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THE LOCK AND KEY LIBRARY
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u It Leaped out into the Midst of the Flames u
To illustrate" The 'Vaters of Death,"
by Erckmann-Chatrian
, t
/ THE tJJ.
r
LOCK AND KEY
LIBRARY
THE MOST INTERESTING
STORIES OF ALL NATIONS
EDITED BY
JULIAN HAWTHORNE
II
CLASSIC FRENCH
Charles N odier
Honoré de Balzac François De V oltalre
Alexandre Dumas
UI
NEW YORK
THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS CO.
1912
- ...
Copyright, 1909, by
THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS COMPANY
THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
RAHWAY, N. J.
Table of C01ztents
CHARLES NODIER (1780-1844)
Ines de Las Sierras
HONORÉ DE BALZAC (1799-1850)
An Episode of the Terror .
Madame Firmiani
Z. Marcas .
1Ie1moth Reconciled
The Conscript .
PAGE
5
62
80
. 102
. 130
181
FRANÇOlS 1fARIE AROUET DE VOLTAIRE (1694- 1778)
Zadig the Babylonian
The Blind of One Eye .
The Nose
The Dog and the Horse
The Envious 1Ian .
The Generous .
The Minister
The Dispute and the Audiences
Jealousy
The Woman Beaten
The Stone .
The Funeral Pile
The Supper
The Robber
The Fisherman .
The Combats
The Hermit
The Enigmas
. 201
. 204
. 206
. 210
. 2 1 4
. 217
. 218
220
. 225
. 227
228
. 231
. 23 2
. 23 6
. 245
. 25 0
o. . 256
Table of Contents
ALEXANDRE DUMAS (1802-7 0 )
D'Artagnan, Detective PAGE
The King 7
The Journey 26
How D'Artagnan Became Acquainted With a Poet
vVho Had Turned Printer for the Sake of Printing
His Own Verses 32
D' Artagnan Continues His Investigations 40
In Which the Reader, No Doubt, Will be as Astonished
as D' Artagnan Was to 1Ieet with an Old Acquaint-
ance . 49
Wherein the Ideas of Ð'Artagnan, at First Very
Troubled, Begin to Clear up a Little . 56
A Procession at Vannes 65
The Grandeur of the Bishop of Vannes . 72
In \Vhich Porthos Begins to be Sorry for Having
COlne with D' Artagnan 83
In \Vhich D' Artagnan 1Iakes AU Speed, Porthos
Snores, and Aramis Counsels . 96
t
.
Charles N odier
Ines de Las SieTTos
"A ND you," said Anastasia, "aren't you going to tell us
a ghost story, too?"
" I'm the very one to do it," I replied, " for I have wit-
nessed the strangest apparition since the days of Samuel;
but it isn't a mere yarn. It's a true story."
" Good!" murmured the assistant public prosecutor,
"there's still somebody \vho believes in apparitions."
" Perhaps you \vould have believed in this one as firmly:
as I if you had been in my place," I returned.
Eudoria drew his armchair up close to mine, and I
began:
It ,vas in the last days of 1812. I was then a captain
of dragoons in garrison at Gironne, Department of Ter.
My colonel saw fit to send me to Barcelona for new horses,
where was to be held, the day after Christmas, a horse fair
that was renowned throughout Catalonia, and to attach to
me in this undertaking t\vo lieutenants of the regil11ent,
named Sergy and Boutraix, \vho \vere my particular friends.
Let me say a few \vords in regard to them, for their charac-
teristics are not wholly irrelevant to the rest of l11Y story.
Sergy was one of those young officers just out of school
who have certain aversions, not to say antipathies, ,vhich
they have to overcome before they are \vell thought of by
their cOl11rades. He had triul11phed over his in a short
time. His face \vas prepossessing, his manner distin-
guished, his wit quick and brilliant, and his courage equal to
anything. There was not an exercise in ,vhich he did not
excel, not an art in ,vhich he did not have taste and discern-
ment, although his delicate and nervous organization made
5
French Mystery Stories
him most susceptible to the charm of music. An instru-
ment responding to his skillful fingers, and especially a fine
voice, filled him \vith an enthusiasm sometÍ1nes revealed
by exclamations or tears. When it was a woman's voice,
and this woman was pretty, his transports approached de-
lirium. They often made me fear for his reason.
You may readily judge that Sergy's heart was very
accessible to love, and, in fact, you ,vould have rarely
found him free from one of those passions on \vhich a
l11an's life seems to depend; but the fortunate exaltation
of his sensibility ,vas in itself a defense against excess.
\Vhat his ardent soul required was another equally ardent,
with \vhich it could associate and mingle itself; and al-
though he thought he saw it every,vhere, he had not met
with it till then.
So far, it had happened that the idol of an evening, shorn
of the prestige which he had divined, ,vas only a woman on
the morrow, and the most passionate of lovers 'vas also
the most changeable. On those days of disillusionment
,vhen he fell from the full height of his ideals to the hu-
miliating conviction of reality, he was \vont to say that the
unkno\vn object of his vows and hopes did not inhabit the
earth; but he still sought it, only to deceive himself again
as he had done a thousand tÏt11es.
Sergy's last error had been produced by a little singer,
'who was perfectly commonplace, attached to the troupe of
Bascara, ,vhich had just left Gironne. For two \vhole days
the virtuoso had occupied the highest regions of Olympus.
Two days had sufficed to reduce her to the level of ordinary
mortals. Sergy no longer thought of her.
With this susceptibility of feeling, it was impossible that
Sergy should not have considerable leaning to\vard the
marvelous. There was no direction in which his ideas took
flight nlore readily. A spiritualist by reasoning or edu-
cation, he was much n10re so by imagination or instinct.
lEs faith in the i111aginary mistress which the spirit \vorld
had reserved for him was not merely a chance fancy; it
was the favorite subject of his reveries, the secret r0111anCe
6
Charles N odicr
of his thoughts, a gracious and consoling kind of enigma
which made amends for the troublesome recurrence of his
useless efforts. Far from revolting against this cl1Ïnlera, I
employed it more than once when chance brought it into
the conversation, and \vith some success in combating his
amorous despair. Generally speaking, it is ,veIl enough
accepted that happiness may take refuge in an ideal life,
when one kno\vs 'what it amounts to in this.
Boutraix offered a perfect contrast to Sergy. He \vas
a great big fello\v, as full of loyalty, honor, courage, devo-
tion to his conlrades; but his face was quite ordinary, and
his wits resenlbled his face: he only kne\v by hearsay this
moral love of the head and heart which troubles or embel-
lishes life, and he regarded it as an invention of the novel-
ists and poets, never existing outsi de of books. As for
the love \v hich he could understand, he made SOlne use of it
on occasion, but ,vithout giving it more care or thought
than it \vas worth. His s\veetest leisure ,vas at the table,
,,-here he was the first to be seated.. and the last to leave,
provided the wine didn't give out.
After a fine deed in war, wine ,vas the sole thing in the
world ,vhkh inspired him ,vith any enthusiasm. He spoke
of it \vith a sort of eloquence, and he drank of it largely
,vithout carrying his indulgence to drunkenness. By a
particular favor of his temperalnent, he had never fallen
into that gross state in \vhich l11an approaches the beast;
but it nlust be conceded that he fell asleep very oppor-
tunely.
The intellectual life ,vas confined for Boutraix to a very
small ntunber of ideas upon \vhich he had fornled invari-
able principles, capable of expression in absolute fonnulas,
very convenient for avoiding the discussion of thenl. The
difficulty of proving anything by a course of sound reason-
ing had determined hitn to deny everything.
To all deductions based on faith or feeling, he replie(l
by two sacranlental \vords: fa. 11 a ticiSJ11 and prejudice. If
one \vere obstinate, he leaned his head on the back of his
chair and gave sound to a sharp ,vhistle \vhich lasted as
7
French Mystery Stories
long as the objection and spared him the inconvenience of
listening to it. Although he had never read two consecu-
tive pages, he believed that he had read Voltaire, and even
Pi ron, ,vhom he regarded as a philosopher: these two fine
spirits were his supreme authorities; and the ultil1la ratio
in every controversy in which he deigned to take part could
be summed up in this triumphant phrase: "Besides, see
,vhat Voltaire and Piron say!" The altercation usually
ended there, and he carried off the paltn, which gave him,
in his o\vn opinion, the reputation of a great logician.
For all that, Boutraix was a good comrade, and, indis-
putably, the best judge of horseflesh in the army.
As \ve proposed to get remounts for ourselves, we de-
cided, in going to Barcelona, to engage the services of one
of the arrieros, or carriage drivers, \vho abound in Gironne;
. and the facility of finding them had inspired us with a con-
fidence \vhich proved to be nlistaken. The feast of the
evening of the 24th, and the sale on the second day follow-
ing, attracted, froln all parts of Catalonia, an innumerable
quantity of travelers, and we had waited until precisely
that day before procuring the necessary vehicle. At eleven
o'clock in the morning \ve were still looking for an arriero,
and there renlained only a single one from \vhom we could
expect anything, \vhen \ve found him at his door ready to
lea ve.
" rvlaledictions on your carry-all and your mules! " cried
Boutraix, seized with wrath, and seating hinlself on a
fence. "lVIay all the devils in hell be let loose on your
journey, and Lucifer himself serve your supper. So you
\von't take us? "
The arriero crossed himself and recoiled a step.
"Heaven keep you in its holy care, l\Jaster Estevan," I
put in, sl11iling; " have you any travelers?"
" I can't say positively that I have travelers," answered
the driver, " because I have only one, Señor Bascara, man-
ager and leading actor of the theatrical company, who is
going to rejoin his troupe in Barcelona, and who has re-
mained behind to take care of the baggage, that is to say,
8
Charles N odier
this trunk full of duds and trinkets, \vhich can't be packed
on a mule."
" So much the better, Master Estevan! Your carriage
has four places, and Señor Bascara will be willing to let
us pay three-fourths of the expenses, \vhich will allo\v him
to charge up the 'whole bill to his enlployer. 'VVe \vill keep
the secret. Take the trouble to ask hÏ1n if he won't give
us leave to acconlpany hirn."
Bascara hesitated only long enough to give his consent
the appearance of an obliging concession. At noon we had
started from Gironne.
The morning had been as fine as one could desire at that
season; but scarcely had we passed the last houses of the
town, than the white vapors, which had floated since sunrise
above the mountains in soft light draperies, developed with
surprising rapidity, embraced the 'whole horizon, and
hedged us about like a wall. Soon they dissolved in rain
mixed with sno\v, extremely fine, but so thick and driving
that one vvould have thought the atmosphere filled with
,vater, or that our mules had entered a river \vhich ,vas
fortunately permeable to respiration.
The equivocal elenlent which surrounded us had lost its
transparency to such a degree as to hide from us the
hedges and nearest landnlarks of the road; our guide him-
self could only reassure himself that he \vas follo\ving it
by sounding from time to time with his feet as well as
sight, before trusting his equipage to advance, and his trials,
often repeated, retarded our progress more and more.
The smallest gullies had beconle so large in a few hours as
to be perilous, and Bascara never crossed one ,vithout
recommending hinlself to Saint Nicholas or Saint Ignatius,
the patrons of navigators.
"I am rcally afraid," said Sergy, snliIing, "that tne
heavens have taken Boutraix at his word for the terrible
imprecation he addressed to the arriero this morning. .A.l1
the devils of the Inferno seem to have beset us on our jour-
ney, just as he wished, and there is nothing \vanting but to
have the devil in person sup with us to have his presage
9
French Alystery Stories
fulfilled. It is a nuisance, you'll agree, to have to suffer
the consequences of his impious \vrath."
"Good, good!" replied Boutrai
, half waking up.
" Prejudice! superstition! fanaticism!"
And he went to sleep again immediately.
The route became a little more reliable when we bad
reached the rocky and solid shore of the sea; but the rain,.
or rather the deluge through which \ve navigated \vith such
difficulty, \vas not in the least diminished. It did not seem
to let up until three hours after sunset, and \ve were still
very far from Barcelona. We had arrived at Mattara
where \ve resolved to spend the night, in the impossibility
of doing better z for our teanl was overcome by fatigue;
we had scarcely turned to drive into the broad entrance of
the inn, however, than the arriero opened the carriage door,
and announced sadly that the courtyard \vas already so
filled with conveyances that it was impossible to make an
entrance among them.
" Some fatality," he added, "is pursuing us on this jour-
ney of misfortune. There isn't any lodging vacant except
at the Castle of Ghismondo."
"Let's see," I said, jumping out of the carriage, "if we
must make up our n1inds to camp out in one of the most
hospitable cities of Spain, that \vould be a harsh extremity
after so tiresome a journey."
"11r. Officer," replied a muleteer, ,vha was leaning in-
dolently against the gatepost, smoking a cigarette, "you
don't lack c0111panions in disgrace, for everybody in the last
hvo hours has been refused accolnmodation at all the inns
and houses 'v here the first comers have sheltered them-
selves. There is no lodging vacant except at the Castle of
Ghisn1ondo. "
I had long been fan1iliar ,vith this n1anner of talking,
custol11ary with the people on like occasions; but its fastid-
ious recurrence had never ilnportuned my ear more dis-
agreeably.
