|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 46
"I know not how my mother made that terrible discovery," added Odile,
"but she became aware of the mysterious attraction of the Black Pest and
their meetings in Hugh Lupus's tower; she knew it all--all! She never
suspected my father--ah no!--but she perished away by slow degrees under
this consuming influence! and I myself am dying."
I bowed my head into my hands and wept in silence.
"One night," she went on, "one night--I was only ten--and my mother, with
the remains of her superhuman energy, for she was near her end that
night, came to me when I lay asleep. It was in winter; a stony cold hand
caught me by the wrist. I looked up. Before me stood a tall woman; in one
hand she held a flaming torch, with the other she held me by the arm.
Her robe was sprinkled with snow. There was a convulsive movement in all
her limbs and her eyes were fired with a gloomy light through the long
locks of white hair which hung in disorder round her face. It was my
mother; and she said, 'Odile, my child, get up and dress! You must know
it all!' Then taking me to Hugh Lupus's tower she showed me the open
subterranean passage. 'Your father will come out that way,' she said,
pointing to the tower; 'he will come out with the she-wolf; don't be
frightened, he won't see you.' And presently my father, bearing his
funereal burden, came out with the old woman. My mother took me in her
arms and followed; she showed me the dismal scene on the Altenberg of
which you know. 'Look, my child,' she said; 'you must for I--am going to
die soon. You will have to keep that secret. You alone are to sit up
with your father,' she said impressively--'you alone. The honour of your
family depends upon you!' And so we returned. A fortnight after my mother
died, leaving me her will to accomplish and her example to follow. I have
scrupulously obeyed her injunctions as a sacred command, but oh, at what
a sacrifice! You have seen it all. I have been obliged to disobey my
father and to rend his heart. If I had married I should have brought a
stranger into the house and betrayed the secret of our race. I resisted.
No one in this castle knows of the somnambulism of my father, and but for
yesterday's crisis, which broke down my strength completely and prevented
me from sitting up with my father, I should still have been its sole
depositary. God has decreed otherwise, and has placed the honour and
reputation of my family in your keeping. I might demand of you, sir, a
solemn promise never to reveal what you have seen to-night. I should
have a right to do so."
"Madam," I said, rising, "I am ready."
"No, sir," she replied with much dignity, "I will not put such an affront
upon you. Oaths fail to bind base men, and honour alone is a sufficient
guarantee for the upright. You will keep that secret, sir, I know you
will keep it, because it is your duty to do so. But I expect more than
this of you, much more, and this is why I consider myself obliged to tell
you all!"
She rose slowly from her seat.
"Doctor Fritz," she resumed in a voice which made every nerve within me
quiver with deep emotion, "my strength is unequal to my burden; I bend
beneath it. I need a helper, a friend. Will you be that friend?"
"Madam," I replied, rising from my seat, "I gratefully accept your offer
of friendship. I cannot tell you how proud I am of your confidence; but
still, allow me to unite with it one condition."
"Pray speak, sir."
"I mean that I will accept that title of friend with all the duties and
obligations which it shall impose upon me."
"What duties do you mean?"
"There is a mystery overhanging your family; that mystery must be
discovered and solved at any cost. That Black Pest must be apprehended.
We must find out where she comes from, what she is, and what she wants!"
"Oh, but that is impossible!" she said with a movement of despair.
"Who can tell that, madam? Perhaps Divine Providence may have had a
design connected with me in sending Sperver to fetch me here."
"You are right, sir. God never acts without consummate wisdom. Do
whatever you think right. I give my approval in advance."
I raised to my lips the hand which she tremblingly placed in mine, and
went out full of admiration for this frail and feeble woman, who was,
nevertheless, so strong in the time of trial. Is anything grander than
duty nobly accomplished?
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|