Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

ken-hearted lo.k. 'So my son is not leagued with tlxoBe infiimous
Carbonari, bo has riot inflicted th:tt eternal disgrace
upon his father's name, ho lias not enrolled himself in the ranks
of the enemies of his Church, the enemies of his family, the
enemies of his country? But if I lie, Genuaro, these papers,
however, do not lie,' he continued, showing me a bundle he
luid taken oil the table before him.
' Ah ! my son is not a Carbonaro
iny son is not nu accursed one !'
"
I cast iv startled look at the manuscript. It con sined va-
rious plum and secret documents that had been entrusted to
me by the society, and which, in my pre-occupation, I had left
ou the table when leaving home.
"I made si furious bound, like a lion caught in a trap.
" '
Give me np those papers,' I cried in a voics choking
with surprise and terror.
'
lly father made no reply, but looked at me ironically. I
rushed at him, Orazio ; I was distracted with ran:e, and had
only one idea, one object to recover those papers from him.
" The hand of the demon was on me. I flung myself like a
madman upon my unhappy father. Ho wrestled courageously ;
he struggled to the last, disputing with me the possession of
that fatal manuscript.
"
Give me up those papers, they are carried away
mine,' I cried. And
as I was by my blind fury, I gave him such a
violent blow in the chest that he immediately reeled backwards
and fell inanimate upon the carpet, while a stream of
blood spouted from his lips.
" At that moment, my sister, awakened by the noise of the
struggle, rut-hed into the room.
" 'Gennaro ! father ! father !' she cried distractedly in a
heart-rending voice, and fell unconscious upon the old man's
body.
" The spirit of darkness overmastered ms at that moment.
I had become mad, furious, ferocious. I snatched the papers
violently from my dying father's hand, and rushed out of
the house I had sullied with the, crime of parricide.
"
During all that dark day, I wandered through the stree's
of Home, unable to find shelter or repose anywhere. When
evening cime, however, I felt drawn by an irresistible force
towards the peaceful hearth I had deluged with blood, and
where I was but too soon to learn the result of my crime.
"
I had scarcely opened the door when my brother Stefano,
severe and menacing, confronted me. My brother's character
had filways inspired me with profound respect, and even a kind
of terror, for he was as wise and prudent as he was resolute and
intrepid.
" '
Gennaro,' said he, in a restrained tone, '
our father died
to-day, and, dying, left a supreme recommendation a last
message for you. Will you abandon for ever the fatal society
to which you belong ?'
" I distinctly refused. Those entreaties, those representations
were to have no effect. What arguments could touch the
serpent in my breast, and that some misfortune may happen
to us. But I warn you, Geunaro, I've taken precautions
against that. In case cf murder done by you or your friends,
my sister's blood or mine will be immediately avenged.
Whereas, if, in a few days, you elect to abandon this country,
wo promise you to be as silent as the tomb about all that has
occurred, BO that the honor and reputation of the Bianchi may
remain unblemished in the eyes of the world. Are yon
resolved, Gennaro ? Do you consent to go ?'
" '
Yes, I consent,' I replied, really glad to quit that cursed
city.
"'It is, indeed, the safest thing,' retorted my brother;
'
your hardened heart is henceforth inaccessible to every feeling
of remorse, pity, and shame; still, may I have, the happinoHs
cf finding you some day converted and penitent ! Tlieu,
Gennaro, but only then, can
"
friend, a brother.'
I offer you my hand, as to a
The Carbonaro paused at this part of his story. Ev<
that moment, the bitterness and aeuteuess of those mournful
memories seemed to make his voice falter and to move his
soul.
" 'I quitted Rome,' he pursued, '
after my father's funeral,
and repaired to England, where I was to fulfil a mission with
which I had been charged by our Italian br ithers. I met
Mazziui in London, where I wasn't long in beiag affiliated to
another secret society. It was thenceforward by incessant
activity, by continual efforts placed at the service of the cause
I had embraced, that I strove to stifle the voice of remorse. I
took an infernal pleasure in drawing men out of the safe and
regular pat ii, in making other souls young, generous and
as mine had been fall with me into the abyss. A
i
p. re
treacherous instinct secretly told me that I should feel solaced
when I had succeeded in kindling in other hearts the dull and
fatal flame that little by little consumed mine.
" How many sincere men brave, loyal young men I have
drawn down with me into the bottomless gulf of Freemasonry!
And I was proud of my triumph, I rejoiced at their ruin ; I
laughed at their fall, at the anxieties the present brought them
and the evils the future had in store for them.
" I didn't remain long in England. I afterwards repaired
to Rotterdam to put myself in communication with the Dutch
soc eties, and from thence to Belgium, where I proposed
remaining several years.
" Thanks to the letters of recommendation with which the
Italian, English, and Dutch lodges had abundantly supplied
me, I wasn't long in entering into relations with a largo number
of Freemasons belonging to the opulent classes. I went into
the elegant society of the cities where I successively resided as
professor of music and Italian; my new friends got me pupils,
and soon under the counterfeit name of Tommaso di Roceabiauca
I passed for a first-class linguist and a musician of
high reputation.
" But I took care to add other instructions, other precepts,
to those I had to give my pupils. My new profession supplied
me with an opportunity of enlisting new adherents in our so-
ciety, and, -while appearing to be engaged in forming linguists
or musicians, in reality I was procuring adepts for Free-
masonry.
''One of those young men, nevertheless, was not slow to
become my master. His name was Ernest Van Dormael, and
heart of a parricide ?
"
'Well,' iny brother concluded, when he had lost all hope
of convincing me, '
since you feel neither shame nor remorse
for your horrible crime, engage to quit this country; break for
ever the ties (hat still unite you to a family you have forever
dishonored, or, if not, I'll deliver you myself into the hands of
justice, which will know how to make you expiate your crime.
Attend to what I tell you now, Gennaro; up to this, everybody
thinks Bernardo Bianchi died of a fit of apoplexy. If you
quit this house and this city immediately, your precipitate departure
may arouse suspicions, I require you, then, to remain
a few days longer with us; it is a precaution due to the honor
of our family. Oh !' he continued, looking at me, with a bitter
smile, '
I confess to you, Orazio, he was really superior
I know well that, in acting thus, I'm warming a
to me in many
points. It was the ardor, the impetuosity of my passions, that
had fatally hurried me on to my ruin. He, Ernest, knew not
passion, and seemed even ignorant of ardor. He did evil in
cold blood, after having measured the extent and calculated the
consequences; and he did it for the pleasure of insulting the
Creator, and injuring others. I sometimes heard the harrowing
voice of remorse arise within me, and often made vain
efforts to escape the dull anguish that tortured my soul. He,
Ernest, seemed never to have heard that voice; he pursued his
route, marched to his end with complete coldness, calmness,
and impassibility.
"I could never entirely banish the idea of God from my mind
nor my heart, while my pupil, this new friend, was a confirmed
atheist, an atheist penetrated with the most radical principles
of universal negation.
"Van Dormael had gradually become my pupil, my friend,
my inseparable companion. I experienced a secret satisfaction
at the thought of meeting on my way a being more wicked
than myself, and yet he had never assassinated his father!