The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-05-09

che, that you have been guled, and that
you have fallen into trap have long laid
| for you | thought that your impudence
and rashness must at some time or other
yield you into my hands, and that all the
pains / have taken with you could not be
thrown away. Once was as you are;
now it is my business TO make such as you
are what am. Your prohigacy and your
audacity have made you an easy prey to-
me; and you have this night, by dabbling
in forbidden, and, as you would call them,
unholy things, sealed my power over you.
| Still would rather be your friend than
your foe; and if you will give yourself up
to me voluntarily, will secure TO you all
the happiness that, in your widest mo
ments, you ever dreamed OF. Refuse this,
and it shall be my business to poison every
moment of your life-tO drive you to des-
pair and to death by torments at which
you cannot even gress. How say you"
Leopold was Supplied The hesh por-
ton he had drunk had bewildered his SEN
ses; the events OF the night-the horror
which the open avowal OF Schwartzwald,
or the demon, as he now seemed to be
had shaken his reason to IFS very centre.
He knew not how TO reply: he looked
round, and saw that the two supposed girls
were as old and ugly as Alice; and they all
three now stood together in group, with
their sunken glazed eyes fixed upon him,
waiting TO know whether they should hail
him as a brother or not. He gasped for
breath, and, putting his hand to his neck,
he opened his collar. AS he did this, he
felt small Grass, which his mother, who
was very pious, but superstitious woman,
had caused to be made from an unquestion-
able relic of ST Anthony's staff, and which
she believed was a never-failing preserva
tive against witchcrat and evil spirits
Upon this occasion it brought back to Leo
pold's recollection subjects which he had
but too long neglected He thought Of his
mother-of the care she had taken in train
ing his infancy TO pous habits; he remem-
bered the satisfied he had once taken in
the practices of devotion, and a ray broke
in at once upon the dark despair that had
begun to overspread his heart. He grasp
ed the cross; his courage revived; and with
a great effort he said to Schwartzwaid, In
the name of heaven, and ofNthe God of
heaven, defy thee!'
A loud scream burst from the bags, and
Schwartzwald advanced to him with a
Threatening gesture. Leopold drew his
sword, and made fierce lunge at him.
The sword glanced off his breast; and the
captain, or, as he should now be more prop
erly called, the demon, seized Leopold by
the throat. The youth felt his strength
was unavaiing; he struggled, but it was in
vain; he fell. and saw the eyes of the de-
mon glare exultiugly over him. The pow
err of sensation forsook him; he believed he
was diving, and uttered groan, with
which, as he imagined, his spirit departed
from him.
On the following morning some peasants,
going to their work, found what they took
at first to be the corpse of man lying
4 near the town-wall. They carried it into
the city, and, medical aid being procured,
the body was found still to possess anIna-
ton. Proper remedies were applied, and
the sufferer recovered lie was soon rec
ognised to be Leopold; and, some of his
companions hearing of the affair, he was
carried by their direction TO his rooms,
where he was placed under the care Of the
persons who usually attended him.
He gradually recovered, and, when he
was well enough to reply to questions, he
was eagerly importuned by his friends to
tell them the particulars of the adventure
which had brought him into the situation
in which he had been found. Before he
attempted any explanation, he inquired
/ after Schwartzwald. He was told that the
captain had disappeared ever since All-hal-
lows Night; and that, from the time they
had Quilted the town together, no tidings
had been heard respecting him.
Leopold could not make up his mind to
detail all the circumstances of the horrible
night he had spent in Alice's hovel; but as
his companions were entitled to some por-
ton, al least, of his confidence, he told them
that he had accompanied Schwartzwald
;iiither, where he had seen sights OF the
most dreadful kind and which il would be
so painful to describe, that he must be ex-
cused from attempting to do so.
| His friends were, of course, not satisfied
with this account; but they saw from his
manner that they had no more to expect
from him, and they ceased their iinportu-
mites. AS, however, might have been ex-
pected, they did not keep their suspicious
secret; and, their ignorance OF the real facts
exaggerating the wrong notions they had
formed, they whispered about that Leo
pold had been dealing with the devil, and
that he had Jared the worst in the business.
1t soon got wind, and the young gentle
mans reputation was torn to pieces among
the malignant and curious people with
whom the university abounded.
+ By slow degrees Leopold recovered his
health, but the tranquility and self-poxses-
sion, which even his excuses had not be- !
fore been able TO disturb, seemed now TO
have fled forever. He was not i'll; but |
heavy weight hung upon his mind and pre-
vented him from enjoying any ofthe amuse-
ments which had formerly given him SO
much delight. His courage, and the fiery
temper of his mind, were still unsubdued;
he locked back upon the eventsofthe dread
FIJI All-hnllows Eight with horror. but not I