The
being finished
speaking
and
fixed
his
looks
upon
me
in
the
expectation
of
a reply.
But
I
was
bewildered, perplexed,
and
unable
to
arrange
my
ideas
sufficiently
to
understand
the
full
extent
of
his
proposition.
He
continued, "You
must
create
a
female
for
me
with
whom
I
can
live
in
the
interchange
of
those
sympathies
necessary
for
my being.
This
you
alone
can
do,
and
I
demand
it
of
you
as
a
right
which
you
must
not
refuse
to
concede."
The
latter
part
of
his
tale
had
kindled
anew
in
me
the
anger
that
had
died
away
while
he
narrated
his
peaceful
life
among
the
cottagers,
and
as
he
said
this
I
could
no
longer
suppress
the
rage
that
burned
within
me. "I
do
refuse
it," I replied; "and
no
torture
shall
ever
extort
a
consent
from
me.
You
may
render
me
the
most
miserable
of
men,
but
you
shall
never
make
me
base
in
my
own
eyes.
Shall
I
create
another
like
yourself,
whose
joint
wickedness
might
desolate
the
world. Begone! I
have
answered
you;
you
may
torture me,
but
I
will
never
consent." "You
are
in
the
wrong," replied
the
fiend; "and
instead
of
threatening, I
am
content
to
reason
with
you. I
am
malicious
because
I
am
miserable.
Am
I
not
shunned
and
hated
by
all
mankind? You, my creator,
would
tear
me
to
pieces
and
triumph;
remember
that,
and
tell
me
why
I
should
pity
man
more
than
he
pities
me?
You
would
not
call
it
murder
if
you
could
precipitate
me
into
one
of
those
ice-rifts
and
destroy
my frame,
the
work
of
your
own
hands.
Shall
I
respect
man
when
he
condemns
me?
Let
him
live
with
me
in
the
interchange
of
kindness,
and
instead
of
injury
I
would
bestow
every
benefit
upon
him
with
tears
of
gratitude
at
his
acceptance.
But
that
cannot be;
the
human
senses
are
insurmountable
barriers
to
our
union.
Yet
mine
shall
not
be
the
submission
of
abject
slavery. I
will
revenge
my injuries;
if
I cannot
inspire
love, I
will
cause
fear,
and
chiefly
towards
you
my arch-enemy,
because
my creator,
do
I
swear
inextinguishable hatred.
Have
a care; I
will
work
at
your
destruction,
nor
finish
until
I desolate
your
heart,
so
that
you
shall
curse
the
hour
of
your
birth." A
fiendish
rage
animated
him
as
he
said this;
his
face
was
wrinkled
into
contortions
too
horrible
for
human
eyes
to
behold;
but
presently
he
calmed
himself
and
proceeded— "I
intended
to
reason.
This
passion
is
detrimental
to
me,
for
you
do
not
reflect
that
YOU
are
the
cause
of
its
excess.
If
any
being felt
emotions
of
benevolence
towards
me, I
should
return
them
a
hundred
and
a hundredfold;
for
that
one
creature's sake I
would
make
peace
with
the
whole
kind!
But
I
now
indulge
in
dreams
of
bliss
that
cannot
be
realized.
What
I
ask
of
you
is
reasonable
and
moderate; I
demand
a
creature
of
another
sex,
but
as
hideous
as
myself;
the
gratification
is
small,
but
it
is
all
that
I
can
receive,
and
it
shall
content
me.
It
is
true,
we
shall
be
monsters,
cut
off
from
all
the
world;
but
on
that
account
we
shall
be
more
attached
to
one
another.
Our
lives
will
not
be
happy,
but
they
will
be
harmless
and
free
from
the
misery
I
now
feel. Oh! My creator,
make
me
happy;
let
me
feel
gratitude
towards
you
for
one
benefit!
Let
me
see
that
I
excite
the
sympathy
of
some
existing
thing;
do
not
deny
me
my request!" I
was
moved. I shuddered
when
I
thought
of
the
possible
consequences
of
my consent,
but
I felt
that
there
was
some
justice
in
his
argument.
