第 63 节
作者:泰达魔王      更新:2024-07-17 14:41      字数:9322
  his station was at some distance; that his attitude was not
  menacing; that his ominous visage was concealed; may account for my
  now escaping a shock violent as those which were past。  I withdrew
  my eyes; but was not again deserted by my senses。
  On perceiving that I had recovered my sensibility; he lifted his
  head。  This motion attracted my attention。  His countenance was
  mild; but sorrow and astonishment sat upon his features。  I averted
  my eyes and feebly exclaimed; 〃Oh; fly!fly far and forever!I
  cannot behold you and live!〃
  He did not rise upon his feet; but clasped his hands; and said; in
  a tone of deprecation; 〃I will fly。  I am become a fiend; the sight
  of whom destroys。  Yet tell me my offense!  You have linked curses
  with my name; you ascribe to me a malice monstrous and infernal。  I
  look around: all is loneliness and desert!  This house and your
  brother's are solitary and dismantled!  You die away at the sight
  of me!  My fear whispers that some deed of horror has been
  perpetrated; that I am the undesigning cause。〃
  What language was this?  Had he not avowed himself a ravisher?  Had
  not this chamber witnessed his atrocious purposes?  I besought him
  with new vehemence to go。
  He lifted his eyes:〃Great heaven! what have I done?  I think I
  know the extent of my offenses。  I have acted; but my actions have
  possibly effected more than I designed。  This fear has brought me
  back from my retreat。  I come to repair the evil of which my
  rashness was the cause; and to prevent more evil。  I come to
  confess my errors。〃
  〃Wretch!〃 I cried; when my suffocating emotions would permit me to
  speak; 〃the ghosts of my sister and her children;do they not rise
  to accuse thee?  Who was it that blasted the intellect of Wieland?
  Who was it that urged him to fury and guided him to murder?  Who;
  but thou and the devil; with whom thou art confederated?〃
  At these words a new spirit pervaded his countenance。  His eyes
  once more appealed to heaven。  〃If I have memoryif I have being
  I am innocent。  I intended no ill; but my folly; indirectly and
  remotely; may have caused it。  But what words are these?  Your
  brother lunatic!  His children dead!〃
  What should I infer from this deportment?  Was the ignorance which
  these words implied real or pretended?  Yet how could I imagine a
  mere human agency in these events?  But; if the influence was
  preternatural or maniacal in my brother's case; they must be
  equally so in my own。  Then I remembered that the voice exerted was
  to save me from Carwin's attempts。  These ideas tended to abate my
  abhorrence of this man; and to detect the absurdity of my
  accusations。
  〃Alas!〃 said I; 〃I have no one to accuse。  Leave me to my fate。
  Fly from a scene stained with cruelty; devoted to despair。〃
  Carwin stood for a time musing and mournful。  At length he said;
  〃What has happened?  I came to expiate my crimes: let me know them
  in their full extent。  I have horrible forebodings!  What has
  happened?〃
  I was silent; but; recollecting the intimation given by this man
  when he was detected in my closet; which implied some knowledge of
  that power which interfered in my favor; I eagerly inquired; 〃What
  was that voice which called upon me to hold when I attempted to
  open the closet?  What face was that which I saw at the bottom of
  the stairs?  Answer me truly。〃
  〃I came to confess the truth。  Your allusions are horrible and
  strange。  Perhaps I have but faint conceptions of the evils which
  my infatuation has produced; but what remains I will perform。  It
  was MY VOICE that you heard!  It was MY FACE that you saw!〃
  For a moment I doubted whether my remembrance of events were not
  confused。  How could he be at once stationed at my shoulder and
  shut up in my closet?  How could he stand near me and yet be
  invisible?  But if Carwin's were the thrilling voice and the fiery
  image which I had heard and seen; then was he the prompter of my
  brother; and the author of these dismal outrages。
  Once more I averted my eyes and struggled for speech:〃Begone!
