"Some time elapsed before I learned the
history of my friends. It was one which could not fail to impress
itself deeply on my mind, unfolding as it did a number of
circumstances, each interesting and wonderful to one so utterly
inexperienced as I was.
"The name of the old man was De
Lacey. He was descended from a good family in France, where he had
lived for many years in affluence, respected by his superiors and
beloved by his equals. His son was bred in the service of his
country; and Agatha had ranked with ladies of the highest
distinction. A few months before my arrival they had lived in a
large and luxurious city called Paris, surrounded by friends, and
possessed of every enjoyment which virtue, refinement of intellect,
or taste, accompanied by a moderate fortune, could afford.
"The father of Safie had been the cause of their ruin. He
was a Turkish merchant, and had inhabited Paris for many years,
when, for some reason which I could not learn, he became obnoxious
to the government. He was seized and cast into prison the very day
that Safie arrived from Constantinople to join him. He was tried and
condemned to death. The injustice of his sentence was very flagrant;
all Paris was indignant; and it was judged that his religion and
wealth, rather than the crime alleged against him, had been the
cause of his condemnation.
"Felix had accidentally been
present at the trial; his horror and indignation were uncontrollable
when he heard the decision of the court. He made, at that moment, a
solemn vow to deliver him, and then looked around for the means.
After many fruitless attempts to gain admittance to the prison, he
found a strongly grated window in an unguarded part of the building
which lighted the dungeon of the unfortunate Mahometan; who, loaded
with chains, waited in despair the execution of the barbarous
sentence. Felix visited the grate at night, and made known to the
prisoner his intentions in his favour. The Turk, amazed and
delighted, endeavoured to kindle the zeal of his deliverer by
promises of reward and wealth. Felix rejected his offers with
contempt; yet when he saw the lovely Safie, who was allowed to visit
her father, and who, by her gestures, expressed her lively
gratitude, the youth could not help owning to his own mind that the
captive possessed a treasure which would fully reward his toil and
hazard.
"The Turk quickly perceived the impression that his
daughter had made on the heart of Felix, and endeavoured to secure
him more entirely in his interests by the promise of her hand in
marriage, so soon as he should be conveyed to a place of safety.
Felix was too delicate to accept this offer; yet he looked forward
to the probability of the event as to the consummation of his
happiness.
"During the ensuing days, while the preparations
were going forward for the escape of the merchant, the zeal of Felix
was warmed by several letters that he received from this lovely
girl, who found means to express her thoughts in the language of her
lover by the aid of an old man, a servant of her father, who
understood French. She thanked him in the most ardent terms for his
intended services towards her parent; and at the same time she
gently deplored her own fate.
"I have copies of these
letters; for I found means, during my residence in the hovel, to
procure the implements of writing; and the letters were often in the
hands of Felix or Agatha. Before I depart, I will give them to you,
they will prove the truth of my tale; but at present, as the sun is
already far declined, I shall only have time to repeat the substance
of them to you.
"Safie related that her mother was a
Christian Arab, seized and made a slave by the Turks; recommended by
her beauty, she had won the heart of the father of Safie, who
married her. The young girl spoke in high and enthusiastic terms of
her mother, who, born in freedom, spurned the bondage to which she
was now reduced. She instructed her daughter in the tenets of her
religion, and taught her to aspire to higher powers of intellect,
and an independence of spirit, forbidden to the female followers of
Mahomet. This lady died; but her lessons were indelibly impressed on
the mind of Safie, who sickened at the prospect of again returning
to Asia and being immured within the walls of a harem, allowed only
to occupy herself with infantile amusements, ill suited to the
temper of her soul, now accustomed to grand ideas and a noble
emulation for virtue. The prospect of marrying a Christian, and
remaining in a country where women were allowed to take a rank in
society, was enchanting to her.
"The day for the execution
of the Turk was fixed; but, on the night previous to it, he quitted
his prison, and before morning was distant many leagues from Paris.
Felix had procured passports in the name of his father, sister, and
himself. He had previously communicated his plan to the former, who
aided the deceit by quitting his house, under the pretence of a
journey, and concealed himself, with his daughter, in an obscure
part of Paris.
"Felix conducted the fugitives through France
to Lyons, and across Mont Cenis to Leghorn, where the merchant had
decided to wait a favourable opportunity of passing into some part
of the Turkish dominions.
