'Twas a dark tale of crime, and awed and chilled
E'en indignation seeming horror still'd,
Men stood beside a murd'rer's couch of death,
Watching-the glazing-eye and flickering-breath--
Speaking with look and hurried sign alone,
Their thoughts, too terror-fraught for word or tone.--MS.
The indignation excited in the Queen's mind against Don Louis was
destined, very speedily, to be increased. Ferdinand had had time to
become half angry, and quite impatient, ere his messengers dispatched
to the village returned. Stanley had been released--was regarded by
all as innocent; but this was literally only from a peasant's word and
the half broken intelligence of an exhausted boy: he wanted proof,
and a vague dread would take possession of him that his fate was but
temporarily suspended. At an early hour the next day, however, Don
Alonzo returned; and Ferdinand's impatient anger was averted, when he
found the delay had been occasioned by their determination, to
convey the dying man to Segovia, and the caution necessary for its
accomplishment. The Hermanos had already noted down his confession;
but it was so fraught with extended and dangerous consequences, that
they felt, they dared not act on their responsibility: all suppressing
measures must proceed from the sovereigns themselves. Perez was again
summoned, and at once swore to the identity of the dying man as the
individual he had rescued from a deep pit, in a lonely mountain-pass,
about twenty miles from his village; and the man, whose eagerness to
speak was evident, though his voice was so faint, as scarcely to be
intelligible, commenced his dark and terrible tale.
The indignation of the Sovereign, and of those whom he had chosen to
be present, was excited to the utmost, mingled with horror as the
mysterious fates of many a loved companion were thus so fearfully
solved; but none felt the recital with the same intensity of emotion
as the Sub-Prior, who, with, head bowed down upon his breast, and
hands tightly clenched, knelt beside the penitent. It was not
indignation, it was not horror; but agony of spirit that a religion
which he loved better than himself, whose purity and honor he would
have so jealously guarded, that he would have sacrificed life itself
for its service, should have been made the cover for such unutterable
villany. Few imagined the deeds of painful mortification and bodily
penance which, in his solitude, the Sub-Prior afterwards inflicted on
himself; as if his individual sufferings should atone for the guilt of
his brethren, and turn from them the wrath of an avenging God.
Horrible as were the details imparted, incomprehensible as it seemed
that so extended and well-organized a power, should exist so secretly
throughout Spain, as to hide itself even from the sovereigns and
ministers of justice themselves, yet none doubted what they heard.
Sovereigns and nobles well knew that the Inquisition had been
established both in Castile and Arragon centuries before, and that
the annals of those kingdoms, though mentioning the resistance of the
people against this awful power, had been silent as to its entire
extirpation.
In the first part of his narrative the man had spoken shrinkingly and
fearfully, as if still in dread of vengeance on his betrayal; but
his voice became bolder when he confessed his own share in the late
atrocious crime. Accustomed by the strictest and most rigid training,
to obey as familiars, the will of their superiors without question--to
be mere mindless and feelingless tools, to whom death itself was
awarded, if by word or hint, or even sign, they dared evince
themselves to be as other men--he had, at the command of the Grand
Inquisitor, deeply drugged Senor Stanley's evening draught, and, while
under its potent influence, had purloined his sword; waylaid Don
Ferdinand in the Calle Soledad, effectually done the deed, and--aware
that it would be many hours ere the English Senor could arouse himself
from the stupifying effects of the draught--had intended returning to
his chamber still more effectually to throw on him the suspicion of
the murder. It happened, however, that it was the first time he had
ever been chosen by his superiors as their tool for actual murder, and
the magnitude of the crime, from the greatness of, and universal love
borne towards the victim, had so appalled him, that, combined with the
raging storm and pitchy darkness, he had felt utterly bewildered. Not
well acquainted with Segovia, he had found himself, after more than an
hour's wandering--instead of, as he expected, again near the Senor's
lodgings--in the self-same spot whence he had started, and close by
the body of his victim. The sight horrified and bewildered him yet
more, and he crept behind a low wall, resolved on remaining there
till the tempest had at least partially subsided, and then fulfil the
remainder of his instructions; knowing that to fail in any one point,
would be the signal of his own destruction. Fortune, however, so far
favored him, as to send the young English Senor to the very spot,
and there was therefore no occasion for his further interference. He
tarried till he had seen Stanley's arrest, and had heard the loud
execrations of all proclaiming him the murderer--and then returned to
his employers.
