The Ghost-Seer; or the Apparitionist; and Sport of Destiny

“I come,” said the prince, “to request an explanation of you on two subjects. You owe me the one, and it shall not be to your disadvantage if you grant me the other.”

“My part is now acted,” replied the Sicilian, “my destiny is in your hands.”

“Your sincerity alone can mitigate your punishment.

“Speak, honored prince, I am ready to answer you. I have nothing now to lose.”

“You showed me the face of the Armenian in a looking-glass. How was this effected?”

“What you saw was no looking-glass. A portrait in crayons behind a glass, representing a man in an Armenian dress, deceived you. My quickness, the twilight, and your astonishment favored the deception. The picture itself must have been found among the other things seized at the inn.”

“But how could you read my thoughts so accurately as to hit upon the Armenian?”

“This was not difficult, your highness. You must frequently have mentioned your adventure with the Armenian at table in the presence of your domestics. One of my accomplices accidentally got acquainted with one of your domestics in the Giudecca, and learned from him gradually as much as I wished to know.”

“Where is the man?” asked the prince; “I have missed him, and doubtless you know of his desertion.”

“I swear to your honor, sir, that I know not a syllable about it. I have never seen him myself, nor had any other concern with him than the one before mentioned.”

“Proceed with your story,” said the prince.

“By this means, also, I received the first information of your residence and of your adventures at Venice; and I resolved immediately to profit by them. You see, prince, I am sincere. I was apprised of your intended excursion on the Brenta. I prepared for it, and a key that dropped by chance from your pocket afforded me the first opportunity of trying my art upon you.”

“How! Have I been mistaken? The adventure of the key was then a trick of yours, and not of the Armenian? You say this key fell from my pocket?”

“You accidentally dropped it in taking out your purse, and I seized an opportunity, when no one noticed me, to cover it with my foot. The person of whom you bought the lottery-ticket acted in concert with me. He caused you to draw it from a box where there was no blank, and the key had been in the snuff-box long before it came into your possession.”

“I understand you. And the monk who stopped me in my way and addressed me in a manner so solemn.”

“Was the same who, as I hear, has been wounded in the chimney. He is one of my accomplices, and under that disguise has rendered me many important services.”

“But what purpose was this intended to answer?”

“To render you thoughtful; to inspire you with such a train of ideas as should be favorable to the wonders I intended afterwards to show you.”

“The pantomimical dance, which ended in a manner so extraordinary, was at least none of your contrivance?”

“I had taught the girl who represented the queen. Her performance was the result of my instructions. I supposed your highness would be not a little astonished to find yourself known in this place, and (I entreat your pardon, prince) your adventure with the Armenian gave me reason to hope that you were already disposed to reject natural interpretations, and to attribute so marvellous an occurrence to supernatural agency.”

“Indeed,” exclaimed the prince, at once angry and amazed, and casting upon me a significant look; “indeed, I did not expect this.”

[Neither did probably the greater number of my readers. The circumstance of the crown deposited at the feet of the prince, in a manner so solemn and unexpected, and the former prediction of the Armenian, seem so naturally and obviously to aim at the same object that at the first reading of these memoirs I immediately remembered the deceitful speech of the witches in Macbeth: – “Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! that shall be king hereafter!” and probably the same thing has occurred to many of my readers. When a certain conviction has taken hold upon a man’s mind in a solemn and xtraordinary manner, it is sure to follow that all subsequent ideas which are in any way capable of being associated with this conviction should attach themselves to, and in some degree seem to be consequent upon it. The Sicilian, who seems to have had no other motive for his whole scheme than to astonish the prince by showing him that his rank was discovered, played, without being himself aware of it, the very game which most furthered the view of the Armenian; but however much of its interest this adventure will lose if I take away the higher motive which at first seemed to influence these actions, I must by no means infringe upon historical truth, but must relate the facts exactly as they occurred.

– Note of the German Editor.]

“But,” continued he, after a long silence, “how did you produce the figure which appeared on the wall over the chimney?”

“By means of a magic lantern that was fixed in the opposite window-shutter, in which you have undoubtedly observed an opening.”

“But how did it happen that not one of us perceived the lantern?” asked Lord Seymour.

“You remember, my lord, that on your re-entering the room it was darkened by a thick smoke of frankincense. I likewise took the precaution to place the boards which had been taken up from the floor upright against the wall near the window. By these means I prevented the shutter from immediately attracting observation. Moreover, the lantern remained covered by a slide until you had taken your places, and there was no further reason to apprehend that you would institute any examination of the saloon.”

“As I looked out of the window in the other pavilion,” said I, “I fancied I heard a noise like that of a person placing a ladder against the side of the house. Was I right?”

“Exactly; it was the ladder upon which my assistants stood to direct the magic-lantern.”

“The apparition,” continued the prince, “had really a superficial likeness to my deceased friend, and what was particularly striking, his hair, which was of a very light color, was exactly imitated. Was this mere chance, or how did you come by such a resemblance?”

“Your highness must recollect that you had at table a snuff-box by your plate, with an enamelled portrait of an officer in a uniform. I asked whether you had anything about you as a memento of your friend, and as your highness answered in the affirmative, I conjectured that it might be the box. I had attentively examined the picture during supper, and being very expert in drawing and not less happy in taking likenesses, I had no difficulty in giving to my shade the superficial resemblance you have perceived, the more so as the marquis’ features are very marked.”

