Join Host Bree Carlile as she reads the twenty-second chapter of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

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Chapter 22 the voyage came to an end.

We landed and proceeded to Paris.

I soon found that I had overtaxed my strength and that I must repose before I could continue my journey.

My father's care and attentions were indefatigable, but he did not know the origin of my sufferings and sought erroneous methods to remedy the incurable ill.

He wished me to seek amusement in society.

I abhorred the face of man.

Oh, not abhorred.

They were my brethren, my fellow beings, and I felt attracted even to the most repulsive among them, as to creatures of an angelic nature and celestial mechanism.

But I felt that I had no right to share their intercourse.

I had unchained an enemy among them, whose joy it was to shed their blood, and a revel in their groans.

How they would each and all abhor me and hunt me from the world, did they know my unhallowed acts and the crimes which had their source in me.

My father yielded at length to my desire to avoid society and strove by various arguments to banish my despair.

Sometimes he thought that I felt deeply the degradation of being obliged to answer a charge of murder, and he endeavoured to prove to me the futility of pride.

Alas, my father said I, how little do you know me.

Human beings, their feelings and passions would indeed be degradated if such a wretched eye felt pride.

Justine.

Poor, unhappy Justine.

Was as innocent as I, and she suffered the same charge.

She died for it, and I am the cause of this.

I murdered her.

William, Justine and Henry, they all died by my hands.

My father had often, during my imprisonment, heard me make the same assertion.

When I thus accused myself, he sometimes seemed to desire an explanation, and at others he appeared to consider it as the offspring of delirium, and that during my illness some idea of this kind had presented itself to my imagination, the remembrance of which I preserved in my convalescence.

I avoided explanation and maintained a continual silence concerning the wretch I had created.

I had a persuasion that I should be supposed mad, and this in itself would forever have changed my tongue.

But besides, I could not bring myself to disclose a secret which would fill my hearer with consternation and make fear and unnatural horror the inmates of his breast.

I checked therefore, my impatient thirst for sympathy and was silent when I would have given the world to have confided the fatal secret.

Yet still words like those I have recorded would burst uncontrollably from me.

I could offer no explanation of them, but their truth, in part relieved the burden of my mysterious woe.

Upon this occasion my father said with an expression of unbounded wonder, my dearest son victor, what infatuation is this?

My dear son, I entreat you never to make such an assertion again.

I'm not mad, I cried energetically.

The sun and the heavens who viewed my operations can bear witness of my truth.

I am the assassin of those most innocent victims.

They died by my machinations a thousand times would I have shed my own blood, dropped by drop to have saved their lives.

But I could not my father indeed, I could not sacrifice the whole human race.

The conclusion of this speech convinced my father that my ideas were deranged, and he instantly changed the subject of our conversation and endeavored to alter the course of my thoughts.

He wished as much as possible to obliterate the memory of the scenes that had taken place in Ireland, and never alluded to them or suffered me to speak of my misfortunes.

As time passed away, I became more calm.

Misery had her dwelling in my heart, but I no longer talked in the same incoherent manner of my own crimes.

Sufficient for me was the consciousness of them.

By the utmost self violence I curbed the imperious voice of wretchedness which sometimes desired to declare itself to the whole world.

And my manners were calmer and more composed than they had ever been since my journey to the Sea of Ice.

A few days before we left Paris, on our way to Switzerland, I received the following letter from Elizabeth.

My dear friend, it gave me the greatest pleasure to receive a letter from my uncle dated at Paris.

You are no longer at a formidable distance, and I may hope to see you in less than a fortnight.

My poor cousin, how much you must have suffered.

I expect to see you looking even more ill than when you quitted Geneva.

This winter has been passed most miserably, tortured as I have been by anxious suspense.

Yet I hope to see peace in your countenance and define that your heart is not totally void of comfort and tranquillity.

