The Castle of Otranto [50]
"Oh! my child! my child!" said Hippolita in a flood of tears, "can I not withhold thee a moment?"
"It will not be," said Matilda; "commend me to heaven - Where is my father? forgive him, dearest mother - forgive him my death; it was an error. Oh! I had forgotten - dearest mother, I vowed never to see Theodore more - perhaps that has drawn down this calamity - but it was not intentional - can you pardon me?"
"Oh! wound not my agonising soul!" said Hippolita; "thou never couldst offend me - Alas! she faints! help! help!"
"I would say something more," said Matilda, struggling, "but it cannot be - Isabella - Theodore - for my sake - Oh! - " she expired.
Isabella and her women tore Hippolita from the corse; but Theodore threatened destruction to all who attempted to remove him from it. He printed a thousand kisses on her clay-cold hands, and uttered every expression that despairing love could dictate.
Isabella, in the meantime, was accompanying the afflicted Hippolita to her apartment; but, in the middle of the court, they were met by Manfred, who, distracted with his own thoughts, and anxious once more to behold his daughter, was advancing to the chamber where she lay. As the moon was now at its height, he read in the countenances of this unhappy company the event he dreaded.
"What! is she dead?" cried he in wild confusion. A clap of thunder at that instant shook the castle to its foundations; the earth rocked, and the clank of more than mortal armour was heard behind. Frederic and Jerome thought the last day was at hand. The latter, forcing Theodore along with them, rushed into the court. The moment Theodore appeared, the walls of the castle behind Manfred were thrown down with a mighty force, and the form of Alfonso, dilated to an immense magnitude, appeared in the centre of the ruins.
"Behold in Theodore the true heir of Alfonso!" said the vision: And having pronounced those words, accompanied by a clap of thunder, it ascended solemnly towards heaven, where the clouds parting asunder, the form of St. Nicholas was seen, and receiving Alfonso's shade, they were soon wrapt from mortal eyes in a blaze of glory.
The beholders fell prostrate on their faces, acknowledging the divine will. The first that broke silence was Hippolita.
"My Lord," said she to the desponding Manfred, "behold the vanity of human greatness! Conrad is gone! Matilda is no more! In Theodore we view the true Prince of Otranto. By what miracle he is so I know not - suffice it to us, our doom is pronounced! shall we not, can we but dedicate the few deplorable hours we have to live, in deprecating the further wrath of heaven? heaven ejects us - whither can we fly, but to yon holy cells that yet offer us a retreat."
"Thou guiltless but unhappy woman! unhappy by my crimes!" replied Manfred, "my heart at last is open to thy devout admonitions. Oh! could - but it cannot be - ye are lost in wonder - let me at last do justice on myself! To heap shame on my own head is all the satisfaction I have left to offer to offended heaven. My story has drawn down these judgments: Let my confession atone - but, ah! what can atone for usurpation and a murdered child? a child murdered in a consecrated place? List, sirs, and may this bloody record be a warning to future tyrants!"
"Alfonso, ye all know, died in the Holy Land - ye would interrupt me; ye would say he came not fairly to his end - it is most true - why else this bitter cup which Manfred must drink to the dregs. Ricardo, my grandfather, was his chamberlain - I would draw a veil over my ancestor's crimes - but it is in vain! Alfonso died by poison. A fictitious will declared Ricardo his heir. His crimes pursued him - yet he lost no Conrad, no Matilda! I pay the price of usurpation for all! A storm overtook him. Haunted by his guilt he vowed to St. Nicholas to found a church and two convents, if he lived to reach Otranto. The sacrifice was accepted: the saint appeared to him in a dream, and promised that Ricardo's