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Clerval spoke thus as we hurried through the streets; the words impressed themselves on my mind and I remembered them afterwards in solitude But now, as soon as the horses arrived, I hurried into a cabriolet, and bade farewell to my friend
My journey was very ed to console and sy friends; but when I drew near ress I could hardly sustain the s that crowded into h scenes familiar to my youth, but which I had not seen for nearly six years How altered every thing e had taken place; but a thousand little circurees worked other alterations, which, although they were done ht not be the less decisive Fear overca a thousand nah I was unable to define them I remained two days at Lausanne, in this painful state of mind I contemplated the lake: the waters were placid; all around was calm; and the snowy rees the calm and heavenly scene restored me, and I continued my journey towards Geneva
The road ran by the side of the lake, which became narrower as I approached my native town I discovered ht summit of Mont Blanc I wept like a child “Dear mountains! my own beautiful lake! how do you welcome your wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and lake are blue and placid Is this to prognosticate peace, or to mock at my unhappiness?”
I fear,on these preliminary circumstances; but they were days of comparative happiness, and I think of them with pleasure My country, ht I took in again beholding thy streams, thy mountains, and, more than all, thy lovely lake!
Yet, as I drew nearer hoht also closed around; and when I could hardly see the dark loomily The picture appeared a vast and dim scene of evil, and I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to be
cos Alas! I prophesied truly, and failed only in one single circuined and dreaded, I did not conceive the hundredth part of the anguish I was destined to endure It was coates of the toere already shut; and I was obliged to pass the night at Secheron, a village at the distance of half a league from the city The sky was serene; and, as I was unable to rest, I resolved to visit the spot where h the town, I was obliged to cross the lake in a boat to arrive at Plainpalais During this short voyage I saw the lightning playing on the suures The stor, I ascended a low hill, that I ress It advanced; the heavens were clouded, and I soon felt the rain coe drops, but its violence quickly increased
I quitted h the darkness and storm increased every minute, and the thunder burst with a terrific crash over my head It was echoed from Saleve, the Juras, and the Alps of Savoy; vivid flashes of lightning dazzledit appear like a vast sheet of fire; then for an instant every thing seemed of a pitchy darkness, until the eye recovered itself fro flash The storm, as is often the case in Switzerland, appeared at once in various parts of the heavens Theexactly north of the town, over the part of the lake which lies between the proe of Copet Another storhtened Jura with faint flashes; and another darkened and sometimes disclosed the Mole, a peaked mountain to the east of the lake
While I watched the tempest, so beautiful yet terrific, I wandered on with a hasty step This noble war in the sky elevated my spirits; I clasped el! this is thy funeral, this thy dirge!” As I said these words, I perceived in the glooure which stole fro intently: I could not beilluminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to antic stature, and the defors to humanity, instantly informed iven life What did he there? Could he be (I shuddered at the conception) the ination, than I became convinced of its truth; ainst a tree for support The figure passed loom
Nothing in human shape could have destroyed the fair child HE was the murderer! I could not doubt it The mere presence of the idea was an irresistible proof of the fact I thought of pursuing the devil; but it would have been in vain, for another flash discovered hi the rocks of the nearly perpendicular ascent of Mont Saleve, a hill that bounds Plainpalais on the south He soon reached the summit, and disappeared
I remained motionless The thunder ceased; but the rain still continued, and the scene was enveloped in an impenetrable darkness I revolved in et: the whole train of ress toward the creation; the appearance of the works of my own hands at my bedside; its departure Two years had now nearly elapsed since the night on which he first received life; and was this his first crime? Alas! I had turned loose into the world a depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and misery; had he not murdered my brother?
No one can conceive the anguish I suffered during the reht, which I spent, cold and wet, in the open air But I did not feel the inconvenience of the weather; ination was busy in scenes of evil and despair I considered the being who mankind, and endoith the will and power to effect purposes of horror, such as the deed which he had now done, nearly in the light of rave, and forced to destroy all that was dear to me
Day dawned; and I directed ates were open, and I hastened to ht was to discover what I knew of the murderer, and cause instant pursuit to be made But I paused when I reflected on the story that I had to tell A being whom I ht a the precipices of an inaccessible mountain I remembered also the nervous fever hich I had been seized just at the tiive an air of delirium to a tale otherwise so utterly improbable I well knew that if any other had communicated such a relation to s of insanity Besides, the strange nature of the animal would elude all pursuit, even if I were so far credited as to persuade my relatives to commence it And then of what use would be pursuit? Who could arrest a creature capable of scaling the overhanging sides of Mont Saleve? These reflections determined me, and I resolved to remain silent
It was about five in thewhen I entered my father’s house I told the servants not to disturb the family, and went into the library to attend their usual hour of rising
Six years had elapsed, passed in a dream but for one indelible trace, and I stood in the same place where I had last eolstadt Beloved and venerable parent! He still reazed on the picture of my mother, which stood over the mantel-piece It was an historical subject, painted at ony of despair, kneeling by the coffin of her dead father Her garb was rustic, and her cheek pale; but there was an air of dignity and beauty, that hardly permitted the sentiment of pity Below this picture was a miniature of William; and ed, Ernest entered: he had heard me arrive, and hastened to welcome me: “Welcome, my dearest Victor,” said he “Ah! I wish you had coo, and then you would have found us all joyous and delighted You co can alleviate; yet your presence will, I hope, revive our father, who see under his misfortune; and your persuasions will induce poor Elizabeth to cease her vain and tor and our pride!”
Tears, unrestrained, fell froony crept over ined the wretchedness of my desolated home; the reality came on me as a new, and a not less terrible, disaster I tried to cal my father, and here I named my cousin