From Italian Mysteries (1820) by Francis Lathom
From Volume II:
CHAPTER III
Ah, me! for ought that ever I could read,
Could ever hear, by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth;
But either it was different in blood,
Or else misgrafted, in respect of years;
Or else it stood upon the choice of friends:
Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death, or sickness, did lay siege to it,
Making it momentary as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream.
If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,
It stands as an edict in destiny:
Then let us teach our trial patience,
Because it is a customary cross;
As due to love as thoughts, and dreams, and sighs,
Wishes, and tears, poor Fancy's followers.
A Midsummer Night's Dream.
"ON awaking from the trance into which I had fallen, I found myself extended on a straw couch in a pavilion at the foot of my own garden, where during the summer, which was at that time the season of the year, I was accustomed to retire in an afternoon from the heat of the day. It was already morning, the beams of the rising sun were beginning to gild the earth, and the birds were carolling their hymns to the opening day. For a few minutes the past appeared to me like a vision; but as my senses regained their wonted powers, I became convinced that the recollections registered in my mind had been produced by facts; and my astonishment increased with every moment that I continued to revolve them in my mind.
"When I became in some measure able to abstract my ideas, my attention was arrested by a gold chain which I found suspended round my neck, and to which hung a heavy substance, folded in an envelope of paper. I hastily tore open the object of my curiosity, and beheld a most striking miniature resemblance of the mysterious female to whom I had on the preceding evening been introduced, richly set in brilliants. In removing the envelope, some words of writing, traced upon the paper, had caught my eye, and after a few moments' gaze at the portrait, I eagerly perused the lines in which it had been encased. They were these:--"Signor Julio, the female to whose society you were yesterday evening admitted has discovered in you her son: it is your mother who addresses you, through the medium of those words which you are at this moment perusing. For the first and last time you have beheld her. Every endeavour which you can make to discover her abode, or her situation in life, must prove fruitless; she is concealed from the knowledge of the world by an impenetrable veil; bound to her seclusion by a spell which mortal means can neither penetrate nor dissolve. Knowing the independence with which you are blest, she offers you only one gift at her hands, the resemblance of her who gave you birth; she believes and trusts that you will receive it with the same satisfaction and love with which it is consigned to your possession. Wear it next your heart; and oh! may that heart sometimes heave a sigh of tenderness for her who gave its vital powers the spark of life!'
"I was lost in wonder, and as my astonishment increased, my desire augmented to solve the mystery in which my parent was enfolded. Days, weeks, and months, were passed by me in unavailing plans, fruitless stratagems, and unsuccessful attempts of every description, to gain the knowledge for which my heart so eagerly panted--a period which, although it could not fail to weary the peruser by a minute detail of all the circumstances attendant on its progress, was to me of a highly-interesting nature, as every new effort which I projected or pursued for the accomplishment of my wish, kept alive within me the sustaining essence of hope, without which my powers, enervated by disappointment, must have sunk into the torpitude of despair.
"Nearly a year had elapsed, and not a single ray of light had beamed upon my ignorance of my mother's fate, when I was prevailed on by two of my friends, natives of Padua, who were now students of St. Peter's at Rome, but who had been fellow-disciples with me in the seminary where I had completed my education, to accompany them to the carnival of Venice; and it was not so much from the expectation of deriving that excess of pleasure which my companions anticipated from their visit to that celebrated scene of mirth, as from a desire of pursuing some plan which might partially wean my mind from that subject on which it had, both for the strength of my health and spirits, been of late too forcibly bent, that I consented to accompany them. Heaven was propitious to my wish; it vouchsafed to me the boon for which I had prayed--the relief from incessant inquietude of thought for which I had panted. It was there, at the carnival of Venice, that the benignant hand of Providence led me to behold the matchless, the fascinating, the amiable Valeria di Cavetti; I saw her, I gained her acquaintance, and found in her smiles the blessing for which I had prayed. Her conversation was a magic antidote to the pangs of an unsettled mind; the elegance of her graceful form challenged the admiration which her silver voice had claimed, and her smiles communicated an electric touch of joy to the senses, which left the heart without a wish ungratified.
