“It is of this fatal—this terrible destiny that I complain and that I repent,” answered Wagner. “Still do I admit that the advantages which I have obtained by embracing that destiny are great.”
“And may be far greater!” added the demon, impressively. “Handsome, intelligent, and rich—all that thou dost require is power!”
“Yes,” exclaimed Wagner, eagerly—and now manifesting, for the first time since the appearance of the fiend in his cell, any particular emotion: “I have need of power!—power to avert those evils into which my sad destiny may plunge me,—power to dominate instead of being subject to the opinions of mankind,—power to prove my complete innocence of the dreadful crime now imputed to me,—power to maintain an untarnished reputation, to which I cling most lovingly,—power, too,” he added in a slower and also a more subdued tone—“power to restore the lost faculties of hearing and speech to her whom I love.”
Strange was the smile that curled the demon’s lips as Wagner breathed these last words.
“You require power—power almost without limit,” said the fiend, after a few moments’ pause; “and that aim is within thy reach. Handsome, intelligent, and rich,” he continued, dwelling on each word with marked emphasis, “how happy may’st thou be when possessed of the power to render available, in all their glorious extent, the gifts—the qualities wherewith thou art already endowed! When in the service of Faust—during those eighteen months which expired at the hour of sunset on the thirtieth of July, 1517——”
“Alas!” cried Wagner, his countenance expressing emotions of indescribable horror; “remind me not of that man’s fate! Oh! never—never can I forget the mental agony—the profound and soul-felt anguish which he experienced, and which he strove not to conceal, when at the gate of Vienna on that evening he bade me farewell—forever.”
“But thou wast happy—supremely happy in his service,” said the demon; “and thou didst enjoy a fair opportunity of appreciating the value of the power which he possessed. By his superhuman aid wast thou transported from clime to clime—as rapidly as thought is transfused by the interchange of lovers’ glances; and in that varied, bustling, busied life wast thou supremely happy. The people of Europe spoke of that western world, the discovery of which recently rewarded the daring venture of great navigators; and you were desirous to behold that new continent. Your master repeated the wish; and by my invisible agency, ye stood in a few moments in the presence of the red men of North America. Again—you accompanied your master to the eternal ice of the northern pole, and from the doorway of the Esquimaux hut he beheld the wondrous play of the boreal lights. On a third occasion, and in obedience to your wish, you stood with your master in the Island of Ceylon, where the first scene that presented itself to your view was an occurrence which, though terrible, is not uncommon in that reptile-infested clime. Afterward, my power—although its active agency was but partially known to you—transported you and the count your master—now my victim—to the fantastic and interesting scenes of China—then to the court of the wife-slaying tyrant of England, and subsequently to the most sacred privacy of the imperial palace at Constantinople. How varied have been thy travels!—how rapid thy movements. And that the scenes which thine eyes did thus contemplate made a profound impression upon thy mind is proved by the pictures now hanging to the walls of thy late dwelling.”
“But wherefore this recapitulation of everything I know so well already?” asked Wagner.
“To remind thee of the advantages of that power which Faust, thy master, possessed, and which ceased to be available to thee when the term of his compact with myself arrived. Yes,” continued the demon emphatically, “the powers which he possessed may be possessed by thee—and thou may’st, with a single word, at once and forever shake off the trammels of thy present doom—the doom of a Wehr-Wolf!”
“Oh! to shake off those trammels, were indeed a boon to be desired!” exclaimed Wagner.