guilt. The fair daughter ofthe Minister has drawn you from the path of duty. While you betrayedthe father, you allowed your heart to be led captive by the daughter'scharms. She loves you in return, perchance; but, think you, even wereyou to desert the colours you have determined to follow, the powerfuland haughty Minister would listen to the suit of one without wealth orfamily? Naught but the infatuation of madness can lead you on; yet, tryyour fortune, and hear his answer: he will scorn and drive you from himwith derision, even if he consign you not rather to one of the lowestdungeons of his prisons; then, in darkness and solitude, except when theexecutioner is sent to torture you, will you spend your days, till deathputs an end to your sufferings. Such will be your fate if you destroyhim not."
"Such, then, be my fate; I cannot murder," answered the youth, in a deeptone.
"Have I not told you that self-defence is not murder?" returned theJesuit. "On my head be the sin, if sin there be. Take your choice. Ifyou still determine to follow our banner, obey my orders; if you seek tocontinue as a layman, and would gratify your passion by wedding thedaughter of Carvalho, take this paper--'tis not you that give itscontents, 'tis I--and no crime can be laid to your charge. 'Tis theshedding of blood alone against which the Scripture speaks. WhileCarvalho lives the fair girl can never be yours; if he dies, you mayfind means to win her; but if you pertinaciously refuse to follow mycounsels, no power can avert your destruction."
"Give me the fatal powder," exclaimed the youth, in a faltering voice."I will not pledge myself to administer it, but I will act ascircumstances demand. You, Father, shall not have cause to taunt mewith my faltering purpose."
"Spoken like one worthy to belong to our holy order," said the Jesuit."Take the paper, and preserve it carefully. Meet me here to-morrow, ifpossible, at the same hour, and bring me all further information you cancollect. Falter not in your purpose, my son, and let the high destinywhich awaits you be an encouragement to perseverance in the holy courseyou have chosen."
The unhappy youth took the packet containing the poison, and the Jesuit,as he delivered it, felt his hand tremble.
"Alfonzo," he continued, "I know full well what is yet passing in yourmind. You hope to escape the performance of your promise. Remember, Ispeak in kindness, but I warn you. An ever watchful eye notes yourevery action, ay, and reads your inmost heart; and should you harbour,even for a moment, a thought of treachery, an awful doom will be yours,far more terrible than any the Minister, in his most savage mood, candevise."
"I know it, I know it," exclaimed the aspirant, "but my task is a hardone."
"The more glory in the performance, my son," returned the Father. "Nowgo, I have detained you too long already. Farewell, and the blessing ofHeaven attend your enterprise."
The young man, without answering, bowed low before the Superior, andagain shrouding his features in his cloak, took his way towards a fallenpart of the garden-wall, and walking rapidly onward, found himself onthe road towards the residence of Carvalho, before he allowed a definitethought to take possession of his mind. He gained the house, enteringby a private door, and, mounting the stairs, eagerly examined the officehe had quitted. The Minister had not returned since his departure, andhis breathing became more regular--the fear of immediate detection waspassed. He endeavoured to apply himself to a task he had leftuncompleted, but his hand refused to obey his powerless wishes. Oneburning thought filled his mind; a weight like molten lead pressed downhis soul; he endeavoured to exert his faculties, but the effort wasvain. Again and again the one dreadful idea rushed with tenfoldvividness before him; he writhed in agony, as the iron entered hissoul--he cursed, bitterly cursed, the adamantine fetters with which helay bound--break loose from them he knew too well he could not. Hethought of all he had sacrificed,--youth, talents, happiness, for what?To grasp a shapeless phantom--to serve a lord unseen, unknown, moreinexorable than death. Death can but command once, and must be obeyed;the stern dictates of his chief must be followed through a long life,while he must look for death as the only harbinger of freedom. Healmost shrieked as he thought of the effects of the act he hadundertaken to perform. He beheld the man who had trusted in him, thefather of her he had dared to love to desperation, sinking in anguish bythe consuming fire he must administer; that manly and majestic formreduced to a mass of inanimate clay; that mighty spirit, which held awhole people in awe, driven forth by his fell deed. He thought, too,that she who had awakened the better spirit within him would recoil withhorror as she felt the impious touch of her father's murderer; insteadof love, her bosom would become filled with hatred, with loathing anddisgust towards him. Remorse, bitter and eternal, must be his lot. Ashe mechanically bent over his paper, his pen not moving from the spot onwhich he had first placed it, the ink dry, a noise startled him--helooked up, and beheld the Minister sternly regarding him. In a momenthis faculties were restored to wakefulness.
