VARNEY, THE VAMPYRE; OR, THE FEAST OF BLOOD. CHAPTER CLXII. [sic] [Chapter 170] COUNT POLLIDORI'S PALACE. -- SIGNORA ISABELLA, THE COUNT'S DAUGHTER. -- THE INTRODUCTION. The stranger walked up to him and offered his services, saying, -- "Are you hurt, signor? -- you bleed!" "But slightly hurt, signor, thank you for that; you have saved my life. I had been cold meat, indeed-- a bloody corpse for all Venice to look upon to-morrow, but for your valour and stout assistance." "Name it not, signor; but the rascals have been well paid. There lies one of them-- the others have escaped; but permit me, signor, to say, that the sooner you get away from this spot the better, for the knaves may return in greater force than before, or they will wait till you leave; by that time they will have rallied, and dart out upon you as you pass along." "I do not fear that, signor, much; but the fact is, I am almost too weak to walk unaided." "Permit me to render you the assistance you require. I am a stranger in this place, and therefore unused to your ways; but---" "Say no more, signor; I will accept of your services if you will accept of a lodging at my poor home. I have that which shall make you welcome-- heartily welcome; and the signora, my daughter, shall make you welcome, too." "Signor, if I can be of service to you I will do so with pleasure. Lend me your arm, signor; but your wound is not stanched-- let me bind it more carefully and securely; you ought not to bleed from such a wound when bandaged." "Perhaps, signor, you have had more to do with these matters than I. I am a peaceable Venetian of rank, and neither afraid nor unwilling to draw a sword in a good quarrel, shrinking not from some odds, but I have had no practice in these matters; times and circmustances have not been propitious." "It matters not," replied the stranger; "you shewed what you were when you had nearly defeated one, and afterwards kept at bay three. He must be a man who can behave thus, sir; he must have the heart and conduct of a soldier-- you would be one did occasion serve-- no man can be more; but I have seen many climes, and have therefore some knowledge in these matters beyond the mere inward power and courage. I have, from sheer necessity, been compelled to mix in _melees_, and not from inclination." "I thank you for your skill as a surgeon, for truly you have stopped the bleeding, which I had not been able to do myself." "Lean on my shoulder, signor; it will enable you to walk better. Have you far to go?" inquired the stranger. "No, signor; but we will take a gondola, it will be the easier travelling, and, moreover, it will land us at my house, where you shall be most heartily welcome. If we turn down here, we shall soon obtain the aid of a gondolier. I had intended walking, but I have enough of that for one night, even if I were able to walk, which I am not." "As you please, signor." As the stranger spoke he walked towards the place indicated by the wounded man, and in a few moments more they reached the grand canal, and finding a gondolier sleeping in his gondola, the stranger left his wounded companion to wake the sleeper to his duty, by shaking him. "Hillo!" said the stranger, "will nothing wake you-- get up instantly, and about your duty. Do you always sleep here?" "No, signor," said the man, sleepily. "Well, then, are you engaged?" "Yes, signor, if you engage me." "Well, then, I do." "Where to, signor?" "Come with me to bring a wounded gentleman into the gondola, and he will tell you where to. Come, quick-- have you not yet awakened?" "I'm awake, signor, and willing," said the gondolier, following the stranger to the spot where the wounded man was standing, and, by direction of the stranger, he aided the wounded signor into the gondola. "Now, signors, I have but to know where you desire to go to." "Row on until I tell you where to stop. Follow the course of the grand canal, and you will go right enough." There was some time spent in silence, while the gondolier rowed as desired up the grand canal, until they came to a large mansion, which the wounded man gazed upon, and, after a moment's pause, as if he had a difficulty in speaking, he said, as he pointed to the building, -- "There, row up to yonder steps; there I will land-- that is my house." The gondolier immediately obeyed the injunction, and pulled for the stairs, and when they reached the place, the gondolier stepped out and secured the gondola. "Call out some of my people," said the wounded man, "call them out. I am very stiff, and not able to get out." The gondolier obeyed, and in a few minutes more several men, all in livery, ran down the steps to the gondola, and lifted their master out, who appeared to be unable to do so of himself. The gondolier was rewarded according to his deserts, and the stranger followed the wounded man into his own house, which was a most extensive building, and filled with servants, and furnished in the richest manner, displaying magnificence and wealth to a degree that was scarce to be surpassed in Venice. They were shown into an apartment replete with every appointment that wealth or luxury could suggest, and the wounded ma was placed on a sofa, and his attendants stood round him as if waiting his orders. "Signor and stranger," he said, "welcome to my house, as the preserver of my life. All I have here is at your service.["] "I am obliged," replied the stranger, with a dignified acknowledgement of the courtesy-- "I am obliged; but I cannot recognise on my part any such right. If I have done you service-- as I will not affect to believe I have not-- still you overrate the amount of it. But I will accept of your hospitality for this night; for I am a stranger in Venice, and have little or no knowledge of the best course to pursue." "Remain here." "But you had better dispatch some one for aid," interrupted the stranger. "You are in pain, at this very instant; send for some assistance. You require the aid of a leech immediately." "I am faint-- very faint," he replied. "Hasten," said the stranger -- "hasten some of you to fetch a leech, instead of losing your wits in silent astonishment." The servants immediately bustled about, and seemed to have awakened from a trance, and were seen running in different directions. The room was soon cleared, and the tall stranger seated himself by his wounded host. "In me you see the Count Polidori." [sic] The stranger bowed. "I am not a native of this city, though now one of her favoured citizens. I have left the land of my birth because I and my rulers could not agree, and I ran some danger in staying against their will, and I have settled and married