Book: Wieland; or The Transformation, An American Tale

C >> Charles Brockden Brown >> Wieland; or The Transformation, An American Tale




This idea was new. I was plunged once more into doubt. Did
not equity enjoin me thus to facilitate his arrest? No. I
disdained the office of betrayer. Carwin was unapprized of his
danger, and his intentions were possibly beneficent. Should I
station guards about the house, and make an act, intended
perhaps for my benefit, instrumental to his own destruction?
Wieland might be justified in thus employing the knowledge which
I should impart, but I, by imparting it, should pollute myself
with more hateful crimes than those undeservedly imputed to me.
This scheme, therefore, I unhesitatingly rejected. The views
with which I should return to my own house, it would therefore
be necessary to conceal. Yet some pretext must be invented. I
had never been initiated into the trade of lying. Yet what but
falshood was a deliberate suppression of the truth? To deceive
by silence or by words is the same.

Yet what would a lie avail me? What pretext would justify
this change in my plan? Would it not tend to confirm the
imputations of Pleyel? That I should voluntarily return to an
house in which honor and life had so lately been endangered,
could be explained in no way favorable to my integrity.

These reflections, if they did not change, at least suspended
my decision. In this state of uncertainty I alighted at the
HUT. We gave this name to the house tenanted by the farmer
and his servants, and which was situated on the verge of my
brother's ground, and at a considerable distance from the
mansion. The path to the mansion was planted by a double row of
walnuts. Along this path I proceeded alone. I entered the
parlour, in which was a light just expiring in the socket.
There was no one in the room. I perceived by the clock that
stood against the wall, that it was near eleven. The lateness
of the hour startled me. What had become of the family? They
were usually retired an hour before this; but the unextinguished
taper, and the unbarred door were indications that they had not
retired. I again returned to the hall, and passed from one room
to another, but still encountered not a human being.

I imagined that, perhaps, the lapse of a few minutes would
explain these appearances. Meanwhile I reflected that the
preconcerted hour had arrived. Carwin was perhaps waiting my
approach. Should I immediately retire to my own house, no one
would be apprized of my proceeding. Nay, the interview might
pass, and I be enabled to return in half an hour. Hence no
necessity would arise for dissimulation.

I was so far influenced by these views that I rose to execute
this design; but again the unusual condition of the house
occurred to me, and some vague solicitude as to the condition of
the family. I was nearly certain that my brother had not
retired; but by what motives he could be induced to desert his
house thus unseasonably I could by no means divine. Louisa
Conway, at least, was at home and had, probably, retired to her
chamber; perhaps she was able to impart the information I
wanted.

I went to her chamber, and found her asleep. She was
delighted and surprized at my arrival, and told me with how much
impatience and anxiety my brother and his wife had waited my
coming. They were fearful that some mishap had befallen me, and
had remained up longer than the usual period. Notwithstanding
the lateness of the hour, Catharine would not resign the hope of
seeing me. Louisa said she had left them both in the parlour,
and she knew of no cause for their absence.

As yet I was not without solicitude on account of their
personal safety. I was far from being perfectly at ease on that
head, but entertained no distinct conception of the danger that
impended over them. Perhaps to beguile the moments of my long
protracted stay, they had gone to walk upon the bank. The
atmosphere, though illuminated only by the star-light, was
remarkably serene. Meanwhile the desirableness of an interview
with Carwin again returned, and I finally resolved to seek it.

I passed with doubting and hasty steps along the path. My
dwelling, seen at a distance, was gloomy and desolate. It had
no inhabitant, for my servant, in consequence of my new
arrangement, had gone to Mettingen. The temerity of this
attempt began to shew itself in more vivid colours to my
understanding. Whoever has pointed steel is not without arms;
yet what must have been the state of my mind when I could
meditate, without shuddering, on the use of a murderous weapon,
and believe myself secure merely because I was capable of being
made so by the death of another? Yet this was not my state. I
felt as if I was rushing into deadly toils, without the power of
pausing or receding.



