CHAPTER XIII.
"I now hasten to the more moving part of my story. I shall relateevents, that impressed me with feelings which, from what I had been,have made me what I am.
"Spring advanced rapidly; the weather became fine, and the skiescloudless. It surprised me, that what before was desert and gloomyshould now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure. My senseswere gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight, and athousand sights of beauty.
"It was on one of these days, when my cottagers periodically rested fromlabour--the old man played on his guitar, and the children listened tohim--that I observed the countenance of Felix was melancholy beyondexpression; he sighed frequently; and once his father paused in hismusic, and I conjectured by his manner that he enquired the cause of hisson's sorrow. Felix replied in a cheerful accent, and the old man wasrecommencing his music, when some one tapped at the door.
"It was a lady on horseback, accompanied by a countryman as a guide. Thelady was dressed in a dark suit, and covered with a thick black veil.Agatha asked a question; to which the stranger only replied bypronouncing, in a sweet accent, the name of Felix. Her voice wasmusical, but unlike that of either of my friends. On hearing this word,Felix came up hastily to the lady; who, when she saw him, threw up herveil, and I beheld a countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Herhair of a shining raven black, and curiously braided; her eyes weredark, but gentle, although animated; her features of a regularproportion, and her complexion wondrously fair, each cheek tinged with alovely pink.
"Felix seemed ravished with delight when he saw her, every trait ofsorrow vanished from his face, and it instantly expressed a degree ofecstatic joy, of which I could hardly have believed it capable; his eyessparkled, as his cheek flushed with pleasure; and at that moment Ithought him as beautiful as the stranger. She appeared affected bydifferent feelings; wiping a few tears from her lovely eyes, she heldout her hand to Felix, who kissed it rapturously, and called her, aswell as I could distinguish, his sweet Arabian. She did not appear tounderstand him, but smiled. He assisted her to dismount, and dismissingher guide, conducted her into the cottage. Some conversation took placebetween him and his father; and the young stranger knelt at the oldman's feet, and would have kissed his hand, but he raised her, andembraced her affectionately.
"I soon perceived, that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds,and appeared to have a language of her own, she was neither understoodby, nor herself understood, the cottagers. They made many signs which Idid not comprehend; but I saw that her presence diffused gladnessthrough the cottage, dispelling their sorrow as the sun dissipates themorning mists. Felix seemed peculiarly happy, and with smiles of delightwelcomed his Arabian. Agatha, the ever-gentle Agatha, kissed the handsof the lovely stranger; and, pointing to her brother, made signs whichappeared to me to mean that he had been sorrowful until she came. Somehours passed thus, while they, by their countenances, expressed joy, thecause of which I did not comprehend. Presently I found, by the frequentrecurrence of some sound which the stranger repeated after them, thatshe was endeavouring to learn their language; and the idea instantlyoccurred to me, that I should make use of the same instructions to thesame end. The stranger learned about twenty words at the first lesson,most of them, indeed, were those which I had before understood, but Iprofited by the others.
"As night came on, Agatha and the Arabian retired early. When theyseparated, Felix kissed the hand of the stranger, and said, 'Good night,sweet Safie.' He sat up much longer, conversing with his father; and, bythe frequent repetition of her name, I conjectured that their lovelyguest was the subject of their conversation. I ardently desired tounderstand them, and bent every faculty towards that purpose, but foundit utterly impossible.
"The next morning Felix went out to his work; and, after the usualoccupations of Agatha were finished, the Arabian sat at the feet of theold man, and, taking his guitar, played some airs so entrancinglybeautiful, that they at once drew tears of sorrow and delight from myeyes. She sang, and her voice flowed in a rich cadence, swelling ordying away, like a nightingale of the woods.
"When she had finished, she gave the guitar to Agatha, who at firstdeclined it. She played a simple air, and her voice accompanied it insweet accents, but unlike the wondrous strain of the stranger. The oldman appeared enraptured, and said some words, which Agatha endeavouredto explain to Safie, and by which he appeared to wish to express thatshe bestowed on him the greatest delight by her music.
"The days now passed as peaceably as before, with the sole alteration,that joy had taken place of sadness in the countenances of my friends.Safie was always gay and happy; she and I improved rapidly in theknowledge of language, so that in two months I began to comprehend mostof the words uttered by my protectors.
