Original subtitles

chapter two a guest

i'm now going to tell you something so

strange that it will require all your

faith and my veracity to believe my

story

it is not only true nevertheless but

truth of which i have been an eyewitness

it was a sweet summer evening and my

father asked me as he sometimes did

to take a little ramble with him along

that beautiful forest vista which i have

mentioned is lying in front of the

schloss

general spielsdorf cannot come to us as

soon as i had hoped said my father

as we pursued our walk he was to have

paid us a visit of some weeks and we had

expected his arrival that

next day he was to have brought with him

a young lady

his niece and ward mademoiselle

reinfeldt whom i had never seen

but whom i had heard described as a very

charming girl

and in whose society i had promised

myself many happy days

i was more disappointed than a young

lady living in a town or bustling

neighborhood could possibly imagine

this visit and the new acquaintance it

promised had furnished my daydreams for

many weeks

and how soon does he come i asked not

till autumn

not for two months i dare say he

answered and i am very glad now dear

that you never knew mademoiselle

reinfeldt

and why i asked both mortified and

curious

because the poor young lady is dead he

replied

i quite forgot i had not told you seems

like a strange thing to forget to

mention

but you were not in the room when i

received the general's letter this

evening

i was very much shocked general

spielsdorf had mentioned in his first

letter six or seven weeks before

that she was not so well as he would

wish her but there was nothing

to suggest the remotest suspicion of

danger

here's the general's letter he said

handing it to me

i'm afraid he is in great affliction the

letter appears to me

to have been written very nearly in

destruction we sat down on a rude bench

under a group of magnificent lime trees

the sun was setting with all its

melancholy splendor

behind the sylvan horizon and the stream

that flows behind beside our home

and passes under the steep old bridge i

have mentioned wound through many a

group of noble trees almost at our feet

reflecting in its current the fading

crimson of the sky general spielsdorf

letter was so extraordinary so vehement

and in some places so

self-contradictory that i read it twice

over a second time aloud to my father

and was still able to account for it

except by supposing that grief had

unsettled his mind

it said i have lost my darling daughter

for as such i loved her

during these last days of dear birth as

illness i was not able to write to you

before then i had no idea of her danger

i have lost her

and now learn all too late she died in

the peace of innocence

and in the glorious hope of a blessed

fertility

the fiend who betrayed our infatuated

hospitality has done it all

i thought i received it was receiving

into my house innocence gaity

a charming companion from my last bertha

heavens

what a fool i have been i thank god my

child died without a suspicion of the

cause of her sufferings

she has gone without so much as

conjecturing the nature of her illness

and the accursed passion of

agent of all this misery i devote my

remaining days to tracking and

extinguishing a

monster i am told i may hope to

accomplish my righteous and

merciful purpose at present there is

scarcely a gleam of light to guide me

i curse my conceited incredulity my

despicable affection of superiority my

blindness my obstinacy all

too late i cannot write or talk

collectively now

i am distracted so soon as i shall have

a little recovered i mean to devote

myself for a time to inquiry

which may possibly lead me as far as

vienna sometime in the autumn two months

hence or earlier if i live

i will see you that is if you permit me

i will then tell you all that i scarce

dare put upon paper now

farewell pray for me dear friend

and these terms ended the strange letter

though i had never seen bertha reinfeld

my eyes filled with tears at the sudden

intelligence

i was startled as well as profoundly

disappointed

the sun had now set and it was twilight

by the time i had returned the general's

letter to my father

it was a soft clear evening and we

loitered speculating upon the possible

meanings of the violent and incoherent

sentences which i had just been reading

we had nearly a mile to walk before

reaching the road that passes the

schloss in front

and by the time the moon was shining

brilliantly at the drawbridge we met

madame paradon mademoiselle de la

fontaine

who had come out without their bonnets

without their bonnets

to enjoy the exquisite moonlight we

heard their voices gabbling in

animated dialogue as we approached we

joined them at the drawbridge and turned

about to admire with them the beautiful

scene

the glade through which we had just

walked lay before us at our left the

narrow road wound

away under clamps of lordly trees and

was lost to sight

amid the thickening forest at the right

the same road crosses the steep and

picturesque bridge

near which stands a ruined tower which

once guarded that pass and beyond the

bridge in a dropped eminence rises

covered with trees and showing in the

shadows some gray ivy clustered rocks

over the sward and low grounds a thin

film of mist was stealing like smoke

making the distances of the transparent

veil and here and there we could see the

river faintly flashing the moonlight

no sweeter softer scene could be

imagined the news i had just heard made

it melancholy

but nothing could disturb its character

of profound serenity

and the enchanted glory and vagueness of

the prospect

my father who enjoyed the picturesque

and eye stood looking in silence over

the expanse beneath us

the two good governances standing a

little way behind us discoursed upon the

scene

and were eloquent upon the moon madame

perez fat

middle aged and romantic and talked

inside poetically

mademoiselle de la fontaine and right of

her father who was german

assumed to be psychological metaphysical

and something of a mystic

now declared that when the moon shone

with a light so intense it was well

known that it indicated a special

spiritual activity

the effect of the full moon in such a

state of brilliancy was manifold

it acted on dreams it acted on lunacy it

acted on nervous people

had a marvelous physical influences

connected with life

mademoiselle related that her cousin who

is a mate of a merchant ship having

taken a nap on deck on such a night

laying on his back with his full face in

the light of the moon

had wakened after a dream of an old

woman clawing him by the cheek

with his features horribly drawn to one

side and his countenance had never quite

recovered its equilibrium

the moon this night she said is full of

idyllic and magnetic influence

and see when you look behind you at the

front of the floss how all its windows

flash and twinkle

with that silvery silvery splendor as if

unseen hands had lighted up the rooms to

receive fairy guests

there are indolent styles of the spirits

