"If thou canst climb yonder stair," he cried, "before the flames cut off thy retreat, thou art safe. See, Leonora is already free. Haste—this way—there,—there, now leap—mind thy footing, 'tis too frail, creep round, those rafters are unbroken; another spring, and thou mayest reach them in safety."
The flames were close upon him. He was nigh suffocated. A perilous attempt,—but, at length, he gained the upper floor, and his deliverer exclaimed,—
"Thanks, thanks, he is safe! by this good hand, too, that wrought your misery. Oh! that a life of penitence and prayer might atone for my guilt. It was a thought inspired by Heaven, prompted me to set on fire that insatiate demon, to whom my task-master offered those wretched victims, and every month a bride, on pain of his own destruction. What might be the nature of that skeleton form, or their compact, thou canst neither know nor understand. Even I, though nightly witnessing horrors which have given to youth the aspect and decrepitude of age, cannot explain. A connexion, if not inseparable, yet intimate as body and soul, existed between those demon-haunted bones, and yon monster who sought, and accomplished my ruin. What I have seen must not, cannot be told. My lips are for ever sealed. But the flames are fast gaining on us. Let us hasten, ere they prevent our retreat. The whole fabric will shortly be enveloped, and every record of this diabolical confederacy consumed. Go to thy lady-love. She is recovered, and, as one newly awakened from some terrific dream. With the earliest dawn hie thee to the prison lest he escape. Let him be instantly secured. When summoned I will not fail, to confront, to denounce the wretch. He cannot penetrate yonder walls, save by fraud or strategem. How I have escaped death is one of the mysteries which time perchance may never develope. One might fancy the cunning leech who supplied the drug did play me false. Instead of poison mayhap, one of those potions of which we have heard, that so benumb and stupify the faculties, that for a space they mimic death—nor can any thing rouse or recover from its influence until the appointed time be past."
They hurried away as he spoke. De Vessey could scarcely wait until daylight. His first care was to secure the old sorcerer. He sought aid from the police, and, as far as might be, revealed the dreadful secret.
An immediate visit was made to the cell. On entering, its inmate was in bed,—a scorched, a blackened corpse!
It may be supposed, the lover was not long in attending on his mistress. She was free from disorder, and happily unconscious of what had passed during the interval, save that an ugly dream had troubled her. Nor was she aware that more than one night had elapsed. In a few days afterwards, De Vessey led her to the altar.
The mystery was never fully penetrated. That imposture, and partial insanity, might be involved, and have the greatest share in its development, is beyond doubt; but they cannot explain the whole of these diabolical proceedings. That the powers of darkness may have power over the bodies of wicked and abandoned men, cannot be denied.
Whether this narration discloses another instance of such mysterious agency, our readers must determine.
What the painter knew, was buried in eternal silence. The monks of La Trappe received a brother whose vows were never broken!