"I
now
hasten
to
the
more
moving
part
of
my story. I
shall
relate
events
that
impressed
me
with
feelings which,
from
what
I had been,
have
made
me
what
I am. "Spring advanced rapidly;
the
weather
became
fine
and
the
skies
cloudless.
It
surprised
me
that
what
before
was
desert
and
gloomy
should
now
bloom
with
the
most
beautiful flowers
and
verdure. My senses
were
gratified
and
refreshed
by
a
thousand
scents
of
delight
and
a
thousand
sights
of
beauty. "It
was
on
one
of
these
days,
when
my cottagers periodically rested
from
labour—the
old
man
played
on
his
guitar,
and
the
children
listened
to
him—that I
observed
the
countenance
of
Felix
was
melancholy
beyond
expression;
he
sighed frequently,
and
once
his
father
paused
in
his
music,
and
I
conjectured
by
his
manner
that
he
inquired
the
cause
of
his
son's sorrow.
Felix
replied
in
a cheerful accent,
and
the
old
man
was
recommencing
his
music
when
someone
tapped
at
the
door. "It
was
a
lady
on
horseback, accompanied
by
a country-man
as
a guide.
The
lady
was
dressed
in
a dark suit
and
covered
with
a
thick
black
veil.
Agatha
asked
a question,
to
which
the
stranger
only
replied
by
pronouncing,
in
a
sweet
accent,
the
name
of
Felix.
Her
voice
was
musical
but
unlike
that
of
either
of
my friends.
On
hearing
this
word,
Felix
came
up
hastily
to
the
lady, who,
when
she
saw
him, threw
up
her
veil,
and
I beheld a countenance
of
angelic
beauty
and
expression.
Her
hair
of
a
shining
raven
black,
and
curiously
braided;
her
eyes
were
dark,
but
gentle, although animated;
her
features
of
a regular proportion,
and
her
complexion
wondrously
fair,
each
cheek
tinged
with
a
lovely
pink. "Felix
seemed
ravished
with
delight
when
he
saw
her,
every
trait
of
sorrow
vanished
from
his
face,
and
it
instantly expressed a
degree
of
ecstatic
joy,
of
which
I
could
hardly
have
believed
it
capable;
his
eyes
sparkled,
as
his
cheek
flushed
with
pleasure;
and
at
that
moment
I
thought
him
as
beautiful
as
the
stranger.
She
appeared
affected
by
different
feelings; wiping a
few
tears
from
her
lovely
eyes,
she
held
out
her
hand
to
Felix,
who
kissed
it
rapturously
and
called
her,
as
well
as
I
could
distinguish,
his
sweet
Arabian.
She
did
not
appear
to
understand
him,
but
smiled.
He
assisted
her
to
dismount,
and
dismissing
her
guide,
conducted
her
into
the
cottage.
Some
conversation
took
place
between
him
and
his
father,
and
the
young
stranger
knelt
at
the
old
man's feet
and
would
have
kissed
his
hand,
but
he
raised
her
and
embraced
her
affectionately. "I
soon
perceived
that
although
the
stranger
uttered
articulate
sounds
and
appeared
to
have
a
language
of
her
own,
she
was
neither
understood
by
nor
herself
understood
the
cottagers.
They
made
many
signs
which
I
did
not
comprehend,
but
I
saw
that
her
presence
diffused
gladness
through
the
cottage,
dispelling
their
sorrow
as
the
sun
dissipates
the
morning
mists.
Felix
seemed
peculiarly
happy
and
with
smiles
of
delight
welcomed
his
Arabian. Agatha,
the
ever-gentle Agatha,
kissed
the
hands
of
the
lovely
stranger,
and
pointing
to
her
brother,
made
signs
which
appeared
to
me
to
mean
that
he
had been
sorrowful
until
she
came.
Some
hours
passed
thus,
while
they,
by
their
countenances, expressed joy,
the
cause
of
which
I
did
not
comprehend. Presently I found,
by
the
frequent
recurrence
of
some
sound
which
the
stranger
repeated
after
them,
that
she
was
endeavouring
to
learn
their
language;
and
the
idea
instantly
occurred
to
me
that
I
should
make
use
of
the
same
instructions
to
the
same
end.
The
stranger
learned
about
twenty
words
at
the
first
lesson;
most
of
them, indeed,
were
those
which
I had
before
understood,
but
I
profited
by
the
others. "As
night
came on,
Agatha
and
the
Arabian retired early.
When
they
separated
Felix
kissed
the
hand
of
the
stranger
and
said, 'Good
night
sweet
Safie.'