"In the meanwhile also the black ground was covered with herbage, andthe green banks interspersed with innumerable flowers, sweet to thescent and the eyes, stars of pale radiance among the moonlight woods;the sun became warmer, the nights clear and balmy; and my nocturnalrambles were an extreme pleasure to me, although they were considerablyshortened by the late setting and early rising of the sun; for I neverventured abroad during daylight, fearful of meeting with the sametreatment I had formerly endured in the first village which I entered.
"My days were spent in close attention, that I might more speedilymaster the language; and I may boast that I improved more rapidly thanthe Arabian, who understood very little, and conversed in brokenaccents, whilst I comprehended and could imitate almost every word thatwas spoken.
"While I improved in speech, I also learned the science of letters, asit was taught to the stranger; and this opened before me a wide fieldfor wonder and delight.
"The book from which Felix instructed Safie was Volney's 'Ruins ofEmpires.' I should not have understood the purport of this book, had notFelix, in reading it, given very minute explanations. He had chosen thiswork, he said, because the declamatory style was framed in imitation ofthe eastern authors. Through this work I obtained a cursory knowledge ofhistory, and a view of the several empires at present existing in theworld; it gave me an insight into the manners, governments, andreligions of the different nations of the earth. I heard of the slothfulAsiatics; of the stupendous genius and mental activity of the Grecians;of the wars and wonderful virtue of the early Romans--of theirsubsequent degenerating--of the decline of that mighty empire; ofchivalry, Christianity, and kings. I heard of the discovery of theAmerican hemisphere, and wept with Safie over the hapless fate of itsoriginal inhabitants.
"These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was man,indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet sovicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evilprinciple, and at another, as all that can be conceived of noble andgodlike. To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour thatcan befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on recordhave been, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more abject thanthat of the blind mole or harmless worm. For a long time I could notconceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even whythere were laws and governments; but when I heard details of vice andbloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust andloathing.
"Every conversation of the cottagers now opened new wonders to me.While I listened to the instructions which Felix bestowed upon theArabian, the strange system of human society was explained to me. Iheard of the division of property, of immense wealth and squalidpoverty; of rank, descent, and noble blood.
"The words induced me to turn towards myself. I learned that thepossessions most esteemed by your fellow-creatures were, high andunsullied descent united with riches. A man might be respected with onlyone of these advantages; but, without either, he was considered, exceptin very rare instances, as a vagabond and a slave, doomed to waste hispowers for the profits of the chosen few! And what was I? Of my creationand creator I was absolutely ignorant; but I knew that I possessed nomoney, no friends, no kind of prop
erty. I was, besides, endued with afigure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the samenature as man. I was more agile than they, and could subsist uponcoarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with less injury tomy frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked around, I sawand heard of none like me. Was I then a monster, a blot upon the earth,from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned?
"I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflictedupon me: I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased withknowledge. Oh, that I had for ever remained in my native wood, nor knownnor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst, and heat!
"Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to the mind, when ithas once seized on it, like a lichen on the rock. I wished sometimes toshake off all thought and feeling; but I learned that there was but onemeans to overcome the sensation of pain, and that was death--a statewhich I feared yet did not understand. I admired virtue and goodfeelings, and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of mycottagers; but I was shut out from intercourse with them, except throughmeans which I obtained by stealth, when I was unseen and unknown, andwhich rather increased than satisfied the desire I had of becoming oneamong my fellows. The gentle words of Agatha, and the animated smilesof the charming Arabian, were not for me. The mild exhortations of theold man, and the lively conversation of the loved Felix, were not forme. Miserable, unhappy wretch!
"Other lessons were impressed upon me even more deeply. I heard of thedifference of sexes; and the birth and growth of children; how thefather doated on the smiles of the infant, and the lively sallies of theolder child; how all the life and cares of the mother were wrapped up inthe precious charge; how the mind of youth expanded and gainedknowledge; of brother, sister, and all the various relationships whichbind one human being to another in mutual bonds.
"But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched myinfant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or ifthey had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which Idistinguished nothing. From my earliest remembrance I had been as I thenwas in height and proportion. I had never yet seen a being resemblingme, or who claimed any intercourse with me. What was I? The questionagain recurred, to be answered only with groans.
"I will soon explain to what these feelings tended; but allow me now toreturn to the cottagers, whose story excited in me such various feelingsof indignation, delight, and wonder, but which all terminated inadditional love and reverence for my protectors (for so I loved, in aninnocent, half painful self-deceit, to call them)."