In about a week after the arrival of Elizabeth’s letter we returned to Geneva.The sweet girl welcomed me with warm affection,yet tears were in her eyes as she beheld my emaciated frame and feverish cheeks. I saw a change in her also. She was thinner and had lost much of that heavenly vivacity that had before charmed me; but her gentleness and soft looks of compassion made her a more fit companion for one blasted and miserable as I was.
The tranquillity which I now enjoyed did not endure.Memory brought madness with it,and when I thought of what had passed,a real insanity possessed me;sometimes I was furious and burnt with rage,sometimes low and despondent.I neither spoke nor looked at anyone,but sat motionless,bewildered by the multitude of miseries that overcame me.
Elizabeth alone had the power to draw me from these fits;her gentle voice would soothe me when transported by passion and inspire me with human feelings when sunk in torpor. She wept with me and for me. When reason returned, she would remonstrate and endeavour to inspire me with resignation. Ah!It is well for the unfortunate to be resigned,but for the guilty there is no peace.The agonies of remorse poison the luxury there is otherwise sometimes found in indulging the excess of grief.
Soon after my arrival my father spoke of my immediate marriage with Elizabeth. I remained silent.
“Have you, then, some other attachment?”
“None on earth. I love Elizabeth and look forward to our union with delight.Let the day therefore be fixed;and on it I will consecrate myself, in life or death,to the happiness of my cousin.”
“My dear Victor, do not speak thus.Heavy misfortunes have befallen us,but let us only cling closer to what remains and transfer our love for those whom we have lost to those who yet live. Our circle will be small but bound close by the ties of affection and mutual misfortune. And when time shall have softened your despair, new and dear objects of care will be born to replace those of whom we have been so cruelly deprived.”
Such were the lessons of my father.But to me the remembrance of the threat returned;nor can you wonder that,omnipotent as the fiend had yet been in his deeds of blood,I should almost regard him as invincible,and that when he had pronounced the words “_I shall be with you on your wedding-night_,” I should regard the threatened fate as unavoidable. But death was no evil to me if the loss of Elizabeth were balanced with it, and I therefore, with a contented and even cheerful countenance, agreed with my father that if my cousin would consent, the ceremony should take place in ten days, and thus put, as I imagined, the seal to my fate.
Great God!If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself for ever from my native country and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth than have consented to this miserable marriage. But, as if possessed of magic powers, the monster had blinded me to his real intentions; and when I thought that I had prepared only my own death, I hastened that of a far dearer victim.
As the period fixed for our marriage drew nearer,whether from cowardice or a prophetic feeling,I felt my heart sink within me.But I concealed my feelings by an appearance of hilarity that brought smiles and joy to the countenance of my father, but hardly deceived the ever-watchful and nicer eye of Elizabeth. She looked forward to our union with placid contentment, not unmingled with a little fear, which past misfortunes had impressed, that what now appeared certain and tangible happiness might soon dissipate into an airy dream and leave no trace but deep and everlasting regret.
Preparations were made for the event,congratulatory visits were received,and all wore a smiling appearance. I shut up,as well as I could,in my own heart the anxiety that preyed there and entered with seeming earnestness into the plans of my father, although they might only serve as the decorations of my tragedy. Through my father’s exertions a part of the inheritance of Elizabeth had been restored to her by the Austrian government. A small possession on the shores of Como belonged to her. It was agreed that, immediately after our union, we should proceed to Villa Lavenza and spend our first days of happiness beside the beautiful lake near which it stood.
In the meantime I took every precaution to defend my person in case the fiend should openly attack me. I carried pistols and a dagger constantly about me and was ever on the watch to prevent artifice, and by these means gained a greater degree of tranquillity. Indeed, as the period approached, the threat appeared more as a delusion, not to be regarded as worthy to disturb my peace, while the happiness I hoped for in my marriage wore a greater appearance of certainty as the day fixed for its solemnisation drew nearer and I heard it continually spoken of as an occurrence which no accident could possibly prevent.
Elizabeth seemed happy;my tranquil demeanour contributed greatly to calm her mind.But on the day that was to fulfil my wishes and my destiny,she was melancholy,and a presentiment of evil pervaded her;and perhaps also she thought of the dreadful secret which I had promised to reveal to her on the following day. My father was in the meantime overjoyed, and, in the bustle of preparation, only recognised in the melancholy of his niece the diffidence of a bride.
After the ceremony was performed a large party assembled at my father’s,but it was agreed that Elizabeth and I should commence our journey by water,sleeping that night at Evian and continuing our voyage on the following day.The day was fair, the wind favourable;all smiled on our nuptial embarkation.