Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 309: what you’re looking at

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

AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE. —_— ne mean youP—what am I to understand by this strange conduct on your part? I sought your ghostly advice e “You are not in the confessional—neither are you stretched upon a bed which may become the couch of death!’ exclaimed the ecclesiastic. “ It is man speaking to man—not penitent to priest! Your confession is open, and no seal of secrecy is upon my lips! My lord, I accuse you of the foul crime of murder! There are evidences of the deed—the skeleton beneath the ruins—tbe forged certifi- cates! Yes—there are all the proofs !—and I now hold you answerable to the criminal law of this country !” The most astute persons in the world may some- times be caught off their guard+-the most cunning and wily may occasionally commit themselves— and those who are ordinarily most famous for having their wits constantly about them, may on some occasion or another iose their shrewd fore- seeing qualities. Thus was it with the Minister of Police on the present occasion. He had made a tremendous mistake—he had been guilty of a fear- ful error: but how could he possibly suppose that the pious, sedate, retiring young priest had with a rare ingenuity been spreading a net to ensnare him? Startled into the consciousness of the awful position in which he had placed himself, the Chief of the Police now gazed on Father Falconara with a look of mingled horror and consternation ; and the young priest, seizing him by the collar of his coat, exclaimed, “I arrest your lordship in the name of the law! I denounce you as a mur- Cerer !” “This is madness!’ suddenly ejaculated the Prefect, as with a violent effort he released himself from the grasp which the young ecclesiastic had fixed upon him. “ Keep off!—down upon your knees—listen to the terms I myself am about to dictate: or else——” The Minister did not finish the sentence: but euddenly producing a pistol from a bureau which was near at hand, he presented it towards Fal- conara’s head. “ Beware of what you are doing, miserable man,” cried the priest, shrinking not from the weapon which was thus levelled at him. “I may be in your power—you may kill me, but I shall not die uurevenged! You may thrust me into a dungeon —but it would not be long ere an account would be demanded of me at your hands! Think you that having undertaken such a task as that which has brought me hither, and knowing how desperate your character is, I adopted no precaution Ab ! hear you that ring at the gate? Rest assured that the Marquis of Ortona and Signor De Vere, one of the attachés to the English Embassy, have come to the Prefecture to inquire for Father Fal- conara!” “Am I to understand,” said the Minister of Police, slowly suffering the muzzle of the pistol to sink towards the ground, while an expression of ghastliness again came over his countenance, as if he felt that the toils of the net in which he was ensnared were closing in more and more upon him, —“Am I to understand that you have revealed to the Marquis of Ortona and to that young English- man the fearful narrative which under the seal of gecrecy was confided to your ears? But no!” eja- evjated the Chief of the Police; “1am a fool to + CU _-CSdO [——- Bi | ask the question!—for you would not have dared _to violate the sanctity of your priestly obligation in such a manner!” “No—I am incapable of it!” answered the ecclesiastic: “but I have appointed the Marquis and that young Englishman to watch over my life and liberty this night! I intend to offer you terms: I can propose a means by which tke tale of your foul crime may remain a secret until the end,—buried as deeply in my heart as the skeleton is buried deep beneath the ruins of St. Nicholas !” “And what terms are those which your revoe rence proposes?” asked the Minister. “Life for life!” replied Falconara. “If by keeping your dreadful secret I save you from the scaffold, which is the murderer’s doom,—you, on your side, must surrender up unto me some one whom in your heart you have already doomed to the scaffold !” “ Ah!” ejaculated the Chief; “‘ to whom do you allude? Perhaps to one of those who this night 4 “ Yes,” rejoined Faleconara: “TI allude to tho Count of Camerino. He is my benefactor—the only friend whom I possess on earth: to him am I indebted for everything! I have resolved to save him, even though by the adoption of a course which, believe me, has done no mean violence to my feelings, though I have outraged no law either moral or religious. Now, my lord, you un- derstand me! Let the door of the dungeon open for the Count of Camerino ; and I swear by the most sacred, solemn, and binding of oaths that never again from my lips shall go forth a syllable in reference to the hideous topic of your great guilt!” “ But you are asking something,” said the Pre- fect, who was still much agitated,—* you are ask- ing something which it is next to impossible for me to grant!” : “ Hark, my lord! again the ringing at the gate of the Prefecture!’ exclaimed Father Falconara. “ My friends are demanding me!”’ “Are you sure?” asked the Prefect—and he looked earnestly on the priest’s countenance ; for the unscrupulous villain thought to himself that if it were not really as Falconara represented, he would hurry him off to a dungeon whence he would take care that he should never come forth alive. ““T understand what is passing in your thoughts,” said the priest: “but heaven be thanked, I am not in your power! A third time they ring!” A domestic entered, saying, as he addressed the Prefect, “ May it please your Excellency, two gentlemen are at the gate, who insist upon seeing Father Falconara. Vainly have I assured them that his reverence is engaged with your lordship— they persist ——”’ “ Tell them,” interrupted the Prefect, “ that Father Falconara shall join them in a for minutes.” The domestic retired ; and the young priest said firmly and decisively, “ Now, my lord, what is your decision?—for there can be no more tarry- ing. It is useless to argue and reason: my mind is made up. I came hither for a special purpose— and if you were to offer me the wealth of the Indies, or all the worldly advantages that could ———————— COMmiclooolks ed