here." "Our adopted country is that which demands our care and preference," replied the stranger. "That, at least, is my opinion." "No doubt. I am now," he continued, "a widower." "Your lady is dead?" "Yes; I am sorry to say so. I have, however, one child living at home, and one who is serving his country in her fleets, an honour to our house; but my greatest comfort is the dear image of my lost wife-- my daughter." "Is she here now?" "Yes; in this palace. Signora Isabella is devoted to her father, and would not for the world do aught that would give me a moment's pain; indeed, she would die for me rather than I should feel displeasure." "Such a daughter must be a treasure." "She is a treasure." "And what an inestimable jewel would she be as a wife." "She will be when the day comes when she will mate, which I hope will be before I die; for I should be too anxious respecting the worth of the man who was to be her husband, to permit me to die happy, unless I saw and approved of the choice, or chose the individual myself." "I see you are more anxious," said the stranger, mildly, "in providing future happiness for your daughter, rather than in hoarding wealth or titles for her." "I am," said the count. "And a most laudable ambition, too; an ambition that few parents do not neglect in the pursuit of one of a different character-- either some young love, or some one who is endowed largely with worldly goods or titles." "My Isabella will have enough of both; and, therefore, she will not need to seek for them; but she will not throw herself away upon any nameless adventurer who may love her fortune better than herself." "That would be as cruel a neglect as the other," replied the stranger; "and, in my opinion, more culpable of the two." "So it would." At that moment the door opened hastily, and a light step was heard, and before the stranger could turn round, a lovely young female rushed to the side of the count, throwing herself on her knees, saying, -- "Oh, heavens! my dear father, what has happened? Are you hurt? For Heaven's sake, my dear father, what is the matter?" "Little or nothing, my dear Isabella." "But you are wounded. Ah! there is blood! My God! my God!" "Hush, Isabella. I am wounded, but not hurt seriously." "I pray Heaven it may be so. But what sacrilegious hand could be raised against you? You have wronged no one." "I am not aware of having done so, certainly," said the count; "but that does not always give any security to the wealthy. They will sometimes destroy them from motives apart from individual revenge." "The monsters! But have the villains been secured?" "One has paid the forfeit of his life for his temerity and villany; the rest fled." "Ah! what will these assassins not risk?" "Well, my dear Isabella, I have answered your inquiries, and now, perhaps, you will see if you be alone with me." "Alone with you!" repeated Isabella, not quite comprehending the words; but she looked up, and her eyes encountered those of the stranger, who was gazing earnestly upon her, and she started, as she rose ans said, -- "Excuse me, signor, excuse me-- I knew not any one was present." "Nay," said the stranger, "filial love and respect need no excuse, signora. Do not think so badly of me as to imagine I can think otherwise than you were actuated by the tenderest impulses." "Your kindness, sir----" "Isabella," said the count, interrupting her, "but for this gentleman's timely and efficient aid, I should at this moment have been a corpse in the streets of Venice." "You, my father?" "Yes, my child. This signor came up just as I was wounded and beaten down, and saved me from death. He killed one of my assailants, while he put to flight the other two, who left their dead companion in the streets. Thank him, my child, for he is my preserver, and he deserves thanks for the deed as well as for the bravery with which it was done, for he ran great risks in such odds." "He must. Signor, I know not how to thank you or what to say; the greatness of the obligation paralyzes me, and I have not words to tell you how grateful I feel for your goodness and courage; but 'tis an obligation that can never be forgotten or ever repaid-- it is impossible." "My dear signora, permit me to say you rate my services too highly." "Nay, that is quite impossible; for my father's life I prize far before my own-- before anybody in the world; and to save that is to lay me under the heaviest obligation it is possible to impose upon me." "Say no more, signora; I will not underrate it after what you have said; but you must say as little about it as you will. I am happy, however, to have done any act worthy of your thanks." -+- Next Time: The Opinions of Doctor Pilletto. -- The Stranger's Account of Himself. -- The Welcome of the Signora. +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ | This Varney the Vampyre e-text was entered by members of the | | Science Fiction Round Table #1 (SFRT1) on the Genie online | | service. | | The Varney Project, a reincarnation of this "penny dreadful" bit | | of fiction, was begun in November of 1993 by James Macdonald and | | should take about four years for re-serialization. | | These chapters are being posted once a week to the Round Table | | Bulletin Board and are also being placed in the Round Table File | | Library. | | For further information concerning Varney e-texts, please send | | email to: | | h.liu@juno.com | +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ ============================================================================== The Varney Project Chapter 170 Ver 1.00 03/29/1997 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ General notes on this chapter Source: H.Liu entry from the Arno edition, 1970, text is reprint of 1847 edition Drop capital: No Figures in source: 1 Page numbers in source: 712-715 Sections: 1 Approximate number of characters: Number of paragraphs: Comments: Chapter appears mis-numbered as CLXII. The mysterious stranger who saved the intended assassination victim now gives first aid to the fallen man, and together they hire a gondola and travel to the wounded man's home, a large expansive palace. There the gentleman introduces himself as the Count Polidori, and is found to be a widower. The count's daughter, Isabella soon arrives and thanks the stranger profusely for saving her father's life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Modification History Version Date Who What changes made -------- -------- ------------- ---------------------------------- 1.00 03/29/1997 H.Liu Initial gold version, rough proof read. ==================================End of File=================================