I n1ade D1Y ,yay to the presence of the hostess, through a
tumultuous nlob of travelers, arricros, TIlules, and grooms,
10
Charles N odier
and, attracting attention by pounding on a copper utensil
\vith the hilt of my sword, in the inlperious tone ,vhich
usually succeeds, cried:
"A stable, a chan1ber, a well served table, and that at
once! It's for the service of the enlperor! "
"Ah, 1\1r. Captain," replied she with assurance, "the
en1peror himself couldn't find a place to sit do\vn in IllY
\vhole establishnlent. Victuals and wine a-plenty you ll1ay
have, if you care to sup in the open air, for, thank Heaven,
it isn't difficult to provide yourself with them in a to\vn lik
this; but it isn't in Iny po\ver to stretch the house to receive
you. On my faith as a Christian" there isn't a vacant
lodging except at the Castle . . ."
"Pest take the proverbs and the country of Sancho!"
I interrupted brusquely. " Yet grant that this cursed castle
really exists sOIne\vhere, for I \vould rather pass the night
there than in the street."
"Is it only that?" she replied, regarding me fixedly.
" It's in reality that you nlake nle recall it! The Castle of
Ghismondo is not l110re than three-quarters of a mile from
here, and, one, indeed, always finds lodgings vacant there.
It is true that folk profit little by this opportunity, but you
Frenchmen aren't the men to give place to a den10n. So,
if it suits you, your carriage \vill be filled with everything
necessary to your passing the night comfortably, provided
you don't receive a troublesome visit."
" Weare too ,veIl anned to care for anyone," I replied,
'" and as for the Devil hiInself, I have heard hÏ1n spoken of
as being an agreeable boon conlpanion. Prepare our pro-
visions, good mother. Rations for five, each of \vhom eats
like four, forage for our mules, and a little too nluch ,vine,
if you please, for Boutraix is with us."
"Lieutenant Boutraix!" she cried, joining her out-
stretched hands, which, as everyone knows, is an exclal11a-
tion in gesture: "AI 0:;0, two baskets of hvelve, and real
ranciD! "
Ten minutes later the interior of the coach ,vas trans-
formed into a well-stocked house, and so copiously fur-
II
French J..I'j'stery Stories
nished that one couldn't introduce our most insistent trav-
eler into it; but the weather, which, as I have said, had
not ceased to be menacing, seel11ed for the moment to be
somewhat appeased. "'vVe did not hesitate to take the road
on foot.
" \Vhere are we going, Captain? " asked the arriero, sur-
prised at our preparations:
" Where should we be going, nlY poor Estevan, if it were
not to the place \vhich you have indicated yourself? To
the Castle of Ghisillondo, probably."
"To the Castle of Ghismondo! 1\lay the Holy Virgin
take pity on us! Even my mules \vouldn't dare to go
there! "
"They'll do it all the sa111e," I replied, slipping a pinch
of small change into his hand, " and anlends shall be made
to them for the extra fatigue by an abundant repast. For
you, my good fello\v, there are three bottles of old Palamos
\vine \v hich you can tell me ho\v you like. Onl y let's not
lose any time, for we are all of us nearly famished, and
besides, the sky is beginning to get terribly disturbed."
" To the Castle of Ghismondo," Bascara repeated lamen-
tably. " Do you know, gentlemen, what the Castle of Ghis-
mondo is? Noone has ever entered it with impunity with-
out having first made a pact \vith the spirit of evil and I
Vvould not set foot in it for the command of galleons. No,
truly I shall not go there! "
" You shall go, upon my honor, my worthy Bascara," re-
plied Boutraix, encircling him with a vigorous arm. "Is
it for a noble Castilian, who practices a liberal profession
with glory, to recoil before the 1110st inept of popular preju-
dices? Ah, i f Voltaire and Piron had been translated into
Spanish, as they ought to be in every language .in the
\vorld, I should 110t be put to the trouble of proving to you
that the Devil is an old wOl11an's humbug, invented for the
profit of monks by SOI11e naughty drinker of eall de théolo..
gien
' but I shall l11ake you put your finger on that \vhen
we have had supper, for my stotnach is too empty, and my
mouth too dry, to sustain a philosophical discussion advan-
12
Charles N odier
tageously at the present moment. Come on, brave Bascara
and be assured that you will ahvays find Lieutenant Bou
traix between the Devil and yourself, if he \vere so bold as
to offer you the least offense. Odds bods! It \vould be
fine to see him! " .
We had set out, while talking thus, upon the miry and
rutted road up the hill, to the accompaniment of many a
sobbed "alas!" from Bascara, \vho marked each of his
steps with effusions of psalms or an invocation of litanies.
I must aùmit that the nlules thetTIselves, \vorn by over\vork
and hunger, approached the end of our nocturnal exploit
with cross and sullen mien, stopping from time to time, as
if they had heard a salutary countermand, and turning their
lo\vered heads piteously at every rod of the road which
they covered.
"What is this castle of fatal reno\vn, then," asked
Sergy, "which inspires these good people \vith such a
sincere and profound terror? A rendezvous of ghosts,
perhaps? "
" And perhaps," I replied in a lo\v tone, "a place \vhere
robbers repair; for the people never conceive a supersti-
tion of this nature which is not founded on some legiti-
mate motive of fear. But among the three of us we have
three swords, three pairs of excellent pistols l ammunition
for reloading; and, besides his hunting knife, the arriero
is certainly provided, according to custom, \vith a good
Valentian blade."
H \Vho is there \vho doesn't know \vhat the Castle of
Ghismondo is?" murmured Estevan, in a voice that \vas
already n10ved. "I f these illustrious gentlemen are curious
to learn it, I am in a position to satisfy them, for my late
father entered it. He \vas brave enough for you, that
man! God pardon him for having been a little too fond
of drink! "
"There's no harm in that" interrupted Boutraix.
" What the deuce did your father' see at the Castle of Ghis-
mondo, then? "
"Tell us the story," said Sergy, who \vould have re-
13
French 1.! ystery Stories
nounced the most refined pleasure party for a fantastic
tale.
"Inasmuch as after I've done so," replied the muleteer,
" their lordships \vill be free to return, if they think best."
And he continued:
" This unfortunate Ghismondo," said he, and immediately
interrupted hinlself as if fearing to be overheard by some
invisible witness-" unfortunate indeed," he pursued, " for
having brought do\yn upon himself the inexorable \vrath of
God, for I do not \vish him harnl on any other account!
Ghismondo, at the age of twenty-five years, \vas the head
of the illustrious falTIily of Las Sierras, so reno\vned in
our chronicles. That \vas three hundred years ago, or
thereabouts; but the exact year is mentioned in books.
He \vas a handsome and brave cavalier, liberal, gracious,
\velconled by aU for a long tiITIe, but too ITInch inclined to
keep bad COI11pany, and one who did not know ho\v to pre-
serve himself in the fear and respect of the Lord, so that
he started evil rUITIOrS by his behavior, and almost com-
pletely ruined hilTIself by his prodigality.
" It \vas then that he was obliged to find an asyltun in the
castle \vhere you have resolved so inlprudently, ,,,ith all re-
spect, to pass the coming night, and \vhich was the sole
remnant of his rich patrimony. Glad to escape in this re-
treat frOI11 the pursuit of his creditors and numerous ene-
mies, since his passions and debauches had brought trouble
to many fanlilies, he ended by fortifying it, and confined
himself there for the rest of his days, \vith an equerry
whose life had been equally bad, and a young page, the
corruption of 'whose soul \vas far in advance of þis years;
their household consisted merely of a handful of men-at-
anTIS, \vho had taken part in their excesses and \vhose single
resource ,vas to share their fortune. The object of one of
Ghismondo's first expeditions \vas to procure himself a
companion, and, like the ill bird \vhich fouls its own nest,
he selected a victim from his own family. There were
those \vho said, ho\vever, that Ines de Las Sierras, such
was the nanle of his niece, secretly favored her o\vn carry"
14
C'!zarles N odier
mg off. Who ,\Tin ever be able to explain the mysteries of
women's hearts?
"I have said that this was his first expedition because
history attributes to him nlany others. The reve
ues con-
nected with this stronghold, which seems to have been
stricken for all time \vith the curse of Heaven, ,vould not
have been sufficient for his expenditures if he had not sup-
plemented them by levying imposts on travelers, a nlatter
qualified as higlnvay robbery \vhen not done by noble lords.
1'he name of Ghismondo and his castle in a short time be-
.:ame redoubtable."
"Is that all?" said Boutraix. "What you have re-
counted was common everywhere. It \vas one of the
necessary results of feudalism, folIowing barbarisll1, in
those centuries of ignorance and slavery."
" What remains for me to tell you is a little less common-
place," replied the arriero. "The s,veet Ines, \vho had had
a Christian education, was enlightened by a brilliant ray of
grace. At the instant when the hour of midnight had
recalled to the faithful the birth of the Saviour, according
to her custom, she entered the banquet hall where the three
brigands, seated before the hearth" were drowning their
crimes in the excess of an orgy. They were half drunk.
Inspired by faith, she painted their wickedness in vivid
words, as well as the eternal punishments ,vhich ,vere to
follow; she wept, she prayed, she knelt before Ghismondo,
and, with her white hand placed on the heart which
scarcely beat for love of her any more, she tried to recall
to it some hUll1an sentiments. It ,vas an undertaking,
gentlenlen, far beyond her powers, and Ghismondo, excited
by his barbarous cOl11panions, replied with a blow of his
poniard which pierced her heart."
"The monster!" cried Sergy, as affected as if he had
heard a true story told.
"This horrible incident," continued Estevan, "did not
detract from the usual license and n1irth. The three COll1-
panions kept on drinking and singing impious songs, in the
presence of the dead girl; and it ,vas three o'clock in the
15
French
I:ystcry Stories
morning, ,vhcn the nlen-at-arms, ,yarned by. t
silence .of
their masters, entered the chal11ber of fest1vltte
to raise
four bodies stretched out in pools of blood and Wine. Un-
flinchingly they put the three drunkards in their beds, and
the corpse in its shroud.
" But the vengeance of Heaven," pursued Estevan after
a solemn pause, "but the infallible justice of
had not
lost its effect. Hardly had sleep begun to dIsSipate the
vapors which obscured Ghismondo's reason, ,vhen he .sa\v
lnes enter his chamber \vith measured tread, not beautiful,
tremblil1O" ,vith love as formerly; but pale, covered with
blood, tr
iling the long garment of the dead, and reaching
to\vards him a flaming hand which, upon reaching him,
she placed upon his bosom 1 at the satne spot \vhere she
had ineffectually placed it a few hours before.
" Held by an invisible power, Ghismondo tried vainly to
escape fronl the terrifying apparition. His efforts and dis-
tress were manifested only by confused and hoIlow groans.
The implacable hand renlained as if nailed in its place, and
GhiSIllondo's heart burned, and it burned thus till sunrise
when the phantom disappeared. His companions received
the same visit and underwent the same torture.
"On the morrow, and 011 every follo\ving morrow dur-
ing what seel11ed to be an almost eternal year, the three
\vretches met by daylight to interrogate each other with a
glance concerning the dreatn \vhich each had had, for they
dared not speak of it; but community of peril and of gain
dre\v them soon to ne\v crimes; the license of niaht dre\v
them into new orgies, more prolonged; and the b hour of
sleep ,vas dreadful to them; and the hour of sleep come,
the hand of the avenging wonlan ahvays burned them.
. "The anniversary of the 24th of December reached (that
IS to-day, gentlemen) and the evening repast reunitino- them
before the light of the blazing hearth, they heard th
hour
of
he redemp
ion struck at J\1attaro, summoning Christians
to Its solemnItIes. Suddenly a voice was raised in the gal-
lery of the castle: ' Here I am! ' cried lues
" They saw her enter, cast aside her funer
l cloth, and seat
16
Charles N odier
herself among them in her richest attire. Seized with as-
tonishment and terror, they saw her eat of the bread and
drink of the wine of the living; they say even that she sang
and danced, follo\ving the custom of the past. But sud-
denly her hand burst into flanle as in the mysteries of their
dreams, and touched the heart of the chevalier, the equerry,
nnd the page. Then aU \vas done for \vith this fleeting
tife, for their calcined hearts had ended by being reduced
to .ashes, and no longer made the blood course through their
veins.
" It \vas three o'clock in the morning \vhen the men-at-
arms, \varned by the silence of their masters, entered, ac-
cording to custom, the chamber of festivities; and that
time they carried out four corpses. On the n1orrow nobody
awoke."