His
tale
and
the
feelings
he
now
expressed
proved
him
to
be
a
creature
of
fine
sensations,
and
did
I
not
as
his
maker
owe
him
all
the
portion
of
happiness
that
it
was
in
my power
to
bestow?
He
saw
my
change
of
feeling
and
continued, "If
you
consent,
neither
you
nor
any
other
human
being
shall
ever
see
us
again; I
will
go
to
the
vast
wilds
of
South
America. My
food
is
not
that
of
man; I
do
not
destroy
the
lamb
and
the
kid
to
glut my appetite;
acorns
and
berries
afford
me
sufficient
nourishment. My
companion
will
be
of
the
same
nature
as
myself
and
will
be
content
with
the
same
fare.
We
shall
make
our
bed
of
dried leaves;
the
sun
will
shine
on
us
as
on
man
and
will
ripen
our
food.
The
picture
I
present
to
you
is
peaceful
and
human,
and
you
must
feel
that
you
could
deny
it
only
in
the
wantonness
of
power
and
cruelty. Pitiless
as
you
have
been
towards
me, I
now
see
compassion
in
your
eyes;
let
me
seize
the
favourable
moment
and
persuade
you
to
promise
what
I
so
ardently
desire." "You propose," replied I, "to
fly
from
the
habitations
of
man,
to
dwell
in
those
wilds
where
the
beasts
of
the
field
will
be
your
only
companions.
How
can
you,
who
long
for
the
love
and
sympathy
of
man,
persevere
in
this
exile?
You
will
return
and
again
seek
their
kindness,
and
you
will
meet
with
their
detestation;
your
evil
passions
will
be
renewed,
and
you
will
then
have
a
companion
to
aid
you
in
the
task
of
destruction.
This
may
not
be;
cease
to
argue
the
point,
for
I cannot consent." "How
inconstant
are
your
feelings!
But
a
moment
ago
you
were
moved
by
my representations,
and
why
do
you
again
harden
yourself
to
my complaints? I
swear
to
you,
by
the
earth
which
I inhabit,
and
by
you
that
made
me,
that
with
the
companion
you
bestow I
will
quit
the
neighbourhood
of
man
and
dwell,
as
it
may
chance,
in
the
most
savage
of
places. My
evil
passions
will
have
fled,
for
I
shall
meet
with
sympathy! My
life
will
flow
quietly
away,
and
in
my dying
moments
I
shall
not
curse
my maker."
His
words
had a
strange
effect
upon
me. I compassionated
him
and
sometimes felt a
wish
to
console
him,
but
when
I
looked
upon
him,
when
I
saw
the
filthy
mass
that
moved
and
talked, my
heart
sickened
and
my feelings
were
altered
to
those
of
horror
and
hatred. I tried
to
stifle
these
sensations; I
thought
that
as
I
could
not
sympathize
with
him, I had
no
right
to
withhold
from
him
the
small
portion
of
happiness
which
was
yet
in
my power
to
bestow. "You swear," I said, "to
be
harmless;
but
have
you
not
already
shown a
degree
of
malice
that
should
reasonably
make
me
distrust you?
May
not
even
this
be
a
feint
that
will
increase
your
triumph
by
affording
a
wider
scope
for
your
revenge?" "How
is
this? I
must
not
be
trifled with,
and
I
demand
an
answer.
If
I
have
no
ties
and
no
affections,
hatred
and
vice
must
be
my portion;
the
love
of
another
will
destroy
the
cause
of
my crimes,
and
I
shall
become
a
thing
of
whose
existence
everyone
will
be
ignorant. My
vices
are
the
children
of
a forced
solitude
that
I abhor,
and
my
virtues
will
necessarily
arise
when
I
live
in
communion
with
an
equal. I
shall
feel
the
affections
of
a
sensitive
being
and
become
linked
to
the
chain
of
existence
and
events
from
which
I
am
now
excluded." I
paused
some
time
to
reflect
on
all
he
had related
and
the
various
arguments
which
he
had employed. I
thought
of
the
promise
of
virtues
which
he
had displayed
on
the
opening
of
his
existence
and
the
subsequent
blight
of
all
kindly
feeling
by
the
loathing
and
scorn
which
his
protectors
had
manifested
towards
him.
