Alonzo and Melissa; Or, The Unfeeling Father: An American Tale
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neglect. She took the candle, ran hastily down, andfastened the door. As she was returning, she heard footsteps, andimperfectly saw the glance of something coming out of an adjoining roominto the hall. Supposing some ghastly object was approaching, sheaverted her eyes and flew to the stairs. As she was ascending them,a voice behind her exclaimed, "Gracious heaven! Melissa!" The voiceagitated her frame with a confused, sympathetic sensation. She turned,fixed her eyes upon the person who had spoken; unconnected ideas floateda moment in her imagination: "Eternal powers! she cried, it is Alonzo."
* * * * *
Alonzo and Melissa were equally surprised at so unexpected a meeting.They could scarcely credit their own senses.--How he had discovered hersolitude--what led him to that lonely place--how he had got over thewall--were queries which first arose in her mind. He likewise could notconceive by what miracle he should find her in a remote, desolatebuilding, which he had supposed to be uninhabited. With rapture he tookher trembling hand; tears of joy choaked their utterance. "You are wet,Alonzo, said Melissa at length; we will go up to my chamber; I have afire there, where you can dry your clothes."--"Your chamber; repliedAlonzo; who then inhabits this house?" "No one except myself, sheanswered; I am here alone, Alonzo." "Alone! he exclaimed--here alone,Melissa! Good God! tell me how--why--by what means are you here alone?""Let us go up to my chamber, she replied, and I will tell you all."
He followed her to her apartment and seated himself by the fire. "Youwant refreshment," said Melissa--which was indeed the case, as he hadbeen long without any, and was wet, hungry and weary.
She immediately set about preparing tea and soon had it ready, and acomfortable repast was spread for his entertainment.--And now, reader,if thou art a child of nature, if thy bosom is susceptible of refinedsensibility, contemplate for a moment, Melissa and Alonzo seated at thesame table, a table prepared by her own hand, in a lonely mansion,separated from society, and no one to interrupt them. After innumerabledifficulties, troubles and perplexities; after vexing embarrassments,and a cruel separation, they were once more together, and for some timeevery other consideration was lost. The violence of the storm had notabated. The lightning still blazed, the thunder bellowed, the windroared, the sea raged, the rain poured, mingled with heavy hail: Alonzoand Melissa heard a little of it. She told him all that had happened toher since they parted, except the strange noises and awful sights whichhad terrified her during her confinement in that solitary building: thisshe considered unnecessary and untimely, in her present situation.
Alonzo informed her, that as soon as he had learned the manner in whichshe had been sent away, he left the house of Vincent and went to herfather's to see if he could not find out by some of the domestics whatcourse her aunt had taken. None of them knew any thing about it. He didnot put himself in the way of her father, as he was apprehensive of illtreatment thereby. He then went to several places among the relatives ofthe family where he had heretofore visited with Melissa, most of whomreceived him with a cautious coldness. At length he came to the house ofMr. Simpson, the gentleman to whose seat Alonzo was once driven by ashower, where he accidentally found Melissa on a visit, as mentionedbefore. Here he was admitted with the ardour of friendship. They hadheard his story: Melissa had kept up a correspondence with one of theyoung ladies; they were therefore informed of all, except Melissa'sremoval from her father's house: of this they knew nothing until toldthereof by Alonzo.
"I am surprised at the conduct of my kinsman, said Mr. Simpson; forthough his determinations are, like the laws of the Medes and Persians,unalterable, yet I have ever believed that the welfare of his childrenlay nearest his heart. In the present instance he is certainly pursuinga mistaken policy. I will go and see him." He then ordered his horse,desiring Alonzo to remain at his house until he returned.
Alonzo was treated with the most friendly politeness by the family; hefound that they were deeply interested in his favour and the welfare ofMelissa. At evening Mr. Simpson returned. "It is in vain, said he, toreason with my kinsman; he is determined that his daughter shall marryyour rival. He will not even inform me to what place he has sentMelissa. Her aunt however is with her, and they must be at the residenceof some of the family relatives.--I will dispatch my son William amongour connections, to see if he can find her out."
