"I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat."
SHAKSPEARE.
Schedoni had returned from the beach to the house, in a state of
perturbation, that defied the controul of even his own stern will. On
the way thither he met Spalatro, whom, as he dispatched him to Ellena,
he strictly commanded not to approach his chamber till he should be
summoned.
Having reached his apartment, he secured the door, though not any
person, except himself, was in the house, nor any one expected, but
those who he knew would not dare to intrude upon him. Had it been
possible to have shut out all consciousness of himself, also, how
willingly would he have done so! He threw himself into a chair, and
remained for a considerable time motionless and lost in thought, yet
the emotions of his mind were violent and contradictory. At the very
instant when his heart reproached him with the crime he had meditated,
he regretted the ambitious views he must relinquish if he failed to
perpetrate it, and regarded himself with some degree of contempt for
having hitherto hesitated on the subject. He considered the character
of his own mind with astonishment, for circumstances had drawn forth
traits, of which, till now, he had no suspicion. He knew not by what
doctrine to explain the inconsistencies, the contradictions, he
experienced, and, perhaps, it was not one of the least that in these
moments of direful and conflicting passions, his reason could still
look down upon their operations, and lead him to a cool, though brief
examination of his own nature. But the subtlety of self-love still
eluded his enquiries, and he did not detect that pride was even at this
instant of self-examination, and of critical import, the master-spring
of his mind. In the earliest dawn of his character this passion had
displayed its predominancy, whenever occasion permitted, and it's
influence had led to some of the chief events of his life.
The Count di Marinella, for such had formerly been the title of the
Confessor, was the younger son of an ancient family, who resided in
the duchy of Milan, and near the feet of the Tyrolean Alps, on such
estates of their ancestors, as the Italian wars of a former century
had left them. The portion, which he had received at the death of
his father, was not large, and Schedoni was not of a disposition to
improve his patrimony by slow diligence, or to submit to the restraint
and humiliation, which his narrow finances would have imposed. He
disdained to acknowledge an inferiority of fortune to those, with
whom he considered himself equal in rank; and, as he was destitute of
generous feeling, and of sound judgment, he had not that loftiness of
soul, which is ambitious of true grandeur. On the contrary, he was
satisfied with an ostentatious display of pleasures and of power, and,
thoughtless of the consequence of dissipation, was contented with the
pleasures of the moment, till his exhausted resources compelled him
to pause, and to reflect. He perceived, too late for his advantage,
that it was necessary for him to dispose of part of his estate, and to
confine himself to the income of the remainder. Incapable of submitting
with grace to the reduction, which his folly had rendered expedient,
he endeavoured to obtain by cunning, the luxuries that his prudence
had failed to keep, and which neither his genius or his integrity
could command. He withdrew, however, from the eyes of his neighbours,
unwilling to submit his altered circumstances to their observation.
Concerning several years of his life, from this period, nothing was
generally known; and, when he was next discovered, it was in the
Spirito Santo convent at Naples, in the habit of a Monk, and under the
assumed name of Schedoni. His air and countenance were as much altered
as his way of life; his looks had become gloomy and severe, and the
pride, which had mingled with the gaiety of their former expression,
occasionally discovered itself under the disguise of humility, but more
frequently in the austerity of silence, and in the barbarity of penance.
The person who discovered Schedoni, would not have recollected him,
had not his remarkable eyes first fixed his attention, and then
revived remembrance. As he examined his features, he traced the faint
resemblance of what Marinella had been, to whom he made himself known.
The Confessor affected to have forgotten his former acquaintance, and
assured him, that he was mistaken respecting himself, till the stranger
so closely urged some circumstances, that the former was no longer
permitted to dissemble. He retired, in some emotion, with the stranger,
and, whatever might be the subject of their conference, he drew from
him, before he quitted the convent, a tremendous vow, to keep secret
from the brotherhood his knowledge of Schedoni's family, and never to
reveal without those walls, that he had seen him. These requests he
had urged in a manner, that at once surprised and awed the stranger,
and which at the same time that it manifested the weight of Schedoni's
fears, bade the former tremble for the consequence of disobedience; and
he shuddered even while he promised to obey. Of the first part of the
promise he was probably strictly observant; whether he was equally so
of the second, does not appear; it is certain, that after this period,
he was never more seen or heard of at Naples.
