birth, family, mysole good; I know no other. We have had but one roof, one cradle, and wewill have but one grave. If she goes, I will follow her. The governor willprevent me! Will he prevent me from flinging myself into the sea? Will heprevent me from following her by swimming? The sea cannot be more fatal tome than the land. Since I cannot live with her, at least I will die beforeher eyes; far from you, inhuman mother! woman without compassion! May theocean, to which you trust her, restore her to you no more! May the waves,rolling back our corpses amidst the stones of the beach, give you, in theloss of your two children, an eternal subject of remorse!'
"At these words I seized him in my arms, for despair had deprived him ofreason. His eyes flashed fire, big drops of sweat hung upon his face, hisknees trembled, and I felt his heart beat violently against his burningbosom.
"Virginia, affrighted, said to him, 'Oh, my friend, I call to witness thepleasures of our early age, your sorrow and my own, and every thing thatcan forever bind two unfortunate beings to each other, that if I remain, Iwill live but for you; that if I go, I will one day return to be yours. Icall you all to witness, you who have reared my infancy, who dispose of mylife, who see my tears. I swear by that Heaven which hears me, by the seawhich I am going to pass, by the air I breathe, and which I never sulliedby a falsehood.'
"As the sun softens and dissolves an icy rock upon the summit of theApennines, so the impetuous passions of the young man were subdued by thevoice of her he loved. He bent his head, and a flood of tears fell from hiseyes. His mother, mingling her tears with his, held him in her arms, butwas unable to speak. Madame de la Tour, half distracted, said to me, 'I canbear this no longer. My heart is broken. This unfortunate Voyage shall nottake place. Do take my son home with you. It is eight days since any onehere has slept.'
"I said to Paul, 'My dear friend, your sister will remain. To-morrow wewill speak to the governor; leave your family, to take some rest, and comeand pass the night with me.'
"He suffered himself to be led away in silence; and, after a night of greatagitation, he arose at break of day, and returned home.
"But why should I continue any longer the recital of this history? There isnever but one aspect of human life which we can contemplate with pleasure.Like the globe upon which we revolve, our fleeting course is but a day: andif one part of that day be visited by light, the other is thrown intodarkness."
"Father," I answered, "finish, I conjure you, the history which you havebegun in a manner so interesting. If the images of happiness are mostpleasing, those of misfortune are more instructive. Tell me what became ofthe unhappy young man."
"The first object which Paul beheld in his way home was Mary, who, mountedupon a rock, was earnestly looking towards the sea. As soon as he perceivedher, he called to her from a distance, 'Where is Virginia?' Mary turned herhead towards her young master, and began to weep. Paul, distracted, andtreading back his steps, ran to the harbour. He was there informed, thatVirginia had embarked at break of day, that the vessel had immediatelyafter set sail, and could no longer be discerned. He instantly returned tothe plantation, which he crossed without uttering a word.
