Gómez Arias

  CHAPTER IX.

  Ecco l'ora--Nel sonno immerso giace ----E gli occhi all'alma luce Non aprira piu mai? Questa mia destra Per farsi or sta del suo morir ministra?....

  _Alfieri._

  Est-ce une illusion soudaine Qui trompe mes regards surpris? Est-ce un songe dont l'ombre vaine Trouble mes timides esprits?

  _J. B. Rousseau._

  The night was far advanced, and the numerous guests whom the hospitalityof Don Alonso had summoned together, began to retire from the joyousscene of revelry and feasting. The noisy pleasure was wearing fast away,and those antique halls no longer echoed with the boisterous mirth of somany joyous hearts; for in Aguilar's palace that night every heart washappy,--every heart save one,--one which, desolate and solitary amidstthis world of rejoicing, was a prey to the canker sorrow that hadfastened upon its core.

  But now the convivial assemblage had retired, and the banqueting hallwas left to the undisputed dominion of silence and lonely repose. Nolonger ornamented with all the panoplies of war, and the verdant andperfumed spoils of the garden, those glittering scenes which dazzled theeyes and benumbed the senses, were now no longer resplendent, but worethat chilling aspect which imparts to the mind a painful sensation ofmelancholy and regret. Upon the long tables still remained the scatteredfragments, remnants of the banquet. Here the sumptuous display of thelooms of Valencia were stained with the waste of racy and highlyflavoured wines, and there broken goblets and ornaments of curiousworkmanship were flung around in the reckless excitement of therevellers. The lamps were out, and the few that still glimmered in thesockets served but to heighten with their fitful and scanty light thedeserted and gloomy appearance of the scene.

  Gomez Arias had retired to his chamber in a transport of delight; themost pleasing reveries thronged upon his mind, and as he paced thesilent apartment, he inwardly congratulated himself on the nearcompletion of all his hopes--the speedy enjoyment of his fondest wishes.In this ferment of expectation, not a single thought obtruded to damphis ardour, or throw a partial shadow over so bright a picture. Everything around him contributed to his felicity,--for alas! he did not seethe sorrow that was busily destroying those charms by whose power he hadbeen once captivated: nor did he hear the wailings of that voicedesigned by nature to convey the softest tones of innocence and delight.No, Gomez Arias had no thought for his unhappy victim--far, far was hefrom surmising that she was at that moment beneath the same roof.

  In this delightful mood, Don Lope threw himself upon the superb couch,to pass the night in the luxurious vision of his approaching happiness.The silence was awful! the dull bluish glare of a solitary lamp flungaround the dim splendor of the chamber a charm of melancholytranquillity; the rich arabesque ornaments, the gorgeous tapestry, onwhich the heroes of other times stood frowning in gloomy repose, werenow partially obscured in solemn shadows that might have imparted asensation of superstitious awe. More faintly now gleamed the expiringlight of the lamp, which looked a cold unearthly beam, colourless andfixed, save when the chilling draft of nightly air found its way througha crevice of the ponderous casement, and animated the languid flame witha dull and sickly motion.

  Hushed is every sound, when lo! the door gently opens, and a whitefigure moves slowly forwards. It is a female form, and the lamp thatstill glimmered in the room, and another which the nocturnal visitorcarried in her hand, revealed a picture which might well chill the heartof the most hardened:--it was a female in the first stage of youth, andin whose lineaments could yet be traced the fading remains of beauty.She grasped a dagger, and she came ready steeled for crime. Murder!--theblackest deed of human depravity, revolting to the senses even wheninstigated by the revengeful passions of man, but in a young and tenderfemale, unnatural, and full of horror. The figure paused, and castaround a dubious and uncertain glance; her whole frame trembled, and theweapon in her hand seemed ready to forsake its grasp. Alas! thoseirresolute motions, bespoke her nature: it was woman, woman armed forcrime, but woman still. With noiseless step she advanced towards thecouch; she reached the spot, and gazed with fixed earnestness on thesleeping Gomez Arias; a thousand gloomy thoughts expand on her pallidbrow; her dark eyes gleam with the flame of revenge; her livid lips curlwith the bitter smile of despair! With difficulty she draws theoppressive breath, and violently shakes the hand that holds the shiningweapon. 'Tis a demon that directs her every motion, and imparts to thatmelancholy and fading picture of youth and beauty, the darkest hues ofthe fierce and frenzied passions.

