Fragment of a Novel

"June 17, 1816.

"In the year 17Ñ, having for some time determined on ajourney through
countries not hitherto much frequented by travellers, I set out,accompanied
by a friend, whom I shall designate by the name of AugustusDarvell. He was
a few years my elder, and a man of considerable fortune andancient family,
advantages which an extensive capacity prevented him alike fromundervaluing
and overrating. Some peculiar circumstances in his privatehistory had
rendered him to me an object of attention, of interest, and evenof regard,
which neither the reserve of his manners, nor occasionalindication of an
inquietude at times approaching to alienation of mind, couldextinguish.

"I was yet young in life, which I had begun early; but myintimacy with him
was of a recent date: we had been educated at the same schoolsand
university; but his progress through these had preceded mine, andhe had
been deeply initiated into what is called the world, while I wasyet in my
novitiate. While thus engaged, I heard much both of his past andpresent
life; and, although in these accounts there were many andirreconcilable
contradictions, I could still gather from the whole that he was abeing of
no common order, and one who, whatever pains he might take toavoid remark,
would still be remarkable. I had cultivated his acquaintancesubsequently,
and endeavoured to obtain his friendship, but this last appearedto be
unattainable: whatever affections he might have possessed seemednow, some
to have been extinguished, and others to be concentred: that hisfeelings
were acute, I had sufficient opportunities of observing; for,although he
could control, he could not altogether disguise them; still hehad a power
of giving to one passion the appearance of another, in such amanner that it
was difficult to define the nature of what was working withinhim; and the
expressions of his features would vary so rapidly, thoughslightly, that it
was useless to trace them to their sources. It was evident thathe was a
prey to some cureless disquiet; but whether it arose fromambition, love,
remorse, grief, from one or all of these, or merely from a morbid
temperament akin to disease, I could not discover: there werecircumstances
alleged which might have justified the application to each ofthese causes;
but, as I have before said, these were so contradictory andcontradicted,
that none could be fixed upon with accuracy. Where there ismystery, it is
generally supposed that there must also be evil: I know not howthis may be,
but in him there certainly was the one, though I could notascertain the
extent of the other Ñ and felt loth, as far as regarded himself,to believe
in its existence. My advances were received with sufficientcoldness: but I
was young, and not easily discouraged, and at length succeeded inobtaining,
to a certain degree, that common-place intercourse and moderateconfidence
of common and every-day concerns, created and cemented bysimilarity of
pursuit and frequency of meeting, which is called intimacy, orfriendship,
according to the ideas of him who uses those words to expressthem.

"Darvell had already travelled extensively; and to him I hadapplied for
information with regard to the conduct of my intended journey. Itwas my
secret wish that he might be prevailed on to accompany me; it wasalso a
probable hope, founded upon the shadowy restlessness which Iobserved in
him, and to which the animation which he appeared to feel on suchsubjects,
and his apparent indifference to all by which he was moreimmediately
surrounded, gave fresh strength. This wish I first hinted, andthen
expressed: his answer, though I had partly expected it, gave meall the
pleasure of surprise Ñ he consented; and, after the requisitearrangement,
we commenced our voyages. After journeying through variouscountries of the
south of Europe, our attention was turned towards the East,according to our
original destination; and it was in my progress through theseregions that
the incident occurred upon which will turn what I may have torelate.

"The constitution of Darvell, which must from his appearancehave been in
early life more than usually robust, had been for some timegradually giving
away, without the intervention of any apparent disease: he hadneither cough
nor hectic, yet he became daily more enfeebled; his habits weretemperate,
and he neither declined nor complained of fatigue; yet he wasevidently
wasting away: he became more and more silent and sleepless, andat length so
seriously altered, that my alarm grew proportionate to what Iconceived to
be his danger.

"We had determined, on our arrival at Smyrna, on anexcursion to the ruins
of Ephesus and Sardis, from which I endeavoured to dissuade himin his
present state of indisposition Ñ but in vain: there appeared tobe an
oppression on his mind, and a solemnity in his manner, which ill
corresponded with his eagerness to proceed on what I regarded asa mere
party of pleasure little suited to a valetudinarian; but Iopposed him no
longer Ñ and in a few days we set off together, accompanied onlyby a
serrugee and a single janizary.

"We had passed halfway towards the remains of Ephesus,leaving behind us the
more fertile environs of Smyrna, and were entering upon that wildand
tenantless tract through the marshes and defiles which lead tothe few huts
yet lingering over the broken columns of Diana Ñ the rooflesswalls of
expelled Christianity, and the still more recent but completedesolation of
abandoned mosques Ñ when the sudden and rapid illness of mycompanion
obliged us to halt at a Turkish cemetery, the turbaned tombstonesof which
were the sole indication that human life had ever been asojourner in this
wilderness. The only caravansera we had seen was left some hoursbehind us,
not a vestige of a town or even cottage was within sight or hope,and this
'city of the dead' appeared to be the sole refuge of myunfortunate friend,
who seemed on the verge of becoming the last of its inhabitants.