Yet I fear that the same feelings now exist that made you so miserable a year ago, even perhaps augmented by time, I would not disturb you at this period when so many misfortunes weigh upon you, but a conversation that I had with my uncle previous to his departure renders some explanation necessary before we meet.

Explanation, you may possibly say.

What can Elizabeth have to explain?

If you really say this, my questions are answered and all my doubt satisfied.

But you are distant from me, and it is possible that you may dread and yet be pleased with this explanation.

And in all probability of this being the case, I dare not any longer postpone writing what during your absence I have often wished to express to you, but I've never had the courage to begin.

You well know, Victor, that our union had been the favorite plan of your parents ever since our infancy.

We were told this when young, and taught to look forward to it as an event that would certainly take place.

We were affectionate play fellows during childhood, and I believe dear and valued friends to one another as we grew older.

But as brother and sister often entertain a lively affection towards each other, without desiring a more intimate union, may not such also be our case?

Tell me, dearest Victor, answer me.

I conjure you by our mutual happiness with simple truth.

Do you not love another?

You have traveled, you have spent several years of your life at Inglestod, and I confess to you, my friend, that when I saw you last autumn so unhappy, flying to solitude from the society of every creature, I could not help supposing that you might regret our connection and believe yourself bound in honor to fulfill the wishes of your parents, although they oppose themselves to your inclinations.

But this is false reasoning.

I confess to you, my friend, that I love you, and that in my airy dreams of futurity, you have been my constant friend and companion.

But it is your happiness I desire as well as my own.

When I declared you that our marriage would render me eternally miserable unless it were the dictate of your own free choice, even now I weep to think that, borne down as you are by the cruelest misfortunes you may stifle by the word honor all hope of that love and happiness which would alone restore you to yourself.

I, who have so disinterested in affection for you, may increase your misery's tenfold by being an obstacle to your wishes.

Ah, Victor, be assured that your cousin and playmate has too sincere a love for you not to be made miserable by this supposition.

Be happy, my friend, and if you obey me in this one request, remain satisfied that nothing on earth will have the power to interrupt my tranquillity.

Do not let this letter disturb you.

Do not answer tomorrow or the next day, or even until you come, as it will give you pain.

My uncle will send me news of your health, and if I see but one smile on your lips when we meet, occasioned by this or any other exertion of mine, I shall need no other happiness.

Elizabeth Lavenza, Geneva, May, 1817.

This letter revived in my memory what I had before forgotten the threat of the fiend.

I'll be with you on your wedding night.

Such was my sentence, and on that night would the demon employ every art to destroy me and tear me from the glimpse of happiness which promised partly to console my sufferings.

On that night he had determined to consummate his crimes by my death.

Albeit so, a deadly struggle would then assuredly take place, in which, if he were victorious, I should be at peace and his power over me be at an end.

If he were vanquished, I should be a free man.

Alas, what freedom such as the peasant enjoyed when his family have been massacred before its eyes, his cottage burnt, his landslayed waste, and he has turned adrift, homeless, penniless and alone but free.

Such would be my liberty, except that in my Elizabeth I possessed a treasure.

Alas, balanced by those horrors of remorse and guilt which would pursue me until death.

Sweet and beloved Elizabeth.

I read and reread her letter, and some softened feelings stolen to my heart, and dared to whisper paradiseyical dreams of love and joy.

But the apple was already eaten and the angel's arm bared to drive me from all hope.

Yet I would die to make her happy.

If the monster executed his threat, death was inevitable.

Yet again I considered whether my marriage would hasten my fate.

My destruction might indeed arrive a few months sooner, but if my torturer should suspect that I postponed it, influenced by his menaces, he would surely find other, and perhaps more dreadful means of revenge.

He had vowed to be with me on my wedding night, yet he did not consider that threat as binding him to peace in the meantime.

For, as if to show me that he was not yet satiated with blood, he had murdered Clerval immediately after the annunciation of his threats.

I resolved, therefore, that if my immediate union with my cousin would conduce either to hers or my father's happiness, my adversary's designs against my life should not retarded a single hour.