The education of the familiars had so far failed with him, that,
though aware of its danger, thoughts would enter his mind, as to how
Don Ferdinand Morales could have offended the dread power which he
served, and why the foreign Senor should be thus implicated in the
deed. He hoped to have concealed these doubts; but from the issue, he
imagined that some unguarded word spoken to a companion, must have
betrayed him. He was chosen by the Grand Inquisitor as his companion,
on some secret expedition two days after the trial, unsuspicious
of the danger awaiting him, till the desolate scene on which they
unexpectedly entered flashed terror on his mind. His superior had
there paused, told him that from the witness of Beta, the servant
girl, it was quite evident he had disobeyed part of the instructions
given, or his _return_ to Arthur's lodgings would have been heard by
her as well as his _departure_ and thus at once have implicated the
Englishman as the real murderer; that though chance had thrown equal
suspicion upon him, it did net remove his disobedience, and so he
was doomed to death; and the blow, instantaneously given, felled him
insensible to the ground. When he recovered his senses, he found
himself lying in a deep pit, where he had evidently been thrown as
dead. The wounds and contusions received in the fall, as far as he
could recollect, by producing a most excruciating sense of pain,
roused him from temporary insensibility, and he was convinced he heard
his murderer's voice--though he could not see him--exclaim distinctly,
as if he were leaning over the mouth of the pit, "There goes my last
doubt: other men might call it their last fear, but I know not the
word! Three victims for the possession of one--and who will now
dare to brand me? I had slain that faltering craven without his
disobedience, he dared to _think_ upon his deed."
Almost insensible from agony as he was, these words had impressed
themselves indelibly; causing the burning desire to live and be
revenged. And the opportune succors of the villager, Perez, with a
party of woodmen; the completely hidden site of the village to which,
he had been conveyed; and the, at first, favorable healing of his
wounds, appeared to give him every hope of its accomplishment. He had
resolved on communicating his tale to none save to Ferdinand himself,
or to the Chief Hermano, under strict promise to reveal it to the
Sovereign: but his intense anxiety had evidently prevented the
attainment of his desire, by producing fever; and thence arose his
wild and almost maniac cravings to make confession, and bind some holy
monk, by a solemn vow, to convey it to the King.
It was not till the conclusion of this momentous narration, that the
King permitted any questions to be asked; and those he then demanded
were so concise and clear, that but few words were needed in which to
couch the reply.
"And the designer of this hellish plot, the real murderer--through thy
hand, of one brave friend, and almost another--is the same who has
murdered thee!" he inquired, after learning the exact sites of these
mysterious halls; information which caused some of the bravest hearts
to shudder, from their close vicinity.
The man answered at once in the affirmative.
"And he dares assume, in this illegal tribunal, the rank of Grand
Inquisitor?"
"Ay, gracious liege."
"And his name?--that by which he is known to man? Speak! And as thy
true confession may be the means of bringing a very fiend to justice,
so may thy share in his deeds be pardoned."
An indescribable expression passed over the fast stiffening features
of the dying. He half raised himself, and, laying his clammy hand on
Ferdinand's robe, whispered, in clear and thrilling tones--
"Bend low, my liege; even at this moment I dare not speak it loud;
but, oh! beware of those who affect superior sanctity to their
fellows: there is one who in the sunshine stands forth wisest, and
purest, and strictest; and at midnight rules arch-fiend--men call him
DON LUIS GARCIA. _He_ is Don Ferdinand's murderer! _He_ sought Senor
Stanley's death and mine; but instead of a victim, he has found an
accuser! His web has coiled round himself--flee him! avoid him as ye
would a walking pestilence, or visible demon! Minister as he may be of
our holy father, the Pope, he is a villain--his death alone can bring
safety to Spain. Ha! what is this? Mother of mercy! save me! The
cross! the cross! Absolution! The flames of hell! Father, bid them
avaunt! I--a true confession." The words were lost in a fearful
gurgling sound, and the convulsion which ensued was so terrible, that
some of the very bravest involuntarily turned away; but Stanley, who
had listened to the tale with emotions too varied and intense for
speech, now sprung forward, wildly exclaiming--
"Three victims for one! Where is that one? Speak--speak in mercy! Oh,
God! he dies and says no word!"
The eyes of the dying man glared on him, but there was no meaning
in their gaze; they rolled in their sockets, glazed, and in another
minute all was stiff in death.