Sergy had appeared to be profoundly preoccupied during
this recital, because the ideas which it stimulated in his
mind, were connected with the usual subjects of his rev-
eries; Boutraix from time to time uttered an expressive
sigh, but one which expressed scarcely anything but im-
patience and boredom; the con1edian J Bascara, between his
teeth, mumbled unintelligible \vords \vhich seemed to ac-
company the arriero's lugubrious romance like a deep and
melancholy monotone, and an oft repeated movement of his
hand made me suspect that he was reviewing the beads of a
rosary. As for myself, I admired these poetical fragnlents
of tradition happening to be \voven so naturally into the
story of a simple man, and lending it colors \vhich imagina-
tion enlightened by taste does not always disdain.
" That is not all," resumed Estevan, " and I beg for you
to hear me a moment longer before persisting in your dan-
gerous project. Since the death of Ghismondo and his
kin, his detestable lair, become odious to all men, has fallen
to the lot of the Devil. The very road by \v hich one gets
there has been abandoned, as you nlay see for yourselves.
One knows only, beyond all doubt, that every year at mid-
night on the 24th of December (gentlemen, that is to-day,
and will soon be the hour), the CaSelllents of the old edifice
17
French Jfystery Stories
are suddenly illuminated. Those \vho have dared t? pene-
trate these terrible secrets kno\v that then the chevaher, the
equerry, and the page return from the abod
of the dead to
take their places at the bloody orgy. It IS the d?Onl to
'which they 111USt subn1Ït to the end of. the centunes. . A
little later Ines enters in her shroud, \vluch she casts aSIde
to appear in her customary toilet. Ines, who drinks, eats,
and dances with them. \Vhen they have lulled themselves
for some tilHe in the deliriulll of their nlad joy, itllagining
each tilne that she is never going to stop, the girl sho\vs
thenl her wound, still open, touches them on the heart \vith
her flaming hand, and returns to the fires of Purgatory
after having sent thenl to those of Hell! "
These last \vords dre\v from Boutraix a convulsive
burst of laughter \vhich took away his breath for the
lTIonlent.
U The Devil take you! " he cried, striking the arricro on
the shoulder \vith a heavy but friendly fist, " I have failed
to be moved by these fables, \vhich you tell \vell enough,
however; and I felt as silly as a fool \vhen 'Hell' and
, Purgatory' brought me to myself. Prejudices, Catalan!
The prejudices of a child whom they terrify with nlasks!
Old legends of superstition \vhich no longer find credence
anywhere but in Spain! Y Oi..1 shall see presently \vhether
fear of the Devil \vill prevent me from finding the \vine
good (and, parenthetically, that renlinds nle I'n1 thirsty).
Hurry your mules, if you \vill; for, to see supper nlore
promptly served, I shall propose a toast to Satan hinl-
self. "
" Those 'vere the very ,vords of my father at a debauch
at l\Iattaro \vith other soldiers like himself" said the
arriero. "'Vhen they kept on clamoring for' the vintage
of Posada J the landlord replied, 'There isn't any more
except at the Castle of GhismoncIo.' "
'
' T
en I shall have sOlne,' ans\vered my father, \vho \Vas
as ImpIOUS as a horse's ja\vbone; , and by the Pope's whis-
kers, I'll have some if the Devil should pour it out hilll-
self! I'm going.'-" You sha'n't go! Oh, grant that you
18
Charles J:\T odier
don't! '-' I shall go,' he replied \vith a still more execrable
blasphemy; and he \vas so obstinate as to do so."
" About your father," said Sergy, "have you forgotten
Boutraix's question? \Vhat did he see that ,vas so terri-
fying at the Castle of Ghisl11ondo?"
"\i\lhat I've told you, gentlemen. After having pro-
ceeded through a long gallery hung \vith ancient pictures,
he stopped at the threshold of the banquet hall; and, as,
the door was open, he looked in boldly. The danlned \yere
at the table, and Ines \vas sho\ving theI11 her bleeding
wound. Then she danced, and each of her steps brought
her nearer to the place \vhe-re he \"as standing. His heart
was suddenly wrung at the thought that she \vas cOllling to
take him. He fell full length like a dead body, and did not
come to himself till the falIo\ving day \vhen he found him-
self at the door of the church of the parish."
"Where he had slept since evening," replied Boutraix,.
"because he had drunk so much \vine he couldn't get any
farther. A drunkard's dream, my poor Estevan! May the
earth lie as lightly on him as he often found it shifting
and dancing under his feet! But this infernal castle,
sha'n't we ever get there? "
" vVe are there," replied the arriero, stopping his mules.
" It was time," said Sergy. "N O\V the torn1ent is about
to begin, and, strange occurrence for tlíis season, I have
heard several rUl1lblings of thunder."
"One ahvays hears it at this period, at the Castle of
Ghislnondo," replied the arriero.
He had not ceased speaking \vhen a blinding flash rent
the sky, and sho\ved us the \vhitened \valls of the old strong-
hold. \vith its turrets grouped like a troop of specters, on an
immense platform fanned by a single steep rock.
The main door seenled to have been closed for a long
time, but the upper hinges had ended by giving \vay under
the action of the air and the years, together \vith the stones
that sustained them; and the hvo \vings, fallen against each
other, \vere rotted by the da111pneSS and battered by the
wind, overweighted, ready to fall upon the pavement. \Ve
19
Frcnch llIystery Storics
did not have any trouble about tumbling .them down. I.n
the space \vhich they had left by separatIng to\vard theIr
base, and \vhere the body of a man could scarcely have
gained entrance, was piled up débris froi'll the vault and the
arch which \ve had to clear a\vay before us. The stout
leaves of aloes, growing in the interstices, fell before our
s\,"ords, and the carriage entered the vast entrance, the flag-
stones of \vhich had not groaned under a passing \vheel
since the days of Ferdinand the Catholic.
Then ,ve hastened to light sonle of the torches with
\vhich we had been supplied at ::\Iattaro, the flame of \vhich,
fed by gushing streams, luckily resisted, being beaten out
by the wings of nocturnal birds, which fled, uttering cries
of lamentation, from every crevice of the old structure.
This scene, \vhich had indeed something extraordinary
and sinister about it, recalled to me involuntarily the de-
scent of Don Quixote into the Cavern of l\lontesinos; and
the laughing observation \vhich I made on it \vould probably
have provoked a sn1ile from the ar1'icro or Bascara hinl-
self, if they had still been able to smile; but their consterna-
tion increased at every step.
The great court opened at last before us. On the left
extended a long shed, destined formerly to protect the
châtelain's horses against the inten1perance of the seasons,
as several iron rings, placed at intervals along the \vall,
attested. \Ve \vere rejoiced at the idea of accommodating
our tean1 so handily, and this thought seemed to cheer up
e
en Estevan, .,vho \vas concerned before everything
,vtth the well-being and rest of his nntIes. T\vo torches,
fiftHly fixed in brackets, \vhich seen1ed to have been pre-
pared for them, cast a cheerful light in this shelter; and
the forage, 'with \vhich \ve had P iled the back of the carriacre
,
spread out splendidly before the beasts, harassed by hunger
and exertion, gave it an air of gayety \vhich it \vas a pleas-
ure to see.
H That couldn't be better, gentlemen," said Estevan, some-
"..hat reassured. "I adnlit that my mules can spend the
nIght here; and there is a proverb which says: ' The mule-
20
Charles N odier
teer is an right wherever he can put his mules.' If you
will be good enough to let me have some victuals so that I
can sup at their side, I think I can answer for it until to-
morrow; for I fear the devils of the stable less than those
of the salon. They are good enough fello\vs, \vith whom
habit has nlade us familiar, us arrieros, and their malignity
limits itself to ruffling the horses' hair, or currying thetn
the 'wrong \vay. As for us, poor folk as we are, they con-
tent thenlselves \vith pinching us hard enough to make the
mark last for a week, in the shape of a yello\v spot \vhich
all the \vaters of the Ter \vould not \vash a\vay; \vith giving
us cramps \vhich turn the calf of the leg on the bone, or
sitting heavily on our stomachs, laughing like idiots. I feel
myself man enough to brave all that, making use of the
grace of God and the three bottles of w'ine of Palamas the
captain has promised me."
"They are there," I said, helping him unhitch the car-
riage, "and, besides, t\vo loaves of bread and a quarter of
roast mutton. Now that the cavalry and baggage train are
lodged, \ve \vill go up in there and see about the rations for
the infantry."
\Ve lit four torches, and essayed the grand staircase,
through the débris \vhich obstructed it every\vhere, Bascara,
between Sergy and Boutraix, who encouraged him \vith
voice and example, making fear cede to the vanity which
is so powerful in a Spanish soul. I avo\v that this incur-
sion, devoid of peril as it was, had, nevertheless, some-
thing adventurous and fantastic about it \vith which my
imagination was secretly Chartl1ed, and I nlay add that it
presented difficulties sufficient to excite our ardor. Parts
of the walls had crulubled here and there, opposing to us,
in twenty different places, accidental barricades \vhich it
was necessary to get around or surt110unt. Planks, ra fters,
whole beanls, fallen fronl the upper parts of the tÏ1nber-
work, were crossed and involved on the broken steps.
Their sharp splinters bristled under our feet. The old \vin-
do\v sashes \vhich had adll1itted the light of day to the vesti-
bule and stairs, had long since fallen, \vrenched out b):
21
French Alystery Stories
storms, and \ve recognized vestiges of them only by the
cracking of broken panes under the sol
s of our. shoes.
An in1petuous \vind, laden \vith sno\v, \vlllstled hornbl.r
s
it entered throuah the space \vhich they had abandoned In
falling in an ap
rÌ1TIent, one or hvo centuries before; and
the \vild vegetation, the seeds of 'which had been cast here
by the telTIpest, added still more to the entanglen1ent of the
passage and the horror of its aspect. .,
I thought, \vithout saying so, that a soldier s heart \vould
be borne up by a readier and more natural throb in attacking
.a redoubt or assaulting a fortress. \Ve arrived at last at
the stairhead of the second story, and recovered our breath
for a mOlllent.
At our left opened a long corridor, narro\v and obscure,
in \vhich our torches, united at the entrance, could not dis-
pel the darkness. Before us \vas the door of the apart-
ments, or rather it was no longer there. This ne\v in-
vasion occasioned us only the trouble of \valking in, torch
in hand, into a square hall \vhich 111ust have served to ac-
commodate the men-at-arms. vVe judged so, at least, from
the hvo rows of broken benches \vhich garnished it on each
side, and fron1 some COll1n10n anTIS, gnawed half through
by rust, \vhich still hung as trophies on its 'walls. As \ve
crossed it the truncheons of four or five lances, and the
barrels of as n1any carbines, rolled under our feet. It
issued by a turn at right angles into a gallery that ,vas
ITIuch more extensive in length, but of n1ediun1 size, the
Tight side \vas pierced by el11pty casement, like those of
the staircase, \vhere scarcely any fragments of the rotted
fran1es stilI rattled.
The floor in this part of the buildin 0' had becol11e so de-
b
composed by the influence of the atmosphere and the de-
scent of rain, that it \vas abandoning all its mortises, and only
extended to\vards the outer \vaIl in a thin and rent frinO'e.
In t
i
direction one feIt it give and rise \vith suspici<;'us
elaStIClt:>:, and t?e foot sank in it as in a compact dust,
threatening to gIve way. At intervals the less finn portions
had begun to break through in odd openings, where the
22
Charles N odier
tread of some inquisitive person, bolder than I, had im-
prudently tested it. I dre,v nlY companions brusquely to-
ward the left-hand ,vall, \yhere progress seemed less hazard-
ous. The gallery ,vas filled ,vith paintings.
" As sure as there isn't any God, these are the pictures,"
said Boutraix. "Did the drunkard who spawned that
sorry arriero come as far as this? "
"Oh, no!" replied Sergy, ,vith a slightly bitter laugh.
" He slept in the portico of the church at 1\1attaro, because-
the \vine that he had drunk prevented hin1 from getting
any farther."
" I don't ask your opinion," returned Botttraix, directing
his leer at the dusty and disjointed franles, \vhich covered
the wall at a nlultitude of capricious angles, but without
finding a single one ,vhich did not depart nlore or less from
the perpendicular. "These are really pictures, and por-
traits at that J if I am not l11istaken. The ,,,hole fal11ily of
Las Sierras has posed in this cutthroat place."
Such remains of the art of past centuries \vould hav
occupied our attention under other circu111stances, but \ve
were in too l11uch haste to find a suitable lodging for our
little caravan, to spend much tinle in the examination of
these frustrated canvases \vhich had all but disappeared
under the black and hUl11id stucco of the years. 1vIean-
while, having conle to the last portraits, Sergy raised his
flambeau, and seizing nle tightly by the ann, said:
"Look, look! This chevalier ,vith a somber air, whose
forehead is cast in shado,v by a red plul11e: this nlust be
Ghisnlondo himself. See ho,v l11arvellously the painter ex-
pressed the lassitude of excess and the cares of crime in a
face still young. It's a sad thing to see! "
"The next portrait ,vill make you amends," I replied,.
smiling at his hypothesis. "It is that of a 'V'oman, and if
it ,vere better preserved or nearer our eyes you \vould go
into ecstasies over the charms of Ines de Las Sierras, for
one l11ight suppose, also, that it is she. \\That you may still
distinguish in it is of a nature to produce a keen impression.
