The northern tribune. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1847-1855, 1847-12-13
THE LAW YER
Who Cost his Client Nothing.
A TALE.
BY SIR EDWARD BuLwER LYTroN, BART.
CONCLUDED


THAT quite satisfies me, If the contract is a
little more formal. On my part, undertake
to obtain thy acquitt al, to get thee back thy
treasure, to send thee safe home to Bettine.-
On thine, thou hast but to declare that thou
leavest to my disposal, now and for ever,
what remains of thee after thy DEATH
NO. said the soldier, "that goes to
Bettine, cannot make thee my heir"
= Fool,' replied the stranger, do not
seek to despol thy daughter. l ask only
that which thou canst not leave to her nor to
earth in word, that invisible and abstract
essence of which thou hast made precious
little use; and which the scholars will tell
thee to look for in a part of thy Uranium
which thou hast never heard Of in a word,
what remains of thee after life-thy soul p
:" Ha ]" said the soldier. recoiling with a
shudder. Then thou art the tempter against
whom the priests warn US. Avaunt, Satan
get thee behind mel spurn and spit upon
thee
" Tut" said the stranger, calmly, I" If l
were not fond of doing things in a legal and
businesslike manner, should leave thee to
hang sure that l shall have all the same,
with bond or without. Hast thou not COM
mitted sins enough to mortage score of souls
more precious than thinei Reflect, since the
age OF seventeen to forty eight hast thou not
been engaged in blood-shed and rapine p
Recollect all the Threats thou hast cut, the
towns thou hast fred, the houses thou hast
sacked"
% In the fair way of my trade as soldier"
said kaspar; my captain must pay for me
if am wrong-go to him"
"And is it thy captain who is to blame for
that little affair in Moldavia, when thou didst
, get drunk upon the risdales Of the church ;
Is the captain to blame for that stab in the
dark thou gavest, twenty years ago, to thy
rival, for an innocent kiss to the mother OF
Bettine: or for the share thou hadst but last
winter in stopping the fat beeves that belong
ed to the holy convent of Igguldstadt? Muir
der and sacrilege, pretty tribes, l trow Add
to these, all the prayers thou hast forgotten |;
the promises thou hast never fulfilled the
rosaries thou hast not counted the stripes
thon hast not inflicted upon hide tough
enough, by my hoofs, to have borne them
unfinehing. Recall thy drinkings and thy
gamblings, thy quarrels and thy leasings,
thine oaths and thy cheats Let them pass
before thee one by one, while speak-Ho,
soldier; no, sinner; dost thou think that if
thou diest tomorrow, thy soul can escape
me r
While the tempter thus said, a gloom of in
tense horror and despair settled upon the
mind of poor Kaspar Karnerach. Verify and
indeed, one by one, all his sins rose before
him like visible things; the dread phantasma-
goria OF the past succeeded each other like
shapes in the magic lantern.
The demon continued, "Kaspar, is the
bargain so hard am l as bad as they paint
me: DO not offer thee terms too advanta-
geous for rascal like thee to reject? Instead
OF dying tomorrow, thou shalt live out thy
natural term, peaceful and merry. will not
claim thee these forty years. Thou shall be
fourscore and eight before Itap at thy door
Perhaps thou doubtest still that thy sentence
will pass. Look, and listen."
And straight the walls of the dungeon re-
coded, and Kaspar saw the judge and the inn
keeper closeted together, and heard the judge
say distinctly, "Set thy mind at ease, brother
mine, it shall be more than ear for an ear.
The cursed soldier shall hang on the linden
before thy door, and the crows shall pick out
his eyes,"
10 the orbs thus unfeelingly menaced
Kaspar clapped his hands in dismay, and the
vision was gone. His despair was too great
for his courage, much as that had been proved.
"Well," said he, at last, "before can de-
eide, l ask one condition at least. You can
conjure the absent before me, it seems. Let
me see Bettine once more just as she is now
let me fancy kiss her in sleep"
The demon interrupted the father with a
laugh full OF irony and scorn. He represent
ed the absurdity of such a sentiment in a
rogue SO abandoned. He argued and sneered;
he pooh-poohed, and tut-tutted. But the
soldier was naturally obstinate, and he grew
the more logged to insist, the more the tiend
was reluctant to concede At last, evidently
seeing that unless he complied he should lose
all the advantage he had gained, the tempter,
with considerable repugnance, yielded the
point. But mark" said he, 1T can be but
the hundredth part of moment See this
nail that draw from thy morton. Only for
the space of time that elapses while the nail
drops from my hand to the floor, canst thou
see thy Bettine. Look thy best"