# Horrid Mysteries: a Story/Volume 3/Chapter 1

THE
HORRID MYSTERIES.
CHAPTER I.
Extract from Elmira's Papers.
I awoke, at length, from that long swoon, and found myself stretched out in a coffin. Some more of the receptacles of the wrecks of mortality stood near me, and the odour of corruption was the first thing that affected my senses. The spacious and lofty vault was sparingly lighted by the faint glimmer of a single lamp, that was suspended to the ceiling. Its dying flame plainly told me where I was. What mortal can conceive a just idea of the sensations produced by the first breaking from sleep under such circumstances; and who could be able to recal only a single sentiment of those that crowded on ​my mind, if he ever was so unfortunate to have experienced what I did? I did not know what I should do in that dreadful situation; whether I should call for assistance, or patiently await the event. The lamp was a certain proof that I was in a place not entirely deserted by human beings; and I felt no other painful sensation, but a great weakness, and relaxation of my bodily and mental faculties. Yet I was not suffered to remain long in a state of consultation with myself; the sound of different voices vibrating in my ears from a passage whose entrance the dying glimmer of the lamp enabled me to descry. I even could distinguish the expressions and the subject of their discourse. Some declaimed against Carlos's inhuman barbarity, and some censured me for my imprudence; but one person defended me, finding it very natural that a weak, lovesick, and inexperienced girl should have been taken in by an artful and experienced villain. The talkers, having carefully ​stopt a while at the entrance, came, at length, nearer, and appeared in the vault, exhibiting a large procession of compassionate faces of either sex. Some carried torches, some phials and glasses, and some garments and linen. The light, that now illuminated my horrid residence, enabling me to look around, I beheld myself enfolded in a cloud, and different vessels standing by my side.
"Loud rejoicings re-echoed through the vault when my visitors saw me sitting in the coffin; and they ran towards me to complete my resuscitation, carrying me out of the damp cavern to a lofty apartment, where I was put into a well aired bed. Decency bade my deliverers to retire, and only two females staid with me, to assist me in changing my dress, while I gradually was re-animated with a pleasing warmth, and recovered the full power of recollection.
"When they saw that I had entirely recovered my faculties, they congratulated ​me on my preservation, praising God for having made them instrumental in my restoration to life.
"Thank God, Countess," one of them began, "that you have been rescued from the cruel hands of that barbarian, and are now in the company of more humane beings!"
"From what cruel hands?" I replied, with astonishment.
"From those of your pretended lover, the Marquis Carlos of G******."
"Be silent, vile reptile," I exclaimed, "and dare not to asperse the name of a man whom I adore!"
"Don't put yourself into a passion, my Lady," she replied coolly: "You will be of our opinion before many days are elapsed. We are members of a society whose sole business it is to make the sufferer forget his sorrows, and to restore the unhappy to happiness. Indeed, Countess, we flattered ourselves to deserve, at least, your gratitude."
​"What could I have replied to the declaration of that woman in my situation? I was silent; and having taken a firm resolution to conceal all my ideas, I dissembled to rely implicitly on the candour of my pretended deliverers. It was but too evident in whose power I was; and what I had heard of that society on my wedding-day forced itself with additional strength on my recollection. Though I could not unfold the real purport of that incident, yet it was sufficient to ascertain to me the truth of my suspicions. If, therefore, it was possible to extricate myself from their snares, no other expedient was left than to pay them in their own coin, and to attempt to outwit them by a dissimulation superior to theirs. I began, therefore, to pretend being more susceptible of the ideas which they endeavoured to instil into my mind, and returned gradually from my gloomy reveries. I was, indeed, partial to solitude; however, it appeared to them to be favourable to their secret de​signs upon me; and the more the result of my contemplations seemed to make me uneasy, the less mistrust against their secret endeavours to encrease those distressing doubts did I display. I submitted, with an unaffected reluctance, more and more, to their attempts at diverting my mind, and to their exertions to restore me to happiness, as they pretended, and to return me to my family with an easier heart. A cheerful gaiety, which I kept in proper bounds, and strove to render as natural as possible, by an imposing varnish of truth, confirmed them in their belief of having gained upon my credulity; and I began to hope that I should find a favourable moment to give them the slip. I was not anxious to know the external circumstances of the confederates, thinking myself sufficiently happy if I could but escape their baneful breath.