What elegance in this slim ,vaist! \Vhat piquant attrac-
23
French lvIystery Stories
tion in the attitude! What beauties of the whole which
escape us are promised by this \vonderfully modeled ann
and hand! It is thus that Ines should be! "
" And it is thus that she ,vas," ans\vered Sergy, dra\ving
me to\vard him, "for, from this point of view I have just
caught her eyes. Oh! never has a more passionate expres-
sion spoken to the soul! N ever has Ii fe come do\vn more
livino- from the brush! And if you \vill follow this indica-
o .
tion in the flakes of the canvas to the s\veet contour In
\vhich the cheek turns about this charming 1110uth J if you
catch as I the movement of this disdainful lip, but \vhere
one feels that the intoxication of love breathes-"
"I should fonn an imperfect idea," I resuined coldly,
" of \vhat a pretty \voman of the court of Charles the Fifth
might have been."
" Of the court of Charles the Fifth," said Sergy, bending
forward. "That is true."
" \Vait, \yait," said Boutraix, whose high stature enabled
him to reach the Gothic scroll \vhich decorated the lower
stick of the frame J and over which he passed his handker-
chief several tÏ111es. "Here is a naille, \vritten either in
German or Hebre\v, if it isn't in Syriac or Lo,v Breton; but
the Devil take anyone \vho can read it. I \vould as s-oon
explain the Koran."
Sergy uttered an enthusiastic cry.
HInes de Las Sierras! Ines de Las Sierras!" he re-
peated, grasping Il1Y hands with a sort of frenzy. "Read
it as quick as you can! "
u Ines de Las Sierras! JJ I replied; "that's it; and these
three mountains sinople * on a field of gold must be the
arI?S of her family. . It appears that this unfortunate really
eXIsted and that she InhabIted this castle. But it's high time
to seek an asylum here for ourselves. Are you not dis-
posed to penetrate farther?"
"Come here, gentlemen, come here!" cried Boutraix,
who had preceded us by a few steps. "Here is a salon
· A tincture in French heraldry, standing for green, or the same
as vert.
24
Charles N odier
for company 'v hich will not make us regret the \vet streets
of :ßlattaro; a lodging worthy of a prince, or of a military
intendant! Lord Ghismondo liked his ease.. and there is
nothing to be said about the arrangeillent of the apartment.
What a superb barrackroom! "
This il11111ense apartment ,vas indeed better preserved
than the rest. The back only received the light, ,vhere it
was admitted by t\VO narro\v ,vindo,vs, \vhich, by their
favorable arrangel11ent, had been saved froln the degrada-
tion comnlon to the whole building. Its hangings of
stanlped leather and its huge antique armchairs had an air
of magnificence which their age rendered still more im-
posing. The fireplace of colossal proportions, opening its
vast flanks on the \vall at the left, seemed to have been
built for giants to sit up before of nights, and the demol-
ished woodwork scattered in the staircase \vould have fur-
nished a cheerful fire for hundreds of such nights as that
which was about to slip a,vay. A round table, at a dis-
tance of a few feet, recalled the impious festivities of Ghis-
mondo, and I willingly admit that I did not perceive it
without a slight shock.
It required several trips to supply us with the necessary
wood, and afterwards our packages, which the day's flood
of rain might have seriously inlpaired. All ,vas found,
happily, safe and sound, and even the trulnpery of Bas-
cara's company, spread out on the backs of the armchairs
before the blazing hearth, shone before our eyes \vith the
factitious luster and superannuated freshness \vhich ,vas
lent them by the deceptive radiancy of the footlights. It is
true that Ghismondo's dining hall, lit up by ten ardent
torches, skill fully fixed in ten old candelabras, was certainly
better illuminated than the theater of a small Catalonian
town ever ,vas in the memory of nlan. Only the farthest
portion, that approaching the portrait gallery, by \vhich
\ve had entered, had not lost all its shadows. One woulù
have said that they had been anlassed there as if with the
design of establishing a mysterious barrier bet\veen us and
the profane vulgar. It \vas the visible night of the poet.
25
French Mystery Stories
"I do not doubt," said I, while occupying myself, \vit.h
my companions, in the preparations for a !epast, " t1
at th
s
will furnish a ne\v pretext for the creduhty of the InhabI-
tants of the plain. It is the hour at \vbich Ghismondo re-
turns every year to sit at his infernal banquet, and the
1io-ht \vhich these casements must shed outside announces
n
thino- less than a feast of demons. Estevan's old legend
b
mav be founded on a like circuillstance."
,; Add to that," said Boutraix, U that the whinl of rep-
resenting this scene in a natural manner tnight have oc-
curred to good-natured adventurers, and that it is not
impossible that the arriero's father really assisted at a
comedy of that kind."
" 'Ve are charmingly situated to recommence it," he con-
tinued, lifting up the property of the traveling troupe, piece
by piece. "Here is the costume of a chevalier, \vhich
seems to have been cut for the captain; I n1ight recall, trait
for trait, the accursed one's intrepid equerry, \\Tho ,,-as,
apparently, a very fine-looking chap; and this coquettish
costunle, which would relieve the sOlnewhat languorous
beauty of Sergy's physiognomy, would readily endow him
with the air of the n10st seductive of pages. Admit that
the invention is happy, and that it offers us a night of rat-
tling good fun!"
As Boutraix was speaking he costumed hinlself from head
to foot, and we in1Ïtated him laughingly, for there is noth-
ing t110re contagious than an extravagance among young
heads. Nevertheless, \ve took the precaution to keep our
swords and pistols, which, considering the date of their
manufacture, did not contrast in too shocking a manner
with our disguisement. Even the heroes of Ghismondo's
gal1ery, if they had suddenly descended from their Gothic
fraines, would not have found thelTIselves greatly be\vil-
dered in their hereditary stronghold.
" And the beautiful Ines?" cried Boutraix. "Haven't
you thought of her? \V ould Señor Bascara, whom nature
has supplied \vith external gifts of \v hich the Graces might
be jealous, be so good as to undertake this 1'ôle for
26
Charles N odier
t11is single occasion, in response to the general public
demand? "
U Gentlemen," replied Bascara, "I lend l11ysel f willingly
to pleasantries that do not affect the safety of Iny soul,
that is my profession; but this is of a kind which does not
permit nle to take part in it. You shall see, perhaps to
your great harnl, that one does not brave the infernal powers
with itnpunity. Rejoice yourselves as it may seem fitting to
you, since grace has not touched you; but I call on you
to bear witness that I absolutely renounce these joys of
Satan, and that I only ask to escape froln here so that I
may become a l110nk in some good house of the Lord.
Grant 111e only as a brother, in the holy name of the
Saviour, which shall be praised forever, pernlission to pass
the night in this armchair, \vith some reflection to sustain
my body, and liberty to pray."
"Hold," said Boutraix, "this magnificent orison merits
a \vhole goose and bvo flagons. I(eep your chair, friend;
eat, drink, pray, and sleep. You shall never be anything but
a fool !-Furthermore," he added, seating hinlself again
and refilling his glass, " Ines doesn't come till dessert,-and
I verily trust she'll come."
U God preserve us ! " said Bascara.
I took lny place in front of the fire, the equerry at my
right, the page at my left. Opposite me, Ines's place re-
maineél empty. I cast a glance about the table, and, whether
frol11 preoccupation, or \vhether from lowness of spirits, I
also found this diversion had something serious about it
,vhich oppressed my heart. Sergy, more susceptible than I
to ronlantic impressions, seenled yet more 1110ved. Eoutraix
drank.
"Ho\v does it happen," said Sergy, "that these solenl11
ideas, of \vhich philosophy 111akes light, never entirely lose
their empire over the strongest and clearest lninds? Has
man's nature a secret need of raising itself to the marvelous
in order to enter into the possession of SOlne privilege \vhich
has been taken froln hinl, and which formed the noblest
part of his essence?"
27
French lJI)'stery Stories
" On my honor," replied Boutraix, "I do not believe in
this supposition, although you have announced it \vith suf-
ficient clearness for me to understood \vhat you mean. The
effect of \vhich you speak is due to the results of former
habit in the cells of the brain, which have retained the
foolish impressions that our nlothers and nurses instilled in
our infancy, like a kind of soft wax, hardened by tilne, as
is admirably explained by Voltaire in a superb book which
I reconlmend that you read 'when you have leisure. To
think other-wise is to lower oneself to the level of this simple
fello\v \vho muttered a blessing over his food a quarter
of an hour ago before daring to put tooth in it."
Sergy insisted; Boutraix defended his ground, foot by
foot, retrenching himself, as usual, behind his irresistible
arguments, prejudice, supersfition, and fanaticisJ1t. I had
never seen him so persistent and scornful in a metaphysical
encounter.
But the conversation \vas not nlaintained for long at the
height of those sublime regions of the intellect, for the \vine
\vas capital, and \ve drank it copiously like persons who had
nothing better to do. It \vas midnight by our \vatches, and
there was nearly a bottle left, when \ve cried out all to-
gether in a transport of joy, as if this conviction had re-
lieved us of a hidden anxiety:
'" l\1:idnight; gentlemen, midnight! and lues de Las
Sierras has not come!"
The unanimity \\rith which we had joined in this puerile
observation sent us off in a long peal of laughter.
" Body and bones! " said Boutraix, rising on his saturated
legs, the oscillation of \vhich he sought to dissimulate under
an air of nonchalance and abandon. "Although this beauty
has defaulted at our happy reunion, chivalrous gallantry, of
which we Inake a profession, forbids me to forget her. I
pledge this goblet to the health of the noble lady, Ines de
Las Sierras, and her speedy deliverance! "
" To Ines de Las Sierras! " cried Sergy.
" To Ines de Las Sierras!" I repeated, raising my half-
empty glass to their still full ones.
28
Charles N odier
fI I am here! " cried a voice from the portrait gallery.
U Hey?" said Boutraix, sitting do\vn. "The pleasantry
wasn't bad; only \vho did it? "
I cast my eyes behind me. Bascara, deathly pale, was
clinging to the rungs of my chair as if he had a cramp.
" It's that rascally carriage driver," I replied, "who has
got happy on his three bottles of wine de Posada."
"I am here! I anl here!" replied the voice. "Health
and good cheer to the guests of Ghisl11ondo's castle! "
" It is a ,voman's voice, and the voice of a young woman,"
said Sergy, rising ,vith noble and gracious assurance.
At the same instant, in the less brightly lighted part of the
hall, we distinguished a white phantom \vhich ran to\vards
us ,vith inconceivable s,viftness, and which, ,vithin arm's
length of us, stopped and let fall its shroud. It passed be-
t\veen us, for ".e v:ere standing, hands on our s\vord hilts,
and sat do\vn at Ines' place.
" I am here! " said the phantom, uttering a long sigh, and
casting back her long black hair on the right and on the left,
as it ,vas loosely held by a few knots of fIalne-colored rib-
bon. Never had more perfect beauty met lny gaze.
"It's really a \VOlnan," I remarked, half aloud, "and
since it is agreed anlong us that nothing can happen here
that is not entirely natural, \ve have nothing to concern
ourselves about but French politeness. What follows \vill
explain this mystery, if it is to be explained."
\Ve resumed our places, and \ve served the unknown, ,vbo
appeared to be distressed by hunger. She ate and drank
,vithout speaking. A fe\v minutes later she had completely
forgotten us, and each of the personages of this odd scene
seemed to be isolated in hinlself, immobile and dun1b, as if he
had been tapped \vith a fairy's petrifying ring.
Bascara had fallen by my side, and I should have thought
him dead of terror if I had not been reassured by the pal-
pitating movenlent of his hands, \vhich were crossed con-
vulsively in prayer.
Boutraix did not let a breath escape him; an expression
of profound prostration had replaced his bacchic audacity J
29
French A! ystery Stories
and the bright vermilion of drunkenness, which had shone
a minute earlier on his confident face, had changed to mortal
pallor. .'
The feelina 'which dominated Sergy did not enslave hIS
thouahts \"ith less force; but it \vas at least softer, to judge
by his looks. His eyes, fixed on the apparition \vith all the
fire of love, seemed to force themselves to retain it, like
those of a sleeper \vho fears, by \vaking, to lose the irre-
trievable charn1 of a beautiful drean1; and it must be ad-
mitted that this illusion 'was \vorth the cost of careful
preservation, for the whole of nature, perhaps, offered not
at that time a living beauty \vho \vas \vorthy of being put
in her place. I beg you to believe that I do not exaggerate.
The unkno\vn \vas not over hventy; but passions, mis-
fortunes-or death-had impressed on her features that
strange character of changeless perfection and eternal regu-
larity \vhich the chisel of the ancients consecrated in the
type of the gods. Nothing belonging to the earth retnained
in this countenance, nothing \vhich could suffer offense
from a comparison. That \vas the cool judgment of my
reason, thoroughly forearmed long previously against the
senseless surprises of love, and it permits me to dispense
with a description which each of you may provide for your-
self according to the inclination of your fancy.