"Should fate ever permit the enchanting Valeria to peruse the lines which this trembling hand is now employed in tracing, she cannot fail to remember her last interview with Julio. It was at that moment, when Julio was on the point of confessing to her who was the female represented by the miniature suspended round his neck, and at that critical moment, by the confusion created in the ball-room, at the alarm of fire, they were separated from each other, and met no more. And should Valeria peruse the lines here written, will she not naturally inquire, why during the lapse of so many months, Julio has neither written to her, sent to her, nor visited her? For her reply to this question let her revert to the early part of Julio's narrative of his life, and she will recollect, that in the letter which accompanied him in his introduction into the monastery at Padua, was contained the information that he possessed a sister, whom it was not likely that he could ever know to be such, and was consequently enjoined by his unknown parent not to marry any woman of whose birth he was not positively assured. Of the origin of Valeria di Cavetti there could be no doubt in the mind of Julio; but Julio had made a promise on his deathbed to his friend, his protector, and his parent, Antonio, who had in many instances witnessed the ill effects of marriage contracted in too great precipitancy of passion, and at too thoughtless an age of life, not to become a husband, till he had attained his twenty-fifth year; and even then, not to enter into wedlock with any woman whom he had not known for the space of twice twelve months.
"To break through a line of conduct to which he had solemnly and voluntarily bound himself to his dying friend to adhere, Julio was convinced to be a step to which he could never conform with honour or happiness to his own mind.
"At the period of his introduction to Valeria, he had, according to the computation made of his age by Antonio, when he was first cast upon the benevolence of the abbate of the monastery, just attained his twenty-third year; accordingly, in the course of two revolving seasons, he would have attained his twenty-fifth year, and have known the mistress of his soul twice twelve months; and for this period accordingly he resolved to quit the presence of his idolized Valeria, distrusting, whilst he sunned himself beneath her dazzling charms, how far the lures of present joy might tempt him to disregard that sacred bond, which, by the force of principle and truth, man's two most holy ties on earth, whispered him not to break his engagement with the dead.
"Oh Valeria! Valeria! sainted maid! celestial being, submitted to the earth, a rare example of the race beyond the skies! sweet practiser of virtue's harmonizing code! possessor of each charm that lulls the soul to heavenly repose! blessed with all joys, all attributes, and all felicities, save only one, ill-fated maid! thy knowledge of the wretched, wretched Julio!"
Here followed a chasm in the manuscript, where several sentences had been blotted out by the pen, and subsequent to these appeared some lines through which the marks of erasure had been faintly drawn; and from those lines which remained legible, Valeria could gather that they had contained the description of a struggle between love and honour in the breast of Julio; and concluded by his invoking Heaven, with almost frantic earnestness, to prove his innocence; but of what act there appeared no elucidation.
The narrative was continued thus:--"At the expiration of the carnival, at the entreaty of my friends, I returned with them to Rome, where I passed a month in a round of pleasures of which my mind partook not; my heart, my senses, my soul, were with Valeria in Venice. But I must not omit to state, that in the course of my journey back to Padua, when my visit to my friends at Rome was completed, an extraordinary circumstance occurred to me, which, for a while, left an impression on my mind, which divided my thoughts with the image of my adored mistress.
"I had been about a couple of hours in the inn where I had resolved to pass the night, at the end of my second day's travelling, when my servant, to whom a long and faithful service had accorded some degree of familiarity in addressing me, entered the apartment where I was sitting.--'Pray, signor,' he said, 'did you observe a stranger, when you were taking a stroll just now round the garden, by the side of the house, leaning against the palisades which divide it from the road, and eyeing you very attentively?'--'No; why so?' I inquired.--'Because, signor,' replied my servant, 'I observed what I have been mentioning to you. The person I speak of is well drest and well mounted, for I saw him ride into the inn-yard about half an hour after we arrived here:'--'There is nothing very uncommon,' I said, 'in one stranger looking with some degree of curiosity at another.'--'But indeed, signor,' rejoined my servant, 'there was something very pointed in his manner of doing so; and when you had retired into the house, he came up to me, and asked if you were my master? To which question, when I had replied in the affirmative, he rejoined--"Your master resides in the neighbourhood of Padua; does he not?"--"He does," I said.--"I know his person well," replied the stranger, "but cannot immediately recollect his name. I have often heard it too. Oh! now I remember," he added, after a momentary pause, "it is signor Julio; ay, ay, I recollect Julio;"--and so saying he walked away from me into the house. 'This stranger,' I remarked, 'is most probably some one who, like myself, is without company on the road, and wishes for a companion to pass the evening with. As you say he appears a man of respectability, go, and present signor Julio's compliments to him, and invite him to sup with me.'
"My servant departed with my message, and in a short time returned with information that the stranger was gone to bed. 'If he had received my invitation a few minutes sooner,' I said, 'I have no doubt that he would have been happy to have deferred retiring to his chamber for two or three hours longer.'
