Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 144 — page 34: what you’re looking at

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

= sas ne —— mS = —s °2 ow Swe ee i at — ee ee a a oe i= =- a“ “ = had ‘then been borne away, and that she had awoke chilled with cold, in darkness and in silence. She had crawled about on her hands ; iron mngs had then galled her ankle and chains had rattled. She had ascertained that there was a solid wall all around her, that under her there was a pavement covered with water, and a bundle of straw. She had then seated herself on this straw, and sometimes, for change of posture, on the lowest of the stone steps that led down to her dungeon. At one time she had tried to count the dark minutes measured by the drop of -water; but presently her mind discontinued of itself this melancholy task im- posed by a diseased brain, and it left her in a state of stupor. At length, one day, or one nn oy oa midnight and noonday were of the same color heard above her a lotider noise than that usually made by the gaoler, when he brought her loaf and her | pitcher of water.. She raised her head, and saw a red- dish ray entering through a cranny in a kind of trap- door placed in the vaulted roof of the tn pace.. At the sume time the heavy iron bars rattled, the door grated | n this sepulchre—she | vacant stare of an idiot, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME, ee ee ee At length he asked, “Are you afraid of me then ?”’ | She made no reply. “Are you atraid of me ?’’ he repeated. Her lips were compressed as though she smiled. “Yes,” said she, ‘the executioner jeers the ccn- | demned. For months he has been haunting, threat- ening, terrifying me! But for him, Oh God, how happy Ishould be! “Lis he who has hurled .ne into | | this abyss—'tis he who killed him—who killed my Phebus !"’ Sobbing vehemently, she raised her’ eyes | to the priest. ‘“‘ Who are you, wretch?” she exclaimed. | ‘*What have [ done toyou? Whysbould you hate me | thus? What grudge have you against me ?”’ “I love thee!’ said the priest. Her tears suddenly ceased. She eyed him with the | He had meanwhile sunk upon his knees, and gazed upon her with eye of fire. | ‘*Dost thou hear? I love thee!’’ he repeated. “Ah! what love!” ejaculated the unhappy creature, / shuddering. ) | “ The love of the damned,” he replied, ) Both remained silent for some minutes, overwhelmed | on its rusty hinges; it turned, and she saw a lantern, by their emotions; he frantic, sbe stupid. | ahand, and the nether extremities of two figures, the | The light so painfully affected her that sne closed her eyes. | ‘thou shalt know all. door being too low for her to"perceive their heads. Vhen she opened them again, the door was shut, ‘* Listen,’’ at length said the pratt. who had all at. once recovered a wonderful degree of composure; | I will tell. thee what hitherto I have scarcely dared to tell myself, when I secretly ex- | 'come intolerable to me. * I sought thee. but alas! something had fallen within me which I could not raise up ; something had come upon me, irom which I could not flee !”’ He made another pause and thus proceeded : “ Yes, from that day 1 was possessed with a spirit that was strange to me. I had recourse to my remedies —the cloister, the altar, occupation, books. Follies ! Oh, how hollow science sounds when you dash against it in despair a head filled with passions. Knowest thou, -maiden, what thenceforth 1 always saw between the book and me? Thee, thy shadow, the image of the luminous apparition which had one day passed before me. Butthat image had no longer the same color ; it was somber, dark, gloomy, Jike the black circle which long dances before the eye that has been imprudent enough to gaze at the sun. ‘‘Haunted by it mcessantly, incessantly hearing thy song ringing in my cars, incessantly seeing thy feet dancing upon ny breviary, my dreams -by night, my thoughts by day, being full of thee. I was desirous to be- hold thee again, to touch thee, to know who thou-wert, to ascertain whether thou resembJedst the ideal image impressed upon my mind, to dispel perhaps the phan- fasmi by the reality. At all events 1 hoped that a new impression would eftace the first ; for the first had be- Again I be- heldthee. When I had seen thee twice, I wished to see a lantern was placed on one ‘of the steps, and