Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-10-27
FRAN NKENSTEIN
Dr.
TIE MODERN PRoMETHEUs.
BY MRS. M w. SHELLEY.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.


CHAPTER XIII.
My present situation was one in
which all voluntary thought was
. swallowed up and lost. l was hur-
ried away by fury; revenge alone
endowed me with strength and
composure; it modelled my feelings
and allowed me to be calculating
and calm, at periods when other
wise delirium or death would have
been my portion.
My first resolution was to quit
Geneva forever my country, which
when / was happy and beloved,
was dear to me, now in my advers-
ity, became hateful. / provided
myself with a sum of money, to-
| gether with a few jewels which had
belonged to my mother, and de-
parted.
And now my wanderings began,
which are to cease but with life. l
have traversed vast portion of the
earth, and have endured all the
hardships which travellers, in des
erts and barbarous countries, are
wont to meet. How / have lived |
hardly know; many times have
l stretched my failing limbs upon
the sandy plain, and prayed for
death. But revenge kept me alive;
| dared not die, and leave my ad-
versary in being.
When l quilted Geneva, my first
labor was to gain some clue by
which might trace the steps of my
fiendish enemy. But my plan Was
unsettled and wandered many
hours around the confines of the
town, uncertain what path / should
pursue. AS night approached, l
found mvself at the entrance of the
cemetary where William, Eliza
beth, and my father reposed. en-
tered it, and approached the tomb
which marked their graves. Every
thing was silent except the leaves of
the trees, which were gently agita-
ted by the wind the night was
nearly dark and the scene would
have been solemn and affecting even
to an uninterested observer. The
spirits of the departed seemed to
fit around, and to cast shadow,
which was felt, but seen not, around
the head of the mOurner.
The deep grief, which this scene
had at first excited, quickly gave
way to rage and dispair. They
were dead, and l lived; their MUIR
derer also lived, and to destroy
him [ must drag out my weary ex-
istence. | knelt on the grass, and
kissed the earth, and, with culver
ing lips, eXclailned,-"By the sa-
cred earth on which ! kneel by the
shades that wander near me, by the
deep and eternal grief that feel, /
swear; and by thee o Night, and
by the spirits that preside over
thee, swear to pursue the demon
who caused this misery, until he or
I shall perish in mortal conflict:
For this purpose will preserve my
life; to execute this dear revenge,
will | again behold the sun, and
tired the green herbage OF the earth,
which otherwise should vanish from
my eyes forever. AId call on you,
spirits of the dead; and on you
wandering ministers of vengeance,
to aid and conduct Inc in my work.
Let the cursed monster drink deep
of agony; let him feel the despair
that now tOrmentS me-"
L had begun my adjuration with
solemnity ,and an awe which almost
assured me that the shades of MUIR
dered friends heard and approved
nv devotion but the furies pos
seSsed me as l concluded, and rage
choked my utterance.
was answered through the still
ness of night by loud and tiendish
laugh. 1t rung on my ears long
and heavily; the mountains re-
echoed it, and I felt as if all hell
surrounded me with mockery and
laughter. Surely in that moment
I should have been possessed by
frenzy, and have destroyed my mis-
erable existence, but that my vow
was heared, and that | was reserv-
ed for vengeance. The laughter
died away; when well known
and abhorred voice apparently close
to my ear, addressed me in an au-
diable whisper,--'I am satisfied
miserable wretch you have de-
termined to live, and l am salts
fed"
Idarted toward the spot from
which the sound proceeded but
the devil eluded my grasp. Sudden
ly the broad disk of the moon arose
and shone full upon his ghastly and
distorted shape, as he fled with
more than mortal speed.
| pursued him; and for many
months this has been my task.
Guided by slight clue, followed
the Windlngs of the RhOne, but |
vainly. The blue Mediterranean APP
peared and, by strange chance,
/ saw the tiend enter by night, and |
hide himself in a vessel bound for |
the Black Sea. / took my passage
in the same ship; but he escaped,
l know not how.
Amid the wilds of Tartary and |
Russia, although he still evaded
me, [ have ever followed in his |
track. Sometimes the peasants, !
scared by this hOrrid apparitiOn, in
formed me of his path; sometimes
he himself, who feared that if lost |
trace should despair and die, Of
ten left some mark to guide me.
The SHOWS descended on my head,
and saw the print of his huge |
step on the white plain. To you
first entering on life, to whom care
is new, and agony unknown, how |
can you understand what have |
felt, and still feel? Cold, want and
fatigue were the least pains which |
/ was destined to endure; l was |
cursed by some devil, and carried
about with me my eternal hell; yet |
still spirit of good followed and
directed my steps, and, when L
most murmered, would suddenly |
extricate me from seemingly insur- |
mountable difficulties. Sometimes, |
when nature, overcome by hanger, |
sunk under the exhaustion, a repast |
was prepared for me in the desert,
that restored and inspirited me,
The fare was indeed coarse, such as
the peasants of the country ate; but |
I may not doubt that it was set |
there by the spirits that had in
voked to aid me. Often, when all |
was dry, the heavens cloudless, and
/ was parchcd by thirst, a slight |
cloud would bedim the sky, shed |
the few drops that revived me, and
vanished.
/ followed, when / could, the |
courses of the rivers but the de-
mon generally avoided these, as it
was here that the population of the
country chiefly collected. In other |
places human beings were seldom |
seen; and generally subsisted on
the wild animals that crossed my
path. / had money with me, and |
gained the friendship of the villiag-