prehenfions but too juftly entertained for that hapless young woman's fate, with the accufations he failed not to upbraid himself with for not having more firmly exerted his influence over Francifco to obtain leave for her to accompany Victoria in her flight, all the agony of uncertainty his mind was tortured with, relative to his now almost blighted hopes of happinefs with Victoria, drove him into a ftate of mental anguish pitiable to behold; when the only thape in which confolation feemed to reach his heart was from the magic of of that handkerchief he had taken from Thomas. It had belonged to Victoria, and he fondly cherished it. It was now all within his reach that had ever been hers, and it poffeffed that power over Iris mind which affection in abfence gifts every trifie with. Reafon cannot define how the poffeffion of fuch trivial thing could convey the balm of comfort to the heart of a man depreffed with the vafiety of cares but the attributes of love and reafon are often found to dit fer widely, and the lover derives pleafure and pain from caufes which would puzzle poor reason to account for. It was late in the evening when Lorenzo and his companions reached Cadaques. Francifco, after difmiffing his attendants, difguifed Lorenzo, Rinaldo, Orlando, and Thomas, in facerdotal habits, and then left them, with a command to be at his cave in the foreft at midnight. Guzman, in one of his Proteus forms, faw and recognised them upon their arrival in Catalonia. He watched all their movements; and by his wary manoeuvring, Lorenzo, Rinalde, and our hero, were dragged from the goat-herd's hut to the caftle, where they were inftantly given into the cuttody of the arch-fiend Garcias. Rinaldo was immediately conveyed to one of the common dungeons; Lorenzo, loaded with chains and con tumely, to the fouth tower; wh for Orlando, now completely in lire, power, the infernal wretch planned more diabolical revenge. this di The noxious thorns of ancient an T mofity rankled with renewed vire Franc lence in the breaft of Garcias, aid exped by the venom of new caules for points deadly hate. Matilda, in the phrean to of her grief, had betrayed the fece tre of the fictitious Hippolyto and Maril fuppofed Theodore uniting in the heir perfon of Victoria's gallant delivere mot The black heart of Garcias, hos-pery ing with all the venom of deadly hangi and vengeance, had the unfortun Orlando dragged without mercy f the terrible tube, whither he had not ace fuffered himself quietly to be taken toe In his defperate refiftance, he blow o feverely wounded fome of the ruffians, thic and in return received a flight wound bed round which he providentially bound gle Victoria's handkerchief that he came ed in his bofom. Numbers, however, Ma prevailed over his now defperate valour; and in the feuffie that took th place while they were forcibly faftening him in the iron chair, the mark-m ed corner of the handkerchief wa rent off by the jags of fome part of the furrounding iron-work. Linked by chains to two defperate tha bravos, he was first precipitated down the dreadful tube, and then dragged to his moft horrible prifon; where, with the accustomed food, bread and water, he was faftened in, and left to deplore the unheard-of cruelty of hae fate. The agony of his mind foo brought on a malignant fever. Witz out medicinal aid, without affittance in any fhape from mortal, he was left by his diabolical and implacable foe to ftruggle with difeafe: but be had help of which the pows of Gar cias could not bereave him, and Nature's great guide decreed that the thould bear Orlando fafely through his dreadful malady. The critis was paft, and reafon (though not yer ipcech) was fatt re-affuming her em e, when Almighty Providence conted the footsteps of our heroine to direful prifon. The confternation and dismay of incifco were extreme when his pected friends arrived not at the apnted time he had too much reato fear for them, and he had now tremble for their fate as well as for atilda's. Morning arrived without ir appearance, and apprehenfion 1oft tortured him to phrenzy. ery inquiry which his alarmed gination or agonifed feelings could geft he now fet on foot: his mind frame were haraffed by exertions rcely human. Every power that ue or vice could yield him were w called forth, but, alas! without ct: neither of the fate of his loft nd, or of Matilda, appeared one gle trace within his eager penetrat eye. Matilda by this time had been veyed to the north tower, partly elude the vigilance of Francifco, 1 partly to intimidate her into a mpliance with don Manuel's proals. The barbarous Garcias, aning to work upon her feelings in ry fhape, had inhumanly told her, Urbino (whom he, as well as on inuel, believed her to be in love h) was, with her friend Sebastian, n in their power, and unfeelingly ured her that both thefe, her dear ends, fhould fuffer every fpecies of elty, and death at length in its moft sful form, if the did not, within a y few days, affent to become the fe of don Manuel, to whom her ther, in her last moments, had beeathed her. But Matilda, after fome hours of nifing agitation, and deep reflectidifbelieved all these horrid threats. ell the knew, from Orlando all mifery they had inflicted upon Atoria to terrify her into conte Viza's toils, and the now firmly felt fuaded that the fame plans were to purfued to work upon her terrors; and though dreadfully convinced by the piteous groans of Sebaftian, which ftruck direfully upon her heart during her imprisonment, that he at leaft was in their power, the ftill doubted the intention of Garcias to commit the cruelty he had denounced against his friends, and refolved, upon her next interview with don Manuel, to tell him she had developed his defigns; and that no real or threatened cruelty fhould ever terrify her into becoming his wife. But don Manuel the never more beheld; and the agitation of