If you succeed in conceiving anything \vhich approaches
reality, you will be getting a thousand titnes further than
all the artifices of speech, of pen and of brush.
Only, and \vhat is quite necessary as a guarantee of my
impartiality, let an oblique mark, extremely light, extend
across the broad, S11100th bro\v, fading a\vay an inch above
the eyebro\v; and in the divine glance of those long blue
eyes, diffusing an indescribable light bet\veen the lashes,
lack as jaàe, conceive, if you can, something vague and
Irresolute, like the uneasiness of restless doubt \vhich \vould
explain itself. These \vould be the imperfections of my
model, and I will ans\ver for it that Sergy did not perceive
them.
What most impressed me, ho\vever, when I \vas capable
3 0
Charles N odier
()f occupying myself with such details, ,vas the apparel of
'Our mysterious stranger. I did not doubt having seen it
some,vhere, a short time previously, and I \vas not long in
recalling that it ,vas in the portrait of Ines. It seet11ed to
have been borro\ved, like ours, fronl the stock of some cos-
tunler \vho ,vas very clever at stage objects, but it ,vas not
so fresh as ours. Her green datllask dress, still rich, but
limp and darkened, fastened here and there by faded ribbons,
must have belonged to the ,vardrobe of some \Vonlan \vho
had been dead for a century, and I thought ,vith a shudder
that touching it would prove it retained the cold damp of the
tomb; but I inullediately rejected this idea as unworthy of a
rational mind, and \-vas perfectly restored to the free use of
my faculties, \vhen, ,vith a be\vitching voice, the ne\VCOl11er
finally broke the silence.
" And \vhy, noble chevaliers," said she, letting a reproach-
ful smile flit over her lips" U should I have had the l11isfor-
tune of disturbing the pleasures of this agreeable evening?
You will think of my arrival only as detracting fronl your
enjoyment in being together. \Vhen I canle, your gay
laughter was ringing loudly enough to \vetke all the night
birds which have made their nests in the wainscoting of the
castle. Since ,vhen has the presence of so young a \VOnlan,
and one in whonl the city and the court have found agreeable
foibles, been \\Tont to put gayety to flight? Has the \vorld
changed in regard to this since I left it? "
U Pardon, nladame," replied Sergy, "such attractiveness
is sufficient to surprise us, and admiration is nlute like
fright."
" I agree ,vith my friend in this explanation," I put in at
once. U The feeling \vhich the sight of you inspires is in-
capable of expression in ,vords. As for your visit itself, it
was due to excite in us at least passing astonishnlent, fronl
which \ve have had some til11e to recover. You kno\v that
in this ruin, \vhich has so long since lost its inhabit ,
this wild place, at this advanced hour of the nigl
extraordinary disturbance of the eletllents, there ,.
ing to announce it to us, nothing to permit us to fo
3 1
French lJlystery Stories
You will be very welcome, madame. \vithout doubt, e,,:e:y-
,vhere you may deign to appear, but we are waiting
respectfully for you to do us the honor you owe us, if it
should please you to inform us to whom v:e have the honor
of speaking."
" 11:y name?" she ans\vered quickly. " You do not know
it? God is my witness that I came only at your appeal! "
" At our appeal! " gasped Boutraix, raising his hands be-
fore his face.
"Truly," she continued, smiling, "and I kno\v too ,veIl
\"hat is seemly to have acted otherwise. I am Ines de Las
Sierras."
"Ines de Las Sierras!" cried Boutraix, in greater con-
sternation than if a thunderbolt had fallen at his side. "Oh,
eternal justice! "
I gazed at her fixedly. I vainly sought in her face for
anything to betray deception or falsehood.
" 1Iadame," I said, affecting a little ITIOre calmness than I
really possessed, " the disguises in \vhich you have found us,
and \vhich perhaps are really inappropriate to this holy day,
hide men who are inaccessible to fear. \Vhatever may be
your name, and \vhatever the motive \vhich leads you to dis-
guise it, you may expect discreet and respectful hospitality
from us; \ve \vill even lend ourselves very \villingly to recog-
nizing your as Ines de Las Sierras, if this flight of fancy,
authorized by circumstances, pleases your inlagination. In
sooth, so much beauty gives you the right of representing
her \vith the greatest éclat \vhich she ever had; it is the
surest of all prestige; but \ve beg of you to be quite per-
suaded that this avO'wal, \vhich costs our courtesy nothing,
could not be put upon our credulity."
" I am far from asking it to assume so much," Ines replied
\vith dignity; " but who could contest the title \vhich I take
in the very house of my fathers? Oh!" she continued, be-
coming animated by degrees. "I have paid dearly enough
for my first fault to believe the vengeance of God satisfied
\vitl
its expiation, but can the delayed indulgence which I
awaIt from him, and in \vhich I placed my only hope, aban-
3 2
Charles N odier
don me forever to the torments 'which devour me, if the
name of Ines de Las Sierras is not my name! I am Ines de
Las Sierras, the culpable and unhappy Ines! What interest
could I have in stealing a name \vhich I should have so much
interest in hiding, and by \vhat right do you repulse this
avowal, painful enough in itself, for an unfortunate who asks
only pity?"
She let fall a fe\v tears, and Sergy dre\v nearer her with
ever-increasing emotion, 'while Boutraix, \vho, for sonle
tinle, had supported his head on his folded anns, let it fall
fairly on the table.
"Look, sir!" said she, tearing from her arm a gold
bracelet, half gna\ved through by the years, and casting it
disdainfully before us; "there is the last present from my
mother, and the sole je\vel of my inheritance which was left
me in the misery and disgrace of my life. See if I am
really Ines de Las Sierras, or a base adventuress, devoted
by the lo\vness of her birth to the amusement of the popu-
lace."
1"'he three mountains sinople on it were encrusted \vith
fine emeralds, and the nal11e Las Sierras engraved in antique
letters, might still be read distinctly under the blight of
time.
I picked up the bracelet respectfully and presented it with
a low bow. In the exalted state attained by her spirit she
did not notice me.
" If you need other proofs," she went on in a sort of de-
liriuln, " have not accounts of my misfortunes reached your
ears? See!" she added, detaching the clasp of her dress
and showing us the \vound in her bosom. "It was there that
the poinard struck me! "
" Woe! woe!" cried Boutraix, raising his head, and
throwing himself against the back of his chair in unutter-
able dismay.
"Oh, the men! the men! " said Ines, in a tone of bitter
scorn; " they can kill ,,'omen, and the sight of their wounds
makes thenl afraid!"
The gesture, combining modesty and pity, \vith which she
33
French Mystery Stories
drew together the open front of her dre,;s, concealing her
breast from Boutraix's terrified eyes, exposed the other to
Sergy's, and I understood his intoxication too "veIl to con-
demn it.
A new silence began, longer, deeper, sadder than the
first. Abandoned, for our part, each to his own preoccupa-
tion- Boutraix to unreflecting terror, having become in-
capable of reasoning; Sergy to the internal enjoyment of
dawning love, the object of \vhich realized the favorite
dreams of his mad imagination; I myself to the meditation
of those high mysteries on \v hich I feared I had, in the past,
formed rash opinions, we closely resembled those petrified
faces of Oriental tales which death has seized in the midst of
life t and the features of \vhich forever reflect the expression
of the last passing feeling.
Ines' face appeared to be much more animated; but
through the multitude of changing aspects which a chain of
inexplicable ideas made her assume in turn, as if under the
influence of a dream, it would have been impossible to de-
tennine which dominated her, when she began again to
speak laughingly:
" I do not recall," said she, " \vhat I asked you to explain
to nle just now; but you well know that my thought cannot
suffice for the conversation of men, since a hand \vhich I
loved, and \vhich assassinated l11e, cast me among the dead.
Take pity, I beg of you, on the feebleness of an intelligence
\yhich is resuscitated, and pardon me for having too long
forgotten that I have not yet honored the health which you
drank to me as I entered. Gentlel11en," she added, rising
\\"ith infinite grace and raising her glass, "Ines de Las
Sierras salutes you and drinks your health in return. To
you, noble chevalier! 1vIay heaven favor your enterprises!
To you, melancholy equerry, "vhose natural gayety is dis-
pelled by some secret trouble! l\.lay more propitious days
restore unl11ixed serenity! To you, handsome page, whose
tender languor tells of a soul engrossed by the sweetest cares!
iay. the happy woman \vho has attracted your love reply to
It wIth a love worthy of you; and if you do not yet love,
34
Charles N odier
may you soon love a beauty who loves you ! Your healths,
gentlemen! "
" Oh ! I do love, and I love forever! " cried Sergy. "Who
could see you and not love you? To Ines of Las Sierras! to
the beautiful Ines! "
" To Ines de Las Sierras! " I replied, rising from Iny arm-
chair.
" To Ines de Las Sierras! " murmured Boutraix, \vithout
changing his position, and for the first time in his life he
uttered a solel11n toast \vithout drinking.
" To all of you! " returned Ines, raising her glass to her
lips for the second time, but \vithout enlptying it.
Sergy grasped it ardently to drink. I kno\v not why I
should have wished to stop him, as if I thought he would
quaff of death.
As for Boutraix, he had fallen in a kind of reflective
stupor which absorbed his whole soul.
" That is well," said Ines, throwing an arm around Sergy's
neck, and placing on his heart as incendiary a hand as that
mentioned in Estevan's legend. "This evening is s\veeter
and more charming than any of which I have retained mem-
ory. We are all so gay and happy! Do you not think, Sir
Equerry, that no charm is \vanting but that of music? "
" Oh!" said Boutraix, who could hardly articulate any-
thing else. "Is she going to sing?"
" Sing, sing! " urged Sergy, passing his hands trelnblingly
through Ines' hair; " your Sergy begs you! "
"I should be very glad to," answered Ines, "but the
dampness of those vaults must have altered my voice, \vhich
was once considered beautiful and pure, and besides, I don't
kno\v anything but sad songs, far from worthy of a bacchic
tertulia, in \vhich none but joyous airs should resound.
\Vait," she continued, raising her celestial eyes to\vard the
ceiling, and making a prelude of charming sounds. " It's
the romance of NÙza
1 atada, which wiII be new to you and
to me, for I shall compose it w'hile singing."
There is nobody \vho \vould not have felt how much the
animated movenlent of inlprovisation lends to the seductive-
35
French lvlystery Stories
ness of an inspired voice. \Voe to the man who writes his
thoughts coldly, elaborated, discussed, tested by reflection
and time! He will never move a soul in its most secret
sympathies. To assist at the production of a great concep-
tion, to see it launched forth by the genius of the artist, like
1finerva from Jupiter's head, to feel one's self carried away
in its lofty strain to unknown realms of the imagination,
on the wings of eloquence, of poetry, of music, is the keenest
of enjoyments which have been given our imperfect nature;
it is the only one which approaches, on earth, the divinity
from which it takes its origin.
What I have told you is what I felt at hearing Ines' first
accents. For what I felt later there are no ternlS in lan-
guage capable of expressing. The two elements of my
nature separate distinctly in my thoughts: the one, inert and
gross, remained fixed by its own material weight in one of
Ghismondo's armchairs; the other, already transfornled,
rose toward Heaven \vith Ines' words, and received all the
impressions of a new life of inexhaustible pleasures. You
may be perfectly sure that if any unhappy genius has
doubted the existence of this eternal principle, the imperish-
able soul, enchained for a space in the ways of our fleeting
life, it is because he never heard Ines sing, or any \voman
who sang like her.
My senses, as you know, do not oppose emotion of this
kind; but I do not believe, by any means, that they are sensi-
tive enough to entertain its full effect. It was otherwise
with Sergy, whose whole organization \vas that of a scarcely
captive soul, and \vho was attached to humanity only by
some fragile bond, ahvays ready to liberate it when it wished
to become free. Sergy cried, Sergy sobbed, Sergy was car-
ried out of himself.
And when Ines, transported, went on to lose herself in still
more sublime inspirations than all we had heard, she seemed
to call him toward her with her smile. Boutraix was slightly
recovered from his mournful dismay, and fixed two great,
attentive eyes on Ines, in which an expression of astonished
pleasure had, for a moment, replaced that of fear. Bascara
3 6
Charles N odier
had not changed his position, but the soft feelings of a vir-
tuoso began to triumph over the fears of a man of the people.
From time to time he raised a face on \vhich admiration
struggled with terror, and sighed with ecstasy or envy.
A cry of enthusiasm succeeded Ines' song. She herself
poured out for all to drink, and deliberately clinked her glass
against Boutraix's. He drew it back with an ill-assured
hand, watched her drink, and drank. I refilled the glass once
more, and I saluted Ines.
" Alas! " said she, " I can no longer sing, or rather, this
hall has betrayed my voice. Formerly there wasn't an atom
of air in it which did not respond to me, and which did not
lend me its accordance. Nature no longer grants me the all-
powerful harn10nies which I drew forth, which I listened to,
which joined \vith nlY words, when I \vas happy and be-
loved. Oh, Sergy! " she continued, regarding him tenderly,
" one must be loved to sing! "
" Loved!" cried SergYt covering her hand vlÏth kisses,
U adored, Ines, idolized like a goddess! If it only requires
the unreserved sacrifice of a heart, of a soul, of eternity,
to inspire thy genius, sing, Ines, sing again, sing forever! "
" I danced also," replied she, resting her head languish-
ingly on Sergy's shoulder, "but how dance \vithout tnusic?