Chapter XVI


As soon as I arrived in sight of the front of the house, my
attention was excited by a light from the window of my own
chamber. No appearance could be less explicable. A meeting was
expected with Carwin, but that he pre-occupied my chamber, and
had supplied himself with light, was not to be believed. What
motive could influence him to adopt this conduct? Could I
proceed until this was explained? Perhaps, if I should proceed
to a distance in front, some one would be visible. A sidelong
but feeble beam from the window, fell upon the piny copse which
skirted the bank. As I eyed it, it suddenly became mutable, and
after flitting to and fro, for a short time, it vanished. I
turned my eye again toward the window, and perceived that the
light was still there; but the change which I had noticed was
occasioned by a change in the position of the lamp or candle
within. Hence, that some person was there was an unavoidable
inference.

I paused to deliberate on the propriety of advancing. Might
I not advance cautiously, and, therefore, without danger? Might
I not knock at the door, or call, and be apprized of the nature
of my visitant before I entered? I approached and listened at
the door, but could hear nothing. I knocked at first timidly,
but afterwards with loudness. My signals were unnoticed. I
stepped back and looked, but the light was no longer
discernible. Was it suddenly extinguished by a human agent?
What purpose but concealment was intended? Why was the
illumination produced, to be thus suddenly brought to an end?
And why, since some one was there, had silence been observed?

These were questions, the solution of which may be readily
supposed to be entangled with danger. Would not this danger,
when measured by a woman's fears, expand into gigantic
dimensions? Menaces of death; the stunning exertions of a
warning voice; the known and unknown attributes of Carwin; our
recent interview in this chamber; the pre-appointment of a
meeting at this place and hour, all thronged into my memory.
What was to be done?

Courage is no definite or stedfast principle. Let that man
who shall purpose to assign motives to the actions of another,
blush at his folly and forbear. Not more presumptuous would it
be to attempt the classification of all nature, and the scanning
of supreme intelligence. I gazed for a minute at the window,
and fixed my eyes, for a second minute, on the ground. I drew
forth from my pocket, and opened, a penknife. This, said I, be
my safe-guard and avenger. The assailant shall perish, or
myself shall fall.
I had locked up the house in the morning, but had the key of
the kitchen door in my pocket. I, therefore, determined to gain
access behind. Thither I hastened, unlocked and entered. All
was lonely, darksome, and waste. Familiar as I was with every
part of my dwelling, I easily found my way to a closet, drew
forth a taper, a flint, tinder, and steel, and, in a moment as
it were, gave myself the guidance and protection of light.

What purpose did I meditate? Should I explore my way to my
chamber, and confront the being who had dared to intrude into
this recess, and had laboured for concealment? By putting out
the light did he seek to hide himself, or mean only to
circumvent my incautious steps? Yet was it not more probable
that he desired my absence by thus encouraging the supposition
that the house was unoccupied? I would see this man in spite of
all impediments; ere I died, I would see his face, and summon
him to penitence and retribution; no matter at what cost an
interview was purchased. Reputation and life might be wrested
from me by another, but my rectitude and honor were in my own
keeping, and were safe.

I proceeded to the foot of the stairs. At such a crisis my
thoughts may be supposed at no liberty to range; yet vague
images rushed into my mind, of the mysterious interposition
which had been experienced on the last night. My case, at
present, was not dissimilar; and, if my angel were not weary of
fruitless exertions to save, might not a new warning be
expected? Who could say whether his silence were ascribable to
the absence of danger, or to his own absence?

In this state of mind, no wonder that a shivering cold crept
through my veins; that my pause was prolonged; and, that a
fearful glance was thrown backward.

Alas! my heart droops, and my fingers are enervated; my ideas
are vivid, but my language is faint: now know I what it is to
entertain incommunicable sentiments. The chain of subsequent
incidents is drawn through my mind, and being linked with those
which forewent, by turns rouse up agonies and sink me into
hopelessness.

Yet I will persist to the end. My narrative may be invaded
by inaccuracy and confusion; but if I live no longer, I will, at
least, live to complete it. What but ambiguities, abruptnesses,
and dark transitions, can be expected from the historian who is,
at the same time, the sufferer of these disasters?

I have said that I cast a look behind. Some object was
expected to be seen, or why should I have gazed in that
direction? Two senses were at once assailed. The same piercing
exclamation of HOLD! HOLD! was uttered within the same
distance of my ear. This it was that I heard. The airy
undulation, and the shock given to my nerves, were real.
Whether the spectacle which I beheld existed in my fancy or
without, might be doubted.
I had not closed the door of the apartment I had just left.
The stair-case, at the foot of which I stood, was eight or ten
feet from the door, and attached to the wall through which the
door led. My view, therefore, was sidelong, and took in no part
of the room.