"In this situation, I looked round for a place where hemight most
conveniently repose: contrary to the usual aspect of Mahometan
burial-grounds, the cypresses were in this few in number, andthese thinly
scattered over its extent; the tombstones were mostly fallen, andworn with
age: upon one of the most considerable of these, and beneath oneof the most
spreading trees, Darvell supported himself, in a half-recliningposture,
with great difficulty. He asked for water. I had some doubts ofour being
able to find any, and prepared to go in search of it withhesitating
despondency: but he desired me to remain; and turning toSuleiman, our
janizary, who stood by us smoking with great tranquility, hesaid,
'Suleiman, verbana su,' (i.e. 'bring some water,') and went ondescribing
the spot where it was to be found with great minuteness, at asmall well for
camels, a few hundred yards to the right: the janizary obeyed. Isaid to
Darvell, 'How did you know this?' He replied, 'From oursituation; you must
perceive that this place was once inhabited, and could not havebeen so
without springs: I have also been here before.'

" 'You have been here before! How came you never to mentionthis to me? and
what could you be doing in a place where no one would remain amoment longer
than they could help it?'

"To this question I received no answer. In the mean timeSuleiman returned
with the water, leaving the serrugee and the horses at thefountain. The
quenching of his thirst had the appearance of reviving him for amoment; and
I conceived hopes of his being able to proceed, or at least toreturn, and I
urged the attempt. He was silent Ñ and appeared to be collectinghis spirits
for an effort to speak. He began Ñ

" 'This is the end of my journey, and of my life; I camehere to die; but I
have a request to make, a command Ñ for such my last words mustbe. Ñ You
will observe it?'

" 'Most certainly; but I have better hopes.'

" 'I have no hopes, nor wishes, but this Ñ conceal my deathfrom every human
being.'

" 'I hope there will be no occasion; that you will recover,and Ñ'

" 'Peace! it must be so: promise this.'

" 'I do.'

" 'Swear it, by all that Ñ' He here dictated an oath ofgreat solemnity.

" 'There is no occasion for this. I will observe yourrequest; and to doubt
me is Ñ'

" 'It cannot be helped, you must swear.'

"I took the oath, it appeared to relieve him. He removed aseal ring from
his finger, on which were some Arabic characters, and presentedit to me. He
proceeded Ñ

" 'On the ninth day of the month, at noon precisely (whatmonth you please,
but this must be the day), you must fling this ring into the saltsprings
which run into the Bay of Eleusis; the day after, at the samehour, you must
repair to the ruins of the temple of Ceres, and wait one hour.'

" 'Why?'

" 'You will see.'

" 'The ninth day of the month, you say?'

" 'The ninth.'

"As I observed that the present was the ninth day of themonth, his
countenance changed, and he paused. As he sat, evidently becomingmore
feeble, a stork, with a snake in her beak, perched upon atombstone near us;
and, without devouring her prey, appeared to be steadfastlyregarding us. I
know not what impelled me to drive it away, but the attempt wasuseless; she
made a few circles in the air, and returned exactly to the samespot.
Darvell pointed to it, and smiled Ñ he spoke Ñ I know notwhether to himself
or to me Ñ but the words were only, 'Tis well!'

" 'What is well? What do you mean?'

" 'No matter; you must bury me here this evening, andexactly where that
bird is now perched. You know the rest of my injunctions.'

"He then proceeded to give me several directions as to themanner in which
his death might be best concealed. After these were finished, heexclaimed,
'You perceive that bird?'

" 'Certainly.'

" 'And the serpent writhing in her beak?'

" 'Doubtless: there is nothing uncommon in it; it is hernatural prey. But
it is odd that she does not devour it.'

"He smiled in a ghastly manner, and said faintly. 'It is notyet time!' As
he spoke, the stork flew away. My eyes followed it for a momentÑ it could
hardly be longer than ten might be counted. I felt Darvell'sweight, as it
were, increase upon my shoulder, and, turning to look upon hisface,
perceived that he was dead!

"I was shocked with the sudden certainty which could not bemistaken Ñ his
countenance in a few minutes became nearly black. I should haveattributed
so rapid a change to poison, had I not been aware that he had noopportunity
of receiving it unperceived. The day was declining, the body wasrapidly
altering, and nothing remained but to fulfil his request. Withthe aid of
Suleiman's ataghan and my own sabre, we scooped a shallow graveupon the
spot which Darvell had indicated: the earth easily gave way,having already
received some Mahometan tenant. We dug as deeply as the timepermitted us,
and throwing the dry earth upon all that remained of the singularbeing so
lately departed, we cut a few sods of greener turf from the lesswithered
soil around us, and laid them upon his sepulchre.

"Between astonishment and grief, I was tearless."