"Although the pile of rocks behind us appears almost perpendicular, thosegreen platforms which separate their summits are so many stages by means ofwhich you may reach, through some difficult paths, that cone of hanging andinaccessible rocks, called the Thumb. At the foot of that cone is astretching slope of ground, covered with lofty trees, and which is so highand steep that it appears like a forest in air, surrounded by tremendousprecipices. The clouds, which are attracted round the summit of thoserocks, supply innumerable rivulets, which rush from so immense a heightinto that deep valley situated behind the mountain, that from this elevatedpoint we do not hear the sound of their fall. On that spot you can discerna considerable part of the island with its precipices crowned with theirmajestic peaks; and, amongst others, Peterbath, and the three Peaks, withtheir valley filled with woods. You also command an extensive view of theocean, and even perceive the Isle of Bourbon forty leagues towards thewest. From the summit of that stupendous pile of rocks Paul gazed upon thevessel which had borne away Virginia, and which, now ten leagues out atsea, appeared like a black spot in the midst of the ocean. He remained agreat part of the day with his eyes fixed upon this object: when it haddisappeared, he still fancied he beheld it: and when, at length, the traceswhich clung to his imagination were lost amidst the gathering mists of thehorizon, he seated himself on that wild point, for ever beaten by thewinds, which never cease to agitate the tops of the cabbage and gum trees,and the hoarse and moaning murmurs of which, similar to the distant soundof organs, inspire a deep melancholy. On that spot. I found Paul, with hishead reclined on the rock, and his eyes fixed upon the ground. I hadfollowed him since break of day, and after much importunity, I prevailedwith him to descend from the heights, and return to his family. I conductedhim to the plantation, where the first impulse of his mind, upon seeingMadame de la Tour, was to reproach her bitterly for having deceived him.Madame de la Tour told us, that a favourable wind having arose at threeo'clock in the morning, and the vessel being ready to set sail, thegovernor, attended by his general officers, and the missionary, had comewith a palanquin in search of Virginia, and that, notwithstanding her ownobjections, her tears, and those of Margaret, all the while exclaiming thatit was for the general welfare they had carried away Virginia almost dying.'At least,' cried Paul, 'if I had bid her farewell, I should now be morecalm. I would have said to her, Virginia, if, during the time we have livedtogether, one word may have escaped me which has offended you, before youleave me for ever, tell me that you forgive me. I would have said to her,since I am destined to see you no more, farewell, my dear Virginia,farewell! Live far from me, contented and happy!'
"When he saw that his mother and Madame de la Tour were weeping, 'You mustnow,' said he, 'seek some other than me to wipe away your tears;' and then,rushing out of the house, he wandered up and down the plantation. He fleweagerly to those spots which had been most dear to Virginia. He said to thegoats and their kids which followed him, bleating, 'What do you ask of me?You will see her no more who used to feed you with her own hand.' He wentto the bower called the Repose of Virginia; and, as the birds flew aroundhim, exclaimed, 'Poor little birds! you will fly no more to meet her whocherished you!' and observing Fidele running backwards and forwards insearch of her, he heaved a deep sigh, and cried, 'Ah! you will never findher again.' At length he went and seated himself upon the rock where he hadconversed with her the preceding evening; and at the view of the ocean,upon which he had seen the vessel disappear, which bore her away, he weptbitterly.
"We continually watched his steps, apprehending some fatal consequence fromthe violent agitation of his mind. His mother and Madame de la Tourconjured him, in the most tender manner, not to increase their afflictionby his despair. At length Madame de la Tour soothed his mind by lavishingupon him such epithets as were best calculated to revive his hopes. Shecalled him her son, her dear son, whom she destined for her daughter. Sheprevailed with him to return to the house, and receive a littlenourishment. He seated himself with us at table, next to the place whichused to be occupied by the companion of his childhood, and, as if she hadstill been present, he spoke to her, and offered whatever he knew was mostagreeable to her taste; and then, starting from this dream of fancy, hebegan to weep. For some days he employed himself in gathering togetherevery thing which had belonged to Virginia; the last nosegays she had worn,the cocoa shell in which she used to drink; and after kissing a thousandtimes those relics of his friend, to him the most precious treasures whichthe world contained, he hid them in his bosom. The spreading perfumes ofthe amber are not so sweet as the objects which have belonged to those welove. At length, perceiving that his anguish increased that of his motherand Madame de la Tour, and that the wants of the family required continuallabour, he began, with the assistance of Domingo, to repair the garden.
"Soon after, this young man, till now indifferent as a Creole with respec
tto what was passing in the world, desired I would teach him to read andwrite, that he might carry on a correspondence with Virginia. He thenwished to be instructed in geography, in order that he might form a justidea of the country where she had disembarked; and in history, that hemight know the manners of the society in which she was placed. The powerfulsentiment of love, which directed his present studies, had already taughthim the arts of agriculture, and the manner of laying out the mostirregular grounds with advantage and beauty. It must be admitted, that tothe fond dreams of this restless and ardent passion, mankind are indebtedfor a great number of arts and sciences, while its disappointments havegiven birth to philosophy, which teaches us to bear the evils of life withresignation. Thus, nature having made love the general link which binds allbeings,
Paul and Virginia from the French of J.B.H. de Saint Pierre Page 13