"Mean time a number of fine ladies and gentlemen gathered around me. I was invited to accompany them on a noc​turnal excursion to a neighbouring castle, where I learnt, the next morning, that it was to be my future residence. The situation was, indeed, beautiful; the garden extensive and elegant; walking was, therefore, my chief occupation and amusement. Although I was never without company, or at least without such attendants as observed me from a distance, and the happy period of my elopement was probably not very near, yet I cheered myself up by numberless plans of accelerating it secretly.
"My keepers studied to amuse me by numberless little diversions. Rural feasts, the charm of selected parties; beautiful, winning females, and young, amiable men, were to accomplish, with the smiling assistance of the graces, during a constant round of pleasures, what had been devised and begun under circumstances of the most serious and awful complexion. Every one breathed a general and delicate desire of pleasing me, and of ​anticipating my wishes before they had time to ripen to maturity; and I cannot but confess, that they several times accomplished their designs as perfectly as they could wish. I returned involuntarily their kindness, as if enchanted. They succeeded to make me more unreserved; and if not the few hours, in which I was not in their company, had weakened the impressions of the rest, I should scarcely have been able to avoid an intoxication which would have ruined me for ever.
"Amongst the young men by whom I was surrounded, one distinguished himself particularly. He was of a most beautiful form, animated with a very dangerous fire, of polished manners, and an insinuating disposition, which rendered him pliable to all my wishes. He seemed to claim my favour in a more particular manner than the rest, depended entirely upon my looks, and was happy or unhappy as my humour changed. Never have the wiles of the most cunning seduction ​been applied in a more artful manner; all circumstances were in his favour: whatever the rest of the company said, supported and advanced his superiority; and being, in the sequel, convinced of the purity of his passion, by his indefatigable exertions to please me, I could not have avoided being caught in the snare at last, if not a trifling accident had rectified my opinion of him, and restored me to myself and to my plans.
"He had a little French dog; and I grew so foolishly fond of the animal, that I frequently hinted to him, it would give me the greatest pleasure if he would make me a present of it; yet he seemed not to be inclined to part with his little favourite. At length he promised me, one afternoon, to let me have it in the evening. I was walking sometime before the assembly hour in the boscage, and passing the entrance of a bower, saw him in it, seated on a bench, and occupied with his favourite, and concealed myself behind a ​thick hazel-bush. He tied a ribband round the neck of his little darling, and having finished the task, he could not refrain from kissing him, and uttering the words, "Poor Thonon! we must part: however, thou wilt always be dearer to me than what thou art to purchase for me."
"These words wounded my heart like a dagger; and my whole situation lay, at once, undisguised before my eyes. I was ready to faint; and could scarcely refrain from rushing forth, and letting him see an Elmira entirely different from that he had known till then. Yet rage and pain fortunately stifled my tears and sighs, and I arrived at my apartment without being seen by him.
"As soon as I had recovered my recollection, I saw plainly how necessary it was not to give up the part I had begun to act. I prevailed upon myself, after a hard struggle, to assume again the semblance of cheerfulness, and an air of tranquil resignation. The dog was presented to me, ​and received with an imposing pleasure: the donor expected, and demanded, at length, a reward for the sacrifice he had made to me; but being cautioned by what I had overheard, I found it pretty easy to evade his violent caresses and tender menaces.
"Thus some weeks more elapsed, and I could still not find out proper means of effecting my escape. The danger of a longer stay grew every day more pressing. I knew, however, neither the district in which the castle was situated, nor the neighbourhood, and was carefully guarded. At length I attempted, with a very small probability of success, what I, perhaps, under more favourable circumstances, never had dared to risk. At a feast, which was given on my account, and on which all eyes were directed at me, I got suddenly from my throne, on which I was to receive an approaching procession, upon a walnut-tree, and fortunately concealed ​myself between the thick branches till night promised to favour my flight!
"I descended from my asylum as soon as it was dark. A foot-path led me to a neighbouring village; and the darkness of night protected me on my retreat. Being animated with a more than common courage, I ventured to enter a cottage, exchanged my garments for a rural dress, dyed my face, and begged my way through the provinces of Spain and France to this peaceful spot. I lost, indeed, on my journey, a part of the jewels with which they had decorated me; yet I saved a sufficient quantity to purchase this little solitude, and to commence a little farm, which promised to afford me a frugal support for the remainder of my life?"