  But the gust of rage is passed. She looks again upon the sleeper, and adeadly calm overspreads those features but lately fraught withconvulsive passion. Fixed to the ground, she now appeared like aninanimate statue, and apparently forgetful of the dire purpose that hadbrought her to the spot. Poor Theodora!--child of misfortune!--victim ofthat intensity of feeling which nature seemed to have designed for thybane and ruin; thou wert guilty but of a single error, and is then thaterror so severely to be visited! That heaven which made thee pure, andbeautiful, and lovely, did it intend that thou shouldst experience allthe horrors of the most malignant fate, as a counterpoise for thepossession of so may attractions; or was it only to be exemplified as awarning to others, who, like thee, might be rich in beauty andgracefulness, of the dangers which these gifts bring in their train!

  Theodora had been guilty of one crime; if, alas! that deserves the nameof crime which is the genuine offspring of the sincerest heart. She hadloved, and loved with all the enthusiasm of devoted affection. She hadbeen generous, and unsuspecting, and for this she was betrayed andabandoned. Her injuries had so far wrought upon her distempered brain,that she was now about to commit a crime, for which she would be cursed,despised, and perhaps brought to an ignominious end.

  Theodora remained a short time in a doubtful mood, and a heavenly spiritseemed to struggle with the malignant fiend that instigated her. Sheheld the lamp in her trembling hand over the sleeping form of her lover,and by the sickly light she discovered his features as if inspired bysome happy dream. His breath came thick upon her face, as she bent overthe couch. Smiles were upon his lips, and a gentle motion shook hisframe.

  "He loves her!" groaned the despairing Theodora,--"he loves her dearly,and I am come to----"

  At this moment the deep toned bell of the palace sounded the hour, andinterrupted her dreadful sentence. Solemnly the peal rung through theplace like the death-knell of the perjured lover; but he, unconscious ofhis impending fate, slept securely and dreamt of love and happiness. Fornow his lips move, and in the broken articulation of deep but pleasingsighs, the name of her who occupied his mind, burst from his swellingbosom. It was the name of Leonor; the baneful sound went piercing toTheodora's heart, and roused all the furies that held dominion there.The kindly feelings which had returned, now withered fast away. Shestarts with frenzy; she grows paler, and revenge alone prevails; herbosom rises and falls with fearful emotion; wildly her eyes roll. Sheresolutely grasps the dagger; the moment is arrived; one blow, and thedespoiler of her happiness would cease to exist: she fiercely raised herarm, but at the instant all her strength withered: nerveless she droppedthe weapon from her powerless hand: no! she could not strike; for shewas a woman maddened by deep injuries, but she still loved herbetrayer, and the fountain of her gentle nature again bedewed her heart.She could not strike the man who had, without remorse, inflicted on herthe pangs of a thousand deaths: she smiles in bitterness, and hangs overthe couch of her unconscious lover, her clustering hair loosely flowingover the pillow; a piteous sigh escapes her, and, bending lower, shekisses the lips that had betrayed her.

  Gomez Arias awakes.--Is this a vision? Surely a phantom mocks his sight;the spectre of _her_ he had forsaken stands before him: it is indeed theimage of Theodora,--but, alas! how changed! A short time only had flownsince last he saw her, and yet so altered was that form, that were itnot for a consciousness of guilt, with difficulty he would haverecognised her whom he had
once idolized. Gomez Arias thrilled as hegazed on the nocturnal visitor; in her pale features could be traced nosympathy with life; a clammy dampness bedewed her brows; a chillingapathy sat upon her countenance. One of her hands now mechanically fellon the feverish breast of Don Lope, and the cold, cold touch imparted athrill of horror.