He
sat
up
much
longer,
conversing
with
his
father,
and
by
the
frequent
repetition
of
her
name
I
conjectured
that
their
lovely
guest
was
the
subject
of
their
conversation. I
ardently
desired
to
understand
them,
and
bent
every
faculty
towards
that
purpose,
but
found
it
utterly
impossible. "The
next
morning
Felix
went
out
to
his
work,
and
after
the
usual
occupations
of
Agatha
were
finished,
the
Arabian sat
at
the
feet
of
the
old
man,
and
taking
his
guitar,
played
some
airs
so
entrancingly beautiful
that
they
at
once
drew
tears
of
sorrow
and
delight
from
my eyes.
She
sang,
and
her
voice flowed
in
a
rich
cadence,
swelling
or
dying
away
like
a
nightingale
of
the
woods. "When
she
had finished,
she
gave
the
guitar
to
Agatha,
who
at
first
declined
it.
She
played
a
simple
air,
and
her
voice accompanied
it
in
sweet
accents,
but
unlike
the
wondrous
strain
of
the
stranger.
The
old
man
appeared
enraptured
and
said
some
words
which
Agatha
endeavoured
to
explain
to
Safie,
and
by
which
he
appeared
to
wish
to
express
that
she
bestowed
on
him
the
greatest
delight
by
her
music. "The
days
now
passed
as
peaceably
as
before,
with
the
sole
alteration
that
joy
had taken
place
of
sadness
in
the
countenances
of
my friends. Safie
was
always
gay
and
happy;
she
and
I
improved
rapidly
in
the
knowledge
of
language,
so
that
in
two
months
I began
to
comprehend
most
of
the
words
uttered
by
my protectors. "In
the
meanwhile
also
the
black
ground
was
covered
with
herbage,
and
the
green
banks
interspersed
with
innumerable
flowers,
sweet
to
the
scent
and
the
eyes, stars
of
pale
radiance
among
the
moonlight woods;
the
sun
became warmer,
the
nights
clear
and
balmy;
and
my
nocturnal
rambles
were
an
extreme
pleasure
to
me, although
they
were
considerably
shortened
by
the
late
setting
and
early
rising
of
the
sun,
for
I
never
ventured
abroad
during
daylight, fearful
of
meeting
with
the
same
treatment I had
formerly
endured
in
the
first
village
which
I entered. "My
days
were
spent
in
close attention,
that
I
might
more
speedily
master
the
language;
and
I
may
boast
that
I
improved
more
rapidly
than
the
Arabian,
who
understood
very
little
and
conversed
in
broken
accents, whilst I
comprehended
and
could
imitate
almost
every
word
that
was
spoken. "While I
improved
in
speech, I
also
learned
the
science
of
letters
as
it
was
taught
to
the
stranger,
and
this
opened
before
me
a
wide
field
for
wonder
and
delight. "The
book
from
which
Felix
instructed
Safie
was
Volney's Ruins
of
Empires. I
should
not
have
understood
the
purport
of
this
book
had
not
Felix,
in
reading
it,
given
very
minute
explanations.
He
had chosen
this
work,
he
said,
because
the
declamatory
style
was
framed
in
imitation
of
the
Eastern
authors.
Through
this
work
I
obtained
a
cursory
knowledge
of
history
and
a view
of
the
several
empires
at
present
existing
in
the
world;
it
gave
me
an
insight
into
the
manners, governments,
and
religions
of
the
different
nations
of
the
earth. I
heard
of
the
slothful
Asiatics,
of
the
stupendous
genius
and
mental
activity
of
the
Grecians,
of
the
wars
and
wonderful
virtue
of
the
early
Romans—of
their
subsequent
degenerating—of
the
decline
of
that
mighty
empire,
of
chivalry, Christianity,
and
kings. I
heard
of
the
discovery
of
the
American
hemisphere
and
wept
with
Safie
over
the
hapless fate
of
its
original
inhabitants. "These
wonderful
narrations
inspired
me
with
strange
feelings.
Was
man, indeed,
at
once
so
powerful,
so
virtuous
and
magnificent,
yet
so
vicious
and
base?
He
appeared
at
one
time a
mere
scion
of
the
evil
principle
and
at
another
as
all
that
can
be
conceived
of
noble
and
godlike.
To
be
a
great
and
virtuous
man
appeared
the
highest
honour
that
can
befall
a
sensitive
being;
to
be
base
and
vicious,
as
many
on
record
have
been,
appeared
the
lowest degradation, a condition
more
abject
than
that
of
the
blind mole
or
harmless worm.
