The Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection (9 Books of Gothic Romance and Horror)

by Eliza Parsons

  "A little before twelve o'clock all the inhabitants of the house resorted to my room, and an intimate friend of mine acted the ghost admirably well: benumbing perfumes deprived the spectators of the proper use of their senses, and the landlord had previously been made unfit for investigation by a powder mixed with his wine.

  "The ghost appeared, or rather stepped forth, from behind a partition of paper, which I had contrived to make.

  "When I asked why he had dared to disturb the tranquillity and peace of the house, he answered, in a tremulous, hollow accent, "Out of resentment to the female sex."

  "On my further inquires, he related in short answers, that, a century ago, the cruelty of a lady he had been in love with had driven him to despair, and hurried him into the rash resolution to shut himself up within a cloister's hallowed walls; but having profaned his holy order by entering into it with a worldly heart, polluted by the loose desires of sensual love, he had been condemned to purgatory until a certain condition should be fulfilled.

  "All these queries and answers, previously set down in writing and got by heart, produced the desired effect on the blinded mind of the credulous father, who at length stammered out the question, by what means could he be relieved from his torments? The ghost replied, that he was doomed to suffer the agonies of purgatory, and to haunt his former abode in the midnight hour until an unhappy couple, separated by a parent's cruel tyranny, should be united in holy wedlock.

  "Having related his fictitious tale, he disappeared behind the partition of paper, under the cover of a thick smoke, leaving my landlord in a state of mind which seconded our design to the utmost of our wishes.

  "When the credulous man had recovered a little from his astonishment, I asked him if he could explain the meaning of the ghost's answer, and whether it was in his power to perform the condition he had hinted at; upon which he silently nodded to me, and promised to pay me a visit early in the morning, which he did at six o'clock, confessing his cruelty towards his daughter, which he believed had provoked the resentment of the monk, and pleaded the poverty of the young man, and the cool indifference he had treated his daughter with ever since his offers had been rejected.

  "Now," added he, "I see everything in its proper light; the ghost has entirely opened my eyes, blinded by avarice. God be praised that the young man has not yet left my house, as he intended to do, for it would give then much room for scandal, if he should marry my daughter, which I am very well convinced cannot be avoided, if the tranquillity of my house shall be restored."

  "In short, the secretary was married to the girl, and the ghost appeared no more.

  "This beneficial fraud--for so I may justly call it, the honour, and perhaps the life of the father and daughter, having been saved by it, and the young man, who was sober and industrious, proving a tender and affectionate husband--this beneficial fraud was the first step, which afterwards led me to ruin and disgrace.

  "Possessed of a large stock of knowledge of the human heart, of experience, and art, I was no longer satisfied with confining myself to trifling juggling tricks, but I soon began to act after a more extensive plan. In spite of all the precautions I had taken to keep the above-mentioned transaction from the knowledge of the public, it soon transpired, with the usual additions, and everybody thought me to be a sort of supernatural being, and so many opportunities of preying on the credulity of mankind were thrown in my way, that I could not stand the temptations which frequently occurred to profit by the superstitions of my fellow creatures.

  "I hope you will spare me the distressing task to relate all the transgressions I committed afterwards; suffice it to say, that a complete account of my frauds would swell many volumes. The few remaining hours of life allotted me prevent me from relating all the subsequent tricks which I committed, I therefore shall confine myself to the two criminal transactions by which your friend, the brave Austrian has been imposed upon; they will afford you ample means of forming a proper idea of those I am obliged to bury in silence.

  "I had, for the space of six years, carried on my juggling tricks with so much secrecy, that few of my criminal deeds were known. Although I had been betrayed several times by my associates, and reprimanded by my superiors, yet I always suffered myself to be blinded by the too powerful charms of gold and false ambition, and was ever ready to lend my assistance to deeds of the blackest hue.

  "One day the widow of an honest citizen sent for me and, having bribed me by some pieces of gold, requested me to assist her in the execution of a most criminal design.