In this state of mind, I wrote to Elizabeth.

My letter was calm and affectionate.

I fear, my beloved girl, I said, little happiness remains for us on earth, yet all that I may 1 day enjoy is centered in you, chase away your idle fears.

To you alone do I consecrate my life and my endeavors for contentment.

I have one secret, Elizabeth, a dreadful one.

When revealed to you, it will chill your frame with horror.

And then, far from being surprised at my misery, you will only wonder that I survive what I have endured.

I will confide this tale of misery and terror to you.

The day after our marriage shall take place.

For my sweet cousin, there must be perfect confidence between us.

But until then I conjure you.

Do not mention or allude to it.

This I most earnestly entreat, and I know you will comply.

In about a week after the arrival of Elizabeth's letter, we returned to Geneva.

The sweet girl welcomed me with warm affection.

Yet tears were in her eyes, as she beheld my emaciated frame and feverish cheeks.

I saw a change in her also.

She was thinner and had lost much of that heavenly vivacity that had before charmed me.

But her gentleness and soft looks of compassion made her a more fit companion.

For one, blasted and miserable as I was, the tranquillity which I now enjoyed did not endure.

Memory brought madness with it, and when I thought of what had passed, a real insanity possessed me.

Sometimes I was furious and burnt with rage, sometimes low and despondent.

I neither spoke nor looked at anyone, but sat motionless, bewildered by the multitude of miseries that overcame me.

Elizabeth alone had the power to draw me from these fits.

Her gentle voice would soothe me when transported by passion and inspire me with human feelings.

When sunk in torpor, she wept with me and for me.

When reason returned, she would remonstrate an endeavour to inspire me with resignation.

It is well for the unfortunate to be resigned, but for the guilty there is no peace agonies of remorse poison the luxury.

There is otherwise sometimes found in indulging the excess of grief.

Soon after my arrival, my father spoke of my immediate marriage with Elizabeth.

I remained silent.

Have you then, some other attachment?

None on earth.

I love Elizabeth and look forward to our union with delight.

Let the day therefore be fixed, and on it I will consecrate myself in life or death to the happiness of my cousin.

My dear Victor, do not speak thus.

Heavy misfortunes have befallen us, but let us only cling closer to what remains, and transfer our love for those whom we have lost to those who yet live.

Our circle will be small, but bound close by the ties of affection and mutual misfortune.

And when time shall have soften your despair, new and dear objects of care will be born to replace those of whom we have been so cruelly deprived.

Such were the lessons of my father, but to me the remembrance of the threat returned.

Nor can you wonder that omnipotent as the fiend had yet been in his deeds of blood, I should almost regard him as invincible, and that when he had pronounced the words, I shall be with you on your wedding night, I should regard the threatened fate as unavoidable.

But death was no evil to me if the loss of Elizabeth were balanced with it.

And I, therefore, with a contented and even cheerful countenance, agreed with my father that if my cousin would consent, the ceremony should take place in ten days.

And thus put as I imagined the seal to my fate.

Great God, if for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself forever from my native country and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth, than have consented to this miserable marriage.

But, as if possessed of magic powers, the monster had blinded me to his real intentions.

And when I thought that I had prepared only my own death, I hastened that of a far dearer victim.

As the period fixed for our marriage drew nearer, whether from cowardice or prophetic feeling, I felt my heart sink within me.

But I concealed my feelings by an appearance of hilarity that brought smiles and joy to the countenance of my father, but hardly deceived the ever watchful and nicer eye of Elizabeth.

She looked forward to our union with placid contentment, not unmingled, with a little fear, which past misfortunes had impressed that what now appeared certain and tangible happiness might soon dissipate into an airy dream and leave no trace but deep and everlasting regret.

Preparations were made for the event, congratulatory visits were received, and all wore a smiling appearance.

