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ment gave additional force to my determination.

We were at Gabala, at the house of a good widow......a Christian......who lived on the rents of a small estate, and.....being childless....had appointed Kerinthus.....or rather the strong box governed by him.....her heir.....so that I had no qualms at deserting Theoclea when she was in such good hands...... I left her the greater part of a sum of money she gave to my keeping when we left Antioch, though I think I might........without adding to my sins .......have kept the whole as a small remuneration for the rich offerings I had made in the common cause.

I wrote a letter to Theoclea, stating, "that the developement she had fur"nished me with on the mysteries of

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Kerinthus, made me feel it necessary "to disentangle myself from so dan66 gerous a connection.......that I re

"leased all parties from any future "claim that might be made on the

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many sums of money the commu

nity had received from me, and on

my account......and that I therefore hoped they would absolve me........ "henceforward.........from the duties "I had taken upon myself when I "entered my noviciate, as it would "be impossible I should continue to “ fulfil them ;.......that I hoped they "knew me well enough to be satisfied, my heart was incapable of acting to their prejudice.

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As soon as the family were quietly disposed of in the arms of Morpheus,

....I arose......and retreating through a small window which looked from my apartment into the garden.......by an effort scarcely to be called a leap .......I found myself at full liberty.

This was effected with less trouble .....and less anxiety......than my escape

from the apartment of my beautiful Cousin at Parium.....I wandered about all night in a kind of ecstacy.......and just as the dawn peeped, I found my-. self near the sea-shore.......I instantly hired a fishing-smack, which transported me in a few hours to Laodicea.

Here I began to reflect on my situation........and to deliberate on the step next to be pursued........but I by no means felt free from embarrassment ........I could not reconcile to myself the ingratitude which attached to my conduct in deserting a friend who had risked so much for my sake.......Had she not just freed me from an imprisonment which, without her interference, might have been endless ?... . Had she not unmasked her brother, to save me from being the willing victim of his duplicity ?.......Had she not, by this confidence, endangered him......herself......the whole sect?..... and all out of pure regard to me?

"Fie, Peregrine!" I exclaimed..... "art thou.......who hast displayed in "all thy wanderings the moral feel

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ings of a generous heart.......at last "become the abject minion of ingra❝titude?....Resume that worth which "balanced all thy former deviations... "and, if thou canst not, now, be generous.......at least be just.” Then, as my yielding soul pleaded guilty to the charge.......Reason stood up......the advocate of my conduct.....

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and argued thus.

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"Too volatile.........unstable.......... Proteus!......hast thou so soon forgotten the delusive grove of the voluptuous Venus of Urania ?............... "the fascination of the artificial Pries"tess, whose enchantment fettered

thy nobler purposes, and chained "thee to the oar of profligacy ?.......... "Is thy soul purified from the effects "of her levity......her obstinacy.......

"her vanity!......Hast thou then for"gotten her transcendent powers in "the mimic art ?......the facility with "which she made all characters sub"servient to her will?....the seducing "rhetoric of her specious tongue ?.... "the bewitching graces of her per"son?........the dangerous pressure of "her Syren lips?......And canst thou, "still, depend on her sincerity ?.................... "confide in the apparent magnani

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mity of her friendship.........or sup

pose her confidence free from all "selfish art or refined policy?.......... "Thou hast been misled.....thou hast

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seen the mock angel Kerinthus in "his own demon's form.......thy authority unquestionable..........haste, "then.......ere a demon's fangs em", brace you to destruction."

Once more I assumed courage........ and irrevocably fixed my resolution. Notwithstanding the Christian fund

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