her fufceptible mind with want of fuftenance for two whole days, reduced her to that state in which Victoria difcovered her. In the intermediate time the ardent fearch of the agonised Erancifco was unremitting, as it was fuccefslefs.Garcias, with dreadful imprecations denying all knowledge of those he fought, in purfuit of his own revenge, braved even the vengeance of the inquifition, with which Francifco threatened him if he longer concealed Theodore and Sebastian. Don Manue too, infenfible to his father's anguith, his tears, his fupplications, his threats, firmly denied their or Matilda's being in his power. Terrible were now the daily disputes between the father and the fon; and in dreadful wrath they parted from eac! other, determined to meet no more, the morning of that day upon which Francifco was fummoned to his feat in the inpuifitorial tribune, from which his agony of mind had led him to abfent himself for the first three days of the convention being called, little thinking how deeply he was concerned in the bufinefs agitated there; and now the depofition of Thomas and Diego too fatally convinced the agonized father that his fon (now in this dreadful moment become dear to his heart as ever) could no longer hope to efcape the punithment due to his enormous offences. ftranger. In all that horror and difmay dreadful fituation awakened, t happy Manuel announced to adherents the almoft inftantan Horrid confternation now f its debilitating influence over alle once brave affociates. In a mone like this, the guilty could only re ble. Self poffeffion Aed from None knew how to act for the g ral fafety; nor was there then for arrangements, nor fufficient p er within the castle to attempt com tion. To fly was all of fecurity left them; believing there was time for perfonal retreat, they a doned at once all that mafs of treas they had waded through every cr. and bartered their eternal app to attain, and unhefitatingly le the mercy of a community ful as a pacious, and a little more than their own. offences. He trembled, he fickened, action he was now to appear and with difficulty reftrained the violence of his agitation. Confined by the duty of his high ftation in the inquifition to the courts of the holy office, and furrounded by fpies and enemies in arrival of inevitable deftructionevery direction (for one of the at-They were betrayed, and an tending evils of this dreadful fynod conquerable force of the inget was, that each inquifitor had as even then entering the fecred pa much to fear from his brother's the caftle.' enmity, as the wretched victims of their power had from them all combined; and befide this, great jealouties and animofities then raged batween the Dominican and Obfervantine monks of Cadaques), Francifco could not obtain one fingle moment to escape to his cell to announce to the devoted community of the caftle the deftraction that awaited them, or rather which was about to fall, even in the next moment, upon them, until the dreadful troop were all in the foreft upon their march to the caftle. Then did the agonized father, availing himself of the impenetrable darkness of the night, fteal from the filent and tremendous phalanx, and ruth ing through the caverns, found the dreadful alarm upon the gong; then flying to the parlour, where his difmayed fon was, imparted to him, that terrible intelligence which his haggard looks, inquifitorial habits, and diftracted appearance, but too horribly authenticated, then giving his tarewell benediction, and a laft tender embrace to the appalled Ambrofio, fied back. But in the hall finding the aged Terefa in a fwoon, and not then forgetful of humanity, he bore her in his arms to her chamber fo long appropriated to Sebaftian, and there leaving her upon the bed, ftill in her ftate of infenfibility, retreated back to the awful troop, un noticed took his filent ftation amidst the forces of the rear, and unfufpected purfued his way to the caftle, where to every thing and every tranf Of all the retreating troop lains don Manual certainly was moft collected; yet fo far d terror of inquifitorial tortures o upon his hitherto courageous that, in the moment of provide his own perfonal fafety, he forge tilda, her whom he fancied heter loved, nor once remembered her til too late to attempt, with in ty, her refcue from the dreadis what he thought inevitable, impending over her in her fec fon. Garcias, with conte Vicenz fcarcely recovered from his w took refuge in the deep rece fecret cayein amongst the rocky the fea-fhore, from whence and thirty hours they dared t ture. At length impelled by h and finding that purfuit had a them to that afylum, they deter ined to embark in a boat they faw ing at anchor a thort distance from 'eir retreat, and truft to the mercy the waves for watting then to me more fecure and comfortable Hace of refuge. But even in this axious moment of peril, thefe truly iabolical and incorrigible villans folved to perpetrate one more fell time before they fled from Spain or ever. Polydore, previous to his eaving the cafle, had learned from is agents in France of the marriage of Victoria; and although believing he fuppofed Theodore to be his own fon, vice held fuch empire over his heart, that jealoutly and rage wound him into a thrift for vengeance, even equal to the vindictive Garci as. of her mind delineated upon her speak ing countenance, was in that terrible moment a faithful portrait of the dying Viola. Chilled by the power of fupernatural awe, the weapon of death fell from the nerverlefs hands of the affaffins, and the ftrong and appalling delufion chafed them from that difimaying place : fhaking with terror, and tortured by every horror, they fled to the boat, which, guided by divine ordination ultimately bore thefe fanguinary wretches to deftruction. CHAP. LXXVI. FRANCISCO notwithstanding the violent affeverations of don Manuel and