'I inquired of the people of the house,' resumed my servant, 'whether they knew his name; but they informed me that they did not recollect ever to have seen him before.'
"Having taken my supper, and finding the hours hang heavy on my hands, as I conjectured that the stranger had done, unprovided as I was with books or any resource for passing my time, I retired to rest, and somewhat fatigued with my day's journey, I soon fell asleep.
"How long I had slept I am unconscious, but I was awakened by the pressure of a hand upon one of mine, which was extended on the outside of the bed. On opening my eyes they were dazzled by a glaring light, which I imagined had issued from a dark lantern; for on my looking up, I heard a faint creaking sound which proceeded from the same spot from whence the flame had gleamed, and the light instantly disappeared. By the momentary flash of light which had been presented to me, I had caught a glimpse of a human figure, standing by the side of the bed, and I instantly exclaimed--'Who are you? and what is your business with me?'--'Who I am,' replied a manly voice, composed of firm but sweet tones, 'cannot at this time be answered you; what I am, I may candidly confess, your most sincere friend.'--'I repeat, what is your business with me?' I replied; 'and why, if you are a friend, have you chosen this suspicious hour, and this mysterious manner of disclosing yourself to me?'--'For your sake, for my own,' answered the unknown; 'were we seen to converse together, destruction would overtake us both.'--'Perhaps it is at this moment meditating against me from your hand,' I exclaimed; 'I shall therefore call for assistance, and----' whilst pronouncing the last words, I had raised my voice, and made an effort to quit my bed. The unknown placed his hands upon my arm to retain me in my situation, and interrupted me.--'In the name of God,' he said, 'forbear; what I entreat of you is for your own peace, your own happiness, your own honour!'
"The accents in which he expressed these words were mild, and persuasive in the extreme, and he followed them with a sigh which appeared to proceed from a broken heart.
"Ere I could resolve how to act, or what to reply, he spoke again.--'I have but one question to ask,' he said, 'and one admonition to give, and we part, probably to meet no more on earth. Are you not, Julio, a foundling, reared by the benevolence of the abbate of the monastery of San Stefano, in Padua?'--'I am,' was my reply.--'Then,' emphatically rejoined the unknown, 'avoid the marchese di Valdetti!'--'Who is the marchese di Valdetti?' I asked.--'Your mortal foe,' he answered.--'I know him not,' I rejoined.--'Heaven grant you never may know him!' pronounced the unknown.--'What have I to fear from him?' I exclaimed.--'Every thing,' replied the stranger; 'persecution! dishonour! death! Farewell!' he added, pressing my hand in his as he spoke, 'oh! farewell! One anxious purpose of my heart is accomplished, and I am happier, at least less miserable than I was.'--'If you are truly thus interested in my fate,' I said, 'oh, explain to me----' 'Not one other word,' he interrupted me by solemnly pronouncing, 'nor, when I quit this chamber, offer to follow me a single step, or breathe a sound that may be overheard, unless you wish to draw down instant ruin on us both. Once more, let me behold your countenance, and then yield myself up again to grief and solitude."
"He opened his lantern, gazed upon me for a few seconds, and then again smothering the light in scarcely articulate accents he stammered forth--'Farewell! a long farewell! Heaven guard and bless thee! farewell!' Then raising his voice, he added--'Remember my injunctions; not one step or word, as you value my existence or your own;' and darted out of the chamber, closing after him the door with the utmost caution.
"The state of my mind may be easily divined, but its torments were increased by a perplexing recollection which I could not analyse. During the momentary view which the stranger had been taking of my countenance, my eyes had been fixed upon his, and I felt convinced that his features were familiar to my sight, though I could not recall to my memory when or where I had before beheld them: at length, after a considerable time passed in the torture of reflection, recollection burst suddenly upon my brain; the being who had that night addressed himself to me was the very pilgrim who, when a boy at school, had, as I had since received cause to suppose, examined the neck of my shirt, in order to ascertain whether it were clasped by the brooch which I had now for many years constantly worn, and which had disclosed me to her who professed herself to be my mother. What were my thoughts during the remainder of the night cannot require explanation; I slept no more, and rising early in the morning, and inquiring of my servant for the stranger, learnt that he had left the inn at daybreak; I asked the road he had taken, and was informed that no one had observed the direction in which he had set out.