For
a
long
time I
could
not
conceive
how
one
man
could
go
forth
to
murder
his
fellow,
or
even
why
there
were
laws
and
governments;
but
when
I
heard
details
of
vice
and
bloodshed, my
wonder
ceased
and
I
turned
away
with
disgust
and
loathing. "Every
conversation
of
the
cottagers
now
opened
new
wonders
to
me.
While
I
listened
to
the
instructions
which
Felix
bestowed
upon
the
Arabian,
the
strange
system
of
human
society
was
explained
to
me. I
heard
of
the
division
of
property,
of
immense
wealth
and
squalid
poverty,
of
rank, descent,
and
noble
blood. "The
words
induced
me
to
turn
towards
myself. I learned
that
the
possessions
most
esteemed
by
your
fellow
creatures
were
high
and
unsullied
descent
united
with
riches. A
man
might
be
respected
with
only
one
of
these
advantages,
but
without
either
he
was
considered,
except
in
very
rare
instances,
as
a
vagabond
and
a slave, doomed
to
waste
his
powers
for
the
profits
of
the
chosen few!
And
what
was
I?
Of
my
creation
and
creator
I
was
absolutely
ignorant,
but
I
knew
that
I possessed
no
money,
no
friends,
no
kind
of
property. I was, besides,
endued
with
a
figure
hideously
deformed
and
loathsome; I
was
not
even
of
the
same
nature
as
man. I
was
more
agile
than
they
and
could
subsist
upon
coarser
diet; I bore
the
extremes
of
heat
and
cold
with
less
injury
to
my frame; my
stature
far
exceeded
theirs.
When
I
looked
around
I
saw
and
heard
of
none
like
me.
Was
I, then, a monster, a blot
upon
the
earth,
from
which
all
men fled
and
whom
all
men disowned? "I cannot
describe
to
you
the
agony
that
these
reflections
inflicted
upon
me; I tried
to
dispel
them,
but
sorrow
only
increased
with
knowledge. Oh,
that
I had forever
remained
in
my
native
wood,
nor
known
nor
felt
beyond
the
sensations
of
hunger, thirst,
and
heat! "Of
what
a
strange
nature
is
knowledge!
It
clings
to
the
mind
when
it
has
once
seized
on
it
like
a
lichen
on
the
rock. I
wished
sometimes
to
shake
off
all
thought
and
feeling,
but
I learned
that
there
was
but
one
means
to
overcome
the
sensation
of
pain,
and
that
was
death—a
state
which
I
feared
yet
did
not
understand. I
admired
virtue
and
good
feelings
and
loved
the
gentle
manners
and
amiable
qualities
of
my cottagers,
but
I
was
shut
out
from
intercourse
with
them,
except
through
means
which
I
obtained
by
stealth,
when
I
was
unseen
and
unknown,
and
which
rather
increased
than
satisfied
the
desire
I had
of
becoming
one
among
my fellows.
The
gentle
words
of
Agatha
and
the
animated
smiles
of
the
charming Arabian
were
not
for
me.
The
mild
exhortations
of
the
old
man
and
the
lively
conversation
of
the
loved
Felix
were
not
for
me. Miserable, unhappy wretch! "Other
lessons
were
impressed
upon
me
even
more
deeply. I
heard
of
the
difference
of
sexes,
and
the
birth
and
growth
of
children,
how
the
father
doted
on
the
smiles
of
the
infant,
and
the
lively
sallies
of
the
older child,
how
all
the
life
and
cares
of
the
mother
were
wrapped
up
in
the
precious charge,
how
the
mind
of
youth
expanded
and
gained
knowledge,
of
brother, sister,
and
all
the
various
relationships
which
bind
one
human
being
to
another
in
mutual bonds. "But
where
were
my
friends
and
relations?
No
father had
watched
my
infant
days,
no
mother had blessed
me
with
smiles
and
caresses;
or
if
they
had,
all
my past
life
was
now
a blot, a blind
vacancy
in
which
I distinguished nothing.
From
my earliest
remembrance
I had been
as
I
then
was
in
height
and
proportion. I had
never
yet
seen
a being
resembling
me
or
who
claimed
any
intercourse
with
me.
What
was
I?
The
question
again
recurred,
to
be
answered
only
with
groans. "I
will
soon
explain
to
what
these
feelings tended,
but
allow
me
now
to
return
to
the
cottagers,
whose
story
excited
in
me
such
various
feelings
of
indignation, delight,
and
wonder,
but
which
all
terminated
in
additional
love
and
reverence
for
my
protectors
(for
so
I loved,
in
an
innocent, half-painful self-deceit,
to
call
them)."