Through this aperture was an head thrust and drawn back with
so much swiftness, that the immediate conviction was, that thus
much of a form, ordinarily invisible, had been unshrowded. The
face was turned towards me. Every muscle was tense; the
forehead and brows were drawn into vehement expression; the lips
were stretched as in the act of shrieking, and the eyes emitted
sparks, which, no doubt, if I had been unattended by a light,
would have illuminated like the coruscations of a meteor. The
sound and the vision were present, and departed together at the
same instant; but the cry was blown into my ear, while the face
was many paces distant.

This face was well suited to a being whose performances
exceeded the standard of humanity, and yet its features were
akin to those I had before seen. The image of Carwin was
blended in a thousand ways with the stream of my thoughts. This
visage was, perhaps, pourtrayed by my fancy. If so, it will
excite no surprize that some of his lineaments were now
discovered. Yet affinities were few and unconspicuous, and were
lost amidst the blaze of opposite qualities.

What conclusion could I form? Be the face human or not, the
intimation was imparted from above. Experience had evinced the
benignity of that being who gave it. Once he had interposed to
shield me from harm, and subsequent events demonstrated the
usefulness of that interposition. Now was I again warned to
forbear. I was hurrying to the verge of the same gulf, and the
same power was exerted to recall my steps. Was it possible for
me not to obey? Was I capable of holding on in the same
perilous career? Yes. Even of this I was capable!

The intimation was imperfect: it gave no form to my danger,
and prescribed no limits to my caution. I had formerly
neglected it, and yet escaped. Might I not trust to the same
issue? This idea might possess, though imperceptibly, some
influence. I persisted; but it was not merely on this account.
I cannot delineate the motives that led me on. I now speak as
if no remnant of doubt existed in my mind as to the supernal
origin of these sounds; but this is owing to the imperfection of
my language, for I only mean that the belief was more permanent,
and visited more frequently my sober meditations than its
opposite. The immediate effects served only to undermine the
foundations of my judgment and precipitate my resolutions.

I must either advance or return. I chose the former, and
began to ascend the stairs. The silence underwent no second
interruption. My chamber door was closed, but unlocked, and,
aided by vehement efforts of my courage, I opened and looked in.

No hideous or uncommon object was discernible. The danger,
indeed, might easily have lurked out of sight, have sprung upon
me as I entered, and have rent me with his iron talons; but I
was blind to this fate, and advanced, though cautiously, into
the room.

Still every thing wore its accustomed aspect. Neither lamp
nor candle was to be found. Now, for the first time, suspicions
were suggested as to the nature of the light which I had seen.
Was it possible to have been the companion of that supernatural
visage; a meteorous refulgence producible at the will of him to
whom that visage belonged, and partaking of the nature of that
which accompanied my father's death?

The closet was near, and I remembered the complicated horrors
of which it had been productive. Here, perhaps, was inclosed
the source of my peril, and the gratification of my curiosity.
Should I adventure once more to explore its recesses? This was
a resolution not easily formed. I was suspended in thought:
when glancing my eye on a table, I perceived a written paper.
Carwin's hand was instantly recognized, and snatching up the
paper, I read as follows:--

"There was folly in expecting your compliance with my
invitation. Judge how I was disappointed in finding another in
your place. I have waited, but to wait any longer would be
perilous. I shall still seek an interview, but it must be at a
different time and place: meanwhile, I will write this--How
will you bear--How inexplicable will be this transaction!--An
event so unexpected--a sight so horrible!"

Such was this abrupt and unsatisfactory script. The ink was
yet moist, the hand was that of Carwin. Hence it was to be
inferred that he had this moment left the apartment, or was
still in it. I looked back, on the sudden expectation of seeing
him behind me.

What other did he mean? What transaction had taken place
adverse to my expectations? What sight was about to be
exhibited? I looked around me once more, but saw nothing which
indicated strangeness. Again I remembered the closet, and was
resolved to seek in that the solution of these mysteries. Here,
perhaps, was inclosed the scene destined to awaken my horrors
and baffle my foresight.