Garcias, ftill firmly believed that Orlando and Lorenza were confined within the precincts of the caftle; and as he well knew Elfridi had revealed to Garcias fome fecret places of imprisonment and torture, invented and formed by the Turks who had inhabited that caftle, and which he could never be prevailed upon to impart to him, he refolved upon tak fridi, whom he had not vifited fince his hafty return from Italy. He had: every reafon to believe, from all that had occurred in their late converfation, that the conte had fome invincible reafon for not imparting to him any of the fecrets his mind laboured with, and the only hope he now feared he had left was centred in Victoria. In her prefence he would announce to Elfiidii the dreadfully myfterious difappearance of Theodore and Sebaftian; and the pleadings of her youth, her fafcinations, Garcias was well acquainted with a fhallow near the receis which fheltered them, where at low-water they could gain a safe entrance to the prifon of their intended victim. Together then thefe remorfelels affaflins went, fully bent upon their fanguina- ing our heroine to the chamber of Elry purpose, and entered the cavern thortly after Victoria had been guided by Providence to the dungeon of her hufband. The eye of omnypiefence was fixed upon them, but they felt not its influence; unawed they reached the prifon door, and there they paufed, tortured with every pang of difappointed vengeance; but foon awakened to dæmoniacal joy by the convicton of their devoted victim having not escaped them. Though wondering why the dungeon door was open, and Theodore ftill there, they madly ruthed forward to glut her affection for Theodore, Frantheir vengeance in his noble heart; when in the dreadful moment that their hands were raised to give the mortal blow, the bleeding form of Viola flood before them. Such pow. er did the Almighty fuffer the guilt Fearing the eyes of obfervation of conscience to affume over their fhould he lead Victoria through the heated imaginations. The pale and church, or any part of the cattle ghaftly Victoria, with every horror known to the cficials, Francifco de cifco believed the conte would find refifties, and that the magic of her charms would at once ditpel all the clouds of fecrecy that had hitherto fo thickly enveloped Elfiidii. terinined termined to conduct her through thofe horrid caverns known only to himfelf, Elfridii, don Manuel, and Garcias, and which led alike to the tomb of Viola and the caftle treafury. For many hours preceding that appointed for his meeting Victoria, Francifco had been brooding over the calamities that too probably awaited all thofe fo dear to his affec tions. Grief, difappointment, uncertainty, and anticipated evil, had worked his fufceptable feelings into fuch a ftate of gloom, almost ap proaching to defpair, that juftice and humanity feemed chafed from their feat; and this verfatile character, in fullen malignity, almoft ripe for any act of defperation, led our heroine through thofe fcenes of horror, rather deriving fatisfaction from than pitying her natural terrors; for fo lavage, fo mifanthropic had the defpondency of his mind at that period made him, that he looked then upon Victoria with the most envenomed deadly hate, as the caufe of all he fuffered; and vainly then did his better feelings whisper how innocently he had caufed thofe evils which wrung his foul and wrapped it from humanity; and the almott phrenlied flate of his mind more than once infpired the horrid thoughts of fatiating his vindictive feelings in the murder of Victoria: but fill his better thoughts would interpofe to moderate his paffions, and by leffening his hatred and injuftice, now and then obtain for her a foftened thought or word. The wretched Sanguinario had been placed in that comfortlefs and defolate fpot, by the policy of Garcias, to terrify any perfon, whether led that way by chance or by defign, from venturing further towards the reafury. Francifco conjecturing that the flight of Garcias might have left this inferable creature without a fupply of food, took fome provifion for him, in the basket he had provi ded with, nourishment for thofe he faintly hoped this vifit to Elfridii would prove the means of leading him to find. The reiterated yells of Sanguinario, the deriding repetition of her own fhriek, with the foft whisper, and the loud and low refponfes from above, were all the magical work of echo, from the extraordinary, though hidden, but natural effect of found in that wide range of cavern chambets, as they varied their fituation in them. The chamber of death was in fact the entrance to the treasury, and the ftrange characters upon the door were caufed by the effect of torchlight upon foffils placed there, as all the horrid machinery of the cham ber was for the purpose of terrifying any invader who might discover the treasury, and rafhly attempt to enter it. A wonderfully ingenious artificer of Geneva, who was conveying a mechanical exhibition from his own country to Naples, unfortunately teil into the hands of thefe rapacious pi rates. The barbarian Garcias, avail ing himifelt of this hapless citizen's talents, employed him to make all that machinery which struck Viĉoria with fuch fearful amazement in that chamber. An adjoining cell was appropriated for working all this mechanizm in; and the moment all was fully completed, the arch-fiend Garcias confined the ill-fated unfufpecting artifan for life within that lonely cell, to work his own machinery, with every dreadful threat of the inflection of the most horrible fpecies of torture, thould it fail to act upon the entrance of any one. The moment foot-steps approaced the door, an unerring found was faithfully conveyed to the cell to call its wretched inhabitant to his operation, which he was compelled to aid with his own voice, and to fing while his heart was bursting with anguish. and |