  "Her husband, lately deceased, so she told me, had promised her daughter in marriage to a man whom she could not suffer to become her son-in-law, because he had behaved very disrespectfully towards her while her husband had been living, and scorned to apply for her consent; moreover, she told me, he was a lazy drunkard and a gambler; in one word, a good-for-nothing fellow.

  "I know, Mr. Volkert," added she, "that you are in high favour with the Devil, and entreat you to raise up one of the angels of darkness, commanding him to appear to my daughter, and to threaten her to carry her to hell if she will not desist from her intended marriage."

  "Shocked at that infernal proposal I was going to throw the money at her feet; would to God I had done it! but three ducats more soothed my indignation, and allured me to promise that I would take the matter into consideration, and inform her of the result of it the following day.

  "I kept my promise, enjoining the woman to tell her daughter, as a secret, that her deceased father had, on his death-bed, compelled her to make a solemn promise never to consent to that marriage. She readily executed my order, and the poor girl was overwhelmed with grief.

  "Then I bade the inhuman mother assume a melancholy aspect, to treat her daughter with more kindness than ever, to mingle her tears with those of her child, to inveigh now and then against the caprice of the deceased, to inflame the girl, by degrees, with a desire of knowing the reason her father might have had to forbid, on his death-bed, her union with a man he had always seemed to be fond of; and, after these preparations, to mention, as if by accident, my name, and my skill in necromancy, yet to take care, not to betray her design of having conjured up her deceased husband.

  "The cruel, unnatural mother executed my orders with all possible dexterity and art, wept with her afflicted, disconsolate child, and, by these means, beguiled the unsuspecting heart of her unhappy daughter. The poor victim of a mother's infernal cruelty listened eagerly to the deceitful speeches of her artful parent, and her curiosity was soon raised to so high a pitch, that she one evening came to my lodgings trembling and shivering to acquaint me with her woe, and to implore my assistance, which I instantly promised to grant her.

  "The rest you very likely know from the relation of your friend. One of my comrades, who was always ready to execute my commands, acted the ghost, and every thing succeeded, alas! too well.

  "But suffer me to drop the dreadful, horrid tale; this black, infernal deed lies heavy on my conscience, for it has rendered me guilty of the murder of two innocent persons.

  "Your friend requested me, soon after, to give him a specimen of my talents, which I readily promised to do as soon as an opportunity should offer; but, God knows, I did not mean to perform my promise.

  "However, the quarrel between the two officers afforded me very soon such an alluring opportunity to display my skill, that I could not stand the temptation to perform the most cunning and subtle trick. The whole transaction bears such strong marks of the marvellous, that you will expect a long explanation, but the contrivance was so simple that a few words will suffice to unfold to you that strange affair.

  "One morning a foreign officer sent for and requested me, to compose an ointment which would make him invulnerable. I stared at him with wonder and astonishment; however, when he covered the whole table with gold, I was tempted to profit by his folly, and asked him who his antagonist was. Being told it was Lieutenant C----, I would not run the risk of exposing myself to his resentm
ent, and left the valiant son of Mars without listening to his proposal.

  "The succeeding day your friend visited me; "Volkert," said he, as he entered the room, "I have a job for you: I can give you an excellent opportunity to favour me with a proof of your skill, and to get a handsome sum of money into the bargain."

  "I pricked up my ears, made a few faint objections, and at length suffered myself to be persuaded.

  "As soon as your friend had left me I went to Baron T----, who was still in bed, without having the least inclination of fighting a duel.

  "Baron," exclaimed I, as I entered his room, "give me the money, I am ready to execute your orders; you shall not only be invulnerable, but also leave the field of battle and this town as a man of honour, provided nobody knows that you are returned from your journey.

  "That is charming!" exclaimed the undaunted Baron, "nobody besides you and my landlord know that I am returned, and him we can easily silence if secrecy is necessary."

