The Genius (Carl Grosse)/Chapter 16
CHAP. XVI.
This rest, if it deserve the name, was totally interrupted by the most painful considerations of the past. I only ascribed the invention of the murder to the mystic cabal, who, to be revenged on my stubborn and indocile conduct, thought it expedient by that scheme to bring the grey hairs of my mother with sorrow to the grave, and by throwing in virtue of her last testament, all my property into the hands of strangers, hoped by involving me in temporary confusion, to compel me to have recourse to their odious councils. The access which both Francisca and her husband had to my villa during my absence, not only furnished them with frequent opportunities to seize or steal such effects as the shirt and the printed card found on the mangled corpse, but even put it in their power to alienate articles of a more identical description to prove the murder, which they probably declined taking, as they thought those stated above sufficient to answer the sinister purposes of my relentless enemies. Though in the instance of the two innocent domesticks I had reason to be deterred from the very idea of suspicion, yet I found it impossible, on this occasion, to banish it from my mind. But it could answer no salutary end, as the parties suspected, had fled out of the reach of legal enquiry, and sought their abode in a distant world. The very great confidence of my mother in Alfonso, I considered as the effect of feminine weakness, and myself satisfied with his innocence and long-tried rectitude, I could not form the least supposition of its secret motives which a more distant period of time ultimately brought to light.
The day after my arrival was spent in making application to the inquisitors and the bishop of my diocese, for leave to have the body of the stranger buried in our family vault disinterred, and committed to the ground of the church-yard of our parish. This was granted without difficulty. The next step I took was, to get back the reward deposited in the bank of St. Carlos, and to distribute it, in two equal halves of two thousand pistoles, cash, to the surviving innocent man, and the widow.
The Corregidor, agreeable to my request, also issued a proclamation, tendering the reward I had promised for the discovery of the parties who contrived the scheme of the supposed murder, but I never obtained any elucidation respecting the matter, to this very hour.
A third day had already elapsed, and my faithful Alfonso, whom I had every reason to expect on the second, was not yet arrived. I resolved to set out, with two of my friends in quest of him, when early in the morning of my intended departure, I was awakened by my servants, and desired to walk down into the hall, where I found Alfonso in the custody of two Alguazils, who had escorted him all the way from Medina Sidonia, where he had been stopped on suspicion of being the murderer, and conducted to Alcantara to clear up all doubts of my being alive. We paid the expences attending his convoy, and both Don Antonio and I, offered him an handsome indemnity in money for the unjust persecution he had suffered, but he generously declined the recompence, and bestowing the highest encomiums upon the friendship and vigilant love of justice of Don Antonio, declared, that under similar circumstances, had he been Don Antonio, he would have strictly acted in the same manner.
At this juncture Count Selami, a Major in the same regiment to which I belonged, left the army owing to his father's death, whom he succeeded in his title and fortune. My acquaintance with him commenced at the royal military school, and our intimacy grew stronger as we advanced in years. He had heard of my misfortunes, and came purposely from Toledo to manifest his condolence at my losses. He staid for several weeks at my house at Alcantara, where the agreeable company of Don Fernandos di 'Albengha, Don Bernardos and other friends served to repress the gloom, which the heaviness and complication of my misfortunes must otherwise have raised to the highest degree.
Animated with the love of adventure, it was at last agreed, that we should accompany the Count to Toledo, where, after settling his affairs, he promised to set out with us for Paris. Don Antonio, who had contracted an unconquerable fondness for a rural life and domestic enjoyments, could not bear the thought of quitting his country even for a month, on which account I left him the superintendence of all my estates, and providing myself with a considerable sum of money, took an affectionate leave of him, and followed Count Selami and the rest of my friends to Toledo.
It will not be improper here; to give a brief sketch of the characters of my new companions, as they will be found to act more or less conspicuous parts in the sequel of this history.
Don Bernardos was one of the most singular characters in existence, and peculiarly remarkable for the mixture of the extremes of two opposite temperaments. On the one hand he would be choleric and rash to excess, and on the other, sedate, passive and tranquil in the same manner. All this appeared to be systematical in his conduct. Still I thought the former temper the more congenial to his nature, and the other merely forced into practice by the philosophy of life.
His mind was of the deepest cast of Spanish gravity, and I cannot say, that I ever saw more than a smile on his countenance, even in the most festive moments of social and convivial pleasure. Nothing could disturb the equilibrium of his soul, which having tasted and exhausted all forts of prosperities and adversities, acquired a natural frigidity under every change and vicissitude of life and fortune. Nature, for the first time, had drained herself as it were in this moving phenomenon, and had nothing left to rouse his torpid sensibility. Without a tear would he witness the convulsive struggles of humanity, without concern partake of its felicities. No intreaty could mollify, no offence provoke him. Without a single weak moment, without the least solicitude for his reputation, and as insensible to the opinion of the world as to that of his friends, he, with stedfast eyes followed, as he called it, the long projected plan of an austere virtue, which was to be his guide to the last gasp of a life without relish.
And what must appear most surprising, is, that so far from being the advocate of virtue, he would calmly move in the vortex of vices and follies, nor even seek to prevent them in His friends. He never spoke for or against men, their actions or opinions, and human greatness and human profligacy, seemed to him a mere nullity in the scale of beings.
He was not read in books, and to have made him take up one, it required to be a prodigy of literature. No moralist, no philosopher ever furnished him with principles, and he had borrowed them all from the vast book of experience, from the intercourse with men, and his own destiny.
It seemed, as if he had divested himself of all his senses. What he did for his body, was merely to preserve its health, and he would assert, that the prudent care of it, was one half of virtue. He never drank wine or spirits, and when alone, made but one frugal repast, consisting of bread, cheese, butter or dried fruit and vegetables. This rigid diet, instead of debilitating his constitution, only gave it fresh vigor and energy.
Count Selami was also a person of a distinguished character, with which he combined the beauty of an Adonis. He was good-natured and uncommonly gentle. His mind was brilliant and lively, tinctured with the captivating touches of a soft melancholy and an engaging kind of enthusiasm. Only once in his life he had been in love, and that unsuccessfully. He seemed to be the idol of the fair sex, and his heart was always open to the united impressions of tenderness and friendship. To so many amiable qualities he joined the untainted reputation of a man of the keenest wit, the strictest honor, and the most undaunted spirit and gallantry.
Don Fernandos di Albengha was a warm and jovial companion, the soul of our company for an uninterrupted flow of chearfulness and good spirits, but very little endowed with what is called real wit.
In this company I spent near four weeks at Toledo, in the most select fashionable circles, among balls, routes and masquerades. At night we frequently gave suppers, at which nothing but jollity and good fellowship presided.
We had hopes of continuing much longer in this gay sphere of elegant life, but some unforeseen accidents intervening, made us accelerate our departure to Paris. The cool and saturnine character of Don Bernardos, grew so hot at a ball, probably owing to something mixed in his wine, that he picked a quarrel with a nobleman, fought and mortally wounded him in a duel, and was obliged to fly to France, where we promised to join him.