“It is vain,——it is vain!” cried Basil; “I strive, but I cannot attain7. I have cast all human bliss8 to the winds; I have poisoned my youth,——and thine, too, Isilda, joy of my life!——and all in vain. No immortal9 gifts are mine,——I would fain pierce into Nature’s depths, but she hides her face from me. O my master! thou didst tell me of the world of spirits which would surely be revealed unto me. I look up into the air, but no sylphs breathe soft zephyrs10 upon my hot cheek; I wander by the streams, but no sweet eyes, looking out from the depths of the fountains, meet my own; I am poor, but the gnomes11 of the earth answer not my bidding with treasures of silver and gold. And thou, O Fire, glorious element! art thou indeed peopled with these wonderful beings; or are they deaf to my voice, and invisible to my eyes alone, of all my brethren?”
And lo! as the student spoke12, a bright pyramid of flame darted13 upward, and a voice, like that of the fire when it answers the soft breathing of the winds, replied,——
“I hear thee,——what wouldst thou with me?”
A paleness came over the young man’s cheek, and he drew back involuntarily.
[100]
“Dost thou then fear me, O mortal!” said the voice again, sadly. “Look again.”
Suddenly the pyramidal flame was cloven asunder14, and there appeared in its centre a form, smaller than that of humanity, but perfect in feminine loveliness. Wavy15 wreaths of golden flame fell around her like a woman’s beautiful hair, and about her semi-transparent form twined an amber4 vesture, resembling in hue16 and airy substance the fire from which she sprung. Her hands were folded submissively on her breast, and her eyes were fixed17 earnestly on the young student’s face as she again repeated,——
“Dost thou fear me now?”
“How should I fear thee, beautiful vision?” cried Basil in ecstasy18; “and what am I, that thou shouldst deign19 to visit me thus?”
“Thinkest thou that this is the first time I have visited thee?” said the Form. “I have been with thee, unseen, from thy childhood. When, in thy boyish days, thou wouldst sit gazing on the beautiful element which I rule, and from which I proceed, it was I who made it assume in thy fancy strange and lovely shapes. It was my voice thou heardest in the musical breathing of the flames, until thou didst love the beautiful fire; and it became to thee the source of inspiration. All this was my doing.”
“And now at last I behold20 thee, glorious creature!” exclaimed the student with rapture21. “How shall I thank thee for thus watching over me invisibly, and at last revealing thyself to me!”
“We do but the will of our Creator,” answered[101] the Salamandrine. “I and my kindred are His offspring, even as man; but our being differs from thine; superior and yet how inferior! We tend thee, we influence thee, we guide thee,——in this doing alike His command who made us, and our own pleasure; for our natures are purer and better than thine.”
“I feel it,” said Basil. “I cannot look upon thy all-perfect loveliness without knowing that such a form must be the visible reflection of a soul equally pure and beautiful.”
“A soul!” sighed the fire-spirit; “alas22! this blessing23 is not ours. We see generation after generation of men perish from the face of earth; we watch them from their cradles into their graves, and still we are the same, our beauty unfaded, our power unchanged. Yet we know there must come a time when the elements from which we draw our being must vanish away, and then we perish with them, for we have no immortal souls: for us there is no after-life!”
As the Salamandrine ceased, the vapors24 of the fire encircled her as with a mist, and a wailing25 came from the red caverns26 of flame, as of spirits in grief, the burden of which was ever,——
“Alas for us!——we have no after-life.”
“Is it even so?” said the student. “Then are ye unhappy in the midst of your divine existence.”
The mist which veiled the Salamandrine floated aside, and she stood once more revealed in her superhuman beauty.
“Not unhappy,” she answered, with a radiant and celestial27 smile,——“not unhappy, since we are the servants[102] of our beneficent Creator; we perform His will, and in that consists our happiness. We suffer no pain, no care; doing no sin, we have no sorrow; our life is a life of love to each other and to man, whose ministers we are. Are we not then happy?”
“It may be so,” said Basil, thoughtfully. “Ye are the creatures of Him who never made aught but good.” And he bowed his head in deep meditation28, while there arose from the mystic fire an ethereal chorus; melodiously29 it pealed30 upon the opened ears of the enraptured31 student.