For a marvel!" she added suddenly, "some demon has
slipped some castanets under my belt," and she disengaged
them laughingly.
"Irrevocable day of damnation!" said Boutraix, "then
you have come! The mystery of l11ysteries is fulfilled!
The last judgment approaches! She is going to dance! "
As Boutraix ceased speaking, Ines had risen, and \vas
beginning \vith grave and slowly measured steps, displaying
with imposing grace the majesty of her form and the no-
bility of her poses.
Changing from place to place and appearing in new guises,
she astonished the itnagination as if another beautiful
,vornan had come before our eyes, she understood so well
ho\v to il11prove on herself in the variety of her poses and
movements.
3'1
French Mystery Stories
Thus, by rapid transitions, we saw her pa
s fron: serious
dignity to the moderate transports of growIng enjoyment,
then to the soft languors of voluptuousness, to a delirium
of delight, to ecstasy still more delirious, which is i
describ-
able. Then she drew away into the shadows of the Immense
hall, disappearing, and in l11easure as she moved farther off,
the sound of the castanets became weaker, diminishing,
diminishing continually, until one had ceased to hear it in
ceasing to perceive her; then it canle back from the dis-
tance, augmented by degrees, burst out with full force when
she reappeared suddenly under the torrents of light at the
spot \vhere one least expects her; and then she advanced so
near as to brush us \vith her dress, making the reawakened
castanets clap with deafening volubility, like the humming
of locusts, and uttering here and there, in their monotonous
clatter, sharp but tender cries which touched the soul.
Again, she withdrew once more, half concealed in the
shadow, appearing and disappearing, escaping from our
eyes, and seeking to let herself be seen; and then one no
longer saw her" one no longer heard aught but a distant
and plaintive note like a dying sigh; and we were overcome,
trembling 'with admiration and fear, a\vaiting the moment
\vhen her veil should be dispelled by the motion of the dance
and she should come, floating and sparkling, into the light
of the torches, or her voice should apprise us of her return
by a joyous cry, to which \ve should reply without ,villing it,
because it made a hundred hidden harmonies vibrate in us.
Then she returned, ,vhirled like a flo\ver detached fr01TI
its stem by the wind, sprang from the earth as if it rested
\vith her to leave it forever, came do\vn to it again as if
it rested \vith her not to touch it; she did not leap from the
ground; you would have thought that she merely spurted
upward, and that a mysterious decree of her destiny forbade
her to touch it except to flee it. And her head, inclined
with an air of caressing impatience, and her arms, curved
gracefully as if with appeal and prayer, seenled to implore
us to retain her. Sergy yielded, when I was about to yield,
to this imperious attraction, and folded her to his bosom.
3 8
Charles N odier
" Stay," said he, " or r die! "
"r go," she replied, "and r die if you do not come!
Soul of Ines, do you not come?"
She fell, half sitting, on Sergy's armchair, her hands
twined around his neck, and, for this once, she had as-
suredly ceased to see us.
"Will I come!" cried Sergy. "Eternal death rather
than not follow you everywhere! "
" Who loves me follows me," replied Ines, uttering a peal
of uncanny laughter.
At the same instant, she picked up her shroud, and we no
longer sa\v her; the obscurity of the distant parts of the
hall had hidden her for the last time.
r threw myself in front of Sergy, and grasped him firmly.
Boutraix, brought to himself by his friend's peril, came to
second me. Even Bascara got up.
" As your elder," I said to Sergy, " as your old comrade
in arms, as your captain, I forbid you to take a step. Do
you not see that this \voman, \vho is so seductive, is only the
magic means of a band of robbers, hidden in this terrible
castle, to separate us to our destruction? If you were alone
and free to dispose of yourself, I could understand your
fatal bewildernlent, and I could only mourn you; Ines is all
that is necessary to justify such a sacrifice. But think that
they hope to reduce us by isolating us, and that if we are
to die here \ve ought to die otherwise than in a vile ambush,
and should sell our lives dearly to the assassins. Sergy,
you belong to us before all; you shall not leave us! "
Sergy, his reason seemingly confounded by many contrary
sentiments, regarded me fixedly, and fell inert in his chair.
"Gentlenlen," I then said, with considerable firnlness,
"there is a secret here which no human intelligence can
penetrate. It is hidden, without doubt, in some natural fact,
the explanation of which \vould force us to smile, but \vhich
foils the strivings of our minds. Whatever it may be, it
behooves us not to lend the authority of our evidence to
superstitions un\vorthy of Christianity and philosophy. It
behooves us above all not to compromise the honor of three
39
French Mystery Stories
French officers by describing a very extraordinary scene, for
such I admit it to be, but the solution of ,vhich, developed
sooner or later, ,votdd greatly risk exposing us some day to
public derision. I swear now on n1Y honor, and I expect
the same oath of you, never in all my life to speak of what
has taken place to-night,. unless the causes of this strange
event are made clearly known to me."
" We s\vear it also," said Sergy and Boutraix.
" I take the Holy Savior as ,vitness," said Bascara, "by
the faith which I have in His Holy Nativity, the glorious
commel11oration of ,vhich is no\v being celebrated, never to
speak of it even to my director, under the seal of the sacra-
ment of penitence; and that the name of the Lord l11ay be
honored through all the centuries! "
" Amen," returned Boutraix, embracing him with sincere
effusiveness. "I beg you, dear brother, not to forget l11e in
your prayers, for, unfortunately I no longer know mine."
The night advanced. An uneasy sleep overcame us one
by one. I need not tell you by ,vhat dreams it was agitated.
The sun rose in the morn in a purer sky than we could have
hoped for in the evening, and \vithout exchanging a ,vord,
we gained Barcelona, where we arrived at an early hour.
" And then? " said Anastasia.
" And then? Why do you ask? Isn't the story finished? "
"I do not know why it seems to me to lack something
more," said Eudoxia.
"What would you like me to tell you? Two days later
we returned to Gironne, where ,ve awaited marching orders
for the regin1ent. The reverses of the grand army forced
the Emperor to reunite the pick of his troops in the north.
There I found myself again \vith Boutraix, \vho had becoine
devout since he had talked in person \vith a soul from Pur-
gatory, and \vith Sergy, who had not changed in love since
ecoming infatuated \vith a phantom. At the first discharge
In the battle of Lutzen, Sergy ,vas at my side. He bent
o
er suddenly, and rested his head on my horse's neck,
pIerced by a mortal wound.
4 0
Charles N odier
.. cInes,' he murmured, 'I am going to rejoin you,' and
breathed his last."
" I suppose," said the prosecutor, " that it may be proper
to adjourn if that is agreeable to the ladies."
"Until the next time," I continued, "you can exercise
your imagination in seeking the explanation which I promise.
I notify you again, however, that this is a true story from
beginning to end, and that in all I have told you there is
neither the supernatural, nor mystification, nor thieves."
(, Nor a ghost? " said Eudoxia.
" Nor a ghost," I returned, rising and taking my hat..-
" So much the worse then! " said Anastasia.
II
" BUT if it wasn't a real apparition," said Anastasia, as
soon as I had sat down, " let us kno\v \vhat it was. I have
been thinking it over for a month \vithout finding any
reasonable explanation for your story."
" Nor I either," said Eudoxia.
"I haven't had tinle to think about it," said the law
student, "but so far as I recall it appertained decidedly to
the fantastic."
"There is nothing more natural, ho\vever," I said, " and
everybody has heard of, or seen, nluch n10re extraordinary
things than those \vhich ren1ain for n1C to tell you, if you
are disposed to listen to me again."
The circle drew a little closer, for in the long evenings
in a little tovvn, one has nothing better to do than to lend
ear to odd tales while awaiting sleep. I entered upon the
subject:
I told you that peace had been nlade, that Sergy was
dead, Boutraix a monk, and I no longer anything but a
petty proprietor at his ease. The arrears of my revenues
had almost made me opulent, and a heritage \vhich came on
top of the rest enriched me \vith a ridiculous superfluity. I
4 1
French Mystery Stories
resolved to spend it in instructive travels and pleasqres, and
I hesitated a little over the question of what country I
should visit; but this was only a feint of my reason strug-
gling against my heart. My heart cal
ed. me bac
t? Barce-
lona and this narrative would form, 1 f It were In Its place
here: an accessory much longer than the principal.
What is sure is that a letter from Pablo de Clauza, the
dearest of the friends I had left in Catalonia, finally decided
me. Pablo married Léonore, Léonore was the sister of
Estelle, and this Estelle, of whom I shall talk to you very
little was the heroine of a romance of which I shall not
,
talk to you at all.
I arrived too late for the wedding; it had taken place
three days before, but it continued, according to custom, in
fêtes which were prolonged sometimes beyond the sweet-
ness of the honeymoon. It was not to be so in Pablo's
family, for he was \vorthy of being loved by a very amiable
woman, and is as happy to-day as he then hoped to be. This
happens occasionally, but one shouldn't brag of it.
Estelle received me as a regretted friend whom one desires
to see again, and my relations with her had not occasioned
me to expect more, especially after two years' absence, for
this happened in 1814, in the interval of that short European
peace, which separates the first restoration from the 20th of
March.
" We have dined at an earlier hour than usual," said
Pablo, "but supper will make amends; that will leave an
hour, ho\vever, for the cares of the toilet, and there is no
one here who wants to make use of the seats which I took
for the some\vhat unique representation of La Pedrina.
This virtuoso is so fantastic! Heaven knows whether she
will not elude us to-morrow."
"La Pedrina?" said I, reflectively. "This name has
already struck me more than once, and under such memo-
rable circumstances that I shall never lose the recollection of
it. Isn't she that extraordinary singer, that still more e;'-
traordinary dancer, who disappeared from Madrid after a
day of triumph, and of whom no trace was ever afterwards
42
Charles N odier
found? She no doubt justifies the curiosity of \vhich she
is the object, by talents which suffer no comparison in other
theaters; but I avow that a singular occurrence in my life
has made me quite blasé to this kind of distraction, and that
I am in nowise curious to hear or see La Pedrina her-
self. "
" Just as you prefer," replied Pablo. "I believe, never-
theless, that Estelle is counting on you as an escort."
I forgot that I had sworn to myself that I would never
see a dancer again, that I would never hear another singer,
after Ines de Las Sierras, but I thought myself sure of
seeing and hearing no one but Estelle that day.
I talked for a long time, and I should be much embar-
rassed to say what they were playing. Even the commotion
which announced the entrance of La Pedrina did not stir
me; I remained calm, half covering my eyes with my hand,
when the profound silence which had given place to this
fleeting emotion was broken by a voice which it \vas not
possible for me to ignore. Ines' voice had never ceased
to resound in my ears; it pursued me in my meditations, it
lulled l11e in my dreams; and the voice which I heard was
Ines' voice!
I shivered, I uttered a cry, I threw myself against the
front of the box, 'with my gaze fixed on the stage. It \vas
Ines, Ines hersel f !
My first impulse was to seek to gather to me every cir-
cumstance, every fact which could confirm me in the idea
that I was in Barcelona, that I was at the play, that I was
not, as for every day I had been, for two years, the dupe of
my imagination; that one of my habitual dreams had not
surprised me.
I forced myself to lay hold on something which might
convince me of the reality of my sensations. I found
Estelle's hand and pressed it firmly.
"Well," she said, smiling, "you were so sure that you
\vere proof against the seductions of a woman's voice!
La Pedrina scarcely begins her prelude, and you are carried
away! "
43
French lIfystery Stories
" Are you certain, Estelle," replied I, "that this. is. La
Pedrina here? Do you know beyond doubt that this 1S a
\voman, an actress, and not an apparition?"
" In truth," she replied, " it is a \voman, an extraordinary
actress, a singer such as never before has been seen, possibly,
but I do not imagine that there may be nothing more. Your
enthusiasm, take care," she added coldly, "has something
disturbing for those \vho concern themselves about you.
You are not the first, they say, who has lost his senses at the
sight of her, and this \veakness of heart probably would not
flatter your 'wife, nor your n1Ïstress."
Upon finishing these \vords she quite \vithdre\v her hand,
and I let it escape; La Pedrina sang on.
Then she danced, and my thoughts, carried with her,
yielded themselves \vithout resistance to all the impressions
she was pleased to give them. The universal intoxication
hid my own, but increased it still more; and the \vhole time
\vhich had passed a\vay between our t\vo meetings was lost
to our perception, because no sensation of the same sort
and of the same strength had rene'wed the other before; it
seemed to me that I was still at the Castle of Ghismondo,
but at the Castle of Ghismondo enlarged, decorated,
thronged with an inlmense crowd.