Schedoni, ever ambitious of distinction, adapted his manners to the
views and prejudices of the society with whom he resided, and became
one of the most exact observers of their outward forms, and almost
a prodigy for self-denial and severe discipline. He was pointed out
by the fathers of the convent to the juniors as a great example, who
was, however, rather to be looked up to with reverential admiration,
than with an hope of emulating his sublime virtues. But with such
panegyrics their friendship for Schedoni concluded. They found
it convenient to applaud the austerities, which they declined to
practise; it procured them a character for sanctity, and saved them the
necessity of earning it by mortifications of their own; but they both
feared and hated Schedoni for his pride and his gloomy austerities,
too much, to gratify his ambition by any thing further than empty
praise. He had been several years in the society, without obtaining
any considerable advancement, and with the mortification of seeing
persons, who had never emulated his severity, raised to high offices
in the church. Somewhat too late he discovered, that he was not to
expect any substantial favour from the brotherhood, and then it was
that his restless and disappointed spirit first sought preferment by
other avenues. He had been some years Confessor to the Marchesa di
Vivaldi, when the conduct of her son awakened his hopes, by showing
him, that he might render himself not only useful but necessary to
her, by his councils. It was his custom to study the characters of
those around him, with a view of adapting them to his purposes, and,
having ascertained that of the Marchesa, these hopes were encouraged.
He perceived that her passions were strong, her judgment weak; and
he understood, that, if circumstances should ever enable him to be
serviceable in promoting the end at which any one of those passions
might aim, his fortune would be established.
At length, he so completely insinuated himself into her confidence, and
became so necessary to her views, that he could demand his own terms,
and this he had not failed to do, though with all the affected delicacy
and finesse that his situation seemed to require. An office of high
dignity in the church, which had long vainly excited his ambition,
was promised him by the Marchesa, who had sufficient influence to
obtain it; her condition was that of his preserving the honour of
her family, as she delicately termed it, which she was careful to
make him understand could be secured only by the death of Ellena. He
acknowledged, with the Marchesa, that the death of this fascinating
young woman was the only means of preserving that honour, since, if
she lived, they had every evil to expect from the attachment and
character of Vivaldi, who would discover and extricate her from any
place of confinement, however obscure or difficult of access, to which
she might be conveyed. How long and how arduously the Confessor had
aimed to oblige the Marchesa, has already appeared. The last scene
was now arrived, and he was on the eve of committing that atrocious
act, which was to secure the pride of her house, and to satisfy at
once his ambition and his desire of vengeance; when an emotion new and
surprising to him, had arrested his arm, and compelled his resolution
to falter. But this emotion was transient, it disappeared almost with
the object that had awakened it; and now, in the silence and retirement
of his chamber, he had leisure to recollect his thoughts, to review his
schemes, to re-animate his resolution and to wonder again at the pity,
which had almost won him from his purpose. The ruling passion of his
nature once more resumed it's authority, and he determined to earn the
honour, which the Marchesa had in store for him.
After some cool, and more of tumultuous, consideration, he resolved
that Ellena should be assassinated that night, while she slept, and
afterwards conveyed through a passage of the house communicating with
the sea, into which the body might be thrown and buried, with her sad
story, beneath the waves. For his own sake, he would have avoided
the danger of shedding blood, had this appeared easy; but he had
too much reason to know she had suspicions of poison, to trust to a
second attempt by such means; and again his indignation rose against
himself, since by yielding to a momentary compassion, he had lost the
opportunity afforded him of throwing her unresistingly into the surge.
Spalatro, as has already been hinted, was a former confident of the
Confessor, who knew too truly, from experience, that he could be
trusted, and had, therefore, engaged him to assist on this occasion.
To the hands of this man he consigned the fate of the unhappy Ellena,
himself recoiling from the horrible act he had willed; and intending by
such a step to involve Spalatro more deeply in the guilt, and thus more
effectually to secure his secret.
The night was far advanced before Schedoni's final resolution was
taken, when he summoned Spalatro to his chamber to instruct him in his
office. He bolted the door, by which the man had entered, forgetting
that themselves were the only persons in the house, except the poor
Ellena, who, unsuspicious of what was conspiring, and her spirits worn
out by the late scene, was sleeping peacefully on her mattress above.