The spirits sang of praise; of the universal hymn32 which nature lifts up to the Origin of all good; of the perfect harmony of all His works, from the mighty33 planets that roll through illimitable space, down to the fresh green moss34 that springs up at the foot of the wayfaring35 child; of the world of spirits,——those essences which people the earth and float in the air like motes36 in the sunbeam, invisible, but yet powerful; how the good spirits strive with the fallen ones for dominion37 over man, and how the struggle must continue until evil is permitted to be overcome of good, and the earth becomes all holy, worthy38 to be the habitation of glorified39 beings.
“Happy art thou, O man!” they sang. “Even in thy infirmity, what is like unto thee? And earthly life is thine, half the sorrow of which thou mayst remove by patience and love; an earthly death is thine, which is the entrance to immortality40. It is ours to guide thee to that gate of heaven which we ourselves may never enter.”
[103]
And all the spirits sang in a strain that died away as the fire sunk smouldering down, “Blessed art thou, O man!——strong in thy weakness, happy in thy sufferings. Thrice blessed art thou!”
The student was roused from his trance by a light footstep. A hand was laid on his shoulder, and a soft woman’s voice whispered,——
“Art thou then here all alone, and in darkness, my Basil?”
“All was light with me,——the darkness came with thee,” answered the student, harshly, like one roused from delicious slumbers41 by an unwelcome hand;——and yet the hand was none other than Isilda’s.
“Once thou used to call me thy light of life, Basil,” murmured the girl. “I would not come to anger thee.”
It was too dark to discern faces; but as Isilda turned to depart, Basil thought she was weeping, and his heart melted. What would he not have given, at the moment, for the days of old,——the feelings of old, when he would have drawn42 her to his bosom43, and soothed44 her there with the assurances of never-ending love. But now he dared not; the link between him and earth was broken. He thought of the immortal gift just acquired, and he would not renounce45 its ecstatic joys,——no, not even for Isilda. He took her hand kindly46, but coldly, saying,——
“Forgive me; I have been studying,——dreaming; I did not mean to say thou wert unwelcome.”
“Bless thee for that, my Basil, my beloved!” cried the girl, weeping, as she pressed his hand passionately to her heart and her lips. “Thou couldst not be unkind to me,——to thy betrothed47 wife.”
[104]
Basil turned away; he could not tell her that the tie was now only a name; and Isilda went on,——
“Thou hast not looked the same of late; thou art too anxious; or thou hast some hidden sorrow upon thee. Tell it to me, my Basil,” she continued, caressingly48. “Who should share and lighten it but I, who love thee so?”
“Dost thou indeed love me so well, Isilda?”
“Thou art my all,——my life,——my soul! It were death itself to part from thee,” cried the girl, in a burst of impassioned feeling, as she knelt beside the bending form of her lover, and strove to wind her arms round his neck. She hardly dared to do so now to him who had once wooed that fondness with so many prayers.
“Woe is me, alas!” muttered the student. “Must thou also be sacrificed, Isilda?”
She did not hear his words, but she felt him unclasp her arms from his neck; and Isilda sank insensible at Basil’s feet.
The die was cast. Slowly the student laid her down,——her, the once beloved,——on the cold floor. He called “Margareta!” and before his sister entered, went out into the open air.
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1
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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7
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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8
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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9
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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zephyrs
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| n.和风，微风( zephyr的名词复数 ) | |
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gnomes
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| n.矮子( gnome的名词复数 )；侏儒；（尤指金融市场上搞投机的）银行家；守护神 | |
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12
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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13
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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14
asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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wavy
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| adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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18
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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deign
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| v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事) | |
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20
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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24
vapors
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| n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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26
caverns
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| 大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 ) | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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29
melodiously
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30
pealed
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| v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
enraptured
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| v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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wayfaring
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| adj.旅行的n.徒步旅行 | |
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36
motes
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| n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 )；斑点 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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38
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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39
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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40
immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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41
slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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42
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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43
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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44
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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45
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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46
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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47
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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48
caressingly
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| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
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