some- | amined my conscience, in those hours of night on thee a thousand times, to have thee always in my sight. thing like a human form stood before her. black wrapper descended to its feet; a hood, of | the sarne color, concealed the face. Nothing was a _ be seen of the person, not even the hands. The figure looked like a long black winding sheet standing | upright, under which something might be perceived | could no longer see us. Listen. ..Before 1 saw thee | | was happy.” “AndI!’’ she sighed forth faintly. “Interrupt me not. Yes, 1 was happy, or at leagt I | fancied that I was so. 1 was innocent. No head was | A | which rests such thick darkness, that it seems as if God | ‘Then—who can stop himself on the —? descent to per- dition—then was Ino longer my own niaster. 1 becume a vagrant, like thyself. 1 waited for thee beneath porch- es, 1 lurked at the corner of streets, I watched thee irom my tower. Each night, om examining myself, I townd that [ was more help‘ess, more spell-bound, moré moving. For some minutes she kept her eyes intently | lifted so high and so proudly as mine. Priests and | bewitched, more undone. fixed on this spectra) shape. Neither spoke. You would have taken them for two statues confronting | each other. Two things only gave signs to life in the dungeon; the wick of thé lantern which crackled, ow- | ing to the dampness of the atmospbere, and the drip | ‘ofthe roof breaking this irregular crepitation by its monotonous plash, which caused the light of the lan- tern to dance in concentric rings on the oily surface of the pool. At length the prisoner broke silence. “ Who are yon?” | ‘A priest.” - The word, the accent, the voice made hershudder. ‘Are you prepared?” asked the priest in a low e ne. “For what ?’’ “To die.’”’. “Ob |’ said she; “ will it be soon ?” * To-morrow.’’ ‘Her head, which she had raised with a look of joy, , iu sank upon her bosom. “‘’Tis a long time till then,’ murmured she. ‘‘ Why not to-day? What dit- . ference could it have made to them ?” ‘You must be very unhappy then ?” said the priest after a moment's silence. met rot - «3 am very cold,’ she replied. She clasped her - feet with her hands, and her teeth chattered. ‘The priest seemed from beneath the hood to cast his -eyes around thedungeon. “ Without light! without ‘iu the water! ‘Tis horrible !’’ - 9 “Yes,” answered she, with that air of timidity, which suffering had imparted; “ everybody we Nf the. Why should | be thrust into darkness ?’’ - Night. a Fe Vctelh resumed the priest, after another + wating, w | y, ou are here ?”’ dia know," ‘said oy passing her attenu- fin ove her brow, as if to assist her memory, _ “but I don’t now.” : All at once, she burst out crying like a child. “I waut to leave this place, sir. Iam cold, I am afraid, 2 sare logthaogse things which crawl up me.” ell, come with me.” i these words the priest took hold of her arm. ) shed girl was chilled to her inmost vitals, - t hand produced a sensation of cold. Ob!” murmured she, “it is the icy hand of death ! , you, then ?” ; i a hood. She, looked at eo: ‘ tal her, us - “Pos av ‘had so. long at on ch hb ppeeree to head of her ewe ha- e* ays so baneful to h d a ied her from mi * , stupor. The thick. veil ch er. cael “ ; Seaived to have spread itself oyer her memory was _ rent vj Add circumstances of ce mpdeg er dis venture, from the night-sceue at Fajourdl' to h condemnati a at La Tournelle, yy 2 vg: ane ‘ not vague : as e 0 _ ber mind, agi a ancl tee @ oocurrence, j h, palpitating, ter- “tite ‘These, recollections, almost obliterated by the -excess of ber oy ere revived by the somber aanaenotans her;, as be kavlatble words written with sympathetic ink upon white Pipe are brought out _ quite fresh on its being held to the fire. All the wounds of her heart seemed to be torn open afresh, and to at once. _ : “ Hal” she, witha convulsive tremor, and héld- ing her han over h eyes, ‘itis the priest!’’ Pres- | ently dropping her enfeebled arms, she remained sit- ting, her head bent forward, her eye fixed upon the yroupd, mute and tremb! The priest looked at her with the eye of ahawk, which has long been descend-_ _ ing in silence,from the topmost height of the heavens, | in circles gradually m - poor lark squatting in t pounced like winged ligh the panting victim in his talons. _.. She began to murmur in a faint tone: ‘Finish! - finish | Give the last blow !’’