  In speechless amazement Gomez Arias looked on the mournful figure, andin her glazed eye he beheld one large tear, that, overwhelming theeye-lid, dropt heavily on his hand. It was the tear of anguish, and thedrop, as it moistened the hand of Gomez Arias, awakened in his heart asad remembrance of violated love and truth.

  The first impression of astonishment had now subsided, and Don Lope, ina broken voice, exclaimed--"Theodora! Heavens! is it thou?"

  "Yes," she answered, gloomily, "it is the lost, the wretched Theodora,once the object of thy adoration, and now thy curse. But tremble not;the dreadful moment is passed, and I cannot harm thee; for though thouhast cruelly betrayed me, thou art _still_ Gomez Arias."

  "How came you hither?" demanded Don Lope, with emotion: "What was yourintention?"

  "Behold!" she replied, with a bitter smile, pointing to the dagger thatshone on the ground; "I came to kill thee--I came to deal out a rewardbut little adequate to the pangs to which thy treachery has eternallycondemned me. Oh! Lope! Lope! why didst thou not take from me thiswretched life when I was no longer dear to thy heart? I should then havebeen happy!--Thou didst not--but cruelly left me to the mercy ofstrangers, when I had _none_ to look upon in life but thee."

  All the feelings of an injured, yet fond woman now flowed uncontrolledover that heart where the stormy passions had raged before. She sobbedconvulsively, and a shower of tears relieved her breaking bosom. Herweeping countenance was upon her lover's breast, and as he contemplatedher deep anguish, and the wreck of those charms which, but for him, hadstill shone in their native grace, a ray of pity dawned upon his heart,callous as he was. There was something so peculiarly distressing in thesituation of the unfortunate girl, that all the glowing considerationsof ambition faded for a moment from his view, and his senses were aliveonly to more humane sentiments.

  Gomez Arias no longer loved Theodora; but still when he saw the extentof her misery, and felt her warm tears inundating his bosom, pitypartially supplied the place of his departed affection. He took thepassive hand of Theodora, and gently pressed it between his own--andhappy--happy was at that moment his innocent victim at this solitarymark of kindness. It was like a healing balm to her lacerated soul; buttoo soon she discovered--for what, alas! can escape the acutepenetration of a loving woman--she soon discovered that pity alonesuggested the consoling token--pity which might alike have been excitedby any other object of distress; and, oh! how little does the sedatevoice of pity satisfy the craving bosom of one who had such claims tocommand unbounded love!

  Theodora fixed her eyes on her lover, not in anger but in sorrow, and,in a thrilling and piteous voice, she exclaimed--

  "I know you no longer love me; but, Oh! heavens! have I deserved thisfrom you, Lope? Your vows I will not recall, for who can forget them?They are deeply engraven in my heart, and I believed them true,--I lovedyou, Lope--Oh! I loved you as never woman loved before, and how was suchaffection requited? Alas! had I suffered the most terrible of deaths, ithad been kind compared with thy desertion."

  "Yes, Theodora," said Gomez Arias, "your reproaches are just; for well Ideserve the most bitter that language can invent; but I was compelled tothat necessity by obligations so imperative, so sacred, that they mayserve to explain, and perhaps, in some measure, to extenuate thedisgrace, which my heart tells me I have so justly incurred."

  "Oh!" cried Theodora, "could aught in earth oblige you to abandon onelinked to you by the dearest of ties?"

  "It was the consequence of former guilt," replied Don Lope. "Theodora, Iwill deal frankly by you,--nay tremble not at the intelligence which Imust disclose, for it is now imperiously required.--Curse me, Theodora,"he then added with emotion, "curse the man who has accomplished yourruin. When I courted your affections; when I sought your innocentcaresses, then--then, alas! I was the betrayer; for it was then that Ideceived your unsuspecting heart."

