Nightmare Abbey | Page 7

before a black velvet chair, which was
mounted on an old oak table, in the act of throwing open his striped
calico dressing-gown, and flinging away his nightcap--which is what
the French call an imposing attitude.
Each stood a few moments fixed in their respective places--the lady in
astonishment, and the gentleman in confusion. Marionetta was the first
to break silence. 'For heaven's sake,' said she, 'my dear Scythrop, what
is the matter?'
'For heaven's sake, indeed!' said Scythrop, springing from the table; 'for
your sake, Marionetta, and you are my heaven,--distraction is the
matter. I adore you, Marionetta, and your cruelty drives me mad.' He
threw himself at her knees, devoured her hand with kisses, and breathed
a thousand vows in the most passionate language of romance.
Marionetta listened a long time in silence, till her lover had exhausted
his eloquence and paused for a reply. She then said, with a very arch
look, 'I prithee deliver thyself like a man of this world.' The levity of
this quotation, and of the manner in which it was delivered, jarred so
discordantly on the high-wrought enthusiasm of the romantic inamorato,
that he sprang upon his feet, and beat his forehead with his clenched
fist. The young lady was terrified; and, deeming it expedient to soothe
him, took one of his hands in hers, placed the other hand on his
shoulder, looked up in his face with a winning seriousness, and said, in
the tenderest possible tone, 'What would you have, Scythrop?'
Scythrop was in heaven again. 'What would I have? What but you,
Marionetta? You, for the companion of my studies, the partner of my
thoughts, the auxiliary of my great designs for the emancipation of
mankind.'
'I am afraid I should be but a poor auxiliary, Scythrop. What would you
have me do?'

'Do as Rosalia does with Carlos, divine Marionetta. Let us each open a
vein in the other's arm, mix our blood in a bowl, and drink it as a
sacrament of love. Then we shall see visions of transcendental
illumination, and soar on the wings of ideas into the space of pure
intelligence.'
Marionetta could not reply; she had not so strong a stomach as Rosalia,
and turned sick at the proposition. She disengaged herself suddenly
from Scythrop, sprang through the door of the tower, and fled with
precipitation along the corridors. Scythrop pursued her, crying, 'Stop,
stop, Marionetta--my life, my love!' and was gaining rapidly on her
flight, when, at an ill-omened corner, where two corridors ended in an
angle, at the head of a staircase, he came into sudden and violent
contact with Mr Toobad, and they both plunged together to the foot of
the stairs, like two billiard-balls into one pocket. This gave the young
lady time to escape, and enclose herself in her chamber; while Mr
Toobad, rising slowly, and rubbing his knees and shoulders, said, 'You
see, my dear Scythrop, in this little incident, one of the innumerable
proofs of the temporary supremacy of the devil; for what but a
systematic design and concurrent contrivance of evil could have made
the angles of time and place coincide in our unfortunate persons at the
head of this accursed staircase?'
'Nothing else, certainly,' said Scythrop: 'you are perfectly in the right,
Mr Toobad. Evil, and mischief, and misery, and confusion, and vanity,
and vexation of spirit, and death, and disease, and assassination, and
war, and poverty, and pestilence, and famine, and avarice, and
selfishness, and rancour, and jealousy, and spleen, and malevolence,
and the disappointments of philanthropy, and the faithlessness of
friendship, and the crosses of love--all prove the accuracy of your
views, and the truth of your system; and it is not impossible that the
infernal interruption of this fall downstairs may throw a colour of evil
on the whole of my future existence.'
'My dear boy,' said Mr Toobad, 'you have a fine eye for consequences.'
So saying, he embraced Scythrop, who retired, with a disconsolate step,
to dress for dinner; while Mr Toobad stalked across the hall, repeating,

'Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea, for the devil is come
among you, having great wrath.'
* * * * *
CHAPTER IV
The flight of Marionetta, and the pursuit of Scythrop, had been
witnessed by Mr Glowry, who, in consequence, narrowly observed his
son and his niece in the evening; and, concluding from their manner,
that there was a better understanding between them than he wished to
see, he determined on obtaining the next morning from Scythrop a full
and satisfactory explanation. He, therefore, shortly after breakfast,
entered Scythrop's tower, with a very grave face, and said, without
ceremony or preface, 'So, sir, you are in love with your cousin.'
Scythrop, with as little hesitation, answered, 'Yes, sir.'