Schedoni moved softly from the door he had secured, and, beckoning
Spalatro to approach, spoke in a low voice, as if he feared to be
overheard. "Have you perceived any sound from her chamber lately?"
said he, "Does she sleep, think you?"
"No one has moved there for this hour past, at least," replied
Spalatro, "I have been watching in the corridor, till you called, and
should have heard if she had stirred, the old floor shakes so with
every step."
"Then hear me, Spalatro," said the Confessor. "I have tried, and found
thee faithful, or I should not trust thee in a business of confidence
like this. Recollect all I said to thee in the morning, and be resolute
and dexterous, as I have ever found thee."
Spalatro listened in gloomy attention, and the Monk proceeded, "It
is late; go, therefore, to her chamber; be certain that she sleeps.
Take this," he added, "and this," giving him a dagger and a large
cloak--"You know how you are to use them."
He paused, and fixed his penetrating eyes on Spalatro, who held up the
dagger in silence, examined the blade, and continued to gaze upon it,
with a vacant stare, as if he was unconscious of what he did.
"You know your business," repeated Schedoni, authoritatively,
"dispatch! time wears; and I must set off early."
The man made no reply.
"The morning dawns already," said the Confessor, still more urgently.
"Do you faulter? do you tremble? Do I not know you?"
Spalatro put up the poniard in his bosom without speaking, threw the
cloak over his arm, and moved with a loitering step towards the door.
"Dispatch!" repeated the Confessor, "why do you linger?"
"I cannot say I like this business, Signor," said Spalatro surlily. "I
know not why I should always do the most, and be paid the least."
"Sordid villain!" exclaimed Schedoni, "you are not satisfied then!"
"No more a villain than yourself, Signor," retorted the man, throwing
down the cloak, "I only do your business; and 'tis you that are sordid,
for you would take all the reward, and I would only have a poor man
have his dues. Do the work yourself, or give me the greater profit."
"Peace!" said Schedoni, "dare no more to insult me with the mention of
reward. Do you imagine I have sold myself! 'Tis my will that she dies;
this is sufficient; and for you--the price you have asked has been
granted."
"It is too little," replied Spalatro, "and besides, I do not like the
work.--What harm has she done me?"
"Since when is it, that you have taken upon you to moralize?" said the
Confessor, "and how long are these cowardly scruples to last? This is
not the first time you have been employed; what harm had others done
you! You forget that I know you, you forget the past."
"No, Signor, I remember it too well, I wish I could forget; I remember
it too well.--I have never been at peace since. The bloody hand is
always before me! and often of a night, when the sea roars, and storms
shake the house, _they_ have come, all gashed as I left them, and stood
before my bed! I have got up, and ran out upon the shore for safety!"
"Peace!" repeated the Confessor, "where is this frenzy of fear to end?
To what are these visions, painted in blood, to lead? I thought I was
talking with a man, but find I am speaking only to a baby, possessed
with his nurse's dreams! Yet I understand you,--you shall be satisfied."
Schedoni, however, had for once misunderstood this man, when he could
not believe it possible that he was really averse to execute what
he had undertaken. Whether the innocence and beauty of Ellena had
softened his heart, or that his conscience did torture him for his past
deeds, he persisted in refusing to murder her. His conscience, or his
pity, was of a very peculiar kind however; for, though he refused to
execute the deed himself, he consented to wait at the foot of a back
stair-case, that communicated with Ellena's chamber, while Schedoni
accomplished it, and afterward to assist in carrying the body to the
shore. "This is a compromise between conscience and guilt, worthy of a
demon," muttered Schedoni, who appeared to be insensible that he had
made the same compromise with himself not an hour before; and whose
extreme reluctance at this moment, to perpetrate with his own hand,
what he had willingly designed for another, ought to have reminded him
of that compromise.
