Page:The Lady's Book Vol. V.pdf/17

 THE DANCE OF DEATH.

“My suspicions, which still continued, pre- .ented me from putting any questions to himself as to his family, willingly as I would have done so; and all which I was able to gather from other sources was, that his father was clergyman of a country town, in one of the small islands belong- ing to Denmark, in the Baltic; that he was a widower, and, besides this a. had four daugh- ters in life.

“« Meantime the siege held on its brief but ter-. rific course. I trembled for my friend, whore desperate plans, the offspring of an over-excited mind, were condemned even -by the most fool-

hardy of our companions; though, had all the.

defenders been inspired with the same contempt of death, the result of the siege might probably have been different. The actual result is suffi- ciently known; with the opening of our gates to the British troops, who entered not as enemies bat as friends, our warlike functions ceased. Impatient, irritated at the daily necessity of meeting on a footing of courtesy with those whom we hated from the very bottom of our hearts, I seized the first opportunity to leave the capital, and knowing that every where in the neighbour- hood I should meet with English troops, or en- counter general irritation and annoyance, I de- termined to take a wider circuit, and to visit Germany.

“I need hardly say that Emanuel’s society had by this time become indispensable to me; his wit, which I had at one time thought far-fetched and wanton, now afforded me delight. I laboured in

silence to mitigate the inequality of his humours, though every day unfolded to me some new and

strange peculiarity in his character. Among these was his aversion to every sort of dancing; he assured me that neither he nor his sisters had ever learned, or would learn, to dance. Nay, on one occasion, during a visit to a common friend in the country, where we happened to meet a.party of young people who were anxious for that amusement, and who, knowing that he was the omly person present who played the violin, had requested him to act the part of mu- sician on the occasion, he at first resisted vehe- mently, and only yielded at last to my repeated entreaties. He played one or two dances with visible reluctance; but just as he was about to commence a third, and a young and beautiful girl, in some measure resembling the subject of the picturc, whom he had long been following with his eyes with visible interest, advanced into the circle, he cast his violin away with violence, and by no entreaties could he be prevailed upoti to resume it. The dancing must have ceased entirely, but for the fortunate arrival of a guest who was able and willing to replace the reluc- tant performer. The dance now proceeded gaily and without interruption; but insensible even to the solicitations of beauty, Emanuel stood in a corner of the room, and eyed the gay whirl of the dance with an aspect of the deepest gloom. -“My sympathies being once awakened in his favour I only pitied him the more for these sin- gularities, and urged him, with the yiew of di-

verting his mind, to resume with energy and per- severance his neglected studies. He promised to do so, but medicine seemed only to increase the discomfort and despondency of his mind. Often would he throw his books away, exclaim- ing,“ Oh! admirable taining for the future! In eternity what need have I to know how men are to be made away with by rule and method?>—There men die not—or if they do, not by pill or potion. Why waste in such enquiries the hours which might be much better devoted to the education of the soul?’

“fs such then your employment when you throw your books away?’ I asked after one of these tirades.

«“¢ Alas!’ said he, with deep earnestness, “ that which occupies my mind is enough in the eyes of God to excuse a being of flesh and blood.’ I understood him not; but thinking that a foreign tour might produce a salutary effect upon his mental malady, I pressed him to accompany me in my intended journey. He received the invi- tation with visible pleasure, yet he hesitated long, as if some conflict were going on within, before he accepted it; at last he yielded to my en- treaties.

“He commenced his journey with a feeling of uneasiness, which, however, was shortly removed by a fortunate occurrence. He had informed his father of our project, but-had received no answer, and had begun to apprehend that their long silence must be occasioned by some unfor- tunate event, chiefly, as he admitted, from the feeling that he had long been accustomed to hear of nothing but misfortune from home. We sailed

by a small vessel for Lubeck. The violence of

the wind, rather than apprehension from the English vessels, had induced the captain to take the course between the islands. But autumn was already advanced; the gloom of evening was fast closing upon the sea; he was but imperfectly acquainted with the soundings, and so he re- solved, after sailing a league or two, to come to anchor, and resume his course on the following day.

“Emanuel now found himself, I may say, almost in sight of his paternalhome. It was long, as he told me with emotion, since. he had visited it, and unfortunate as might be the nature of his connexion with it, it was evident that the recol- lections of the past, and the apprehension of some present evil, had filled his mind with an inde- scribable longing to land, and once more to visit the home of his youth. He promised to be on board again by sunrise. My heart beat as I listened to this resolution, for I foresaw that he could not in courtesy avoid inviting me to ac- company him; though it was not less evident, from the constraint with which the invitation wer’ shortly afterwards given, that he would have been happier had I remained. For deeper rea-. sons, however, than that on which I rested my acceptance of his offer—which was, that in the event of any thing unpleasant having happened, my assistance might have been of use to him—I determined to accompany him, and having made