Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf Part 36

Fernand stood with fascinated gaze fixed upon the being whose eyes seemed to glare with subdued lightnings, like those of the basilisk.

There was something awful in that form--something wildly and menacingly sinister in the sardonic smile that curled his lips as if with ineffable contempt, and with the consciousness of his own power!

"Wagner!" he said, at length breaking silence, and speaking in a deep sonorous voice, which reverberated even in that narrow dungeon like the solemn tone of the organ echoing amidst cloistral roofs: "Wagner, knowest thou who the being is that now addresseth thee?"

"I can conjecture," answered Fernand, boldly. "Thou art the Power of Darkness."

"So men call me," returned the demon, with a scornful laugh, "Yes--I am he whose delight it is to spread desolation over a fertile and beautiful earth--he, whose eternal enmity against man is the fruitful source of so much evil! But of all the disciples who have ever yet aided me in my hostile designs on the human race, none was so serviceable as Faust--that Count of Aurana, whose portrait thou hast so well delineated, and which now graces the wall of thy late dwelling."

"Would that I had never known him!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Wagner fervently.

"On the contrary," resumed the demon; "thou should'st be thankful that in the wild wanderings of his latter years he stopped at thy humble cottage in the Black Forest of Germany. Important to thee were the results of that visit--and still more important may they become!"

"Explain thyself, fiend!" said Wagner, nothing dismayed.

"Thou wast tottering with age--hovering on the brink of the tomb--suspended to a thread which the finger of a child might have snapped," continued the demon; "and in one short hour thou wast restored to youth, vigor, and beauty."

"And by how dreadful a penalty was that renovated existence purchased!"

exclaimed Wagner.

"Hast thou not been taught by experience that no human happiness can be complete?--that worldly felicity must ever contain within itself some element of misery and distress?" demanded the fiend. "Reflect--and be just! Thou art once more young--and thy tenure of life will last until that age at which thou would'st have perished, had no superhuman power intervened to grant thee a new lease of existence! Nor is a long life the only boon conferred upon thee hitherto. Boundless wealth is ever at thy command; the floor of this dungeon would be strewed with gold, and jewels, and precious stones, at thy bidding--as thou well knowest!

Moreover, thou wast ignorant--illiterate--uninformed: now all the sources of knowledge--all the springs of learning--all the fountains of science and art, are at thy disposal, and with whose waters thou canst slake the thirst of thine intellect. Endowed with a youthfulness and a vigor of form that will yield not to the weight of years--that will defy the pressure of time--and that no malady can impair,--possessed of wealth having no limit,--and enriched with a mind so stored with knowledge that the greatest sage is as a child in comparison with thee,--how darest thou complain or repent of the compact which has given to thee all these, though a.s.sociated with the destiny of a Wehr-Wolf?"

"It is of this fatal--this terrible destiny that I complain and that I repent," answered Wagner. "Still do I admit that the advantages which I have obtained by embracing that destiny are great."

"And may be far greater!" added the demon, impressively. "Handsome, intelligent, and rich--all that thou dost require is power!"

"Yes," exclaimed Wagner, eagerly--and now manifesting, for the first time since the appearance of the fiend in his cell, any particular emotion: "I have need of _power!_--power to avert those evils into which my sad destiny may plunge me,--power to dominate instead of being subject to the opinions of mankind,--power to prove my complete innocence of the dreadful crime now imputed to me,--power to maintain an untarnished reputation, to which I cling most lovingly,--power, too," he added in a slower and also a more subdued tone--"power to restore the lost faculties of hearing and speech to her whom I love."

Strange was the smile that curled the demon's lips as Wagner breathed these last words.

