The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 4, July, 1851Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 4, July, 1851
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
"She pointed towards the door of the inner room, and
Schalken thought he saw a shadowy and ill-defined form
gliding into that apartment. He drew his sword, and raising
the candle so as to throw its light with increased
distinctness upon the objects in the room, he entered the
chamber into which the shadow had glided. No figure was
there--nothing but the furniture which belonged to the room;
and yet he could not be deceived as to the fact that
something had moved before them into the chamber. A
sickening dread came upon him, and the cold perspiration
broke out in heavy drops upon his forehead; nor was he more
composed when he heard the increased urgency and agony of
entreaty with which Rose implored them not to leave her for
a moment.
"'I saw him,' said she, 'he's here. I cannot be deceived; I
know him; he's by me; he is with me; he's in the room. Then,
for God's sake, as you would save me, do not stir from
beside me.'
"They at length prevailed upon her to lie down upon the bed,
where she continued to urge them to stay by her. She
frequently uttered incoherent sentences, repeating again and
again, 'The dead and the living cannot be one; God has
forbidden it:' and then again, 'Rest to the wakeful--sleep
to the sleep-walkers.' These and such mysterious and broken
sentences she continued to utter until the clergyman
arrived. Gerard Douw began to fear, naturally enough, that
terror or ill-treatment had unsettled the poor girl's
intellect; and he half suspected, from the suddenness of her
appearance, the unseasonableness of the hour, and, above
all, from the wildness and terror of her manner, that she
had made her escape from some place of confinement for
lunatics, and was in imminent fear of pursuit. He resolved
to summon medical advice as soon as the mind of his niece
had been in some measure set at rest by the offices of the
clergyman whose attendance she had so earnestly desired; and
until this object had been attained, he did not venture to
put any questions to her which might possibly, by reviving
painful or horrible recollections, increase her agitation.
The clergyman soon arrived; a man of ascetic countenance and
venerable age--one whom Gerard Douw respected much,
forasmuch as he was a veteran polemic, though one perhaps
more dreaded as a combatant, than beloved as a Christian--of
pure morality, subtile brain, and frozen heart. He entered
the chamber which communicated with that in which Rose
reclined; and immediately on his arrival she requested him
to pray for her, as for one who lay in the hands of Satan,
and who could hope for deliverance only from heaven.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 4, July, 1851 — John Shaqi
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