"You have been somewhat dilatory, Senhor Alfonzo," said the Minister."Are the papers I left you prepared?"
The secretary, with some confusion, acknowledged they were not.
"You have been worked hard lately, my good youth, so I will not blameyou," said Carvalho. "This is, however, no time for idleness, and youmust persevere, for there are so few I can trust, that I can procure noone to aid you."
Those few kind words saved the life of the Minister, and sealed the doomof many. In the mean time, the Father Jacinto paced the star-lit gardenwith slow steps. More than an hour passed away as he was thus left tohis solitary meditations; what they were we cannot pretend to say, norwhether his calculating reason, or his cold philosophy, whichever itmight be called, had managed to stifle all compunction for his acts--allthe whisperings of conscience. Could he have been able calmly tocontemplate the moment when his deeds must be tried before the awfuljudgment-seat of Heaven? for, if he could, he had persuaded himself thathe was acting a just part. The sounds of life, which had arisen fromthe city, had long ceased; it was now close upon the hour of midnight,when he heard a slow and firm foot-fall approaching, and, emerging fromthe gloom, the tall gaunt figure of the Father Malagrida stood beforehim.
"I have, at your desire, ventured hither, my brother, in spite of allthe dangers with which the wicked threaten me," said the latter. "Whatwould you of me?"
"The time has arrived for action, and I would consult with you about themeans," returned Father Jacinto. "The Minister has already formed aplan to banish every member of our order from the shores of Portugal.In a few weeks, or perhaps even in a few days, we shall be deprived ofour liberty. The King has but to sanction the plan, and it willforthwith be executed."
"Then the impious Monarch must die," exclaimed Malagrida. "His death beupon his own head. I have warned him, and he would not listen. I willwarn him no more."
"He deserves no warning voice, holy brother," said the Father Jacinto,not believing that Malagrida had really appeared before the King. "Buthaste, inform all those who are willing to become the instruments ofHeaven's vengeance that they must delay the work no longer. Let themtake what means they think fit; it matters little, so that the deed beperformed. Urge them to it by that mighty eloquence with which Heavenhas endowed you for great purposes. Assure them that they areperforming a righteous act, which cannot fail to prosper; and thus manywhose fears have restrained them, will gladly join in the enterprise.One steady hand might perform the deed; but, alas! no man can be foundalone to do it; they all suppose that security exists in numbers."
"'Tis enough for me to know that it must be done," answered Malagrida."Fear not, my brother, I will take measures that it shall be done. Byto-morrow night, I will assemble all those who are inimical to Joseph,and will so persuade them, that they shall no longer hesitate to executemy commands."
"You will perform good service to our holy order, and to our sacredreligion," returned Father Jacinto.
"To that have I ever devoted my life and energies," said FatherMalagrida.
"Truly have you ever been the great upholder
of the faith, and havegained the esteem of our community, and the admiration of the world,"answered Father Jacinto.
"A little flattery will incite this madman to the work," he thought."If it fails, it will be easy to persuade the world that the idea arosebut from the wild workings of his disordered brain. No one will ventureto suppose that we could have been the instigators."
"Brother, I must depart to the wilderness, where the wickedness of thissecond Pharaoh, and his evil counsellor, have compelled me to dwell,"said Malagrida. "In three days we shall meet again, I trust triumphant;till then, farewell."
"Farewell, my brother," returned Father Jacinto, and they separated; thelatter,