Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/195

 lowest, in which those wretches have not accomplices or venal spies; this I could collect from the conversation of the company in whose hands I fell after my trance in the mansion of the dead.

"I have no doubt, but their diabolical art had made them infuse some poison in the festive nuptial cup, which after I had quaffed it to implore happiness on our union, yielded slowly the dreadful effect of a lethargic slumber, made to imitate dissolution and to occasion this cruel parting. From the same source, I have also been able to learn, on overhearing them in their secret haunts, that while my Carlos was lying senseless on the floor, dilirious from the grief occasioned by so sudden a loss, the monsters substituted a putrid corpse in lieu of my body to hasten the burial.

"I am well aware, that my return to Spain after deceiving those relentless strangers, would be instant death to me, perhaps without seeing once more a cherished husband, for whose sake I should have braved such a danger. The duty and care I owe to his in-