"Safie resolved to remain with her
father until the moment of his departure, before which time the Turk
renewed his promise that she should be united to his deliverer; and
Felix remained with them in expectation of that event; and in the
meantime he enjoyed the society of the Arabian, who exhibited
towards him the simplest and tenderest affection. They conversed
with one another through the means of an interpreter, and sometimes
with the interpretation of looks; and Safie sang to him the divine
airs of her native country.
"The Turk allowed this intimacy
to take place, and encouraged the hopes of the youthful lovers,
while in his heart he had formed far other plans. He loathed the
idea that his daughter should be united to a Christian; but he
feared the resentment of Felix, if he should appear lukewarm; for he
knew that he was still in the power of his deliverer, if he should
choose to betray him to the italian state which they inhabited. He
revolved a thousand plans by which he should be enabled to prolong
the deceit until it might be no longer necessary, and secretly to
take his daughter with him when he departed. His plans were
facilitated by the news which arrived from Paris.
"The
government of France were greatly enraged at the escape of their
victim, and spared no pains to detect and punish his deliverer. The
plot of Felix was quickly discovered, and De Lacey and Agatha were
thrown into prison. The news reached Felix, and roused him from his
dream of pleasure. His blind and aged father, and his gentle sister,
lay in a noisome dungeon, while he enjoyed the free air and the
society of her whom he loved. This idea was torture to him. He
quickly arranged with the Turks that if the latter should find a
favourable opportunity for escape before Felix could return to
Italy, Safie should remain as a boarder at a convent at Leghorn; and
then, quitting the lovely Arabian, he hastened to Paris, and
delivered himself up to the vengeance of the law, hoping to free De
Lacey and Agatha by this proceeding.
"He did not succeed.
They remained confined for five months before the trial took place;
the result of which deprived them of their fortune, and condemned
them to a perpetual exile from their native country.
"They
found a miserable asylum in the cottage in Germany where I
discovered them. Felix soon learned that the treacherous Turk, for
whom he and his family endured such unheard-of oppression, on
discovering that his deliverer was thus reduced to poverty and ruin,
became a traitor to good feeling and honour, and had quitted Italy
with his daughter, insultingly sending Felix a pittance of money, to
aid him, as he said, in some plan of future maintenance.
"Such were the events that preyed on the heart of Felix, and
rendered him, when I first saw him, the most miserable of his
family. He could have endured poverty; and while this distress had
been the meed of his virtue, he gloried in it: but the ingratitude
of the Turk, and the loss of his beloved Safie, were misfortunes
more bitter and irreparable. The arrival of the Arabian now infused
new life into his soul.
"When the news reached Leghorn that
Felix was deprived of his wealth and rank, the merchant commanded
his daughter to think no more of her lover, but to prepare to return
to her native country. The generous nature of Safie was outraged by
this command; she attempted to expostulate with her father, but he
left her angrily, reiterating his tyrannical mandate.
"A few
days after, the Turk entered his daughter's apartment, and told her
hastily that he had reason to believe that his residence at Leghorn
had been divulged, and that he should speedily be delivered up to
the French government; he had, consequently, hired a vessel to
convey him to Constantinople, for which city he should sail in a few
hours. He intended to leave his daughter under the care of a
confidential servant, to follow at her leisure with the greater part
of his property, which had not yet arrived at Leghorn.
"When
alone, Safie resolved in her own mind the plan of conduct that it
would become her to pursue in this emergency. A residence in Turkey
was abhorrent to her; her religion and her feelings were alike
adverse to it. By some papers of her father, which fell into her
hands, she heard of the exile of her lover, and learnt the name of
the spot where he then resided. She hesitated some time, but at
length she formed her determination. Taking with her some jewels
that belonged to her, and a sum of money, she quitted Italy with an
attendant, a native of Leghorn, but who understood the common
language of Turkey, and departed for Germany.
"She arrived
in safety at a town about twenty leagues from the cottage of De
Lacey, when her attendant fell dangerously ill. Safie nursed her
with the most devoted affection; but the poor girl died, and the
Arabian was left alone, unacquainted with the language of the
country, and utterly ignorant of the customs of the world. She fell,
however, into good hands. The Italian had mentioned the name of the
spot for which they were bound; and, after her death, the woman of
the house in which they had lived took care that Safie should arrive
in safety at the cottage of her lover.
|