The next morning William departed, and was gone two days; but could notobtain the least intelligence either of Melissa or her aunt, although hehad been the rounds among the relations of the family.
"There is some mystery in this affair, said Mr. Simpson. I am verylittle acquainted with Melissa's aunt. I have understood that she drawsa decent support from her patrimonial resources, which, it is said, arepretty large, and that she resides alternately with her differentrelatives. I have understood also that my kinsman expects her fortune tocome into his family, in case she never marries, which, in allprobability, she now will not, and that she, in consequence, holdsconsiderable influence over him. It is not possible but that Melissa isyet concealed at some place of her aunt's residence, and that the familyare in the secret. I think it cannot be long before they will disclosethemselves: You, Alonzo, are welcome to make my house your home; and ifMelissa can be found, she shall be treated as my daughter."
Alonzo thanked him for his friendship and fatherly kindness. "I mustcontinue, said he, my researches for Melissa; the result you shallknow."
He then departed, and travelled through the neighbouring villages andadjoining neighbourhoods, making, at almost every house, such enquiriesas he considered necessary on the occasion. He at length arrived at theinn in the last little village where Melissa and her aunt had stoppedthe day they came to the mansion. Here the inn-keeper informed him thattwo ladies, answering his description, had been at his house: he namedthe time, which was the day in which Melissa, with her aunt, left herfather's house. The inn-keeper told him that they purchased somearticles in the village, and drove off to the south. Alonzo thentraversed the country adjoining the Sound, far to the westward, and wasreturning eastward, when he was overtaken by the shower. No house beingwithin sight, he betook himself to the forest for shelter. From a littlehilly glade in the wilderness, he discovered the lonely mansion which,from its appearance, he very naturally supposed to be uninhabited.--Thetempest soon becoming severe, he thought he would endeavour to reach thehouse.
When he arrived at the moat, he found it impossible to cross it, orascend the wall; and he stood in momentary jeopardy of his life, fromthe falling timber, some of which was broken and torn up by the tornado,and some splintered by the fiery bolts of heaven. At length a largetree, which stood near him, on the verge of the moat, or rather in thatplace, was hurled from its foundation, and fell, with a hideous crash,across the moat, its top lodging on the wall. He scrambled up on thetrunk, and made his way on the wall. By the incessant glare of lightninghe was able to see distinctly. The top of the tree was partly broken bythe force of its fall, and hung down the other side of the wall. Bythese branches he let himself down into the yard, proceeded to thehouse, found the door open, which Melissa had left in her fright, andentered into one of the rooms, where he proposed to stay until at leastthe shower was over, still supposing the house unoccupied, until thenoise of locking the door, and the light of the candle, drew him fromthe room, when, to his infinite surprise, he discovered Melissa, asbefore related.
Melissa listened to Alonzo with varied emotion. The fixed obduracy ofher father, the generous conduct of the Simpsons, the constancy ofAlonzo, filled her heart with inexpressible sensations. She foresaw thather sufferings were not shortly to end--she knew not when her sorrowswere to close.
Alonzo was shocked at the alteration which appeared in the features ofMelissa. The rose had faded from her cheek, except when it wastransiently suffused with a hectic flush. A livid paleness sat upon hercountenance, and her fine form was rapidly wasting. It was easy to beforeseen that the grief which preyed upon her heart would soon destroyher, unless speedily allayed.
The storm had now pa
ssed into the regions of the east; the wind and rainhad ceased, the lightning more unfrequently flashed, and the thunderrolled at a distance. The hours passed hastily;--day would soon appear.Hitherto they had been absorbed in the present moment; it was time tothink of the future. After the troubles they had experienced; after sofortunate a meeting, they could not endure the idea of another andimmediate separation. And yet immediately separated they must be. Itwould not be safe for Alonzo to stay even until the rising sun, unlesshe was concealed; and of what use could it be for him to remain there inconcealment?
In this dilemma there was but one expedient. "Suffer me, said Alonzo toMelissa, to remove you from this solitary confinement. Your health isimpaired. To you, your father is no more a father; he has steeled hisbosom to paternal affection; he has banished you from his house, placedyou under the tyranny