated
intelligent creature; but I know 'tis impossible; and now and then, when
the 6000l. per annum gets a little into the shade, I anticipate fearful
things.
It is fortunate, Walter, that she has the advantages of person, for, on
that account, I shall have a little the less reluctance in showing her
to the world, and a little more pleasure in attempting to humanize
her.--Yet, I fear, it will be but gawky beauty neither, and that I
abominate.--Robust health, no doubt; strong limbs; hanging arms; a
gigantic stride; and the open-mouthed stare of a savage!--Oh, dear!
I must be fond too, I suppose, as we travel towards matrimony; but I
don't feel the least inclined to fondness!--No! although I shall seize
her unattired in bed, perhaps.--No: not one wild wish or mischievous
thought will enter my bosom.--My pulse will continue to beat evenly.--My
blood keep in its temperate course. I shall be a perfect anchorite. For
me, she can have no enticements.----My----Merciful! Do I
dream?----or----
* * * * *
Boyer, am I not in Valmont castle?--Did I not come hither to carry off
the niece of Valmont? And was that bright vision the Sibella Valmont
whom I have so traduced?--Hush! Walter! repeat not my crime, if thou
hopest for peace in this world, or happiness in the next! It could not
be her, her that I came in search of!--Yes, but it was her. Angel as she
is in form, her heart is the heart of a mortal still. 'Oh, Clement!'
said she, and, spreading one hand upon her heaving bosom, sighed
deeply.--She addressed herself to that picture.
'Art thou safe, my love?--terrifying dreams disturb my rest!' She saw me
not, for her back was toward me as she entered. 'Heaven preserve my
Clement!' said she again after a pause.
She would have continued thus soliloquizing, but I, to gain a view of
her face, attempted to change my attitude. My cursed coat had somehow
got entangled in the chair, and threw it against the table as I moved.
She turned around; and I, as in the presence of a goddess, bowed lowly
to the very ground.
She then approached nearer; and my eyes retreated from the scrutiny with
which she viewed me. The examination lasted more than a minute; and all
that time I was racking my invention to find words to address her, but I
might as well have been born dumb: I had neither articulation, nor
sounds to articulate.
'Mark me, Sir,' said she, and I, like the idiot I had been describing
her, bowed again: 'Mr. Valmont may bring you here; may make this castle
my prison; but my will is free. I tell you, Sir, I am beyond your reach.
Remember it, I am beyond your reach.'--And away she glided.
'_Mr. Valmont may bring you here._' Why, who the devil could she take me
for? I thought Mr. Valmont brought nobody here!--'_I am beyond your
reach._' Say not so, sweet saint!--I would not have you now beyond my
reach for a king's ransom. If she should alarm the house,
Walter.----Hark!----No.--'Tis nothing.--she knew me: yet knew me
not.--defied me: yet is a stranger to my purpose.--What can all this
mean?--Ha! then it may be true, that this frightful place has deranged
her intellects!--Certainly that is the case. She looked a lovely
lunatic, wrapped up in a loose gown, her hair streaming at its length;
and arisen, in the dead of night, to apostrophize to her own picture!
Yet I am not deterred, Walter. I'll undertake her restoration. Expect me
in London immediately. I unsay all. I would not yield her up to her
uncle, no not for an hour!
Is she returned to her bed, I wonder?--Oh! my moderation is given to the
wind!--The time draws near!--I heard the clapping of distant doors.----I
cannot write.--I can hardly breathe.
* * * * *
Boyer, they shall neither of them touch her.--I will carry her
myself.----I could not bear to see their arms encircle the sweet
girl.--I'll enter her chamber first.--Her face they must behold; but,
with the same zeal that I would feast mine own senses upon her other
charms, will I hide them from the profanation of vulgar eyes.
* * * * *
The great clock striking two has just filled the turrets with its
sound.--Griffiths has been with me. Their gayer sports have ceased.
Punch bowls and story telling succeed the dance and song. Their animal
spirits drooping with excess and fatigue, their old midnight habits
return.--Mysterious tales of ghosts go round the circle; and each
becomes desirous of seeking rest, though fearful to separate. A few more
bumpers Griffiths says will at once bring them courage and sleep. He
bids me assure myself of success.
Griffiths and his brother are to have a chamber in the front of the
north wing. All the domestics, he says, except Andrew and his daughter,
lie in the back part of the building.
'Within two hours, my lord,' said Griffiths as he quitted me, 'your
triumph is complete.'
Two hours! Walter, two hours of yesterday were nothing: but two hours of
this night!--now!--You do not know the length of hours, Boyer! how
should you?