I have already said, that the entrance into this closet was
beside my bed, which, on two sides, was closely shrowded by
curtains. On that side nearest the closet, the curtain was
raised. As I passed along I cast my eye thither. I started,
and looked again. I bore a light in my hand, and brought it
nearer my eyes, in order to dispel any illusive mists that might
have hovered before them. Once more I fixed my eyes upon the
bed, in hope that this more stedfast scrutiny would annihilate
the object which before seemed to be there.

This then was the sight which Carwin had predicted! This was
the event which my understanding was to find inexplicable! This
was the fate which had been reserved for me, but which, by some
untoward chance, had befallen on another!

I had not been terrified by empty menaces. Violation and
death awaited my entrance into this chamber. Some inscrutable
chance had led HER hither before me, and the merciless fangs
of which I was designed to be the prey, had mistaken their
victim, and had fixed themselves in HER heart. But where
was my safety? Was the mischief exhausted or flown? The steps
of the assassin had just been here; they could not be far off;
in a moment he would rush into my presence, and I should perish
under the same polluting and suffocating grasp!

My frame shook, and my knees were unable to support me. I
gazed alternately at the closet door and at the door of my room.
At one of these avenues would enter the exterminator of my honor
and my life. I was prepared for defence; but now that danger
was imminent, my means of defence, and my power to use them were
gone. I was not qualified, by education and experience, to
encounter perils like these: or, perhaps, I was powerless
because I was again assaulted by surprize, and had not fortified
my mind by foresight and previous reflection against a scene
like this.

Fears for my own safety again yielded place to reflections on
the scene before me. I fixed my eyes upon her countenance. My
sister's well-known and beloved features could not be concealed
by convulsion or lividness. What direful illusion led thee
hither? Bereft of thee, what hold on happiness remains to thy
offspring and thy spouse? To lose thee by a common fate would
have been sufficiently hard; but thus suddenly to perish--to
become the prey of this ghastly death! How will a spectacle
like this be endured by Wieland? To die beneath his grasp would
not satisfy thy enemy. This was mercy to the evils which he
previously made thee suffer! After these evils death was a boon
which thou besoughtest him to grant. He entertained no enmity
against thee: I was the object of his treason; but by some
tremendous mistake his fury was misplaced. But how comest thou
hither? and where was Wieland in thy hour of distress?

I approached the corpse: I lifted the still flexible hand,
and kissed the lips which were breathless. Her flowing drapery
was discomposed. I restored it to order, and seating myself on
the bed, again fixed stedfast eyes upon her countenance. I
cannot distinctly recollect the ruminations of that moment. I
saw confusedly, but forcibly, that every hope was extinguished
with the life of CATHARINE. All happiness and dignity must
henceforth be banished from the house and name of Wieland: all
that remained was to linger out in agonies a short existence;
and leave to the world a monument of blasted hopes and
changeable fortune. Pleyel was already lost to me; yet, while
Catharine lived life was not a detestable possession: but now,
severed from the companion of my infancy, the partaker of all my
thoughts, my cares, and my wishes, I was like one set afloat
upon a stormy sea, and hanging his safety upon a plank; night
was closing upon him, and an unexpected surge had torn him from
his hold and overwhelmed him forever.



Chapter XVII


I had no inclination nor power to move from this spot. For
more than an hour, my faculties and limbs seemed to be deprived
of all activity. The door below creaked on its hinges, and
steps ascended the stairs. My wandering and confused thoughts
were instantly recalled by these sounds, and dropping the
curtain of the bed, I moved to a part of the room where any one
who entered should be visible; such are the vibrations of
sentiment, that notwithstanding the seeming fulfilment of my
fears, and increase of my danger, I was conscious, on this
occasion, to no turbulence but that of curiosity.

At length he entered the apartment, and I recognized my
brother. It was the same Wieland whom I had ever seen. Yet his
features were pervaded by a new expression. I supposed him
unacquainted with the fate of his wife, and his appearance
confirmed this persuasion. A brow expanding into exultation I
had hitherto never seen in him, yet such a brow did he now wear.
Not only was he unapprized of the disaster that had happened,
but some joyous occurrence had betided. What a reverse was
preparing to annihilate his transitory bliss! No husband ever
doated more fondly, for no wife ever claimed so boundless a
devotion. I was not uncertain as to the effects to flow from
the discovery of her fate. I confided not at all in the efforts
of his reason or his piety. There were few evils which his
modes of thinking would not disarm of their sting; but here, all
opiates to grief, and all compellers of patience were vain.
This spectacle would be unavoidably followed by the outrages of
desperation, and a rushing to death.