Spalatro, released from the immediate office of an executioner, endured
silently the abusive, yet half-stifled, indignation of the Confessor,
who also bade him remember, that, though he now shrunk from the most
active part of this transaction, he had not always been restrained,
in offices of the same nature, by equal compunction; and that not
only his means of subsistence, but his very life itself, was at his
mercy. Spalatro readily acknowledged that it was so; and Schedoni knew,
too well, the truth of what he had urged, to be restrained from his
purpose, by any apprehension of the consequence of a discovery from
this ruffian.
"Give me the dagger, then," said the Confessor, after a long pause,
"take up the cloak, and follow to the stair-case. Let me see, whether
your valour will carry you thus far."
Spalatro resigned the stiletto, and threw the cloak again over his
arm. The Confessor stepped to the door, and, trying to open it, "It is
fastened!" said he in alarm, "some person has got into the house,--it
is fastened!"
"That well may be, Signor," replied Spalatro, calmly, "for I saw you
bolt it yourself, after I came into the room."
"True," said Schedoni, recovering himself; "that is true."
He opened it, and proceeded along the silent passages, towards the
private stair-case, often pausing to listen, and then stepping more
lightly;--the terrific Schedoni, in this moment of meditative guilt,
feared even the feeble Ellena. At the foot of the stair-case, he again
stopped to listen. "Do you hear any thing?" said he in a whisper.
"I hear only the sea," replied the man.
"Hush! it is something more!" said Schedoni; "that is the murmur of
voices!"
They were silent. After a pause of some length, "It is, perhaps, the
voice of the spectres I told you of, Signor," said Spalatro, with a
sneer. "Give me the dagger," said Schedoni.
Spalatro, instead of obeying, now grasped the arm of the Confessor,
who, looking at him for an explanation of this extraordinary action,
was still more surprised to observe the paleness and horror of his
countenance. His starting eyes seemed to follow some object along the
passage, and Schedoni, who began to partake of his feelings, looked
forward to discover what occasioned this dismay, but could not perceive
any thing that justified it. "What is it you fear?" said he at length.
Spalatro's eyes were still moving in horror, "Do you see nothing!" said
he pointing. Schedoni looked again, but did not distinguish any object
in the remote gloom of the passage, whither Spalatro's sight was now
fixed.
"Come, come," said he, ashamed of his own weakness, "this is not a
moment for such fancies. Awake from this idle dream."
Spalatro withdrew his eyes, but they retained all their wildness. "It
was no dream," said he, in the voice of a man who is exhausted by pain,
and begins to breathe somewhat more freely again. "I saw it as plainly
as I now see you."
"Dotard! what did you see!" enquired the Confessor.
"It came before my eyes in a moment, and shewed itself distinctly and
outspread."
"What shewed itself?" repeated Schedoni.
"And then it beckoned--yes, it beckoned me, with that blood-stained
finger! and glided away down the passage, still beckoning----till it
was lost in the darkness."
"This is very frenzy!" said Schedoni, excessively agitated. "Arouse
yourself, and be a man!"
"Frenzy! would it were, Signor. I saw that dreadful hand--I see it
now--it is there again!--there!"
Schedoni, shocked, embarrassed, and once more infected with the strange
emotions of Spalatro, looked forward expecting to discover some
terrific object, but still nothing was visible to him, and he soon
recovered himself sufficiently to endeavour to appease the fancy of
this conscience-struck ruffian. But Spalatro was insensible to all he
could urge, and the Confessor, fearing that his voice, though weak and
stifled, would awaken Ellena, tried to withdraw him from the spot, to
the apartment they had quitted.
"The wealth of San Loretto should not make me go that way, Signor,"
replied he, shuddering--"that was the way _it_ beckoned, it vanished
that way!"
Every emotion now yielded with Schedoni, to that of apprehension lest
Ellena, being awakened, should make his task more horrid by a struggle,
and his embarrassment encreased at each instant, for neither command,
menace, or entreaty could prevail with Spalatro to retire, till the
Monk luckily remembered a door, which opened beyond the stair-case, and
would conduct them by another way to the opposite side of the house.
The man consented so to depart, when, Schedoni unlocking a suit of
rooms, of which he had always kept the keys, they passed in silence
through an extent of desolate chambers, till they reached the one,
which they had lately left.