"That every additional circumstance of a mysterious nature which occurred to me, heightened my desire to obtain the means of undrawing the veil which obscured from my view the ambiguous fates of myself and those with whom I was connected, can scarcely require to be mentioned. I have here only to remark, that even to the name of the marchese di Valdetti, against whom my unknown friend had cautioned me as my deadliest foe, I was an utter stranger.
"On my return to Padua, I became thoughtful and melancholy; my acquaintance perceived the change in my disposition, and rallied me on the score of my being in love--a charge, of which as I felt fully conscious, I candidly admitted myself guilty, in order to avoid a closer scrutiny into my feelings. After a time I endeavoured to argue with my own mind, to call the powers of reason to my aid, and to convince myself that the despondency of soul to which I had too long been yielding myself; so far from assisting me in producing the end which I was desirous of accomplishing, would only tend to enervate my faculties, and render them less competent to take an active share in any circumstances which might arise to demand my personal exertions. To this end I applied myself with vigour to the several arts of painting, music, and botany, of which I had before possessed no mean knowledge, and with which, for the sole purpose of employing my thoughts, I now resolved to court a more intimate acquaintance. I also accepted the invitations of my friends, and suffered myself to be led back to that society from which I had for a time withdrawn myself; and I found that if I experienced no other relief to my feelings from associating occasionally with my fellow-beings, a few hours passed in a crowded assembly gave a double charm to solitude on my return home.
"The period now arrived which was productive of a circumstance upon which my mind must ever look back with the keenest sensations of horror--a circumstance which has blotted out my name for ever from the book of earthly bliss--a circumstance which has rendered the world a blank to Julio, and Julio a cipher and an outcast amongst men!
"Being one day about this time invited to dine with a friend in Padua, I found the party composed of my intimate acquaintance, with the exception of one young man, whom I had frequently before observed in mixed societies, and to whom my friend now for the first time introduced me, informing me that he was a young man of good family, who had been studying the art of surgery at Pisa, and was now residing in Padua, for the purpose of perfecting himself in anatomy, under a celebrated professor of the science in that city. In the course of the varied and broken conversation which occurred during our repast, I observed the young stranger to be well-informed, but opinionated, and eager to bring his own remarks upon every subject into notice. About the usual time of separating in the evening, the guests departed, with the exception of the young stranger and myself, who being engaged in a conversation of some interest with our host, did not rise to follow their example. When we were left alone with my friend, he said--'I am very glad you did not retire so precipitately as the rest of my visitors have done; we seem so well entertained with one another, that if you have no other engagement, I hope you will pass the remainder of the evening with me.'
"We both readily complied with his proposal; fresh wine was placed upon the table, and the laugh and joke relieved the gravity with which we occasionally discussed the various subjects which were by turns started in the field of argument. At length the profession of the young surgeon was the topic introduced upon the carpet, and my friend, who was a man of an extremely-nervous habit, said--that he had reason to be thankful that the independence which had devolved to him from his father had never reduced him to the perplexity of selecting a profession; but, that had his circumstances compelled him to the exercise of one, that of a surgeon would have been the last he would have adopted, as he was certain that he never could have sufficiently divested himself of feeling, for the performance of the necessary duties of the situation.
"The young stranger strenuously defended his profession, declaring, that what was frequently placed to the score of inhumanity in the exercisers of that science, was only a commendable stifling of their own feelings, in order the more ably and more speedily to contribute to the relief of those whose sufferings it was their aim to heal.
"I strongly coincided with him in opinion, and then addressing my friend, said--'If all the world were of your sentiments, where would the sufferer obtain alleviation of his pangs? he must inevitably either linger through a life of imbecility and decrepitude, or be reduced by the anguish of his wounds to a hasty grave, when the operations of science, skilfully administered, will in few instances fail to restore him to strength and convalescence.'--'There is truth in what you advance,' replied my friend, 'but dispositions vary; and had I been fated to the exercise of a profession ignobly as that of a tailor is usually rated, I am positive that I could sooner have submitted to become a repairer of the tattered arms and legs of a doublet, or of a pair of trunks, than of the fractured ones appertaining to a human form.'