* * * * *
When you come to this line, my dear Walter, fill to your friend's
prosperity.--My two agents are here. The light is already placed in the
dark lanterns.--Not a sleepless eye in the castle but our own. All, even
old Andrew, partook of the libations; and resigned their senses, to seal
my triumph.
Griffiths has shown me a gagg. It will not sure be necessary. Should it,
I will heal those lips with kisses! My lines stagger.--No wonder!--I'm
on the summit!--Now, I only stay to seal this letter. In the first town
we arrive at after day-break, it shall be committed to the post. Go or
send instantly, and stop all proceedings on the mortgage. Adieu! adieu!
rejoice with
FILMAR
END OF THE SECOND VOLUME
VOLUME III
LETTER I
FROM LORD FILMAR
TO
SIR WALTER BOYER
DEAR WALTER,
Two days have I allowed you to wear out your astonishment at my
ingenuity, address, and perseverance, and to exercise your imagination
in following me and my bride from stage to stage of this admirably
contrived journey.--Does the novelty of the adventure wear off?--Happy
knight!--to have for thy chosen friend and bosom confidant, one who can
ever open the field of variety before thee; and who, to cheer thy
languid fancy, removes the pleasure on which thou hadst feasted to
satiety, and places the pride-correcting view of disappointment in its
stead.
Yes, indeed: old Andrew will find Miss Valmont where he left her; and I
shall not be hanged for heiress-stealing. Don Valmont need not swear;
and the trio will not sit in judgment on my deeds.--I have had my day of
rage; and my day of sullens; and now, in the calmness of grief, I sit
down to tell thee that, instead of being circled in my fair one's arms
lord of her wealth, I am yet a poor broken-down gamester, and the guest
of Sir Gilbert Monckton.
Heigh ho!--Had my plan been over turned when but half advanced, or had
this family or that, even my father, or her uncle, detected me and torn
her from my gripe I had forgiven it. But to be defeated in the moment of
success by my own agents, my tools, tools for whose conscience and
courage I had bargained--such tools I say, to be frightened by a
black-gowned, bearded, nobody knows what--oh 'tis too much!
I swear when I wrote you that letter I would not have abated 500l. of my
utmost expectations for the chances against me. How could I foresee I
should have to deal with a knavish sort of a nameless something?--Who
upon earth would imagine, in a seclusion so perfect, this girl could
baffle a vigilant guardian, dupe a whole family, and with an art the
most refined intrigue under circumstances and forms which sets discovery
at defiance?--Nature-taught too!
But, my story.--Well: I described our intended route; and, in due
process, we had crossed the antichamber, gone down the winding stairs,
traversed the range of apartments below, and arrived at the West Tower,
without the single creaking of a shoe to tell our progress. But, mind
me: these brave fellows, who had so amply ridiculed the believing souls
of the castle for their stories and their ghosts, now began to creep
closer to each other.--And at every puff of wind that whizzed past us,
they shrunk in circumference.
Thus I tell you we reached the West Tower: a tower long haunted in
renown, and of which no apartment is either in use or preservation. We
entered a rude kind of saloon, where we dimly saw mouldering walls, and
unoccupied pedestals; scraps of its former carved ornaments were strewed
upon the pavements; and here and there the faint rays of our lanthern
glanced upon an headless hero. The saloon was cold and dreary; a wintry
blast crept round us, with the hollow murmur of emptiness. We were
treading ground, of which the apparitions of the castle had for time
immemorial claimed the undisturbed possession; and the panic struck
hearts of my companions were doubtless anticipating supernatural
disasters, when slam went some door at no great distance. 'Lord, Lord
have mercy on us!' cried Griffiths, seizing on my arm; while his yet
paler brother, envying him the supposed protection, forced himself
between us, and I have still the misfortune to bear tokens of his
cowardly gripe. Enraged with the pain of this fellow's pinch, and the
terror of being surprised, I shook him off like a fly; and, closing up
the lanthern, I listened attentively at each door of the saloon, and
became convinced we had heard only one of the accidental noises of an
old and shattered building.
'Follow me, ye frightened fools,' said I, 'and at your peril----'
'Indeed, my lord,' whispered both cowards together, 'we were not at all
frightened, and----'
With a look expressive enough I believe, for I was then mad with
apprehension least their ignorance and credulity should ruin my project,
I awed them into silence. I again bade them follow with the tone of
authoritative command, and cowards are at all times most ready to obey.
Our next stage, and last except the stairs, was a winding, narrow, damp,
stone passage.----The devil certainly owed me a grudge, since he incited
me to enter it at that moment.----Ten minutes sooner, and I had probably
secured the damsel, and had left the invisible night-walking inamorato
to sigh, as it is now alass, Walter, my fate and fortune.
