Fantasmagoriana Deluxe by Various

Author:Various [Various]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Anthologies (Multiple Authors), Horror, Fantasmagoriana Deluxe
Publisher: Dark Moon Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

1 The Winter’s Tale, Act V, Scene 1.

2 Hippolyte Clairon, a celebrated French actress, published her memoirs in 1798.

V.

THE FATED HOUR

BY FRIEDRICH LAUN

(TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY SARAH ELIZABETH UTTERSON)

* * *

——“Wan the maiden was,

Of saintly paleness, and there seem’d to dwell

In the strong beauties of her countenance

Something that was not earthly.”

—SOUTHEY’S JOAN OF ARC.1

“The clock has toll’d; and, hark! the bell

Of death beats slow.”

—MASON’S ELEGIES.2

A HEAVY rain prevented the three friends from taking the morning’s walk they had concerted: notwithstanding which, Amelia and Maria failed not to be at Florentina’s house at the appointed hour. The latter had for some time past been silent, pensive, and absorbed in thought; and the anxiety of her friends made them very uneasy at the visible impression left on her mind by the violent tempest of the preceding night.

Florentina met her friends greatly agitated, and embraced them with more than usual tenderness.

“Fine weather for a walk!” cried Amelia: “how have you passed this dreadful night?”

“Not very well, you may easily imagine. My residence is in too lonely a situation.”

“Fortunately,” replied Maria, laughing, “it will not long be yours.”

“That’s true,” answered Florentina, sighing deeply. “The count returns from his travels to-morrow, in the hope of soon conducting me to the altar.”

“Merely in the hope?” replied Maria: “the mysterious manner in which you uttered these words, leads me to apprehend you mean to frustrate those hopes.”

“I?—But how frequently in this life does hope prove only an untimely flower?”

“My dear Florentina,” said Maria, embracing her, “for some time past my sister and I have vainly attempted to account for your lost gaiety; and have been tormented with the idea, that possibly family reasons have induced you, contrary to your wishes, to consent to this marriage which is about to take place.”

“Family reasons! Am I not then the last of our house; the only remaining one, whom the tombs of my ancestors have not as yet enclosed? And have I not for my Ernest that ardent affection which is natural to my time of life? Or do you think me capable of such duplicity, when I have so recently depicted to you, in the most glowing colours, the man of my heart’s choice?”

“What then am I to believe?” inquired Maria. “Is it not a strange contradiction, that a young girl, handsome and witty, rich and of high rank, and who, independently of these advantages, will not by her marriage be estranged from her family, should approach the altar with trembling?”

Florentina, holding out her hand to the two sisters, said to them:

“How kind you are! I ought really to feel quite ashamed in not yet having placed entire confidence in your friendship, even on a subject which is to me, at this moment, incomprehensible. At this moment I am not equal to the task; but in the course of the day I hope to be sufficiently recovered. In the meanwhile let us talk on less interesting subjects.”

The violent agitation of Florentina’s mind was so evident at this moment, that the two sisters willingly assented to her wishes.

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