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Page 6
She brought word, that though tea had been ready for an hour past, the
lady and gentleman had not returned; and that the landlady would be glad
to know whether I could give her any intelligence of them.
"Let me pass!" said I, hastily opening the gate.
"Your bonnet, ma'am! shall I fetch your bonnet?" said my maid.
At that moment some one rushed past me. It was the young lady--running,
or attempting to run, but with faltering and unequal steps. I followed
her. At the first of the flight of steps before the inn, she stumbled
and fell. She was trembling and sobbing violently; whether from
breathlessness or agony, I could not tell. I raised her, and assisted
her to mount the steps. "My brother! my brother!" she exclaimed
incessantly. I could get no words but these from her. No time was to be
lost. I sat down beside her, and took both her hands; and speaking as
calmly as I could, said, "Compose yourself, and tell us what we must do.
Have you missed your brother, or has any accident befallen him before
your eyes?"
"He is on the mountain there! He left me, and did not come back. He said
he should not be gone twenty minutes."
"Now I know all," replied I. "I will take some people from the inn with
lights, and we will find him. You must stay and compose yourself, and be
patient; he has only missed his way."
She insisted upon going too; and declared that this was necessary, in
order to point out the track which her brother had taken. I explained to
her how I had watched their progress, and was therefore able to direct
their search. But she was resolute in her determination to go; and
finding her to be so, I gave up my intention of accompanying the party,
believing that I should only retard their progress.
I arranged with the landlady, that in case of any fatal accident having
happened, the young lady should be brought to my house, where she would
be in greater quiet and retirement than amid the bustle of an inn.
Hour after hour did we wait, listening to every sound, trembling at
every breath; and so shaken and weakened by intolerable suspense, that
we were ill-fitted to think and to act as occasion might require. It was
a dark, cloudy, and windy night. We often looked out, but could see
nothing, scarcely even the outline of the mountain. We listened, and our
hearts beat thick, when there was no sound but the rising gust! I dwell
on these circumstances too long, because I recoil from relating the
catastrophe, as if it were but recent--as if my thoughts had not been
familiarized with it for years.
It was as we feared; he was found lying at the bottom of a rock, no more
than ten feet high--but lifeless. His neck had been dislocated by the
fall. There were no external bruises--no signs of any struggle--nothing
painful in his appearance. I cannot relate every circumstance of that
dreadful night. I thought _she_ was gone too; she was brought in,
insensible, and remained so for hours. She was taken immediately to my
house, and put to bed. The body of her brother was also carried there,
for I knew she would not be separated from it. I sat beside her,
watching her faint breathing, anxious for some sign of returning
consciousness, but dreading the agony which must attend it. If she had
died, I could hardly have grieved for her; but there might be parents,
brothers, and sisters! Oh, that I knew, that I could bring them to her!
Alone, among strangers! how was she to bear her solitary grief?--how was
she to sustain the struggle which awaited her in the first hour of her
awakening? I could not banish the remembrance of them as I had seen them
in the afternoon; happy in each other, and thinking not of separation;
then, as he was when I last saw him, full of life and acuity, and
apparently unboundedly happy, in the contemplation of scenes which a
soul like his was fitted to enjoy.
Day dawned, and no change was perceivable; but in two hours afterwards
she opened her eyes. I crossed the room, to see whether she observed my
motion. She did; and I therefore opened the curtain, and spoke to her.
She gazed, but did not reply. Presently she seized my arm, muttering
some words, of which "my mother!" was all I could understand. I took the
opportunity of saying, that I was going to write to her family, and
asked how I should address them.
"My family!" said she, "I have none. They are all gone now!"
I thought her mind was wandering. "Your father and mother," said I,
"where are they?" My heart smote me as I uttered the words, but the
question was necessary.
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