The Monk - Matthew Gregory Lewis [192]
Terrified at an apparition so different from what he had expected, Ambrosio remained gazing upon the fiend, deprived of the power of utterance. The thunder had ceased to roll: universal silence reigned through the dungeon.
“For what am I summoned hither?” said the dæmon, in a voice which sulphurous fogs had damped to hoarseness.
At the sound Nature seemed to tremble. A violent earthquake rocked the ground, accompanied by a fresh burst of thunder, louder and more appalling than the first.
Ambrosio was long unable to answer the dæmon’s demand.
“I am condemned to die,” he said with a faint voice, his blood running cold while he gazed upon his dreadful visitor. “Save me! bear me from hence!”
“Shall the reward of my services be paid me? Dare you embrace my cause? Will you be mine, body and soul? Are you prepared to renounce him who made you, and him who died for you? Answer but ‘Yes!’ and Lucifer is your slave.”
“Will no less price content you? Can nothing satisfy you but my eternal ruin? Spirit, you ask too much. Yet convey me from this dungeon. Be my servant for one hour, and I will be yours for a thousand years. Will not this offer suffice?”
“It will not. I must have your soul: must have it mine, and mine for ever.”
“Insatiate dæmon! I will not doom myself to endless torments. I will not give up my hopes of being one day pardoned.”
“You will not? On what chimœra rest then your hopes? Shortsighted mortal! Miserable wretch! Are you not guilty? Are you not infamous in the eyes of men and angels? Can such enormous sins be forgiven? Hope you to escape my power? Your fate is already pronounced. The Eternal has abandoned you. Mine you are marked in the book of destiny, and mine you must and shall be.”
“Fiend! ’Tis false. Infinite is the Almighty’s mercy, and the penitent shall meet his forgiveness. My crimes are monstrous, but I will not despair of pardon. Haply, when they have received due chastisement——”
“Chastisement? Was purgatory meant for guilt like yours? Hope you, that your offences shall be bought off by prayers of superstitious dotards and droning monks? Ambrosio! be wise. Mine you must be. You are doomed to flames, but may shun them for the present. Sign this parchment: I will bear you from hence, and you may pass your remaining years in bliss and liberty. Enjoy your existence. Indulge in every pleasure to which appetite may lead you. But from the moment that it quits your body, remember that your soul belongs to me, and that I will not be defrauded of my right.”
The monk was silent: but his looks declared that the tempter’s words were not thrown away. He reflected on the conditions proposed with horror. On the other hand, he believed himself doomed to perdition, and that, by refusing the dæmon’s succour, he only hastened tortures which he never could escape. The fiend saw that his resolution was shaken. He renewed his instances, and endeavoured to fix the abbot’s indecision. He described the agonies of death in the most terrific colours; and he worked so powerfully upon Ambrosio’s despair and fears, that he prevailed upon him to receive the parchment. He then struck the iron pen which he held into a vein of the monk’s left hand. It pierced deep, and was instantly filled with blood: yet Ambrosio felt no pain from the wound. The pen was put into his hand: it trembled. The wretch placed the parchment on the table before him, and prepared to sign it. Suddenly he held his hand: he started away hastily, and threw the pen upon the table.
“What am I doing?” he cried. Then turning to the fiend with a desperate air, “Leave me! begone! I will not sign the parchment.”
“Fool!” exclaimed the disappointed dæmon,