  thou man of mischief!  Remorseless and implacable miscreant;
  begone!〃
  〃I will obey;〃 said he; in a disconsolate voice; 〃yet; wretch as I
  am; am I unworthy to repair the evils that I have committed?  I
  came as a repentant criminal。  It is you whom I have injured; and
  at your bar am I willing to appear and confess and expiate my
  crimes。  I have deceived you; I have sported with your terrors; I
  have plotted to destroy your reputation。  I come now to remove your
  terrors; to set you beyond the reach of similar fears; to rebuild
  your fame as far as I am able。
  〃This is the amount of my guilt; and this the fruit of my remorse。
  Will you not hear me?  Listen to my confession; and then denounce
  punishment。  All I ask is a patient audience。〃
  〃What!〃 I replied; 〃was not thine the voice that commanded my
  brother to imbrue his hands in the blood of his children?to
  strangle that angel of sweetness; his wife?  Has he not vowed my
  death; and the death of Pleyel; at thy bidding?  Hast thou not made
  him the butcher of his family?changed him who was the glory of
  his species into worse than brute?robbed him of reason and
  consigned the rest of his days to fetters and stripes?〃
  Carwin's eyes glared and his limbs were petrified at this
  intelligence。  No words were requisite to prove him guiltless of
  these enormities: at the time; however; I was nearly insensible to
  these exculpatory tokens。  He walked to the farther end of the
  room; and; having recovered some degree of composure; he spoke:
  〃I am not this villain。  I have slain no one; I have prompted none
  to slay; I have handled a tool of wonderful efficacy without
  malignant intentions; but without caution。  Ample will be the
  punishment of my temerity; if my conduct has contributed to this
  evil。〃  He paused。
  I likewise was silent。  I struggled to command myself so far as to
  listen to the tale which he should tell。  Observing this; he
  continued:
  〃You are not apprised of the existence of a power which I possess。
  I know not by what name to call it。'1'  It enables me to mimic
  exactly the voice of another; and to modify the sound so that it
  shall appear to come from what quarter and be uttered at what
  distance I please。
  〃I know not that everyone possesses this power。  Perhaps; though a
  casual position of my organs in my youth showed me that I possessed
  it; it is an art which may be taught to all。  Would to God I had
  died unknowing of the secret!  It has produced nothing but
  degradation and calamity。〃
  '1' Biloquium; or ventrilocution。  Sound is varied according to the
  variations of direction and distance。  The art of the ventriloquist
  consists in modifying his voice according to all these variations;
  without changing his place。  See the work of the Abbe de la
  Chappelle; in which are accurately recorded the performances of one
  of these artists; and some ingenious though unsatisfactory
  speculations are given on the means by which the effects are
  produced。  This power is; perhaps; given by nature; but is
  doubtless improvable; if not acquirable; by art。  It may; possibly;
  consist in an unusual flexibility or extension of the bottom of the
  tongue and the uvula。  That speech is producible by these alone
  must be granted; since anatomists mention two instances of persons
  speaking without a tongue。  In one case the organ was originally
  wanting; but its place was supplied by a small tubercle; and the
  uvula was perfect。  In the other the tongue was destroyed by
  disease; but probably a small part of it remained。
  This power is difficult to explain; but the fact is undeniable。
  Experience shows that the human voice can imitate the voice of all
  men and of all inferior animals。  The sound of musical instruments;
  and even noises from the contact of inanimate substances; have been
  accurately imitated。  The mimicry of animals is notorious; and Dr。
  Burney (〃Musical Travels〃) mentions one who imitated a flute and
  violin; so as to deceive even his ears。
  THIRD PART
  I
  'After Carwin's confession of his powers of ventriloquism all the
  mysteries are cleared upsave one。  The owner of the voice heard
  in Clara's chamber; on the first night after the wanderer appeared
  at Mettingen; the threatener on the edge of the precipice; the spy
  in Clara's closet; and would…be intruder; the manipulator of the
  vile plot that destroyed her lover's confidenceall these hidden
  identities have materialized in the person of this one unhappy man。
  But while confessing the prying disposition which led to these
  sins; in efforts to protect himself from discovery; Carwin still
  denies that Wieland's mad acts were perpetrated at his
  instigation。'
  〃I have uttered the truth。  This is the extent of my offenses。  You
  tell me a horrid tale of Wieland being led to the destruction of
  his wife and ch