For the present, I neglected to ask myself what motive
brought him hither. I was only fearful of the effects to flow
from the sight of the dead. Yet could it be long concealed from
him? Some time and speedily he would obtain this knowledge. No
stratagems could considerably or usefully prolong his ignorance.
All that could be sought was to take away the abruptness of the
change, and shut out the confusion of despair, and the inroads
of madness: but I knew my brother, and knew that all exertions
to console him would be fruitless.

What could I say? I was mute, and poured forth those tears
on his account, which my own unhappiness had been unable to
extort. In the midst of my tears, I was not unobservant of his
motions. These were of a nature to rouse some other sentiment
than grief or, at least, to mix with it a portion of
astonishment.

His countenance suddenly became troubled. His hands were
clasped with a force that left the print of his nails in his
flesh. His eyes were fixed on my feet. His brain seemed to
swell beyond its continent. He did not cease to breathe, but
his breath was stifled into groans. I had never witnessed the
hurricane of human passions. My element had, till lately, been
all sunshine and calm. I was unconversant with the altitudes
and energies of sentiment, and was transfixed with inexplicable
horror by the symptoms which I now beheld.

After a silence and a conflict which I could not interpret,
he lifted his eyes to heaven, and in broken accents exclaimed,
"This is too much! Any victim but this, and thy will be done.
Have I not sufficiently attested my faith and my obedience? She
that is gone, they that have perished, were linked with my soul
by ties which only thy command would have broken; but here is
sanctity and excellence surpassing human. This workmanship is
thine, and it cannot be thy will to heap it into ruins."

Here suddenly unclasping his hands, he struck one of them
against his forehead, and continued--"Wretch! who made thee
quicksighted in the councils of thy Maker? Deliverance from
mortal fetters is awarded to this being, and thou art the
minister of this decree."

So saying, Wieland advanced towards me. His words and his
motions were without meaning, except on one supposition. The
death of Catharine was already known to him, and that knowledge,
as might have been suspected, had destroyed his reason. I had
feared nothing less; but now that I beheld the extinction of a
mind the most luminous and penetrating that ever dignified the
human form, my sensations were fraught with new and
insupportable anguish.

I had not time to reflect in what way my own safety would be
effected by this revolution, or what I had to dread from the
wild conceptions of a madman. He advanced towards me. Some
hollow noises were wafted by the breeze. Confused clamours were
succeeded by many feet traversing the grass, and then crowding
intO the piazza.

These sounds suspended my brother's purpose, and he stood to
listen. The signals multiplied and grew louder; perceiving
this, he turned from me, and hurried out of my sight. All about
me was pregnant with motives to astonishment. My sister's
corpse, Wieland's frantic demeanour, and, at length, this crowd
of visitants so little accorded with my foresight, that my
mental progress was stopped. The impulse had ceased which was
accustomed to give motion and order to my thoughts.

Footsteps thronged upon the stairs, and presently many faces
shewed themselves within the door of my apartment. These looks
were full of alarm and watchfulness. They pryed into corners as
if in search of some fugitive; next their gaze was fixed upon
me, and betokened all the vehemence of terror and pity. For a
time I questioned whether these were not shapes and faces like
that which I had seen at the bottom of the stairs, creatures of
my fancy or airy existences.
My eye wandered from one to another, till at length it fell
on a countenance which I well knew. It was that of Mr. Hallet.
This man was a distant kinsman of my mother, venerable for his
age, his uprightness, and sagacity. He had long discharged the
functions of a magistrate and good citizen. If any terrors
remained, his presence was sufficient to dispel them.

He approached, took my hand with a compassionate air, and
said in a low voice, "Where, my dear Clara, are your brother and
sister?" I made no answer, but pointed to the bed. His
attendants drew aside the curtain, and while their eyes glared
with horror at the spectacle which they beheld, those of Mr.
Hallet overflowed with tears.

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