  "Oh! Heavens!" shrieked Theodora, "you never loved me then!"

  "Yes, I adored you,--I loved you truly,--passionately, but it was myvery love that wrought this misery. I had no strength to reveal theterrible secret: I became selfish and ungenerous; for when I breathed toyour innocent ear the vows of everlasting affection, when you repaid myprofession with undisguised, pure, and disinterested love, even at thattime, my hand, my faith, were sacredly pledged to another."

  Theodora hid her face in agony, and wrung her hands in despair, but shecould not speak; her heart was full even to breaking, and it was with asevere struggle that she faintly pronounced "Leonor!"

  "It is too true," replied Gomez Arias. "Previous to my arrival atGuadix, and my acquaintance with you, my honor was bound to the daughterof Aguilar by indissoluble ties; we were betrothed, and on the point ofbeing united, when an untoward accident drove me from Granada to avoidthe vengeance of the friends of my discarded rival Don Rodrigo deCespedes. Misguided by the fever of passion, I forgot my sacredobligations to Leonor. You have already but too dreadfully suffered, anda repetition of such scenes must necessarily increase the anguish ofyour situation."

  This recital threw the hapless daughter of Monteblanco into thatexquisite agony which falls to the lot of woman alone to feel: for man,far happier in the diversity of his pursuits; less susceptible in therefinement of sensibility; more divided in his intercourse withsociety, can never experience that poignancy of feeling excited by shameand disappointed love, which exert their baneful influence over theheart of forsaken woman!

  Theodora answered not her lover; there was something so atrocious in hisrecital, that in spite of the palliation which a fond woman, even whenmost injured, is anxious to find for the man who has wronged her, shecould not cast a shade over the glaring colours in which Don Lope'streachery was depicted: she recoiled from him with a feeling ofapprehension, and her countenance assumed a deadly hue as she fearfullyexclaimed--

  "And you left me then to perish in the mountains?"

  "No, Theodora," eagerly cried Gomez Arias; "no! such intentions neverentered my mind; of that at least I am innocent: it was my purpose tohave placed you in a convent, and I availed myself of your sleep tospare you the pangs of a separation. Having instructed Roque how to act,I proceeded onwards to make the necessary arrangements for yourreception in the religious asylum the Moors surprised you; Roque fled:of the rest I am ignorant, and how I find you here is more thanimagination can conceive."

  "I came," said Theodora, bitterly--"I came to be a witness of yourjoyful wedding: it is to be celebrated to-morrow, and I am yet in time."

  There was something evil-boding in the tone of these words, and aninvoluntary chill crept over Gomez Arias as he fixed his eyes on thesufferer.

  "Yes," she continued, "it is necessary that the ceremony should beattended at least by one of your victims--the triumph of Leonor willthen be more brilliant; and I," she added in a faltering tone, "I shallalso enjoy one satisfaction----"

  Struck with horror, no less at these words than at the manner in whichthey were delivered, Gomez Arias looked wildly on Theodora; but wasunable for some time to give utterance to his thoughts.

  "My poor life," continued Theodora, "must always be an obstacle to yourhappiness, and it is meet I should make the sacrifice at the foot of thealtar, at the time of your union with the choice of your heart."

  Don Lope was fixed in deep abstraction; a thousand thoughts rushedacross his fevered brain; he raised himself from the couch; a copioussuffusion bathed his distended brows, and every thing bespoke thedreadful conflict of his feelings. He saw all his prospects of grandeurfall like the baseless structure of a dream: on the point of snatchingthe golden treasure, he was arrested as effectually as if by the hand ofdeath. Perplexed with the most distracting thoughts and boisterouspassion
s, he for a time appeared even unconscious of the form that cameto nip his hopes in their blossom: but soon a light seemed to illuminehis over-clouded imagination, and his brow brightened as if actuated bya sudden resolution.