.and she bowed down her @ corn, and, having suddenly at 's above the “bus, that eye which she had seen last glistening near Beerptay to bre and more contracted around a | paca to tle spot. ning upon his prey, clutches | At length, perhabs in pity to me, thy song ceased, and doctors. consulted me. Science was ail in all to me; | it was a sister, and a sister sufliced me. In spite, | however, of my determination to acknowledge no | other influence, that power of nature, which,, silly | youth as I was,I had hoped to crush for life, had | more than once convulsively shaken the chain of those iron vows which bind me, miserable man that I | am, to the cold stones of the altar. But, fasting, prayer, study, the mortification of the cloister, restored to’ the spirit the dominion over the. passions. I shunned the sex. Besides, lneeded but to open a book, and all the impure vapors of my brain were dispelled by the splendor of science. In a few minutes the dark | things of earth fied far away, and [found myself calm and serene in the soothing light of everlasting truth. So long as the demon sent only vague shadows of} women to attack me, 80 long as they passed casually before my eyes, at church, in the streets, in the fields, and sc recurred to my thoughts, L vanquished him with ease, Alas! if victory has not remained with me, it is the fault of God, who has not madé man equal in strength tothe demon. Listtome. One day ’’-— The priest paused, and deep sighs burst from his bosom. He resumed : ‘ , “One day I bag sitting at the window of my cell. I was reading. e window looked upon an open mares I heard the sound of a tambourine. Vexed at being . pees in my reverie, I cast my é¢yes upon the place. at 1 there saw, and what others saw besides me, was not a sight made for human eyes. There, in. the mid- dle of the pavement—it was noon—bnilliant sunshine— a creature was dancing—a creature so beautiful that she might haye served as a model for the, mo ¢ oe Graces. Her eyes were black and splendid; amid r dark hair there were locks, which, saturated, as it were, by the sun's beams, sh e like threads of gold. Around her head, in her black tresses, there were pieces ot metal, which sparkled in the sun, and formed a coronet ot stars for her brow. Her azure robe, besprinkled with a thousand spangles, glistened like a summer night. Her feet, in their rapid movements, eppented indistinct like the spokes of a wheel that is whirling q round. rown and supple arms were tied and untied around her body like two scarfs. Her figure of surpassing beauty. ! the resplendent torm, which had something luminous about it even in the broad sunlight! Surprised, charmed, intoxicated, I could not forbear watching thee; I looked till I shud- —— ; So pea dd yh of diate Wag anon es, ‘The priest,.o y.emotlon, again paused fora moment. pe} then proceeded : : ee ‘Half fascinated already, I endeavored to grasp at my fall, I recollected the snares which Satan had previously spread forme. The crea- ture before me possessed that bapersurnde beauty which can proceed only from heaven or from hell. She. was not a mere girl, moulded of pry commion clay, an faintly lighted within by the flickering ray of aJemal spirit. Ipwas an angel, but an augel. of darkness—of | fire; not of light. At the pnt dy fe these thoughts | were, crossiag my brain, I saw n her a goat, a beast which associates with witches. It looked at me and langhed. The nuoontide sun tipped its horns » _ | flame. I then pereeived the snare of the demon, and plunged into m had no further doubt that thou yet come from hell, and come for my perdition. I believed so,’ The priest here looked steadfastly in the face of the prisoner, and coldly added: “I believe so still.’’ ‘Meanwhile the charm began to operate by de- srees, Thy dancing turned my brain. I felt the mys- fariohs spell upon me. All that should have waked in | my soul wasl | the suiow, I took pleasure in ‘yielding to this’sliimber.