His
power
and
threats
were
not
omitted
in
my calculations; a
creature
who
could
exist
in
the
ice
caves
of
the
glaciers
and
hide
himself
from
pursuit
among
the
ridges
of
inaccessible
precipices
was
a being
possessing
faculties
it
would
be
vain
to
cope
with.
After
a
long
pause
of
reflection
I
concluded
that
the
justice
due
both
to
him
and
my
fellow
creatures
demanded
of
me
that
I
should
comply
with
his
request.
Turning
to
him, therefore, I said, "I
consent
to
your
demand,
on
your
solemn
oath
to
quit
Europe
forever,
and
every
other
place
in
the
neighbourhood
of
man,
as
soon
as
I
shall
deliver
into
your
hands
a
female
who
will
accompany
you
in
your
exile." "I swear,"
he
cried, "by
the
sun,
and
by
the
blue
sky
of
heaven,
and
by
the
fire
of
love
that
burns
my heart,
that
if
you
grant
my prayer,
while
they
exist
you
shall
never
behold
me
again.
Depart
to
your
home
and
commence
your
labours; I
shall
watch
their
progress
with
unutterable anxiety;
and
fear
not
but
that
when
you
are
ready
I
shall
appear."
Saying
this,
he
suddenly
quitted
me, fearful, perhaps,
of
any
change
in
my sentiments. I
saw
him
descend
the
mountain
with
greater
speed
than
the
flight
of
an
eagle,
and
quickly
lost
among
the
undulations
of
the
sea
of
ice.
His
tale
had occupied
the
whole
day,
and
the
sun
was
upon
the
verge
of
the
horizon
when
he
departed. I
knew
that
I
ought
to
hasten my
descent
towards
the
valley,
as
I
should
soon
be
encompassed
in
darkness;
but
my
heart
was
heavy,
and
my
steps
slow.
The
labour
of
winding
among
the
little
paths
of
the
mountain
and
fixing
my feet
firmly
as
I advanced perplexed me, occupied
as
I
was
by
the
emotions
which
the
occurrences
of
the
day
had produced.
Night
was
far
advanced
when
I came
to
the
halfway
resting-place
and
seated
myself
beside
the
fountain.
The
stars shone
at
intervals
as
the
clouds
passed
from
over
them;
the
dark
pines
rose
before
me,
and
every
here
and
there
a
broken
tree
lay
on
the
ground;
it
was
a
scene
of
wonderful
solemnity
and
stirred
strange
thoughts
within
me. I wept bitterly,
and
clasping
my
hands
in
agony, I exclaimed, "Oh! Stars
and
clouds
and
winds,
ye
are
all
about
to
mock me;
if
ye
really
pity
me, crush
sensation
and
memory;
let
me
become
as
nought;
but
if
not, depart, depart,
and
leave
me
in
darkness."
These
were
wild
and
miserable
thoughts,
but
I cannot
describe
to
you
how
the
eternal
twinkling
of
the
stars
weighed
upon
me
and
how
I
listened
to
every
blast
of
wind
as
if
it
were
a
dull
ugly
siroc
on
its
way
to
consume
me.
Morning
dawned
before
I
arrived
at
the
village
of
Chamounix; I
took
no
rest,
but
returned
immediately
to
Geneva.
Even
in
my
own
heart
I
could
give
no
expression
to
my sensations—they
weighed
on
me
with
a mountain's
weight
and
their
excess
destroyed
my
agony
beneath
them.
Thus
I
returned
home,
and
entering
the
house,
presented
myself
to
the
family. My
haggard
and
wild
appearance
awoke
intense
alarm,
but
I
answered
no
question,
scarcely
did
I speak. I felt
as
if
I
were
placed
under
a ban—as
if
I had
no
right
to
claim
their
sympathies—as
if
never
more
might
I
enjoy
companionship
with
them.
Yet
even
thus
I
loved
them
to
adoration;
and
to
save them, I resolved
to
dedicate
myself
to
my
most
abhorred
task.
The
prospect
of
such
an
occupation
made
every
other
circumstance
of
existence
pass
before
me
like
a dream,
and
that
thought
only
had
to
me
the
reality
of
life.