Here, relieved from apprehension respecting Ellena, the Confessor
expostulated more freely with Spalatro, but neither argument or menace
could prevail, and the man persisted in refusing to return to the
stair-case, though protesting, at the same time, that he would not
remain alone in any part of the house; till the wine, with which the
Confessor abundantly supplied him, began to overcome the terrors of
his imagination. At length, his courage was so much re-animated, that
he consented to resume his station, and await at the foot of the
stairs the accomplishment of Schedoni's dreadful errand, with which
agreement they returned thither by the way they had lately passed. The
wine with which Schedoni also had found it necessary to strengthen
his own resolution, did not secure him from severe emotion, when he
found himself again near Ellena; but he made a strenuous effort for
self-subjection, as he demanded the dagger of Spalatro.
"You have it already, Signor," replied the man.
"True," said the Monk; "ascend softly, or our steps may awaken her."
"You said I was to wait at the foot of the stairs, Signor, while
you"----
"True, true, true!" muttered the Confessor, and had begun to ascend,
when his attendant desired him to stop. "You are going in darkness,
Signor, you have forgotten the lamp. I have another here."
Schedoni took it angrily, without speaking, and was again ascending,
when he hesitated, and once more paused. "The glare will disturb her,"
thought he, "it is better to go in darkness.--Yet----." He considered,
that he could not strike with certainty without light to direct his
hand, and he kept the lamp, but returned once more to charge Spalatro
not to stir from the foot of the stairs till he called, and to ascend
to the chamber, upon the first signal.
"I will obey, Signor, if you, on your part, will promise not to give
the signal till all is over."
"I do promise," replied Schedoni. "No more!"
Again he ascended, nor stopped till he reached Ellena's door, where he
listened for a sound; but all was as silent as if death already reigned
in the chamber. This door was, from long disuse, difficult to be
opened; formerly it would have yielded without sound, but now Schedoni
was fearful of noise from every effort he made to move it. After some
difficulty, however, it gave way, and he perceived, by the stilness
within the apartment, that he had not disturbed Ellena. He shaded the
lamp with the door for a moment, while he threw an enquiring glance
forward, and when he did venture farther, held part of his dark drapery
before the light, to prevent the rays from spreading through the room.
As he approached the bed, her gentle breathings informed him that
she still slept, and the next moment he was at her side. She lay in
deep and peaceful slumber, and seemed to have thrown herself upon the
mattress, after having been wearied by her griefs; for, though sleep
pressed heavily on her eyes, their lids were yet wet with tears.
While Schedoni gazed for a moment upon her innocent countenance,
a faint smile stole over it. He stepped back. "She smiles in her
murderer's face!" said he, shuddering, "I must be speedy."
He searched for the dagger, and it was some time before his trembling
hand could disengage it from the folds of his garment; but, having done
so, he again drew near, and prepared to strike. Her dress perplexed
him; it would interrupt the blow, and he stooped to examine whether
he could turn her robe aside, without waking her. As the light passed
over her face, he perceived that the smile had vanished--the visions
of her sleep were changed, for tears stole from beneath her eye-lids,
and her features suffered a slight convulsion. She spoke! Schedoni,
apprehending that the light had disturbed her, suddenly drew back, and,
again irresolute, shaded the lamp, and concealed himself behind the
curtain, while he listened. But her words were inward and indistinct,
and convinced him that she still slumbered.
His agitation and repugnance to strike encreased with every moment of
delay, and, as often as he prepared to plunge the poniard in her bosom,
a shuddering horror restrained him. Astonished at his own feelings,
and indignant at what he termed a dastardly weakness, he found it
necessary to argue with himself, and his rapid thoughts said, "Do I
not feel the necessity of this act! Does not what is dearer to me than
resilience--does not my consequence depend on the execution of it? Is
she not also beloved by the young Vivaldi?--have I already forgotten
the church of the Spirito Santo?" This consideration re-animated him;
vengeance nerved his arm, and drawing aside the lawn from her bosom,
he once more raised it to strike; when, after gazing for an instant,
some new cause of horror seemed to seize all his frame, and he stood
for some moments aghast and motionless like a statue. His respiration
was short and laborious, chilly drops stood on his forehead, and all
his faculties of mind seemed suspended. When he recovered, he stooped
to examine again the miniature, which had occasioned this revolution,
and which had lain concealed beneath the lawn that he withdrew. The
terrible certainty was almost confirmed, and forgetting, in his
impatience to know the truth, the imprudence of suddenly discovering
himself to Ellena at this hour of the night, and with a dagger at his
feet, he called loudly, "Awake! awake! Say, what is your name? Speak!
speak quickly!"