The acclamations \v hich arose on every hand, rang in my
ears like the JOY of demons. And La Pedrina, possessed
by a sublime frenzy, which the Inferno alone could inspire
and entertain, continued devouring the floor \vith her steps,
fleeing, returning, flying, driven or brought back by invisible
impulses, until, panting, exhausted, prostrated, she fell into
the arms of the attenàants, murnluring a name which I
believed I heard and \vhich echoed sadly in my heart.
"Sergy is dead! " I cried, tears escaping my eyes, as I
extended my arms toward the stage.
" You are actually mad," said Estelle, retaining me in my
place. "Calm yourself. She is no longer there."
" Mad!" replied I, "can that be so? Have I believed
that I saw what I did not see? Believed that I heard \vhat
I did not hear ?-l\1ad, great Heaven! Separated from
44
Charles N odier
mankind and from Estelle by an infirmity which will make
me a public topic. Fatal Castle of GhislTIondo, is this the
punishment 'which you hold for those so rash as to dare to
violate your secrets? A thousand times more fortunate is
Sergy, dead on the field of Lutzen! "
I was overcome by these ideas when I felt Estelle's arm
slip into mine to leave the spectacle.
" Alas! " I said, trembling, for I \vas beginning to con1e
to myself, " I must arouse your pity, but I should arouse it
11111Ch more if you knew a story which it is not pernlitted
me to relate. What has just happened is to me only the
continuation of a terrible illusion from \vhich my mind has
never been entirely freed. Allow me to keep my thoughts
to myself, and, so far as Inlay, restore them to some order
and connection. The pleasures of an agreeable conversation
are forbidden me to-day; I shall be calmer to-morrow."
" You shall be just as you like to-morro\v," said Pablo,
who, in passing close to us had caught my last words, "but
you certainly shall not leave us this evening. Nevertheless,"
he added, "I count more on Estelle's persuasion to decide
you than on my o\vn."
"Let it be so," she replied. "Will you not consent to
give us the time which you had doubtless reserved for occu-
pying yoursel f with La Pedrina? " .
" In Heaven's name! " I cried, " do not tnention her name
again, my dear Estelle, for the feeling I entertain does not
in the least resemble the sentiment which you might suspect,
if that indeed is not terror. Why must it be that I cannot
explain mysel f better? "
I t was necessary to yield. I was seated at supper 'without
taking part at it, and, as I expected, they spoke only of La
Pedrina.
"The interest which this extraordinary \voman arouses
in you," Pablo said suddenly, "has something so exalted
about it that one could scarcely conceive of a possibility of
augmenting it. \Vhat would it be, though, if you kne\v of
her adventures, part of which, indeed, took place at Barce-
lona, but at a time when most of us were 110t established
45
French Mystery Stories
here ? You would be obliged to admit that La Pedrina's
misfortunes are not less surprising than her talents."
Nobody replied, for all were listening, and Pablo, per-
ceiving it, continued thus: .
"La Pedrina did not belong to the class from whIch her
like are usually derived, and in 'which are recruited those
nomadic troupes \vhich destiny devotes to the pleasure of the
multitude. Her rightful name has been borne, in past
ao-es b y one of the most illustrious families in old Spain.
b ,
She is called Ines de Las Sierras."
" Ines de Las Sierras! " I cried, rising from my chair in
a state of exaltation difficult to describe. "Ines de Las
Sierras! Is it true then! But do you know, Pablo, who
Ines de Las Sierras is? Do you know whence she comes,
and by what awful privilege she is heard in a theater? "
"I know," said Pablo, smiling, "that she is a rare and
unfortunate creature, \vhose life deserves at least as n1uch
pity as admiration. As for the emotion which her name
causes you, it in no wise astonishes me, for it is probable
that it has struck you more than once in the lamentable com...
plaints of our ROl'nanceros."
The story thus recalled to the memory of our friend [he
pursued, addressing himself to the others] is one of
those popular traditions of the Middle Ages, which were
probably founded on some real facts, or on some specious
appearances, and \vhich are n1aintained from generation to
generation in the memory of men, to the extent of acquiring
a kind of historical authority. This one, whatever it may
be, enjoyed great credit as early as the sixteenth century,
since it forced the noble family of Las Sierras to expatriate
itself with all its possessions, and to profit by the new dis-
coveries of navigation to transport its domicile to Mexico.
What is certain is that the tragic fatality which pursued it
was not relaxed in other climes. I have often heard it
asserted that for three centuries all of its chiefs died by
the sword.
At the beginning of the century in which we are passing
4 6
Charles N odier
the fourteenth year, the last of the noble lords of Las Sierras
still lived in lVlexico. Death had taken a\vay his wife, and
only a daughter six or seven years old z ,vhom he had named
Ines, remained to him. l\lore brilliant talents 'were never
announced at a more tender age, and the IVlarquis of Las
Sierras spared nothing to cultivate these precious gifts
'\vhich promised so much glory and happiness to his old age.
Too happy, indeed, if the education of his only daughter
could have absorbed all his care and affection; but he felt
soon the sad need of filling the profound void of his heart
with yet another sentiment.
He loved, believed himself beloved, and was engrossed
with his choice; he did l11ore: he congratulated himself that
he was giving Ines another mother, and he gave her an im-
placable enemy. Ines' keen intelligence ,vas not slow in
perceiving the difficulties of her new position. She soon
learned that the arts, which until then had been only an
object of distraction and pleasure, might one day become
her sole resource. After that she gave herself up to them
with an ardor \vhich was cro,vned with unexampled success,
and at the end of a fe\v years she found no more masters.
The most skillful and presumptuous would have felt honored
to have received lessons from her; but she paid dearly for
this advantage, if it is true that at that time her pure and
brilliant mind, ,vorn out by excessive work, began gradually
to change, and that fleeting illusions began to betray the dis-
order of her mind at the moment \vhen she seenled to have
nothing more to acquire. One day the inanimate body of
the Marquis of Las Sierras was brought home. He had
been found, pierced with wounds, in a lonely place, \vhere
there was no other circumstance to cast any light on the mo-
tive or author of this cruel assassination. Public opinion
was not slow, however, in designating a culprit. lues'
father had no kno\vn enemy, but before his second nlarriage
he had had a rival, a man ,vho was 11larked in Mexico by the
ardor of his passions and the violence of his character.
Everyone named him in his private thoughts; but this uni-
versal suspicion could not take the form of an accusation,
47
French :tfystery Stories
because it was not justified by any proof. The coni ectures
of the multitude continued to gro\v stronger, until the vic-
tim's wido\v was seen, after a few lTIonths, to pass to the
arms of the assassin, and if nothing since has happened to
confirm them, nothing, at least, has diminished the impres-
sion.
Ines remained solitary in the house of her fathers, with
two persons who \vere equally strangers, 'whom a secret
instinct rendered equally odious, and to whom the la\v
blindly confided the authority by which it replaced that of
her family. The attacks 'which had occasionally menaced
her reason multiplied alarmingly, and nobody vvas sur-
prised at it, although the greater part of her misfortunes
\vere generally ungues sed.
There was a young Sicilian in Mexico 'who \vent under
the name of Gaetano Filippi, whose former life seemed to
hide some suspected mystery. A slight acquaintance with
the arts, an ingratiating address marred by frivolity, ele-
gance which betrayed study and affectation, that veneer of
politeness which worthy people o\ve to education, and design-
ing people connect with society, had given him access to
circles \vhich his lack of breeding should have closed to
him. Ines, scarcely sixteen years old, was too ingenuous
and high-minded to penetrate his deceptive exterior. She
mistook the confusion of her senses for the revelation of
first love.
Gaetano was not at a loss how to make himself known
under advantageous titles; he understood the art of pro-
curing what he needed, giving them every appearance of
authenticity necessary for fascinating the most skillful and
practiced eyes. It \vas in vain, nevertheless, that he de-
manded Ines' hand. This unfortunate girl's lTIother-in-law
had formed the project of assuring her fortune; and it is
probable that she \vould not have been scrupulous in choos-
ing the means.
It was \vith Ines' organization as \vith all those favored
by genius in a superior degree. She combined \vith the
height of her sublime talent the feebleness of character
48
Charles Nodier
which relies on others for guidance. In the life of the
intellect and of art she was an angel. In everyday, practical
life, she was a child. The mere semblance of friendly senti-
ment captivated her heart, and when her heart had sub-
mitted. her judgment raised no objections. This disposition
of mind is not baleful under happy conditions and wise
direction; but the only being to whom lnes could intru
t
this sway in the sad isolation following her father's death,
acted only for her destruction; and therein \vas the horrible
secret that innocence suspects nothing. Gaetano prevailed
upon her
almost without effort, to favor an elopement on
which he made her welfare seetTI to depend. There re-
mained no difficulty for him in convincing her that he pos-
sessed a great heritage by legitimate right; they disap-
peared; and after a fe\v months, abundantly supplied with
gold, jewels, and diamonds, they arrived at Cadiz.
Here the veil was raised; but lnes' eyes, still dazzled by
the false light of love, long refused to see the \vhole truth..
Ieanwhi1e, the circle into which Gaetano had brought her
often alarmed her by the license of its principles; she \vas
astonished that the passage from one hemisphere to another
could produce such strange differences in manners and lan-
guage; she timorously sought any thought answering hers
in the crowd of libertines and courtesans which conlposed
her habitual society-but did not find it.
The ephell1eral resources of money, gained by an action
in regard to which her conscience was not quite reassured,.
were beginning, moreover, to slip away, and Gaetano's
hypocritical tenderness seemed to diminish \vith thenl.
One day she vainly awaited his return, and she waited
vainly that night; the following day she passed frotTI un-
certainty to fear, from fear to despair; the frightful reality
at last completed her misery. He had departed after despoil-
ing her of everything, gone with another \VOnlan; he had
abandoned her, itl1poverished, dishonored, and, for a final
misfortune, given her up to her own scorn. The resource
of lofty pride, which reacts when the soul is without re-
proach, was broken in Ines. She had taken the name of
49
French ltrlystery Stories
Pedrina to foil the search of her unworthy parents. "Ped-
rina let it be!" she said with bitter resolution, "ignominy
and shame are mine, for fate has willed it so." She ,vas
thereafter only La Pedrina.
You will readily perceive why I cease to follow all the
details of her life; she has not revealed them. We shall not
rediscover her until that n1emorable début at Madrid, which
placed her so promptly in the first rank of the most cele-
brated virtuosos. Enthusiasm was so violent and passionate
that the whole city echoed the applause of the theater. The
crowd, which had accompanied her to her lodgings with ac-
clamations, would not consent to disperse until having seen
ber once more at the windows of her apartment.
But that was not all the sentiment that she had excited.
Her beauty, which, indeed, was not less remarkable than
her talents, had produced a profound impression upon an
illustrious personage, who at that time held in his hands a
good part of the destinies of Spain, and whom you ,vill per-
mit me not to designate more precisely. Never mind
whether this anecdote of an unfortunate life is not suf..
ficiently illun1ined by my historical conscience, or whether
it is distasteful to me to add a weakness, other\vise excus-
able enough, to the mistakes with which shifting opinion
rightly or \vrongly taxes fallen kings.
Certainly she did not reappear on the stage, and the
favors of fortune were heaped in a few days upon this
obscure adventuress, whose shal11e and misery had been
known for a year in the neighboring provinces. One no
longer heard of anything but the variety of her toilets, the
richness of her jewels, the luxury of her equipage. Con-
trary to custom, this sudden opulence was pardoned, be-
cause there were very few men among her judges who
would not have been glad to have given her a hundred times
as much.
It is necessary to add, to La Pedrina's honor that the
trea
ures which she o\ved to love 'were not expended in idle
fancle 7 . Naturally compassionate and generous, she sought
out misfortune to make reparation; she carried succor and
So
Charles N odier
consolation to the sad retreat of the poor and the bedside of
the sick; she relieved the unfortunate \vith a grace \vhich
added still more to her beneficence; and, although a favorite,
she made herself beloved by the people. That is sa easy
when one is rich!
La Pedrina's name gained too much renown not to reach
Gaetano's ears. in the obscure quarter where he had con-
cealed his shameful life. The products of theft and treason,
which had so far supported him, had just failed his needs.
He regretted having despised the resources which he might
have drawn from the subjection of his mistress. He con-
ceived the project of retrieving his mistake at any price,
even at the price of a ne\v crime. That \vas \vhat would
cost him the least. He counted on a skill that had been
too often exercised to allow him any distrust. He kne\v
Ines' heart, and the wretch did not hesitate to present him-
sel f before her.
Gaetano's justification was at first seemingly impossible,
but there is nothing impossible to a deigning mind, espe-
cially when seconded by the blind credulity of love; and
Gaetano \vas not merely the first man who had made Ines'
heart throb; he \vas the only one she had ever loved. All
her bewilderment, too, had left her heart empty and indiffer-
ent; and, by a privilege, no doubt very rare, but not un-
precedented, she had suffered without being debased.