"The young stranger laughed heartily at my friend's assertion, and then said--'I am surprised, as you express yourself to be so great a victim to your nerves, how you can be sufficiently bold to receive a shock of electricity, of which I have seen you take many, apparently unmoved.'--'I confess that it is an experiment which I extremely dislike,' replied my friend; 'but as I know it to be for the good of my system, I endeavour to subdue my feelings, and assume courage to endure it.'--'And we surgeons,' answered the young stranger, 'subdue our feelings for the good of others, which you must allow is at least as praiseworthy a motive as his who stifles them for his own peculiar benefit only.'--'You have not yet practised yourself,' resumed my friend, 'or at least only to a limited extent, and cannot therefore inform me how a novice assumes fortitude to carry him through the first operation which he attempts.'--'The ardour of his zeal to excel in his profession, added to his desire of contributing to the relief of the sufferer under his hands, nerve equally his heart and arm,' replied the young stranger; 'but you are to recollect,' he continued, 'that every student of surgery has practised his art upon the bodies of the dead before he proceeds to exercise his skill on living subjects. I am surprised that, as a mere matter of curiosity, you have never procured an introduction into the anatomy chamber in the college of the Holy Cross in this city; it is easily obtained; I shall attend there to-morrow, and if you please, will take you with me.'--'Excuse me,' returned my friend, 'it must be compulsion indeed that leads me to witness a spectacle of the kind; I deem it only suited to the observance of those who may derive professional benefit from their attendance upon it, and, moreover, regard it as a scene which should be kept strictly concealed from the eye of uninterested curiosity.'
"The conversation now took another turn, and shortly after, the young stranger and myself bade our entertainer good night. When we were in the street, I addressed the young stranger by saying--'I am of an entirely different opinion to our friend relative to the points which we were discussing, connected with your profession; I am inclined to think that no one can see or know too much of whatever relates to the acquisition of knowledge in any point of science; and if I did not deem myself to be taking too great a liberty with you upon our first acquaintance, I should be tempted to ask if you would oblige me by transferring to me your invitation to accompany you tomorrow morning to the anatomy chamber, which our friend declined.'
"The young stranger not only readily granted my request, but appeared highly gratified that I had advanced it; and the splendour of a full moon illuminating a warm autumnal evening, he proposed a short stroll about the city before we retired to our respective habitations. I agreed to his proposal, and the excellent wine, and animated conversation of the afternoon, having exhilarated his spirits, he began to address me with all the familiarity of an old acquaintance.--'There is certainly little pleasure,' said he, 'in contemplating the dead, but the subject which you will to-morrow behold in the anatomy chamber was once one of the most lovely women in Italy. I think I shall almost feel some compunction in performing the task of practice, which I apprehend will be allotted to me, upon her now-insensible form; for I believe that few have shared more of her favour than I have done.'--'Was she then a female of a publicly-unprincipled life?' I asked.--'No, not exactly so,' replied the young stranger; 'her transactions were denominated private; but so many possessed the key to the enigma, that her secret was what may be called a secret pro bono publico.'--'And I suppose the contempt in which her memory is held,' I rejoined, 'causes her remains to be yielded an easy purchase to the dissecting knife?'--'Oh, by no means!' answered my companion; 'she supported a style of infinite elegance during her life, and has doubtless left a fortune capable of interring her with the magnificence of an empress; indeed, I understand her funeral to have been a sumptuous one; she was buried to-day in the chapel of San Tomaso.'--'And by what means then will the college obtain the corpse?' I inquired.--'Oh, my dear signor,' replied the young stranger, 'every corpse is attainable in this city; and conscious that the remains of her of whom I have been speaking will form an admirable study, our professor has pursued infallible steps for obtaining the body; and in less than two hours from this time, it will be safe in the anatomy chamber.'--'Strangers feel nothing on these occasions,' I remarked; 'but relatives could not fail to suffer severely, were they acquainted with the remains of their kindred being thus exposed to the gaze of unfeeling scrutinizers.'--'Probably they would,' returned my companion; 'but especial care is taken that relatives are kept in the dark as to these matters.'
"After some farther conversation we parted, and I agreed to meet the young stranger at eleven o'clock on the following morning, in the square of San Lucco.
"The young stranger was true to his appointment, and after the usual salutations of the morning, he said--'It is somewhat earlier than the hour at which the professor generally commences his lecture; but if you please, we will walk on to the college; there will as yet be scarcely any one arrived in the anatomy chamber, and I shall have an opportunity of giving you a sight of this rara avis, as I once thought her, which you would likely not else have an opportunity of obtaining, as her countenance will probably be concealed from view whilst the professor delivers his lecture.'
"I consented, and we proceeded to the college of the Holy Cross. Arrived there, we ascended the grand staircase leading from the hall to the second range of apartments, and were admitted by a porter, to whom my companion was known, into the anatomy chamber. It was a lofty and spacious apartment, around which seats were amphitheatrically raised above each other, for the accommodation of the students; and in the centre stood a table, over which was thrown a white cloth, which, clinging to the substance it concealed, plainly discovered the outline of a human form beneath.
