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第31节

classic mystery and detective stories-第31节

小说: classic mystery and detective stories 字数: 每页4000字

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Meantime the marriage between Margaret Liebenheim and Maximilian

was understood to be drawing near。  Yet one thing struck everybody

with astonishment。  As far as the young people were concerned;

nobody could doubt that all was arranged; for never was happiness

more perfect than that which seemed to unite them。  Margaret was

the impersonation of May…time and youthful rapture; even Maximilian

in her presence seemed to forget his gloom; and the worm which

gnawed at his heart was charmed asleep by the music of her voice;

and the paradise of her smiles。  But; until the autumn came;

Margaret's grandfather had never ceased to frown upon this

connection; and to support the pretensions of Ferdinand。  The

dislike; indeed; seemed reciprocal between him and Maximilian。

Each avoided the other's company and as to the old man; he went so

far as to speak sneeringly of Maximilian。  Maximilian despised him

too heartily to speak of him at all。  When he could not avoid

meeting him; he treated him with a stern courtesy; which distressed

Margaret as often as she witnessed it。  She felt that her

grandfather had been the aggressor; and she felt also that he did

injustice to the merits of her lover。  But she had a filial

tenderness for the old man; as the father of her sainted mother;

and on his own account; continually making more claims on her pity;

as the decay of his memory; and a childish fretfulness growing upon

him from day to day; marked his increasing imbecility。



Equally mysterious it seemed; that about this time Miss Liebenheim

began to receive anonymous letters; written in the darkest and most

menacing terms。  Some of them she showed to me。  I could not guess

at their drift。  Evidently they glanced at Maximilian; and bade her

beware of connection with him; and dreadful things were insinuated

about him。  Could these letters be written by Ferdinand?  Written

they were not; but could they be dictated by him?  Much I feared

that they were; and the more so for one reason。



All at once; and most inexplicably; Margaret's grandfather showed a

total change of opinion in his views as to her marriage。  Instead

of favoring Harrelstein's pretensions; as he had hitherto done; he

now threw the feeble weight of his encouragement into Maximilian's

scale; though; from the situation of all the parties; nobody

attached any PRACTICAL importance to the change in Mr。 Liebenheim's

way of thinking。  Nobody?  Is that true?  No; one person DID attach

the greatest weight to the changepoor; ruined Ferdinand。  He; so

long as there was one person to take his part; so long as the

grandfather of Margaret showed countenance to himself; had still

felt his situation not utterly desperate。



Thus were things situated; when in November; all the leaves daily

blowing off from the woods; and leaving bare the most secret haunts

of the thickets; the body of the jailer was left exposed in the

forest; but not; as I and my friend had conjectured; hanged。  No;

he had died apparently by a more horrid deathby that of

crucifixion。  The tree; a remarkable one; bore upon a part of its

trunk this brief but savage inscription:〃T。 H。; jailer at …;

Crucified July 1; 1816。〃



A great deal of talk went on throughout the city upon this

discovery; nobody uttered one word of regret on account of the

wretched jailer; on the contrary; the voice of vengeance; rising up

in many a cottage; reached my ears in every direction as I walked

abroad。  The hatred in itself seemed horrid and unchristian; and

still more so after the man's death; but; though horrid and

fiendish for itself; it was much more impressive; considered as the

measure and exponent of the damnable oppression which must have

existed to produce it。



At first; when the absence of the jailer was a recent occurrence;

and the presence of the murderers among us was; in consequence;

revived to our anxious thoughts; it was an event which few alluded

to without fear。  But matters were changed now; the jailer had been

dead for months; and this interval; during which the murderer's

hand had slept; encouraged everybody to hope that the storm had

passed over our city; that peace had returned to our hearths; and

that henceforth weakness might sleep in safety; and innocence

without anxiety。  Once more we had peace within our walls; and

tranquillity by our firesides。  Again the child went to bed in

cheerfulness; and the old man said his prayers in serenity。

Confidence was restored; peace was re…established; and once again

the sanctity of human life became the rule and the principle for

all human hands among us。  Great was the joy; the happiness was

universal。



O heavens! by what a thunderbolt were we awakened from our

security!  On the night of the twenty…seventh of December; half an

hour; it might be; after twelve o'clock; an alarm was given that

all was not right in the house of Mr。 Liebenheim。  Vast was the

crowd which soon collected in breathless agitation。  In two minutes

a man who had gone round by the back of the house was heard

unbarring Mr。 Liebenheim's door: he was incapable of uttering a

word; but his gestures; as he threw the door open and beckoned to

the crowd; were quite enough。  In the hall; at the further

extremity; and as if arrested in the act of making for the back

door; lay the bodies of old Mr。 Liebenheim and one of his sisters;

an aged widow; on the stair lay another sister; younger and

unmarried; but upward of sixty。  The hall and lower flight of

stairs were floating with blood。  Where; then; was Miss Liebenheim;

the granddaughter?  That was the universal cry; for she was beloved

as generally as she was admired。  Had the infernal murderers been

devilish enough to break into that temple of innocent and happy

life?  Everyone asked the question; and everyone held his breath to

listen; but for a few moments no one dared to advance; for the

silence of the house was ominous。  At length some one cried out

that Miss Liebenheim had that day gone upon a visit to a friend;

whose house was forty miles distant in the forest。  〃Aye;〃 replied

another;〃 she had settled to go; but I heard that something had

stopped her。〃  The suspense was now at its height; and the crowd

passed from room to room; but found no traces of Miss Liebenheim。

At length they ascended the stair; and in the very first room; a

small closet; or boudoir; lay Margaret; with her dress soiled

hideously with blood。  The first impression was that she also had

been murdered; but; on a nearer approach; she appeared to be

unwounded; and was manifestly alive。  Life had not departed; for

her breath sent a haze over a mirror; but it was suspended; and she

was laboring in some kind of fit。  The first act of the crowd was

to carry her into the house of a friend on the opposite side of the

street; by which time medical assistance had crowded to the spot。

Their attentions to Miss Liebenheim had naturally deranged the

condition of things in the little room; but not before many people

found time to remark that one of the murderers must have carried

her with his bloody hands to the sofa on which she lay; for water

had been sprinkled profusely over her face and throat; and water

was even placed ready to her hand; when she might happen to

recover; upon a low foot…stool by the side of the sofa。



On the following morning; Maximilian; who had been upon a hunting

party in the forest; returned to the city; and immediately learned

the news。  I did not see him for some hours after; but he then

appeared to me thoroughly agitated; for the first time I had known

him to be so。  In the evening another perplexing piece of

intelligence transpired with regard to Miss Liebenheim; which at

first afflicted every friend of that young lady。  It was that she

had been seized with the pains of childbirth; and delivered of a

son; who; however; being born prematurely; did not live many hours。

Scandal; however; was not allowed long to batten upon this

imaginary triumph; for within two hours after the circulation of

this first rumor; followed a second; authenticated; announcing that

Maximilian had appeared with the confessor of the Liebenheim

family; at the residence of the chief magistrate; and there

produced satisfactory proofs of his marriage with Miss Liebenheim;

which had been duly celebrated; though with great secrecy; nearly

eight months before。  In our city; as in all the cities of our

country; clandestine marriages; witnessed; perhaps; by two friends

only of the parties; besides the officiating priest; are

exceedingly common。  In the mere fact; therefore; taken separately;

there was nothing to surprise us; but; taken in connection with the

general position of the parties; it DID surprise us all; nor could

we conjecture the reason for a step apparently so needless。  For;

that Maximilian could have thought it any point of prudence or

necessity to secure the hand of Margaret Liebenheim by a private

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