  "Then he jumped nimbly out of his bed, and gave me the money. I laid my plan before him, and he joyfully submitted to every thing proposed. His landlord and the owner of the house where the conjuration was performed, were bribed. The Baron, who acted the ghost, was concealed in a small closet, to which he, when the whole transaction was finished, retired, under the cover of a thick benumbing smoke, which concealed his retreat, and left the town that very night. The postman had likewise been bribed to deliver the letter, composed by me and copied by the Baron. The certificate of the surgeon-major was forged, and everything succeeded to our satisfaction.

  "As to the duel, everything was effected by natural means. I cleaned and charged the pistols of Lieutenant C----, and took care to spoil the locks of one brace, and to charge the other with wrong bullets. I informed the governor of the duel, that Baron T----"s courage might be known, and he returned, for the same reason, to town, as soon as the duel was fought, delivering himself into the hands of the soldiers who had been ordered to arrest the combatants.

  "That he might be thought generous, he supplicated for the enlargement of his antagonist, and procured him the governor's pardon.

  "The heinousness of this deed of mine will be lessened in your eyes, if I tell you, that the bullets in the Baron's pistols were likewise too small, so that Lieutenant C---- could not be wounded dangerously, and the baron took care not to hurt him materially."

  "Volkert had as yet spoken with great hilarity, and it almost appeared as if he had entirely forgotten his impending doom; but suddenly he grew more serious and solemn. Gloomy clouds of sorrow were gathering on his brow, the paleness of his countenance increased, his lips were contorted, he gave a deep groan of anguish, and after an awful pause of inward agony, he went on in a faltering accent--

  "Oh that I here could conclude the dreadful tale of my transgressions! Oh, that I had not to relate deeds more glaring and abominable! Deeds which thrill my soul with anguish, and pierce my guilty heart with a thousand daggers, pointed by unutterable pangs of a polluted conscience. However, I promised you a sketch of my whole life, and will be as good as my word. Although I shall not be able to give you a full narrative of deeds which fill my soul with horror, yet I will go on as well as I can.

  "The intercession of Baron T---- in my behalf had so much weight with the governor, that he suffered me to escape without punishment, and sent me on the recruiting business, in order to get rid of me without provoking my anger. O that he had rather loaded me with his resentment than with his bounty, and punished me as I deserved; perhaps it would have opened my eyes and brought me back to the path of honesty.

  "My ruin was now completed. I began my recruiting business with great alacrity and cheerfulness, and found but too many opportunities of exerting my plotting skill, which I did with so much success, that my comrades were astonished, and my superiors so highly pleased with my zeal, that they put the greatest confidence in me, and entrusted me with sums which enabled me to abandon myself to all manner of dissipation; the few remaining sparks of honesty and virtue were extinguished by degrees, and I was hurrying with rapid steps into the abyss of destruction.

  "My dissipations tempted me to defraud my superiors, and soon intricated me in a maze of embarrassment, where I found myself entirely bewildered. I got acquainted and intimately connected with the most dangerous sort of people, with robbers and their infernal associates. Allured by my cunning and artful tricks, they did everything in their power to gain my confidence, and to win me over to their party, which, alas! laid the foundation to my ruin. I became a spy, a traitor, and, at last, their accomplice in the perpetration of the most shocking crimes.

  "My recruiting business was neglected, and my superiors were going to call me back. Being not able to give an account of large sums that had been entrusted to me, I could not appear before my commanding officer, and no other means were left me to escape the impending storm, but to disappear entirely, which I effected in such a manner that every one firmly believed I was no more.

  "I conducted ten robbers, disguised as recruits, through a large town, where many of my profession resided, and, as soon as we had reached the adjacent wood, they took to their heels. I ran to the next village, raving like a madman, related my misfortune, wept, cried, and then returned to the wood, dissembling to be in the greatest despair.

