“I perfectly agree with you,” replied Father Morris; “and only wonder, with these impressions upon your mind, that you can hesitate an instant about undertaking your voyage to Egypt.”
“Alas! I have no longer any occasion to hesitate!”
“What do you mean?”
“My father has just ordered me to quit his house immediately, unless I marry Rosabella; and that no tortures shall ever induce me to do—for I hate her!”
“Then the Duke has spoken,” said Father Morris, gloomily; “I thought this success of Edmund’s would open his lips; but,” continued he, addressing Edric, “I think you ought to rejoice at such a circumstance, as your principal objection to visiting the pyramids, was the difficulty of getting your father to consent to such an expedition; that objection, at least, is now removed.”
“But how removed, Father Morris? Think you, that I could bear to leave England, perhaps forever, and upon an expedition so awful in its tendency and consequences, whilst labouring under a father’s curse? I cannot do it. I must again see my father, and obtain his forgiveness before I go.”
“You are then prepared to comply with his wishes?”
“Never! I have before told you, no force shall compel me to marry Rosabella!”
“And do you imagine Sir Ambrose will relinquish his project so easily? Is it not more probable that your opposition will only increase his determination; and that another interview, if you still refuse to obey his commands, may provoke the curse you now seem to dread?”
“What shall I do then? For in my present state of mind, life is a burden to me;—my brain feels bewildered.”
“Go to Dr. Entwerfen’s study, and remain there concealed for the present, till the effervescence of your father’s rage shall have evaporated. My duty now calls me to my patron, but I shall soon return; I will then see your father, and perhaps a conversation with me may bring him to reason.”
“I trust my cause in your hands, father,” said Edric, “and may your eloquence bring it to a happy issue.”
“You may depend upon me,” rejoined the reverend father; “I feel deeply interested in the business:” and they parted, Edric proceeding to seek his tutor, and Father Morris returning to the house of the Duke of Cornwall.
When Edric entered the study of Dr. Entwerfen, he found him engaged in what, considering his age and station, seemed a very extraordinary amusement. He was apparently dancing a hornpipe, drawing his heels together, and alternately rising and sinking like a clown in a pantomime, twisting his face, in the meantime, into the most hideous grimaces.
“What is the matter?” cried Edric, gazing at him with surprise.
“I—I—I am galvanized,” cried the doctor, in a piteous tone; nodding his head with a sudden jerk, that seemed to threaten every instant to throw it out of its socket; and then, suddenly starting, he kicked out one leg horizontally, and twirled round upon the other with an air of an opera dancer.
“How did it happen?” cried Edric, excessively shocked at the unnatural contrast exhibited between the doctor’s serious countenance, and involuntary antics.
“I can’t—exactly—tell,” replied the doctor, bolting forth his words with difficulty, and still swimming, grinning, and capering, to the inexpressible horror of his companion, till by degrees his grimaces subsided, and he was enabled at last to stand tolerably steady. He now informed his pupil, that trying some experiments with his galvanic battery, he had unfortunately operated upon himself; and in his turn listened to the account of what had passed between Edric and Sir Ambrose. Instead of expressing sorrow, however, when he found his pupil had quarrelled with his father, the doctor’s eyes sparkled with joy—“Then you must inevitably travel,” exclaimed he. “We shall visit the pyramids, we shall animate the mummies, and we shall attain immortality.”
“No! I cannot leave England without being reconciled to my father: he is old, and I may never see him again; I could not bear to part from him in anger.”
“But consider the object you have in view; and the countries you will visit: all the English travel. I never knew a young Englishman in my life who was not fond of it. The inhabitants of other countries journey for what they can get, or what they hope to learn; but an Englishman travels because he does not know what to do with himself. He spares neither time, trouble, nor money; he goes everywhere, sees everything; after which, he returns—just as wise as when he set out. Not that I blame curiosity—no—I admire it above all things!—it is that which has led to all the great discoveries that have been made since the creation of the world, and it is that which now impels us to explore the pyramids.”
Edric looked annoyed at the conclusion of this speech, and, to change the subject, asked the doctor, if he thought his galvanic battery powerful enough for the experiment they meant to try with it.
“Powerful!” exclaimed the doctor; “why I feel it even now tingling to my fingers’ ends. I should think, Sir, the effect it has had upon