  "Theodora," he said, with a solemn and energetic tone--"Theodora, I willno longer dissemble with you; I have been cruel, barbarous as never manwas before: yes, to-morrow I am to be united to Spain's proudestdaughter, and all that ambition and glory can offer in dazzlingperspective to the ardent imagination of man, all, all is to befulfilled. But, alas! Theodora, I cannot endure your distress; yourtears, your anguish rend my heart, and awaken that affection which wasnever completely extinguished. Dared I but hope for your forgiveness,how willingly would I make the sacrifice of these glittering bubbles,and return to that path where alone I can find peace and happiness.Theodora!" he continued after a pause, "can you forgive me?"

  This appeal was made in a tone so subdued and pathetic, that aconviction of its sincerity was readily admitted by the sorrowingTheodora.

  "Forgive thee!" she exclaimed, in a voice thrilling with emotion, whilsta rich glow of animation overspread those pale features: "Forgive thee,Lope! Can Theodora deny you!"

  Earnestly she raised her clasped hands to Heaven, and, in the genuineabandonment of an enthusiastic heart,

  "Oh God!" she exclaimed, "thy mercies are boundless. Dear Lope!" shecontinued, "can I do otherwise than forgive you!" and the tear of joyglistened in her eye. "Your returning love will repay me for all theagonies I have undergone. And now you must forgive me--for did I noteven now come armed for your destruction! Oh, horror! I came to murderthee--in this spot--sleeping as thou wast! But ah! pardon me; I was thena poor distracted woman, a despairing maniac, and----"

  "Stay, my Theodora; reproach not thyself for an act of which I was thecause; it was a fate that I too justly merited. But no more of that.Listen, dear girl, and follow my injunctions, as upon their strictobservance depends our future happiness. To-morrow night I will conductyou to your poor deserted parent: together at his knees we will imploreforgiveness. He will not be invulnerable to the tears and supplicationsof his child; and I will forget the wild dreams that have so longtyrannised over my kinder feelings, to fix all my thoughts upon love andTheodora. To the happy termination of these designs, however, you mustbe willing to pay attention to my instructions."

  "I will do all!" emphatically cried Theodora.

  "Well," returned Gomez Arias, "take heed that thou keepest silence withreference to our meeting and resolves;--closed in thy chamber, thou mustappear an uninterested stranger to whatever may be proceeding without.It will require the utmost delicacy and ability to disclose mydetermination to the proud Aguilars, when the arrangements with them areso far advanced. It is an insult they will never tamely brook, and allmy policy will be necessary to defer, at least for some time, theterrible explosion of their indignation."

  "Oh, Lope," exclaimed the fond girl, in a transport of tenderness, "Iwill--I will obey you faithfully! Your slightest wish shall be to me alaw."

  The tide of rapturous feeling overflowed her heart. Intoxicated withhappiness, she threw herself beside the couch, fervently clasped thepassive hands of her repentant lover, and tenderly pressed them to herthrobbing bosom. But those transports beat coldly responsive within thebreast of Don Lope; for pity and a sense of duty are but poor andinadequate substitutes for the glow of passion. Still, however,recollection brought to his fancy raptures past and endearments sinceflown; and memory perhaps made him cherish the present by vividlyrecalling the past. But it was like the melancholy regretful pleasurewhich is experienced by one who revisits the scenes of his childhood. Hemay indulge in the recollection of those departed joys, but his mind isestranged by other feelings, and can no longer enjoy those pleasureswhich formerly constituted his happiness.

  The morning was now fast approaching, and a separation becameindispensable.--Theodora made a hasty recital of her adventures andwithdrew, replete with returning joy; for she had passed a few momentswith greater delight than perhaps she could ever again experience inthis world--those blissful moments when hearts severed by destiny, oralienated by misfortune, again unite in the genuine bonds of revivedaffection.