* l at once do? Thy singing was more fascinating than thy danc- | ing. I would have re Impossible. I was riveted, was forced to remain till thou feet were ice, my head a furnace. hadst finished. I saw thee depart, The reflection of the dazzling vision; | the sounds of the enchanting music, vanished by de- : eyes, and died away in my ears. I then | rees from ™, head witb terror, like the lamb awaiting the fatal Gant into the cortier of the window, stiff and helpless | stroke from the hand of the butcher. | mny ‘threw thee among the terrible wor is led to sleep ; and, like men perishing in _dreams—to see her fond of a soldier’s uniform “TI learned who thou wert ; Egyptian, Bohemian, git- aua, zingara. How could I longer doubt, that there was witchcraft in the case! I hoped that the law would break the charm. A sorceress had bewitched Bruno d’Ast; he caused her to be burned, and was cured. 1 kuew him, I resolved +o try the same remedy. An the first place 1 obtaimed an erdi- nance forbidding thee to appear in the pregincts of our church, hoping to forget thee it I should see thee no more. Reckless of this prohibition thow. camest as usual. Then did I conceive the idea of carrying thee off. .One night I attempted to put it into exeeution. There were two of us. We had thee already in our clutches, when that odious officer came up and rescued thee. Thus did he commence thy sufferings; mine, and his own. At length, not knowing what to do, I de- nounced thee to the official. I thought that I should ke ctired, as Bruno d’Ast was: I had also a contused notion that a judicial process: would deliver thee into wer; that ina prison I should havejthee, shoul hold thee; that there thou conldst not escape we. When,.one is doing evil tis madness to stop half way. The extremity of guilt has its delirium ot rapture. “Tshould perhaps have: renotinced my design ; my hideous idea would perhaps have evaporated trom my brain‘without ‘producitig any result. LIimagitied that it would roe me to follow wp or to sto a? - ceedings’ whenever I pleased. But ev wicket'th. ght. is inexorabie, and hurries to become a fact ; and where I fancied myselt L-powerful, Fate ved more hty than I, Alas | alas! it was Fate that eanglt thee, and ot the machine which I had secretly constructed. List tome. J have nearly done. in gi o ‘ “ Oneday—another day of lovely sunshine—I saw a man walking before me, who prunounced «thy e, who laughed, and whose eyes ylistened with unhal- lowed fire. I followed him—thou knowest the rest.” He ceasel speaking. “Oh, my Phebus!” was ald that the poor girl could utter. } , iene “Not that nhame!'’ said the priest, , with My ney “Name not that n. Vretched we are, ‘tis that name that. undone ; Or rather, we are ene one t the unaccountable freaks of fatality! Thou art sufferiug, Iknowit. Thou art chilled; the darkness blir 1 ; the du n clasps thee; but perhaps thou hast still sonie 1} A in ho recesses of thy soul, were it but thy childish Jove or that empty man who plays with thy heart—wiule I, Icarry a ngeo within me; within me is the chill ot winter, the chill of r; darkness emwraps my soul. Knowest thou all that I have suffered? Iwas presént at tlfy trial. Yes, otie of those priest’s cowls covered torments unequalled but by those of the damned. I was there when that savage beast—oh! not the torture—bore thee dff/to his . TD saw thee stripped, au@ thy delicate lim ‘by the inta- mous hands of the executiouém “I saw which would ‘have given an ‘empite to kiss, that foot by n had been to me hap- which i wt a Mg u E pimess, I saw it encased i that horrible buskin, which converts the members of @ living being into Sikbody jelly. At the shriek which was. forced from thee, I bosom a — I carried beheath | my wrapper. * Look, it sti) Gaffer. é threw open lis Cassock.< His breast was Jaéerated as by the claw of a tiger. The prisoner recoiled in “Oh, Maiden |!” said tle priest; “take pityon me ! Thou deemest thyself miseraBle. Alas! daoabtiddonreat not what misery is. Itis tolove a womati—to be a ee Flange: «ied pe with all the energies of your soul—to * that you would give up tor: heard thee begin to sing. What could I the least of her smiles yous blood, vous dite, your character, your salvation, immortality ad» éter- nity, this world and the next—to regret’ that you are not @ king, an empefor, an archangel, ‘that you might throw a greater slave at her feet; to clasp her nightand-day in your sleeping, afd dn’ your ‘waking and to have nothing to offer her but the squalid cassock, which is to her an object offear and disgist-2to be present, with a heart bursting with jealousy and rage, while 'as a fallen statue. The vesper bell awoke we; I fled; she lavishes on a silly braggart the treasures of love 0)(0)(6) ecolim