Ellena, aroused by a man's voice, started from her mattress, when,
perceiving Schedoni, and by the pale glare of the lamp, his haggard
countenance, she shrieked, and sunk back on the pillow. She had not
fainted; and believing that he came to murder her, she now exerted
herself to plead for mercy. The energy of her feelings enabled her
to rise and throw herself at his feet, "Be merciful, O father! be
merciful!" said she, in a trembling voice.
"Father!" interrupted Schedoni, with earnestness; and then, seeming
to restrain himself, he added, with unaffected surprise, "Why are
you thus terrified?" for he had lost, in new interests and emotions,
all consciousness of evil intention, and of the singularity of his
situation. "What do you fear?" he repeated.
"Have pity, holy father!" exclaimed Ellena in agony.
"Why do you not say whose portrait that is?" demanded he, forgetting
that he had not asked the question before.
"Whose portrait?" repeated the Confessor in a loud voice.
"Whose portrait!" said Ellena, with extreme surprise.
"Ay, how came you by it? Be quick--whose resemblance is it?"
"Why should you wish to know?" said Ellena.
"Answer my question," repeated Schedoni, with encreasing sternness.
"I cannot part with it, holy father," replied Ellena, pressing it to
her bosom, "you do not wish me to part with it!"
"Is it impossible to make you answer my question!" said he, in extreme
perturbation, and turning away from her, "has fear utterly confounded
you!" Then, again stepping towards her, and seizing her wrist, he
repeated the demand in a tone of desperation.
"Alas! he is dead! or I should not now want a protector," replied
Ellena, shrinking from his grasp, and weeping.
"You trifle," said Schedoni, with a terrible look, "I once more demand
an answer--whose picture?"----
Ellena lifted it, gazed upon it for a moment, and then pressing it to
her lips said, "This was my father."
"Your father!" he repeated in an inward voice, "your father!" and
shuddering, turned away.
Ellena looked at him with surprise. "I never knew a father's care," she
said, "nor till lately did I perceive the want of it.--But now."----
"His name?" interrupted the Confessor.
"But now," continued Ellena--"if you are not as a father to me--to whom
can I look for protection?"
"His name?" repeated Schedoni, with sterner emphasis.
"It is sacred," replied Ellena, "for he was unfortunate!"
"His name?" demanded the Confessor, furiously.
"I have promised to conceal it, father."
"On your life, I charge you tell it; remember, on your life!"
Ellena trembled, was silent, and with supplicating looks implored him
to desist from enquiry, but he urged the question more irresistibly.
"His name then," said she, "was Marinella."
Schedoni groaned and turned away; but in a few seconds, struggling to
command the agitation that shattered his whole frame, he returned to
Ellena, and raised her from her knees, on which she had thrown herself
to implore mercy.
"The place of his residence?" said the Monk.
"It was far from hence," she replied; but he demanded an unequivocal
answer, and she reluctantly gave one.
Schedoni turned away as before, groaned heavily, and paced the chamber
without speaking; while Ellena, in her turn, enquired the motive of
his questions, and the occasion of his agitation. But he seemed not to
notice any thing she said, and, wholly given up to his feelings, was
inflexibly silent, while he stalked, with measured steps, along the
room, and his face, half hid by his cowl, was bent towards the ground.
Ellena's terror began to yield to astonishment, and this emotion
encreased, when, Schedoni approaching her, she perceived tears swell
in his eyes, which were fixt on her's, and his countenance soften from
the wild disorder that had marked it. Still he could not speak. At
length he yielded to the fulness of his heart, and Schedoni, the stern
Schedoni, wept and sighed! He seated himself on the mattress beside
Ellena, took her hand, which she affrighted attempted to withdraw,
and when he could command his voice, said, "Unhappy child!----behold
your more unhappy father!" As he concluded, his voice was overcome by
groans, and he drew the cowl entirely over his face.
