“I am no Prostitute, Ambrosio;” Had She told him, when in the fullness
of his lust He demanded her favours with more than usual earnestness;
“I am now no more than your Friend, and will not be your Mistress.
Cease then to solicit my complying with desires, which insult me. While
your heart was mine, I gloried in your embraces: Those happy times are
past: My person is become indifferent to you, and ’tis necessity, not
love, which makes you seek my enjoyment. I cannot yield to a request so
humiliating to my pride.”
Suddenly deprived of pleasures, the use of which had made them an
absolute want, the Monk felt this restraint severely. Naturally
addicted to the gratification of the senses, in the full vigour of
manhood, and heat of blood, He had suffered his temperament to acquire
such ascendency that his lust was become madness. Of his fondness for
Antonia, none but the grosser particles remained: He longed for the
possession of her person; and even the gloom of the vault, the
surrounding silence, and the resistance which He expected from her,
seemed to give a fresh edge to his fierce and unbridled desires.
Gradually He felt the bosom which rested against his, glow with
returning warmth. Her heart throbbed again; Her blood flowed swifter,
and her lips moved. At length She opened her eyes, but still opprest
and bewildered by the effects of the strong opiate, She closed them
again immediately. Ambrosio watched her narrowly, nor permitted a
movement to escape him. Perceiving that She was fully restored to
existence, He caught her in rapture to his bosom, and closely pressed
his lips to hers. The suddenness of his action sufficed to dissipate
the fumes which obscured Antonia’s reason. She hastily raised herself,
and cast a wild look round her. The strange Images which presented
themselves on every side contributed to confuse her. She put her hand
to her head, as if to settle her disordered imagination. At length She
took it away, and threw her eyes through the dungeon a second time.
They fixed upon the Abbot’s face.
“Where am I?” She said abruptly. “How came I here? Where is my Mother?
Methought, I saw her! Oh! a dream, a dreadful dreadful dream told me
...... But where am I? Let me go! I cannot stay here!”
She attempted to rise, but the Monk prevented her.
“Be calm, lovely Antonia!” He replied; “No danger is near you: Confide
in my protection. Why do you gaze on me so earnestly? Do you not know
me? Not know your Friend? Ambrosio?”
“Ambrosio? My Friend? Oh! yes, yes; I remember ...... But why am I
here? Who has brought me? Why are you with me? Oh! Flora bad me beware
.....! Here are nothing but Graves, and Tombs, and Skeletons! This
place frightens me! Good Ambrosio take me away from it, for it recalls
my fearful dream! Methought I was dead, and laid in my grave! Good
Ambrosio, take me from hence. Will you not? Oh! will you not? Do not
look on me thus!
Your flaming eyes terrify me! Spare me, Father! Oh! spare me for God’s
sake!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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