"You require power--power almost without limit," said the fiend, after a few moments' pause; "and that aim is within thy reach. Handsome, intelligent, and rich," he continued, dwelling on each word with marked emphasis, "how happy may'st thou be when possessed of the power to render available, in all their glorious extent, the gifts--the qualities wherewith thou art already endowed! When in the service of Faust--during those eighteen months which expired at the hour of sunset on the thirtieth of July, 1517----"

"Alas!" cried Wagner, his countenance expressing emotions of indescribable horror; "remind me not of that man's fate! Oh!

never--never can I forget the mental agony--the profound and soul-felt anguish which he experienced, and which he strove not to conceal, when at the gate of Vienna on that evening he bade me farewell--forever."

"But thou wast happy--supremely happy in his service," said the demon; "and thou didst enjoy a fair opportunity of appreciating the value of the power which he possessed. By his superhuman aid wast thou transported from clime to clime--as rapidly as thought is transfused by the interchange of lovers' glances; and in that varied, bustling, busied life wast thou supremely happy. The people of Europe spoke of that western world, the discovery of which recently rewarded the daring venture of great navigators; and you were desirous to behold that new continent. Your master repeated the wish; and by my invisible agency, ye stood in a few moments in the presence of the red men of North America.

Again--you accompanied your master to the eternal ice of the northern pole, and from the doorway of the Esquimaux hut he beheld the wondrous play of the boreal lights. On a third occasion, and in obedience to your wish, you stood with your master in the Island of Ceylon, where the first scene that presented itself to your view was an occurrence which, though terrible, is not uncommon in that reptile-infested clime.

Afterward, my power--although its active agency was but partially known to you--transported you and the count your master--_now my victim_--to the fantastic and interesting scenes of China--then to the court of the wife-slaying tyrant of England, and subsequently to the most sacred privacy of the imperial palace at Constantinople. How varied have been thy travels!--how rapid thy movements. And that the scenes which thine eyes did thus contemplate made a profound impression upon thy mind is proved by the pictures now hanging to the walls of thy late dwelling."

"But wherefore this recapitulation of everything I know so well already?" asked Wagner.

"To remind thee of the advantages of that power which Faust, thy master, possessed, and which ceased to be available to thee when the term of his compact with myself arrived. Yes," continued the demon emphatically, "the powers which he possessed may be possessed by thee--and thou may'st, with a single word, at once and forever shake off the trammels of thy present doom--the doom of a Wehr-Wolf!"

"Oh! to shake off those trammels, were indeed a boon to be desired!"

exclaimed Wagner.

"And to possess the power to gratify thy slightest whim," resumed the demon, "to possess the power to transport thyself at will to any clime, however distant--to be able to defy the machinations of men and the combination of adverse circ.u.mstances, such as have plunged thee into this dungeon--to be able, likewise, to say to thy beloved Nisida, 'Receive back the faculties which thou hast lost----'"

And again was the smile sinister and strange that played upon the lips of the demon. But Wagner noticed it not. His imagination was excited by the subtle discourse to which he had lent so ready an ear.

"And hast _thou_ the power," he cried impatiently, "to render me thus powerful?"

"I have," answered the demon.

"But the terms--the conditions--the compact!" exclaimed Wagner, in feverish haste, though with foreboding apprehension.

"THINE IMMORTAL SOUL!" responded the fiend, in a low but sonorous and horrifying whisper.

"No--no!" shrieked Wagner, covering his face with his hands. "Avaunt, Satan, I defy thee! Ten thousand, thousand times preferable is the doom of the Wehr-Wolf, appalling even though that be!" With folded arms and scornful countenance, did the demon stand gazing upon Wagner, by the light of the supernatural l.u.s.ter which filled the cell.

"Dost thou doubt my power?" he demanded, in a slow and imperious tone.

"If so, put it to the test, unbelieving mortal that thou art! But remember--should'st thou require evidence of that power which I propose to make available to thee, it must not be to give thee liberty, nor aught that may enhance thy interest."

"And any other evidence thou wilt give me?" asked Wagner, a sudden idea striking him.