"My father!" exclaimed the astonished and doubting Ellena--"my father!"
and fixed her eyes upon him. He gave no reply, but when, a moment
after, he lifted his head, "Why do you reproach me with those looks!"
said the conscious Schedoni.
"Reproach you!--reproach my father!" repeated Ellena, in accents
softening into tenderness, "_Why_ should I reproach my father!"
"_Why!_" exclaimed Schedoni, starting from his seat, "Great God!"
As he moved, he stumbled over the dagger at his foot; at that moment
it might be said to strike into his heart. He pushed it hastily from
sight. Ellena had not observed it; but she observed his labouring
breast, his distracted looks, and quick steps, as he walked to and
fro in the chamber; and she asked, with the most soothing accents of
compassion, and looks of anxious gentleness, what made him so unhappy,
and tried to assuage his sufferings. They seemed to encrease with every
wish she expressed to dispel them; at one moment he would pause to gaze
upon her, and in the next would quit her with a frenzied start.
"Why do you look so piteously upon me, father?" Ellena said, "why are
you so unhappy? Tell me, that I may comfort you."
This appeal renewed all the violence of remorse and grief, and he
pressed her to his bosom, and wetted her cheek with his tears. Ellena
wept to see him weep, till her doubts began to take alarm. Whatever
might be the proofs, that had convinced Schedoni of the relationship
between them, he had not explained these to her, and, however strong
was the eloquence of nature which she witnessed, it was not sufficient
to justify an entire confidence in the assertion he had made, or to
allow her to permit his caresses without trembling. She shrunk, and
endeavoured to disengage herself; when, immediately understanding her,
he said, "Can you doubt the cause of these emotions? these signs of
parental affection?"
"Have I not reason to doubt," replied Ellena, timidly, "since I never
witnessed them before?"
He withdrew his arms, and, fixing his eyes earnestly on hers, regarded
her for some moments in expressive silence. "Poor Innocent!" said he,
at length, "you know not how much your words convey!--It is too true,
you never have known a father's tenderness till now!"
His countenance darkened while he spoke, and he rose again from his
seat. Ellena, meanwhile, astonished, terrified and oppressed by a
variety of emotions, had no power to demand his reasons for the belief
that so much agitated him, or any explanation of his conduct; but she
appealed to the portrait, and endeavoured, by tracing some resemblance
between it and Schedoni, to decide her doubts. The countenance of each
was as different in character as in years. The miniature displayed a
young man rather handsome, of a gay and smiling countenance; yet the
smile expressed triumph, rather than sweetness, and his whole air and
features were distinguished by a consciousness of superiority that rose
even to haughtiness.
Schedoni, on the contrary, advanced in years, exhibited a severe
physiognomy, furrowed by thought, no less than by time, and darkened
by the habitual indulgence of morose passions. He looked as if he had
never smiled since the portrait was drawn; and it seemed as if the
painter, prophetic of Schedoni's future disposition, had arrested and
embodied that smile, to prove hereafter that cheerfulness had once
played upon his features.
Though the expression was so different between the countenance, which
Schedoni formerly owned, and that he now wore, the same character of
haughty pride was visible in both; and Ellena did trace a resemblance
in the bold outline of the features, but not sufficient to convince
her, without farther evidence, that each belonged to the same person,
and that the Confessor had ever been the young cavalier in the
portrait. In the first tumult of her thoughts, she had not had leisure
to dwell upon the singularity of Schedoni's visiting her at this
deep hour of the night, or to urge any questions, except vague ones,
concerning the truth of her relationship to him. But now, that her mind
was somewhat recollected, and that his looks were less terrific, she
ventured to ask a fuller explanation of these circumstances, and his
reasons for the late extraordinary assertion. "It is past midnight,
father," said Ellena, "you may judge then how anxious I am to learn,
what motive led you to my chamber at this lonely hour?"
Schedoni made no reply.
"Did you come to warn me of danger?" she continued, "had you discovered
the cruel designs of Spalatro? Ah! when I supplicated for your
compassion on the shore this evening, you little thought what perils
surrounded me! or you would----"
"You say true!" interrupted he, in a hurried manner, "but name the
subject no more. Why will you persist in returning to it?"
