Ivan the Terrible; or, Dark Deeds of Night — page 252: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

248 Clementina had courage enough to plead her cause calmly before the assembly, and declared frankly the duplicity which she had been guilty of, and affirmed that neither she nor her sister had for one moment entertained the least idea of becoming nuns, and that what they had done was in pure compliance with the injunctions of their parents. But this justification availed nothing. She was told that not- withstanding her assertions to the contrary, her exterior conduct made her liable to be considered as a member of the community of which she had so long worn the dress; that, having scandalised it in the grossest manner, she was, according to the statute in force upon such cases, amenable to heavy punishment. In pursuance to this declaration, the abbess condemned them both to receive every morning a dozen stripes, with strict discipline, while they remained in the convent, telling them, at the same time, that they had rendered themselves unworthy of any mercy from their parents, who had delivered them up to their discretion, during the short stay they were to make in the convent, from which they would soon be removed to a place of much severer confinement and harder iving. On the next morning the execution of this inhuman sentence took place ; two lay sisters inflicted it upon them in the most un- feeling manner. The lay sisters are exactly the counterpart of the lay brothers, in the monasteries of monks and friars; they generally, both men and women, undergo all the drudgery of the meanest domestic, being, in fact, no better than servants and labourers, people of low birth and education, and consequently of coarse ideas. Into such hands it was the lot of Mary and Clementina to fall. Three mornings did the delicate frames of these two young ladies endure the infliction of the torture, which, no doubt, was by the cruel direction of their inhuman parents. The abbess never durst have proceeded to such extremities without their most positive injunctions ; the futher was a man of too much consequence for her to have adopted such measures without them. The poor young ladies, not knowing where all this would end, and being debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper, as well as the sight of all visitors, began to view their condition with horror, and to entertain the most desperate ideas. Clementina was less patient than her sister, and told the nun who presided at their punishment, that if they did not cease speedily, she knew how to put an end to them herself. This being reported to the abbess, she desistel from scourging them, but ordered that they should still continue under lock and key, and no person whatever be admitted to speak to them. In this wretched condition they remained some days, when the abbess, thinking they were sufficiently prepared for what she pro- posed, sent an artful nun to converse with them, and sift their intentions, and to discover whether the sufferings they had gone through had disposed them to accept of any alternative, sooner than meet with a repetition. This crafty woman found them just in the situation she could wish, drowned in tears, and bewailing themselves in the most piteous manner. Affecting the sincerest sorrow for their misfortunes, she told them that a letter that-very day had arrived to the abbess from their father, in which he signified that she should not abate the least in her rigorous usage of his unworthy daughters, as he styled them ; that he insisted that they should be kept apart from each other, fed on bread and water, and locked up in durgeons if there were any in the convent. Such an excess of cruelty threw the unfortunate young ladies into a greater agony of despair than before; they flung themselves before the nun on the ground, and besought her to intercede with the abbess in their behalf, oftering to do implicity whatever she should order them. The nun withdrew, and gave an account to the abbess of the dis- position she left them in, and of the facility there now was to mould them into any shape whatever. In truth, the two sisters were now convinced that it was in vain to contend against their destiny, cruel as it was, and they both agreed to yield to it with as good a grace as they were able, They sent in their humble request to the abbess that she would forgive what was passed, and overlook a misdemeanour that was prompted by youth and folly, and which they would endeavour to eine for by a behaviour conformable to what should be required of them. Thus did these unhappy young creatures bow themselyes down before oppression, and make a seeming virtue of that dire necessity they were forced to, of either obeying the tyrannical mandates of their barbarous parents, or of being imprisoned, like felons, all the rest of their lives, The abbess now gloried in the victory she had gained over these helpless young females. She informed the parents of the new turn things had taken, in consequence of which, they desired her to in- form their daughters, that when they had fulfilled their promises, 26 SE6O c THE TWO VICTIMS. then, but not before, they should be forgiven, and received again into favour. The only remedy to the varjous evils they had been threatened with was, therefore, adopted; they demanded re-admittance into the state they had abandoned, with a solemn assurance of making the usual yows, and consecrating themselves to a monastic life. They were re-admitted accordingly, and in a few days took the irrevocable oath, and made their professions with the usual formalities. Clementina was at this time little more than twenty years of age, and, though less beautiful than Mary, was allowed to be very handsome. : Whether they were ever visited, either by their father or mother, after this dreadful sacrifice, I could never learn. Possibly the shame and remorse of having treated their children with so much inhumanity may, when too late, have operated upon their consciences and made them averse to behold the innocent and un- fortunate objects of their criminal inflexibility. If, on the contrary, the wishes of this wicked couple went to a total discharge of all sort of incumbrances upon account of these unhappy children, they were very speedily gratified. Soon after their admission Clementina, overcome with grief and repentance at having deceived her sister, lost all peace of mind, and fell into a decline that carried her off about a twelvemonth after. She died in the arms of Mary, imploring her forgiveness with her last breath. The tender-hearted and noble-minded Mary had not only forgiven her, but convinced her of the sincerity of her contrition she loved her with the warmest affection. She clasped her to her bosom in her dying moments, called her by every endearing name, and told her, in the most moving and pathetic terms, that she felf an inward assurance that she should not long survive her. Her prediction was very soon verified; she sickened a very few days after the death of Clementina, for the loss of whom she became inconsolable. While she was alive they were a comfort to each other; the deprivation of her was a blow that sensibility could not brook. There now remained no individual in whom she could repose any confidence. The treatment she had met with in that house rendered it odious, and the necessity of passing her life in it aggravated the horrors of such a situation. She shunned all society, and became a prey to silence and melancholy ; her beautiful form wasted gradually to a skeleton, and she died at last six or seven months after Clementina, and was, at her earnest desire, buried in the same grave. Thus died two beautiful women just entering the bloom of their youth and beauty; twosuch flowers destroyed by the very beings ‘who gave them life. Their ideas of aggrandisement were, however, disappointed. The young count became disgusted at something; and just’ about that time the eldest sister fell ill of a malignant fever, and, after a long and tedious illness, she died also, and was buried in great pomp in the vault of her father’s castle. They were now childless, and when they diced they knew that the estate would pass from the family, the thing the father wished to prevent; and now they had leisure to repent in all the bitterness of disappointed ambition and avarice foiled by its own strength. ** EroOw .” HOW A JOLLY DOG GOT MUZZLED. HOW BROWN MET ROBINSON. HOW “DANDY JACK” AND THE “LUMMY COVE” SQUARED IT. HOW ELFIE VISITED THE FAIR. HOW THE ESCAPE FROM THE PENITENTIARY WAS MANAGED. HOW THE JOLLY DOGS WENT TO THE DERBY. HOW THE MURDER TOOK PLACE AT CREMORNE. HOW THE BLOODHOUND’S SEARCH ENDED. HOW THE LODGING-HOUSE KEEPER. MANAGED HIS TENANTS. etc., etc. SEE THE JOLLY DOGS OF LONDON, ONE PENNY WEEKLY. THE BEST WRITTEN STORY OF THE DAY, ENGRAVINGS AND SUPPLEMENTS, GRATIS, omicbooksseom