"Yes," answered the demon, who doubtless divined his thoughts, for again did a scornful smile play upon his lips. "I will convince thee, by any manifestation thou may'st demand, subject to the condition ere now named, I will convince thee that I am he whose power was placed at the disposal of thy late master, Faust, and by means of which thou wast transported, along with him, to every climate on the earth."

"I will name my wish," said Wagner.

"Speak!" cried the fiend.

"Show me the Lady Nisida as she now is," exclaimed Fernand, his heart beating with the hope of beholding her whom he loved so devotedly; for, with all the jealousy of a lover, was he anxious to convince himself that she was thinking of him.

"Ah! 'tis the same as with Faust and his Theresa," murmured the demon to himself; then aloud he said, "Rather ask me to show you the Lady Nisida as she will appear four days hence."

"Be it so!" cried Wagner, moved by the mysterious warning those words appeared to convey.

The demon extended his arm, and chanted in deep, sonorous tones, the following incantation:

"Ye powers of darkness who obey Eternally my potent sway, List to thy sovereign master's call!

Transparent make this dungeon wall; And now annihilated be The s.p.a.ce 'twixt Florence and the sea!

Let the bright l.u.s.ter of the morn In golden glory steep Leghorn; Show where the dancing wavelets sport Round the gay vessels in the port, Those ships whose gilded lanterns gleam In the warm sun's refulgent beam; And whose broad pennants kiss the gale, Woo'd also by the spreading sail!-- Now let this mortal's vision mark Amidst that scene the corsair's bark, Clearing the port with swan-like pride; Transparent make the black hull's side, And show the curtain'd cabin, where Of earth's fair daughters the most fair-- Sits like an image of despair, Mortal, behold! thy Nisida is there!"

The strange phantasmagorian spectacle rapidly developed itself in obedience to the commands of the demon.

First, it appeared to Wagner that the supernatural l.u.s.ter which pervaded the dungeon, gathered like a curtain on one side and occupied the place of the wall. This wondrous light became transparent, like a thin golden mist; and then the distant city of Leghorn appeared--producing an effect similar to that of the dissolving views now familiar to every one. The morning sun shone brightly on the fair scene; and a forest of masts stood out in bold relief against the western sky. The gilded lanterns on the p.o.o.ps of the vessels--the flags and streamers of various hues--the white sails of those ships that were preparing for sea--and the richly painted pinnaces that were shooting along in the channel between the larger craft rendered the scene surpa.s.singly gay and beautiful.

But amidst the shipping, Wagner's eyes were suddenly attracted by a large galley, with three masts--looking most rakish with its snow-white sail, its tapering spars, its large red streamer, and its low, long, and gracefully sweeping hull, which was painted jet black. On its deck were six pieces of bra.s.s ordnance; and stands of fire-arms were ranged round the lower parts of the masts.

Altogether, the appearance of that vessel was as suspicious and menacing as it was gallant and graceful; and from the incantation of the demon, Wagner gleaned its real nature.

And now--as that corsair-ship moved slowly out of the port of Leghorn--its black side suddenly seemed to open, or at least to become transparent; and the interior of a handsomely fitted up cabin was revealed.

Fernand's heart had already sunk within him through foreboding apprehension; but now an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of mingled rage and grief burst from his lips, when, on a sofa in that cabin, he beheld his loved--his dearly loved Nisida, seated "like an image of despair," motionless and still, as if all the energies of her haughty soul, all the powers of her strong mind had been suddenly paralyzed by the weight of misfortune!

Wagner stood gazing--unable to utter another word beyond that one e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of mingled rage and grief--gazing--gazing, himself a kindred image of despair, upon this mysterious and unaccountable scene.

But gradually the interior of the cabin grew more and more indistinct, until it was again completely shut in by the black side of the harbor--her dark hull disappearing by degrees, and melting away in the distance. Wagner dashed his open palm against his forehead, exclaiming, "Oh! Nisida--Nisida! who hath torn thee from me!"