It arrived. Antonia listened anxiously to the carriages as they rolled along the street. None of them stopped, and it grew late without Leonella’s appearing. Still, Antonia resolved to sit up till her aunt’s arrival, and in spite of all her remonstrances, Dame Jacintha and Flora insisted upon doing the same. The hours passed on slow and tediously. Lorenzo’s departure from Madrid had put a stop to the nightly serenades: she hoped in vain to hear the usual sound of guitars beneath her window. She took up her own, and struck a few chords: but music that evening had lost its charms for her, and she soon replaced the instrument in its case. She seated herself at her embroidery frame, but nothing went right: the silks were missing, the thread snapped every moment, and the needles were so expert at falling that they seemed to be animated. At length a flake of wax fell from the taper which stood near her upon a favourite wreath of violets: this completely discomposed her; she threw down her needle, and quitted the frame. It was decreed that for that night nothing should have the power of amusing her. She was the prey of ennui, and employed herself in making fruitless wishes for the arrival of her aunt.
As she walked with a listless air up and down the chamber, the door caught her eye conducting to that which had been her mother’s. She remembered that Elvira’s little library was arranged there, and thought that she might possibly find in it some book to amuse her till Leonella should arrive. Accordingly she took her taper from the table, passed through the little closet, and entered the adjoining apartment. As she looked around her, the sight of this room brought to her recollection a thousand painful ideas. It was the first time of her entering it since her mother’s death. The total silence prevailing through the chamber, the bed despoiled of its furniture, the cheerless hearth where stood an extinguished lamp, and a few dying plants in the window which, since Elvira’s loss, had been neglected, inspired Antonia with a melancholy awe. The gloom of night gave strength to this sensation. She placed her light upon the table, and sank into a large chair, in which she had seen her mother seated a thousand and a thousand times. She was never to see her seated there again! Tears unbidden streamed down her cheek, and she abandoned herself to the sadness which grew deeper with every moment.
Ashamed of her weakness, she at length rose from her seat: she proceeded to seek for what had brought her to this melancholy scene. The small collection of books was arranged upon several shelves in order. Antonia examined them without finding anything likely to interest her, till she put her hand upon a volume of old Spanish ballads. She read a few stanzas of one of them: they excited her curiosity. She took down the book, and seated herself to peruse it with more ease. She trimmed the taper, which now drew towards its end, and then read the following ballad.
Alonzo the brave, and fair Imogine
A warrior so bold, and a virgin so bright
Conversed, as they sat on the green:
They gazed on each other with tender delight;
Alonzo the brave was the name of the knight,
The maid’s was the fair Imogine.“And oh!” said the youth, “since tomorrow I go
To fight in a far distant land,
Your tears for my absence soon leaving to flow,
Some other will court you, and you will bestow
On a wealthier suitor your hand.”“Oh! hush these suspicions,” fair Imogine said,
“Offensive to love and to me!
For if ye be living, or if ye be dead,
I swear by the Virgin, that none in your stead
Shall husband of Imogine be.“If e’er I by lust or by wealth led aside
Forget my Alonzo the brave,
God grant, that to punish my falsehood and pride
Your ghost at the marriage may sit by my side,
May tax me with perjury, claim me as bride,
And bear me away to the grave!”To Palestine hastened the hero so bold;
His love, she lamented him sore:
But scarce had a twelvemonth elapsed, when behold,
A baron all covered with jewels and gold
Arrived at fair Imogine’s door.His treasure, his presents, his spacious domain
Soon made her untrue to her vows:
He dazzled her eyes; he bewildered her brain;
He caught her affections so light and so vain,
And carried her home as his spouse.And now had the marriage been blest by the priest;
The revelry now was begun:
The tables, they groaned with the weight of the feast;
Nor yet had the laughter and merriment ceased,
When the bell of the castle tolled—one!Then first with amazement fair Imogine found
That a stranger was placed by her side: his air was terrific;
He uttered no sound; he spoke not, he moved not,
He looked not around,
But earnestly gazed on the bride.His vizor was closed, and gigantic his height;
His armour was sable to view:
All pleasure and laughter were hushed at his sight;
The dogs as they eyed him drew back in affright,
The lights in the chamber burned blue!His presence all bosoms appeared to dismay;
The guests sat in silence and fear.
At length spoke the bride, while she trembled;
“I pray, sir knight, that your helmet aside you would lay,
And deign to partake of our cheer.”The lady is silent: the stranger complies.
His vizor he slowly unclosed:
Oh! God! what a sight met fair Imogine’s eyes!
What words can express her dismay and surprise,
When a skeleton’s head was exposed.All present then uttered a terrified shout;
All turned with disgust from the scene.
The worms, they crept in, and the worms, they crept out,
And sported his eyes and his temples about,
While the spectre addressed Imogine.“Behold me, thou false one! Behold me!” he cried;
“Remember Alonzo the brave!
God grants, that to punish thy falsehood and pride
My ghost at thy marriage should sit