“But the figure seemed to move?”

“It appeared so, yet it was not the figure that moved but the smoke on which the light was reflected.”

“And the man who fell down in the chimney spoke for the apparition?”

“He did.”

“But he could not hear your question distinctly.”

“There was no occasion for it. Your highness will recollect that I cautioned you all very strictly not to propose any question to the apparition yourselves. My inquiries and his answers were preconcerted between us; and that no mistake might happen, I caused him to speak at long intervals, which he counted by the beating of a watch.”

“You ordered the innkeeper carefully to extinguish every fire in the house with water; this was undoubtedly – ”

“To save the man in the chimney from the danger of being suffocated; because the chimneys in the house communicate with each other, and I did not think myself very secure from your retinue.”

“How did it happen,” asked Lord Seymour, “that your ghost appeared neither sooner nor later than you wished him?”

“The ghost was in the room for some time before I called him, but while the room was lighted, the shade was too faint to be perceived. When the formula of the conjuration was finished, I caused the cover of the box, in which the spirit was burning, to drop down, the saloon was darkened, and it was not till then that the figure on the wall could be distinctly seen, although it had been reflected there a considerable time before.”

“When the ghost appeared, we all felt an electric shock. How was that managed?”

“You have discovered the machine under the altar. You have also seen that I was standing upon a silk carpet. I directed you to form a half-moon around me, and to take each other’s hands. When the crisis approached, I gave a sign to one of you to seize me by the hair. The silver crucifix was the conductor, and you felt the electric shock when I touched it with my hand.”

“You ordered Count O – and myself,” continued Lord Seymour, “to hold two naked swords crossways over your head, during the whole time of the conjuration; for what purpose?”

“For no other than to engage your attention during the operation; because I distrusted you two the most. You remember, that I expressly commanded you to hold the sword one inch above my head; by confining you exactly to this distance, I prevented you from looking where I did not wish you. I had not then perceived my principal enemy.”

“I own,” cried Lord Seymour, “you acted with due precaution – but why were we obliged to appear undressed?”

“Merely to give a greater solemnity to the scene, and to excite your imaginations by the strangeness of the proceeding.”

“The second apparition prevented your ghost from speaking,” said the prince. “What should we have learnt from him?”

“Nearly the same as what you heard afterwards. It was not without design that I asked your highness whether you had told me everything that the deceased communicated to you, and whether you had made any further inquiries on this subject in his country. I thought this was necessary, in order to prevent the deposition of the ghost from being contradicted by facts with which you were previously acquainted. Knowing likewise that every man in his youth is liable to error, I inquired whether the life of your friend had been irreproachable, and on your answer I founded that of the ghost.”

“Your explanation of this matter is satisfactory,” resumed the prince, after a short silence; “but there remains a principal circumstance which I must ask you to clear up.”

“If it be in my power, and – ”

“No conditions! Justice, in whose hands you now are, might perhaps not interrogate you with so much delicacy. Who was this unknown at whose feet we saw you fall? What do you know of him? How did you get acquainted with him? And in what way was he connected with the appearance of the second apparition?

“Your highness” —

“On looking at him more attentively, you gave a loud scream, and fell at his feet. What are we to understand by that?”

“This man, your highness” – He stopped, grew visibly perplexed, and with an embarrassed countenance looked around him. “Yes, prince, by all that is sacred, this unknown is a terrible being.”

“What do you know of him? What connection have you with him? Do not hope to conceal the truth from us.”

“I shall take care not to do so, – for who will warrant that he is not among us at this very moment?”

“Where? Who?” exclaimed we altogether, half-amused, half-startled, looking about the room. “That is impossible.”

“Oh! to this man, or whatever he may be, things still more incomprehensible are possible.”

“But who is he? Whence comes he? Is he an Armenian or a Russian? Of the characters be assumes, which is his real one?”

“He is nothing of what he appears to be. There are few conditions or countries of which he has not worn the mask. No person knows who he is, whence he comes, or whither he goes. That he has been for a long time in Egypt, as many pretend, and that he has brought from thence, out of a catacomb, his, occult sciences, I will neither affirm nor deny. Here we only know him by the name of the Incomprehensible. How old, for instance, do you suppose he is?”

“To judge from his appearance he can scarcely have passed forty.”

“And of what age do you suppose I am?”

“Not far from fifty.”

“Quite right; and I must tell you that I was but a boy of seventeen when my grandfather spoke to me of this marvellous man whom he had seen at Famagusta; at which time he appeared nearly of the same age as he does at present.”

“This is exaggerated, ridiculous, and incredible.”

“By no means. Were I not prevented by these fetters I could produce vouchers whose dignity and respectability should leave you no room for doubt. There are several credible persons who remember having seen him, each, at the same time, in different parts of the globe. No sword can wound, no poison can hurt, no fire can burn him; no vessel in which he embarks can be wrecked. Time itself seems to lose its power over him. Years do not affect his constitution, nor age whiten his hair. Never was he seen to take any food. Never did he approach a woman. No sleep closes his eyes. Of the twenty-four hours in the day there is only one which he cannot command; during which no person ever saw him, and during which he never was employed in any terrestrial occupation.”

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.