  "The robbers, who were waiting for me, made me pull off my uniform, dressed a dead man in it, who, perhaps, had been murdered for that purpose, put a pistol in his hand, and disfigured him by blowing his brains out.

  "Now I was no longer Volkert the serjeant; I was Volkert the robber and murderer. I painted my face, feigned to be twenty years older than I really was, and thus escaped being known by my former acquaintances. I soon became famous under the name of Father Francis, bought houses in several towns, and everybody took me for what I appeared to be, an old, harmless man. Yet I was known at length by one of my former messmates, when in the H----n service, who was recruiting in the empire, and forced me to assist him in his business.

  "The cunning rogue had not forgotten my skill in executing deceitful plots, and his expectation that I should be of great service to him by my artifices did not deceive him. I never spread my nets in vain when I wanted to catch a well-made young fellow, and we had enlisted within a short time a great number of recruits. How easily I could remove every obstacle I will prove by a single instance, which will give you a true notion of my intricate artifices.

  "A well-made, young, and amiable Livonian, lodged with me, at the same inn, at T----, and my associate took such a liking to him, that he offered to acquit me of all farther services, if I could ensnare this young man.

  "I promised to do my utmost, and went instantly to work, ordering some of the gang I was connected with, and who then resided at T---- on account of the great fair, to purloin his ring, snuff-box, purse, and watch, returning him the latter in a public place, telling him that I had detected the thief admirably well.

  "This done, I left him suddenly, without giving him time to make farther inquiries, my sole view being to excite his curiosity, and to gain his confidence, in which I succeeded admirably well.

  "The Livonian became very anxious to get acquainted with me, watched my return to the inn several nights, and attempted to converse with me; in short, he was very impatient to draw from me an information of the means by which I had detected the thief, but I always shunned him, and baffled his endeavours a great while, until, at last, I found it necessary to pay him a visit, in order to console him about the loss of a bill of exchange which my myrmidons had got in their power, along with his pocket-book.

  "This bill having contained all the little wealth he had got about him, he was under the necessity of either remaining some time longer at T----, or of selling his linen and everything of value, and thus return to his own country, in a most distressing condition. I gave him two notes, each of a hundred dollars, the binding money from the recruiting officer.

  "My unexpected visit and my seeming generosity put him in
to the greatest astonishment, and I left him again abruptly, without entering into conversation with him.

  "He was now enlisted without suspecting it, but I did not, as yet, know how I could put him into the power of my employer; however, my inventive genius soon suggested to me the proper means of effecting my purpose. By some letters from his mother, which I had found in his pocket-book, I had learned that she had died a little time before, very ill satisfied with his conduct, on account of his dissipations when at the university.

  "The characters engraved on the inside of the ring which I had taken from him, being the same with those the letters of his mother were signed with, put it out of doubt that the miniature picture of an old lady it was adorned with, must be the likeness of his mother.

  "One of my associates, whose features had by accident some resemblance with those of the picture, concealed himself at the inn, painted his face with chalk, wrapped himself in a sheet, and went at night into the room of the young Livonian, who seemed to wait for my return, to inquire, as I suppose, some particulars about the two notes I had given him the preceding day, and was not a little frightened when he saw the ghost of his deceased mother entering his room. The phantom walked through his apartment, looked at the watch which was on the table to signify that it wanted rest, sighed, gave him a menacing look, and left him thrilled with horror and amazement.

  "The day following I ordered my myrmidons to watch every step of the Livonian and was informed that he was gone into a tea garden, after he had changed the two notes.

  "I hastened after him without delay, and found him sitting in a lonely bower; he did not see me, though I was standing close by him, being bewildered in gloomy meditations, and talking to himself. Suddenly he exclaimed, "No, it was a dream!" "It was no dream," replied I instantly. He looked up, seized with terror and surprise. I promised to unfold, at ten o'clock at night, all the mysterious accidents which had happened to him at T----, and, having appointed to meet me at the city gate, which was within a small distance from our inn, disappeared suddenly.