The romance of Gaetano, absurd as it was, preserved the
credit of vanity. Ines had need of believing in it in order
to regain some semblance of her vanished happiness, and
her mental disposition \vas that which contents itself with
the slightest verisimilitude. It is likely that she did not
dare even to consider the objections which crowded into her
thoughts for fear of finding one \vhich would prove unan-
s\verable. It is so sweet to be mistaken about a person
whom one loves, \vhen one cannot cease to love!
The perfidious villain, moveover, did not neglect any of
his advantages. This ,vas his story: He had returned
from Sicily, \vhere he had gone to persuade his family to
permit his marriage. He had succeeded. His mother her-
Sl
French ]"Iystery Stories
sel f had deigned to accompany him to Spain, to hasten the
monlent when she should see the cherished daughter of
whom she had formed the most flattering idea. What hor-
rible ne\vs met him at Barcelona! The report of La Ped-
rina's success reached him together \vith that of her sin
and ignominy. \Vas that the price which she had reserved
for so much love and so much sacrifice? The first idea, the
first sentinlent \vhich he found himself capable of entertain-
ing was the resolution to die, but his tenderness had pre-
vailed over his despair. He had hidden his sad secret from
his mother; he had flown to Madrid to speak to Ines, to
make her listen, if there \vere still time, to the voice of honor
and virtue; he had come to pardon her, and he did pardon
her! (What do you expect?)
Ines, bathed in tears, frightened, trembling, overcome by
remorse, by gratitude and joy, fell at the impostor's feet;
and hypocrisy triumphed almost without effort over a heart
too sensitive and confiding to divine it. This sudden change
in rôle and position, which gave the culprit all the rights of
innocence, may partake of the astonishing. But ask the
WOlnen about it! There is nothing commoner.
Ines' suspicions, however, were due to be rea\vakened
\vhen she saw that Gaetano \vas more concerned about
loading the wagon prepared for their journey \vith ,hose
treasures, the source of which she could not remember \vith-
out blushing, than about carrying off her herself. She in-
sisted vainly that they should abandon everything. She
was not listened to.
Four days later, a traveling carriage stopped at Barce-
lona before the Hõtel de l'Italie. An elegantly attired
young man and a lady who seemed to avoid the eyes of
travelers and passersby, were seen to alight. They vvere
Gaetano and La Pedrina. A quarter oJ an hour later the
young man went out and directed himself to\vard the port.
The absence of Gaetano's mother served only too well to
confirm the fears which Ines had began to conceive. It
seem
t?a.t she must have gained sufficient ascendency over
ber tImidIty to express them without circulnlocution when
52
Charles N odier
he returned to his aparhl1ent. It is certain at least that a
violent discussion between them arose in the evening and
was rene\ved several times in the night.
At daybreak Gaetano, pale, agitated, unstrung, had the
domestics carry several boxes to a vessel \vhich was due to
sail in the morning. He repaired thither hin1self with a
much smaller box \vhich he had enveloped in the folds of
his mantle. Upon reaching the vessel he dismissed the
men who had followed him, under the pretext of being de-
tained longer by certain arrangements, paid them hand-
somely for their trouble, and directed thelll in the nlost
express terms not to trouble madan1e's sleep before his re-
turn. Meanwhile, a great part of the day passed without
the stranger reappearing. It was reported that the ship had
set sail, and one of the men who had accompanied Gaetano,
disturbed by a sinister presentiment, was tempted to assure
binlself of it. He saw her sails sinking below the horizon..
The silence which continued to reign in Ines' apartment,
in the midst of the noises in the house, becan1e disquieting.
It was supposed that the door had not been locked from
the inside, but from the outside, because the key had not
been left in the lock. The host did not hesitate to open
the door with a duplicate key, and a horrible spectacle was
presented to his eyes. The unkno\vn lady was lying on the
bed in the attitude of one who sleeps, and they fl1ight have
been misled if she had not been bathed in blood. fIer
bosom had been pierced by a poniard while she slept, and
the assassin's weapon \vas still in the wound.
You will readily pardon me for not having verified these
shocking details. They were known at the time to the
whole city. What is still unknown to the very persons
whom the fate of this unfortunate creature touched the
l11ost, for it was only a fe\v days before she was in a state
of recovery and capable of bringing the confused memory
of her adventures into some order ,-\vas that the unfor-
tunate victim of this attempt was the divine Pedrina wholn
Madrid never forgot, and that La Pedrina was Ines de Las
Sierras.
53
French Mystery Stories
To return to my narrative [continued Pablo], the wit-
nesses gathered at this scene of horror, and the doctors
whom they had caJIed on the spot were not long in discover-
ing that the unkno\vn lady was not dead. Care alr
ady
late, but hastily given, was so successful that they sa,v sIgns
of life rea\vaken in her. Several days ,vere passed, never-
theless, in alternate fear and hope which keenly excited
public sympathy.
A month later Ines' recovery seemed entirely established,
but delirium, which manifested itself from the moment that
she recovered speech, and ,vhich ,vas attributed to the effect
of high fever, yielded neither to remedies nor to time. The
poor creature had been resuscitated in her physicallife, but
she remained dead in the life of the intellect. She was
mad.
A community of holy women received her and continued
the solicitous attentions which her state demanded. The
object of every regard of an almost providential charity, it
,vas said that she justified it by touching docility, for her
alienation had none of that wildness and violence \vhich
ordinarily characterize this frightful malady. It was, more-
over, frequently interrupted by lucid intervals, more or less
prolonged, which from day to day offered better foundation
for hopes of her recovery; they became so frequent that
much of the attention which had been given to her slightest
acts or feelings was relaxed; they gre\v accustomed, little
by little, to leaving her to herself, and she took advantage
of this negligence to escape. Anxiety was great, and a
search was vigorously carried on; its success at first seemed
to be assured.
lnes had attracted attention during the first days of her
,,:a.nderings by her incomparable beauty, by the natural no-
blhty of her manners, and also by the intermittent disorder
o.f her ideas and of her speech. She had been noticed par-
t1c
larly on account of the singular appearance of her attire,
\VhlCh was composed at haphazard of elegant, but flil11SY
f.emnants of her theatrical costume, showy fabrics, but of
lIttle value, \vhich the Sicilian had disdained to appropriate,
54
Charles N odier
and the odd assortment of which, borrowed from the ap-
parel of luxury, contrasted singularly with the sack of
coarse material, which she carried on her shoulder to re-
ceive the charity of the people.
1'hey followed her by this means to a little distance from
11attaro, but at that point all trace of her \vas lost and
CQuld not be recovered. Ines had disappeared from all eyes
two days before Christnlas, and when the profound melan-
choly of her mind, ,vhenever it was free from the habitual
clouds, was recalled, no one hesitated to think that she had
ended her days by throwing herself into the sea. This ex-
planation presented itself so naturally that scarcely anyone
took the trouble to seek another. The unknown \vas dead,
and the Í111pression which this news made lasted for two
days. On the third it grew weaker, like all impressions,
and on the day after that it was spoken of no more.
An exceedingly unusual occurrence at that time contrib-
uted greatly to\vard distracting attention from Ines' disap-
pearance and the tragic conclusion of her adventures. There
exÍsted in the neighborhood of the town, where the last
traces of her had been lost, an old ruined manor known as
the Castle of Ghismondo, which the Devil, it ,vas said, had
held in his possession for several centuries] and in which,
tradition had it, he held a séance every year on Christmas
eve.
The existing generation had never seen anything capable
of giving any authority to this ridiculous superstition, and
folk were no longer disturbed about it; but CirCUJl1stances
\vhich have never been explained restored its clainls in 1812.
There ,vas no ground for doubting on this occasion that the
accursed castle was inhabited by strange guests \vho in-
dulged v;ithout secrecy in the joys of a banquet. A splendid
illumination burst at midnight from the apartments, which
had been so long deserted, and spread disl11ay and terror in
the neighboring hamlets. Some belated travelers, \vhom
chance had brought under its walls, heard a confused sound
of unearthly voices and, at moments, songs of infinite s'weet-
ness. The phenomena of a stormy night, the like of which
55
French Mystery Stories
Catalonia did not recall so far advanced in the season, added
still more to the solemnity of the strange scene, the details
of \vhich credulity and fear did not fail to exaggerate.
N othinrJ" ,vas talked of on the following day and those
b
succeeding, for several leagues around, but the return of
the spirits to the house of Ghismondo, and the concurrence
of so many ,vitnesses, who were agreed on all the chief cÌr-
CU111stances of the event, ended by inspiring the police ,vith
'weIl-founded alarm. In truth, the French troops had been
recalled from their garrisons to re-enforce the remnants of
the army in Germany, and the time might have seemed fav-
orable for a renc,val of the attempts of the old Spanish
party, which were beginning, moreover, to be fomented iil
a decidedly appreciable manner in our ill-subjected depart-
ments.
The administration, EttIe disposed to share the beliefs of
the populace, saw then, in this pretended convention of
demons, faithful to their annual rendezvous, nothing but a
gathering of conspirators who ,vere all ready to unfurl once
more the flag of dvil war. It ordered an immediate visit
to the mysterious manor, and this investigation, by evident
proofs, confirmed the reports which had occasioned it. They
found indications of the iIlumination and festivities, and they
\vere enabled to conjecture from the nun1ber of empty bottles
\vhich still garnished the table that the convivial party had
been very numerous.
(At this passage in Pablo's narrative, which recalled to
my mind the inextinguishable thirst and immoderate liba-
tions of Boutraix, I could not contain an impulsive burst of
laughter which interrupted him, and \vhich contrasted too
()ddly ,vith the fralne of mind in which he had found me at
the beginning of the story, not to occasion hÍ111 extreme
surprise. He regarded me gravely, waiting until I should
succeed iI?- repressing I11Y outburst of unseemly gayety, and
upon finding me calmer, he continued.)
.
The meeting, held by such a number of men probably
56
Charles N odier
armed, and certainly mounted, for there were also tbe
remains of forage, had become a thing demonstrated to
everybody, but none of the conspirators was found at the
castle, and all attempts to trace theln \vere unavailing. The
authorities have never gained the least light on this singular
affair since the epoch when it ceased to be reprehensible, and
,\Then it would have been more advantageous to have owned
it than it was then necessary to maintain silence. The party
which had been charged ,vith this little expedition was getting
ready to depart, when a soldier discovered, in one of the
subterranean parts of the castle, a girl, strangely clad, ,vho
seemed deprived of her reason, and who, far from shunning
him, hastened to run to him, uttering some name which he
did not remember:
" It is you?" she cried. "How long you have made me
wait!" Brought out into the daylight, she recognized her
error, and burst into tears.
This young girl you already know was La Pedrina. Her
description, sent several days previously to all authorities
along the coast, was perfectly familiar to them. They sent
her immediately to Barcelona, after having made her sub-
tnit, in one of her lucid moments, to a strict questioning con-
cerning the inexplicable event of Christnlas eve; but it had
left in her mind only confused traces, and her evidence, the
incerity of which they could not suspect, served merely to
increase the complications of the investigation. It appeared
to be proved only that a strange aberration of her dis-
ordered imagination had made her seek in the nlanor of the
lords of Las Sierras an asylum guaranteed by the rights of
birth; that she had gained entrance to it with difficulty, in
profiting by the narro\:v opening \vhich its battered doors
Jeft behveen them, and that for a few days she had lived 011
her own provisions, and after that on those which the
strangers had abandoned.
As for them, she did not seem to know them; and the
description which she gave of their attire, which \vas not
that of any living race, was so improbable that they at-
tributed it without hesitation to a dream \vhich she con-
57
French lvlystery Stories
founded \vith reality. vVhat seemed more evident, was that
one of the adventurers or conspirators had made a keen
impression on her heart, and that on
y the h
pe of finding
him again gave her courage to contInue to hve. But she
had understood that he was hunted, that his liberty and per-
haps his life was menaced, and the most assiduous and obsti-
nate efforts could not tear from her the secret of his name.
This last turn of Pabl0 1 s narration recalled, in a new
aspect, the memory of a friend whose last word I had
received. My bosom swelled, my eyes filled with tears, and
I raised my hand to them quickly to conceal my en10tion
from those around me. Pablo stopped as before and fixed
his eyes on me with still more marked attention. I easily
divined the idea which he entertained, and I tried to reas-
sure him by a smile. "Be easy," I said to him, " in regard
to the alternation of sadness and gayety \vhich your singular
story l11akes n1e evince. It is only natural in my position,
and you will admit it yourself as soon as I have had time to
explain it. Go on meanwhile, and pardon Ille for having
interrupted you, for La Pedrina's adventures are not fin-
ished."
There remains little more [continued Pablo]. She was
taken back to her convent, and placed under more strict
surveillance. An old doctor, deeply versed in the study of
affections of the mind, whom happy chance had brought to
Barcelona, undertook her cure. lie perceived at once that
it offered great difficulties, for the disorders of a stricken
intellect are never graver, and, so to speak, more incurable,
than \vhen they result from a profound trouble of the
soul.
He persevered unceasingly, because he counted on at'!,
au
iliar
\vhich
hows itself always skillful in relieving
gnef,-tIme, whIch effaces all" and which alone is
eternal i
