Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 308: what you’re looking at

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

eee eee eee eee oerrreoreoeooaeom i eee eee 4 800 AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. ter of Police, with a sombre look, “ you have re- ceived a fearful corroboration of the tale which I told you some eighteen months back, when I feared that I myself was stretched upon my death-bed anc when you came to give me the consolations of religion ?” “Yes, my lord,” continued the priest: “the guilty and unfortunate Bardi has within the past hour given me a terrible corroboration of the his- tory which I had previously learnt from your lips. But let us put him out of the question: because even though you can full well conjecture what he said to me on his death-bed, yet must it be held | in the ruins of St. Nicholas you assassinated your sacred so far as he himself is concerned; for it is under the seal of implicit secrecy that the priest receives a confession of the dying penitent! Puar- don me, my lord, if I have intruded upon you at so late an hour: but those circumstances to which I have alluded, brought you back into my mind— and then I was struck by the remissness of my conduct in never having again visited you since the day when I gave you absolution.” “Tt was barely necessary, holy sir,” answered the Chief of the Police; ‘“ for on the following day my illness took a sudden turn, and I was speedily out of danger. Nevertheless, believe me, I am always glad to receive the visits of the priesthood: for your holy Order is one of the main supports of the throne ys “If I have called on the present occasion,” in- terjected Father Falconara, somewhat abruptly— for he chose not to receive the credit of a loyalty which he did not deserve,— it is to confer with your lordship seriously for a brief space. May I hopo. that the exhortations which I addressed unto your Excellency when you deemed that you lay upon your death-bed - “ Now to speak the truth, holy father,” said the Minister, “I am by no means sorry that you have come; for I may address you upon a subject which I dare not touch upon with any other living person. To be candid, [ sleep not well at night: I am haunted by the recollection of that dreadful deed ” “Speak to me as a friend,” said Father Falco- nara; “and remember that you should also speak to me as if I had never before heard a single syl- lable relative to the deed to which you are allud- ing: for apriest must have no memory for what- soever was told him when executing the holiest of his functions and administering extreme unction.” “T understand you,” said the Minister: “and I would fain learn how it is that my conscience still troubles me notwithstanding the absolution which you gave me P” “Describe how it troubles you,” said Father Falconara. “My dreams at night reproduce, with super- added horror, if possible, that terrible scene e “What scene?” asked the priest. “Oh!” exclaimed the Minister, almost impa- tiently, “ that scene of murder which was perpe- trated # “ Where?” demanded the ecclesiastic. “In the ruins of St. Nicholas: and not for worlds,” added the Chief of the Police, with a shudder, “ would I pass by those dilapidated walls after night-fall!” “Unhappy man!” exclaimed the priest: “ what think you that you would sze P” ’ ee “ What should I see? The gory mangled torm of my unfortunate uncle—the old man whom [I enticed thither, and whom with the assistance of one of my creatures, Bardi ¢s : “Bardi?” said the priest. “ Have I heard that name before ?” “Yes, yes—you know it!—and wonderful is the coincidence which has placed you in a position of twice hearing a confession of the same crime! Why do you pretend that you had not heard the name before P” “Put all that out of the question,” said Father Falconara. ‘‘ What were you telling me ?—That Pa own relative “Yes—you know it! It was to possess hie fortune, which I knew that he meant to bequeath to another ed * And you poured forth his biood ?” said the ecclesiastic: “‘you assassinated him?—and you . would tremble to pass near that spot after night- fall ?” “Yes: for beneath the grass which grows io dark luxuriance amidst those ruins,’ said the Minister, “the corpse was interred—the old man’s corpse! Ten years have elapsed since then—but if the soil were dug up the bones would be found! And Oh! in imagination that skeleton is often evoked from its unballowed grave, to stand by the side of my couch—to stretch its fleshless arm over and to startle me horribly from my troubled sleep fe “Unhappy man!” again ejaculated the priest. ** But how was the crime concealed ?” “Who knew of it save myself and my accom- plice Bardi, who, as you tell me, has so lately rendered up his breath, having to your ears con- fessed——” ‘‘ Well, well,” said the priest: “none knew of it but yourself and your accomplice? The corpse was buried—the crime was concealed! But how obtained you possession of the murdered man’s property P” “A tale readily invented—that he suddenly went to Corsica—that there he died ——then forged certificates of death and burial were in time pro- duced—they gave me his fortune as heir-at-law But why do you make me recapitulate facts which are so well known to you? Is it to punish meP Tell me, holy father—why I am thus haunted by that spectre when my conscience ought to be absolved of the crime?” “ Why do I make you recapitulate these facts ?” exclaimed Father Falconara: and now a strange alteration took place in the whole manner, look, tone, and bearing of the young ecclesiastic. “ It was to elicit from your lips the confession that you are a murderer !” “But was not that confession made eighteen months ago?” asked the Minister, trembling, he scarcely knew why. “Yes,” said the ecclesiastic! “ but them it was a confession made to me when I visited you as @ priest and the seal of secrecy was upon my lips! Now it is a confession which you have made to me as a friend—and I accuse you, my lord, of the foul crime of assassination !” Father Falconara started up from his chair as he thus spoke; and the Chief of Police, likewise springing up from his own seat, exclaimed, “ What cComicbooks -“-— =_- — eee