His words surprized Ellena, who had not even alluded to the subject
till now; but the returning wildness of his countenance, made her
fearful of dwelling upon the topic, even so far as to point out his
error.
Another deep pause succeeded, during which Schedoni continued to pace
the room, sometimes stopping for an instant, to fix his eyes on Ellena,
and regarding her with an earnestness that seemed to partake of frenzy,
and then gloomily withdrawing his regards, and sighing heavily, as he
turned away to a distant part of the room. She, meanwhile, agitated
with astonishment at his conduct, as well as at her own circumstances,
and with the fear of offending him by further questions, endeavoured
to summon courage to solicit the explanation which was so important to
her tranquillity. At length she asked, how she might venture to believe
a circumstance so surprising, as that of which he had just assured
her, and to remind him that he had not yet disclosed his reason for
admitting the belief.
The Confessor's feelings were eloquent in reply and, when at length
they were sufficiently subdued, to permit him to talk, coherently, he
mentioned some circumstances concerning Ellena's family, that proved
him at least to have been intimately acquainted with it; and others,
which she believed were known only to Bianchi and herself, that removed
every doubt of his identity.
This, however, was a period of his life too big with remorse, horror,
and the first pangs of parental affection, to allow him to converse
long; deep solitude was necessary for his soul. He wished to plunge
where no eye might restrain his emotions, or observe the overflowing
anguish of his heart. Having obtained sufficient proof to convince him
that Ellena was indeed his child, and assured her that she should be
removed from this house on the following day, and be restored to her
home, he abruptly left the chamber.
As he descended the stair-case, Spalatro stepped forward to meet him,
with the cloak which had been designed to wrap the mangled form of
Ellena, when it should be carried to the shore. "Is it done?" said the
ruffian, in a stifled voice, "I am ready;" and he spread forth the
cloak, and began to ascend.
"Hold! villain, hold!" said Schedoni, lifting up his head for the first
time, "Dare to enter that chamber, and your life shall answer for it."
"What!" exclaimed the man, shrinking back astonished--"will not _her_'s
satisfy you!"
He trembled for the consequence of what he had said, when he observed
the changing countenance of the Confessor. But Schedoni spoke not:
the tumult in his breast was too great for utterance, and he pressed
hastily forward. Spalatro followed. "Be pleased to tell me what I am to
do," said he, again holding forth the cloak.
"Avaunt!" exclaimed the other, turning fiercely upon him; "leave me."
"How!" said the man, whose spirit was now aroused, "has _your_ courage
failed too, Signor? If so, I will prove myself no dastard, though you
called me one; I'll do the business myself."
"Villain! fiend!" cried Schedoni, seizing the ruffian by the throat,
with a grasp that seemed intended to annihilate him; when, recollecting
that the fellow was only willing to obey the very instructions he had
himself but lately delivered to him, other emotions succeeded to that
of rage; he slowly liberated him, and in accents broken, and softening
from sternness, bade him retire to rest. "Tomorrow," he added, "I will
speak further with you. As for this night----I have changed my purpose.
Begone!"
Spalatro was about to express the indignation, which astonishment and
fear had hitherto overcome, but his employer repeated his command in a
voice of thunder, and closed the door of his apartment with violence,
as he shut out a man, whose presence was become hateful to him. He
felt relieved by his absence, and began to breathe more freely, till,
remembering that this accomplice had just boasted that he was no
dastard, he dreaded lest, by way of proving the assertion, he should
attempt to commit the crime, from which he had lately shrunk. Terrified
at the possibility, and even apprehending that it might already have
become a reality, he rushed from the room, and found Spalatro in
the passage leading to the private stair-case; but, whatever might
have been his purpose, the situation and looks of the latter were
sufficiently alarming. At the approach of Schedoni, he turned his
sullen and malignant countenance towards him, without answering the
call, or the demand, as to his business there; and with slow steps
obeyed the order of his master, that he should withdraw to his room.
Thither Schedoni followed, and, having locked him in it for the night,
he repaired to the apartment of Ellena, which he secured from the
possibility of intrusion. He then returned to his own, not to sleep,
but to abandon himself to the agonies of remorse and horror; and he
yet shuddered like a man, who has just recoiled from the brink of a
precipice, but who still measures the gulf with his eye.