"As the young stranger had augured, there were as yet not more than half a dozen persons in the room, two of whom appeared servants in waiting, and the others students, who were sitting remote from each other, and appeared deeply engaged with the volumes which they held in their hands.
'The opportunity I anticipated is granted us,' said my companion; and motioning to me to follow him, he approached the table, and drew aside that part of the covering which concealed the face of the subject. I stepped forward to view the features on which his encomiums had been so lavishly bestowed, and beheld--guess, if you can, the horror, the astonishment, the convulsive pang which rent my heart, when, in the countenance of the deceased, I beheld that of my mother!
"Darting a look expressive of the fury of my soul upon my introducer to this awful scene, 'liar and villain!' inarticulately escaped my trembling lips, and clasping my hand before my eyes, as if apprehensive of being pursued by the appalling spectacle which I had just witnessed, I rushed out into the street. My brain was burning, and my heart sunk cold as ice within my bosom. In the course of the last twelve hours, I had heard my mother accused of lascivious criminality, had seen her insensible remains exposed to the most humiliating and ignominious situation to which mortal clay could be subjected! and could a son, who possessed a heart of manhood, the feelings of a human being, witness this double degradation to the character and form of her who bore him, and not seek retribution on the asperser of her fame? forbid it, every virtuous principle! forbid it, Heaven!
"I rushed into the first tavern, and calling for pen and paper, wrote a note to the following effect to the young student.
'SIGNOR,
'The female whose character you have so falsely and so vilely calumniated is my mother! As you are yourself a son, you may readily imagine the feelings aroused in the bosom by an indignity offered to the name of her who bore us; you must, therefore, either publicly retract what you have uttered to the discredit of my parent, or decide your quarrel with me by the sword. I shall expect your immediate apology by letter, or await you at three this afternoon, behind the ruins of the monastery on the east side of the city.
JULIO.'
"My letter was instantly dispatched, but no answer returned. Accordingly, at the time specified I repaired to the ruins of the monastery--a spot marked by the decision of many a point of honour; and had arrived there only a few moments, when I perceived my adversary advancing. I have already mentioned that I had observed this young man to possess a self-sufficient and decided temper; my own disposition was as inflexible as his, when goaded to the pitch to which it was now wound; and the expressions uttered by each at our meeting, instantly proved that our swords must be the arbiters of our quarrel. We immediately took our ground; our weapons were drawn, and at the close of the second encounter, my sword pierced my antagonist through the breast; the blood gushed from his heart, and he fell to the earth to rise no more! Conscious that my own life was now in danger, I flew with all the precipitancy of dread to my villa, and having provided myself with a purse of gold, and taken the swiftest horse from my stable, I set off at full speed from the city of Padua, almost unconscious whither I directed my steps."
Here ended the manuscript. Attached to it was a slip of paper, which contained these words:--"Thus far, adored Valeria, I had proceeded in the narrative of my life, ere I formed the determination of submitting it to your inspection; and I should long since have concluded it (for little more remains to be said of the unfortunate Julio), but that I desired my tongue to impart the climax of my fate to her who governs my destiny, and for whom alone I wish to live. Come then, beloved Valeria! return to the hut of the recluse, and even beneath the pressure of disappointment, the sting of privation, let us deduce happiness from the charm of friendship and congeniality of soul! come! oh, come! and relieve my pangs by the influence of thy reviving presence! thine, and thine only, Julio."
Valeria sat lost in a trance of thought, of amazement, and of unsatisfied conjecture, as the portrait suspended round the neck of Julio, the only point on which she had ever rested an apprehension of his fidelity, was now fully proved to her to have been the resemblance of his mother; she could select no instance from those which composed the sum of his life, which could militate against that union which his words at her interview with him that morning, and now again the expressions with which he had closed his narrative, seemed so palpably to declare that he himself considered incompatible with some circumstance, arising from the events of his life, which it still remained for him to develop to her: what that circumstance was, she could not form the remotest idea; and the only relief which she could promise herself for her present doubts and anxieties, was to seize the first favourable opportunity for again repairing to his secluded dwelling by the side of the brook.
Having deposited the manuscript in a place of security, and endeavoured to dress her features in that serenity which was foreign to her heart, she hastened to join the family, conceiving that she had already been too long absent from them.