I shut up as well as I could in my own heart the anxiety that prayed there, and entered with seeming earnestness into the plans of my father, although they might only serve as the decorations of my tragedy.

Through my father's exertions, a part of the inheritance of Elizabeth had been restored to her by the Austrian government.

A small possession on the shores of Como belonged to her.

It was agreed that immediately after our union we should proceed to Villa Lavenza and spend our first days of happiness beside the beautiful lake near which it stood.

In the meantime, I took every precaution to defend my person in case the scene should openly attack me.

I carried pistols and a dagger constantly about me, and was ever on the watch to prevent artifice, and by these means gained a greater degree of tranquillity.

Indeed, as the period approached, the threat appeared more as a delusion, not to be regarded as worthy to disturb my peace, while the happiness I hoped for in my marriage were a greater appearance of certainty.

As the day fixed for its solemnization drew nearer and I heard it continually spoken of as an occurrence which no accident could possibly prevent, elizabeth seemed happy.

My tranquil demeanour contributed greatly to calm her mind.

But on the day that was to fulfill my wishes and my destiny, she was melancholy, and a presentiment of evil pervaded her.

And perhaps also she thought of the dreadful secret which I had promised to reveal to her on the following day.

My father was in the meantime overjoyed, and in the bustle of preparation only recognized in the melancholy of his niece the diffidence of a bride.

After the ceremony was performed, a large party assembled at my father's.

But it was agreed that Elizabeth and I should commence our journey by water, sleeping that night at Ebion, and continuing our voyage on the following day.

The day was fair, the wind favorable, all smiled on our nuptial embarkation.

Those were the last moments of my life during which I enjoyed the feeling of happiness.

We passed rapidly along.

The sun was hot, but we were sheltered from its rays by a kind of canopy, while we enjoyed the beauty of the scene.

Sometimes on one side of the lake, where we saw Mont Celeb, the pleasant banks of Montglere, and at a distance surmounting all the beautiful Mont Blanc and the assemblage of snowy mountains that, in vain to endeavour to emulate her, sometimes coasting the opposite banks.

We saw the mighty Jura opposing its dark side to the ambition that would quit its native country, and an almost insurmountable barrier to the invader who should wish to enslave it.

I took the hand of Elizabeth.

You are sorrowful, my love.

Ah, if you knew what I have suffered and what I may yet endure, you would endeavour to let me taste the quiet and freedom from despair that this one day at least permits me to enjoy.

Be happy, my dear Victor, replied Elizabeth.

There is, I hope, nothing to distress you.

And be assured that if a lively joy is not painted in my face, my heart is contented.

Something whispers to me not to depend too much on the prospect that has opened before us, but I will not listen to such a sinister voice.

Observe how fast we move along, and how the clouds which sometimes obscure and sometimes rise above the dome of Montblanc, render this scene of beauty still more interesting.

Look also at the innumerable fish that are swimming in the clear waters, where we can distinguish every pebble that lies at the bottom.

What a divine day.

How happy and serene allnature appears.

Thus Elizabeth endeavored to divert her thoughts and mine from all reflection upon melancholy subjects.

But her temper was fluctuating.

Joy for a few instants shone in her eyes, but it continually gave place to distraction and reverie.

The sun sank lower in the heavens.

We passed the river Drance and observed its path through the chasms of the higher and the glens of the lower hills, the Alps.

Here come closer to the lake, and we approach the amphitheater of mountains which forms its eastern boundary.

The spire of Ebion shone under the woods that surrounded it, and the range of mountain above mountain by which it was overhung.

The wind which had hitherto carried us along with amazing rapidity, sank its sunset to a light breeze.

The soft air just ruffled the water and caused a pleasant motion among the trees as we approached the shore from which it wafted the most delightful scent of flowers and hay.

The sun sank beneath the horizon as we landed, and as I touched the shore, I felt those cares and fear survive, which soon were to clasp me and cling to me forever.

Thank you for joining Bite Out of Time Books today while we read a bite of one of your favorite classics.

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