Category: Novels

The Devil's Elixir, Vol. 2 (of 2)

Who is there, over the wide world, who has not, at one period or another, in a more or less degree, felt the mysterious influences of love?--Whoever thou art, then, courteous reader, who shalt, after the lapse of years, turn over these papers, recall, I beseech you, to recolle...

Chapters

12. CHAPTER XII.

At last I had taken leave of the charitable brethren, and set out as a pilgrim on that high road, which I was told was the proper route to the great city. Notwithstanding that m...

22. CHAPTER XXII.

The vow was now pronounced, and during that part of the service consisting of question and response, sung by the nuns of St Clare, the veil was to be laid on Aurelia. Already th...

5. CHAPTER V.

The faint gleams of daylight had long since made their way through the gloom of my wretched prison, when at last the gaoler made his appearance with a train of attendants, who c...

4. CHAPTER IV.

Every word uttered by this judge had penetrated to my very heart, and I was unable to subdue my vehement agitation. All the fictions that I had invented seemed to me utterly abs...

3. CHAPTER III.

I was then led back to my prison. My bed, as before mentioned, had been removed, and a straw mattress in its stead laid on the ground. The table was firmly screwed down, and, in...

2. CHAPTER II.

As if hunted by a thousand devils and furies, I ran away homewards through the park--I shut myself up in my lodgings, and gnashing my teeth with rage and despair, threw myself o...

9. CHAPTER IX.

Repeatedly, and with the greatest attention, I read over this letter of Aurelia, especially the latter pages, in which there was obviously displayed so much of true piety and co...

13. CHAPTER XIII.

After mature reflection, I have judged it superfluous to transcribe in this place the parchment book of the old and supernatural painter; though I might be tempted to do so by t...

10. CHAPTER X.

Methought the air in which I breathed had a mildness and fragrance such as now I had never known; but, as yet, I was labouring under the influence of a deep and morbid slumber....

8. CHAPTER VIII.

"My dear kind Mother--How shall I find adequate words to announce to you that your daughter is fortunate and happy--that at length the horrid spectre is banished, whose terrific...

1. CHAPTER I.

Who is there, over the wide world, who has not, at one period or another, in a more or less degree, felt the mysterious influences of love?--Whoever thou art, then, courteous re...

6. CHAPTER VI.

The delightful season of spring had now once more returned. Every morning the birds serenaded me at the window of my lodgings, which were in a garden-house, near a street called...

19. CHAPTER XIX.

After a few days more of restless walking, it was with a beating heart, and eyes swimming in tears, that I once more beheld the well-known towers of the Cistertian Monastery, an...

16. CHAPTER XVI.

It was already night when I heard the gate-bell of the convent forcibly rung. Soon after, the brother who officiated as porter, came into my cell and told me there was a strange...

11. CHAPTER XI.

"It is, indeed, quite true," said the monk, "this man brought you hither about three months and a half ago. He had, according to his own account, found you in the Lovanian fores...

21. CHAPTER XXI.

The agitation which I felt at these words was indeed indescribable. As if struck by a thunderbolt, I had almost fallen to the ground, and could make no answer. Hereupon the Prio...

15. CHAPTER XV.

The fame of my sanctity had now spread in such a manner abroad, that when I allowed myself to be seen in the streets of Rome, there were passengers who begged me for a moment to...

14. CHAPTER XIV.

Already two days and two nights had Francesco passed in a state of raging delirium. On the third day, when he, as if petrified, and motionless like a statue, was standing before...

20. CHAPTER XX.

"You are sincere, Medardus," said the Prior; "your silence on this point is to me better than the most fervid eloquence. I felt the most perfect conviction that it was you only...

18. CHAPTER XVIII.

I determined to avoid the _residenz_ of the Prince; not because I was afraid to be recognized and punished, but because I could not bear to look on the scene of my horrible offe...

7. CHAPTER VII.

Aurelia my wife!--the wife of a perjured and apostate monk! It may seem incredible that my mind could undergo so many changes; but it is nevertheless true, that though this idea...

17. CHAPTER XVII.

I was again brought into the carriage, which, to my surprise, was now empty; and they drove me rapidly away. The terrors of the night--the violent excitement which I had undergo...

23. CHAPTER XXIII.

In the night of the 3d-4th September, in this year 17--, much that is worthy of being recorded has happened in our monastery. It might be about midnight, when, in the cell of Br...