This passage was barely wide enough for three to walk abreast. I placed
myself in the middle; and they clung to me with infinite zeal. I carried
the lanthern; and our step was soft as secresy on my part and terror on
their's could make it.--Turning an angle of this infernal passage,
behold there came sweeping towards us a tall long bearded figure, in a
black cloak, and carrying a dark lanthern likewise.
Zounds! What a howl from Griffiths and his brother!--The phantom fled. I
pursued.--That beard never, never, grew on his chin, Walter.--He out-ran
me; and I could only keep him in sight till, like a flash of lightning,
he darted through a pair of heavy folding doors.--I expected nothing so
surely as that he had secured them on the inside; and, now grown
desperate, I resolved on a trial of strength. But the doors gave me
admission as readily as they had done to him: and the long swords,
helmets, truncheons, and other rusty weapons, and accoutrements, taught
me I was in the _famed_ armoury.
Now, Walter, heaven and himself only know to this hour what became of
him. These eyes saw him enter, but neither eyes or hands could find him
there. Four narrow casements gave light to the armoury; and these were
most amply defended by cross bars of iron. That way he could not vanish.
You and others may talk of nursery prejudices till ye are hoarse with
discussion, and I will still maintain it was not in the nature of man to
witness the unaccountable escape of this spright without feeling his
blood change its course. I honestly confess, drops of cold dew stood on
my forehead, as I paced round and round this vast hall, holding up my
lanthern at every fifth step to discover, and endeavouring from each
crack and crevice to force, an opening into some other apartment.--None
could I find.--A fearful awe crept to my heart.--I looked behind me and
around me--even the void seemed to threaten me with something undefined
and horrible.
Baffled in my search, I turned my thoughts from the phantom to Miss
Valmont; and remembered with renewed courage that, as the spright
declined giving me an interview, there sprang no apparent hindrance to
my plan.--'Take heart, Filmar,' said I to myself, 'haste seek thy agents
and complete thy bold undertaking.'
No sooner were the hinges of the closing armoury door silenced, than I
heard the passage resound with the audible voice of Griffiths' brother,
repeating as follows:--
'Unto the third and fourth generation--I believe in the Holy Ghost born
of the virgin Mary, and in Pontius Pilate, crucified dead and
buried--But deliver us from all evil, the holy catholic church and
communion of saints, and lead us not into temptation, to be a light to
lighten the Gentiles, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as it was in the
beginning Amen.--I Believe in--.'
Charming! thought I--this will do exactly. These echoing vaults will
bear the tidings to Miss Valmont's chamber; and, presently, we shall be
all at prayers together. There was he kneeling when I came up, his face
close to the wall: nor would he open his eyes, nor cease his unnatural
jargon, till I had shaken, cuffed him, and actually stamped and swore
aloud for vexation.
Verily Knight, the saddest of sorrow's sons must have yielded to
laughter had he viewed the ghastly countenance this poor wretch
exhibited, and had likewise seen the half raised eye-lid, under which he
scowled a fearful examination of my whole person.--Perceiving I had
neither saucer-eye, nor cloven foot, cautiously and tremblingly he
ventured to lay three fingers on my arm--I did not vanish into air, as
doubtless he expected; and the fool, overjoyed to find me a real man of
flesh and blood, sprang up with open arms to embrace me. Desirous to
elude the kindness, I stepped aside. His clumsy elbow came in contact
with the lanthern, dashed it from my hand, and left us in total
darkness.
With the extinguished light expired my last hope. To go on was
impossible; and who would not, like me, have endeavoured to wreak some
little vengeance on the stupid destroyers of my scheme. Fortunately for
them, and perhaps in the end for myself, Griffiths' brother, fearing my
escape, had seized me behind; and gaining strength from his terror,
pinioned me in spite of all my struggles and threats till, as the price
of my own freedom, I engaged to assist them in getting safe from this
asylum of accidents, apparitions, and harms.
Do not suppose, Walter, that here ended my provocations. No, indeed; for
Griffiths who had lain extended on the ground since the black-gowned
apparition first appeared, venting sighs, groans, and tears in
abundance, doubled his share of my torments, by refusing for a full hour
at least either to be soothed or scolded into the use of his legs. Be
assured I had left him to his repose, but the brother would not take of
his embargo, till all the conditions on my part were fulfilled. The door
which led to the terrace we had opened ready on leaving the saloon, and
thither I rather dragged than conducted them.--We closed it after us.
And then with a bitter curse, I bade them aid themselves; and walked on
before, ruminating on my fatal disappointment, and its more fatal
consequences.
Imagine what I felt when we came up to the waiting chaise, horses,
&c.--money expended which I want; demands increased which I cannot
pay.--And so near, so very near to--Well: I will not think.