in which indisposed to talk ourselves

the talk of others is pleased to our

listless ears

and i gazed on pleased the twinkle the

tinkle

of the lady's conversation i have got

into one of my moping moods tonight said

my father after

silence and quoting shakespeare whom by

way of keeping up our english

he used to read aloud he said in truth i

know not why i am so sad

it worries me you say it wearies you but

how i got it

came by it i forget the rest

but i feel as if some great misfortune

were hanging over us

i suppose the poor general's afflicted

letter has had something to do with it

at this moment the unwanted sound of

carriage wheels and many hooves upon the

road arrested our attention

they seem to be approaching from the

high ground overlooking the bridge

and very soon the equipage emerged from

that point

two horsemen first crossed the bridge

then came a carriage drawn by four

horses

and two men rode behind it seemed to be

the traveling carriage of a person of

rank

and we were all immediately absorbed in

watching that very unusual spectacle

became in a few moments greatly more

interesting for just as the carriage had

passed the summit on

the steep bridge one of the leaders

taking fright communicated his panic to

the rest

and after a plunge or two the whole team

broke into a wild gallop together

and dashing between the horsemen who

wrote in front came thundering along the

road towards us with the speed of a

hurricane

the excitement of the scene was made

more painful by the clear drawn

long drawn screams of a female voice

from the carriage window

we all advanced in curiosity and horror

me rather in silence

the rest with various ejaculations of

terror

our suspense did not last long just

before you reached the castle drawbridge

on the route they were coming there

stands by the roadside a magnificent

lime tree

on the other stands an ancient stone

cross at site of which the horses

now going at a pace that was perfectly

frightful swerved so as to bring the

wheel over the projecting roots of the

tree

i knew what was coming i covered my eyes

unable to see it and turned my head away

at the same moment i heard a cry from my

lady friends who had gone on a little

curiosity opened my eyes and i saw a

scene of utter confusion

two of the horses were on the ground the

carriage lay upon its side with two

wheels in the air

the men were busy removing the traces

and a lady with a commanding

air and figure had got out and stood

with clasped hands raised

raising the handkerchief that was in

them every now and then to her eyes

through the carriage door was now lifted

a young lady who appeared to be lifeless

my dear old father is already beside the

elder lady with his hat in his hand

evidently tendering his aid in the

resources of his schloss

the lady did not appear to him or to

have eyes for anything but the slender

girl who was being placed against the

slope of the bank

i approached the young lady was

apparently stunned but she was certainly

not dead

my father who peaked himself on being

something of a physician

had just had his fingers on her wrist

and assured the lady who declared

herself her mother that her pulse

though faint and irregular was

undoubtedly still distinguishable the

lady clasped her hands and looked upward

as if in a momentary transport of

gratitude but immediately she broke it

again in that

theatrical way which is i believe

natural to some people

she was what is called a fine looking

woman for her time of life okay

seems a little lagest but must have been

handsome she was tall but not thin and

dressed in black velvet and looked

rather pale

but with a proud and commanding

countenance though now agitated

strangely

who was ever being so born to calamity i

heard her say with clasped hands as i

came up

here am i on a journey of life and death

and prosecuting

which to lose an hour is possibly to

lose all my child will not have

recovered

sufficiently to resume her root for who

can say how long

i must leave her i cannot dare not delay

how far on sir can you tell is the

nearest village i must leave her there

and shall not see my darling or even

hear of her until my return

three months hence plucked my father by

the coat and whispered earnestly in his

ear

oh papa pray ask her to let her stay

with us it would be so delightful

do pray if madam will entrust her child

to the care of my daughter and of her

good government madame peredon

and permit her to remain as our guest

under my charge until her return

it will confer a distinction and an

obligation upon us and we shall treat

her with all the care and devotion which

so sacred a trust deserves

i cannot do that sir it would be to task

your kindness and chivalry

too cruelly said the lady distractedly

it would on the contrary be to confer

on us a very great kindness at the

moment when we most need it

my daughter has just been disappointed

by a cruel misfortune

in a visit from which she had long

anticipated a great deal of happiness

if you confide this young lady to our

care it will be her best consolation

the nearest village on your route is

distant and affords no such in as you

can think of placing your daughter at

you cannot allow her to continue her

journey for any considerable distance

without danger

if as you say you cannot suspend your

journey you must part with her tonight

and nowhere could you do so with more

honest assurances of care and tenderness

than here

there's something in this lady's air an

appearance so distinguished and even

imposing and her manner so engaging is

to impress one

quite apart from the dignity of her

equipage with a conviction that she was

a person of consequence

by this time the carriage was replaced

in its upright position and the horses

quite tractable

in the traces again the lady threw on

her daughter a glance which i fancied

was not quite so affectionate as one

might have anticipated

from the beginning of the scene then she

beckoned slightly to my father and

withdrew two or three steps with him

out of hearing and talked with him with

a fixed and stern countenance

not at all like that which he had

hitherto spoken i was filled with wonder

that my father did not seem to perceive

the change

and also unspeakably curious to learn

what it could be that she was speaking

almost in his ear with so much

earnestness and rapidity

two or three minutes at most i think she

remained thus employed then she turned

and a few steps brought her

to where her daughter lay supported by

madame perez she kneeled beside her for

a moment and whispered as madame

supposed a little benediction in her ear

and hastily kissing her she stepped into

her carriage the door was closed the

footmen in stately liveries jumped up

behind

the outriders spurred on the pastillians

cracked their whips

the horses plunged and broke suddenly

into a furious counter that threatened

soon again to become a gallop

and the carriage whirled away followed

at the same rapid pace

but the two horsemen in the rear