Join Host Bree Carlile as she reads the twentieth chapter of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

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Video welcome to Bite at a Time Books, where we read you your favorite classics one byte at a time.

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Wherever you listen to podcasts today, we'll be continuing Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Chapter 20 I sat one evening in my laboratory.

The sun had set and the moon was just rising from the sea.

I had not sufficient light for my employment, and I remained idle in a pause of consideration for whether I should leave my labor for the night or hasten its conclusion by an unremitting attention to it.

As I sat, a train of reflection occurred to me, which led me to consider the effects of what I was now doing.

Three years before, I was engaged in the same manner and had created a fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated my heart and filled it forever with the bitterest remorse.

I was now about to form another being of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant.

She might become 100 times more malignant than her mate, and delight for its own sake in murder and wretchedness.

He had sworn to quit the neighborhood of man and hide himself in deserts, but she had not.

And she, who in all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning animal, might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation.

They might even hate each other.

The creature who already lived loathed his own deformity, and might he not conceive a greater abhorrence for it when it came before his eyes in the female form?

She also might turn with disgust from him to the superior beauty of man.

She might quit him, and he be again alone exasperated by the fresh provocation of being deserted by one of his own species, even if they were to leave Europe and inhabit the deserts of the New World.

Yet one of the first results of those sympathies for which the demon thirsted would be children and a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth, who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror.

Had I right, for my own benefit, to inflict this curse upon everlasting generations?

I had before been moved by the sophisms of the being I had created.

I had been struck senseless by his fiendish threats.

But now, for the first time, the wickedness of my promise burst upon me.

I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their past, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own piece at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race.

I trembled, and my heart failed within me, when on looking up, I saw by the light of the moon the demon at the case meant a ghastly grin wrinkled his lips as he gazed on me where I sat, fulfilling the task which he had allotted to me.

Yes, he had followed me in my travels.

He had loitered in the forests, hid himself in caves, or taken refuge in wide and desert heaths, and he now came to mark my progress and claim the fulfillment of my promise.

As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost extent of malice and treachery.

I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged.

The wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness and with the howl of devilish despair and revenge withdrew.

I left the room and locking the door, made a solemn vow in my own heart never to resume my labors.

And then, with trembling steps, I sought my own apartment.

I was alone.

None were near me to dissipate the gloom and relieve me from the sickening oppression of the most terrible reveries.

Several hours passed, and I remained near my window, gazing on the sea.

It was almost motionless, for the winds were hushed and all nature reposed under the eye of the quiet moon.

A few fishing vessels alone specked the water.

And now and then the gentle breeze wafted the sound of voices as the fishermen called to one another.

I felt the silence, although I was hardly conscious of its extreme perfundity, until my ear was suddenly arrested by the paddling of oars near the shore and a person landed close to my house.

And a few minutes after, I heard the creaking of my door, as if someone endeavored to open it.

Softly I trembled from head to foot.

I felt a presentiment of who it was and wished to rouse one of the peasants who dwelt in a cottage not far from mine but I was overcome by the sensation of helplessness so often felt in frightful dreams when you in vain endeavor to fly from an impending danger and was rooted to the spot presently I heard the sound of footsteps along the passage the door opened and the wretch whom I dreaded appeared shutting the door.

He approached me and said in a smothered voice you have destroyed the work which you began what is it that you intend?

Do you dare to break your promise?

I have endured toil and misery I left Switzerland with you I crept along the shores of the Rhine among its willow islands and over the summits of its hills I have dwelt many months in the heaths of England and among the deserts of Scotland I have endured incalculable fatigue and cold and hunger do you dare destroy my hopes?

Be gone.

I do break my promise never will I create another like yourself equal in deformity and wickedness slave, I before reasoned with you but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension remember that I have power you believe yourself miserable but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you you are my creator, but I am your master obey.

The hour of my irresolution is past and the period of your power is arrived your threats cannot move me to do an act of wickedness but they confirm me in a determination of not creating you a companion in vice shall I in cool blood set loose upon the earth a demon whose delight is in death and wretchedness be gone.

I am firm and your words will only exasperate my rage the monster saw my determination in my face and gnashed his teeth in the impotence of anger shall each man cried he find a wife for his bosom and each beast have his mate and I be alone I had feelings of affection and they were required by detestation and scorn man you may hate.

But beware your hours will pass in dread and misery and soon the bolt will fall which must ravish from you your happiness forever are you to be happy while I grovel in the intensity of my wretchedness?

You can blast my other passions but revenge remains revenge henceforth dearer than light or food I may die.

But first you.

My tyrant and tormentor shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery the where for I am fearless and therefore powerful I will watch with the wildiness of a snake that I may sting with its venom man.

You shall repent of the injuries you inflict devil.

Cease and do not poison the air with these sounds of malice I have declared my resolution to you and I am no coward to bend beneath words leave me.

I am inexorable it is well I go but remember I shall be with you on your wedding night.

I started forward and exclaimed villain, before you sign my death warrant, be sure that you are yourself safe.

I would have seized him, but he eluded me and quitted the house with precipitation.

In a few moments I saw him in his boat, which shot across the waters with an arrowy swiftness, and was soon lost amidst the waves.

All was again silent, but his words rang in my ears.

I burned with rage to pursue the murderer of my peace and precipitate him into the ocean.

I walked up and down my room hastily and perturbed, while my imagination conjured up a thousand images to torment and sting me.

Why had I not followed him and closed with him in mortal strife?

But I had suffered him to depart, and he had directed his course towards the mainland.

I shuddered to think who might be the next victim sacrificed to his insatiate revenge.

And then I thought again of his words I'll be with you on your wedding night.

That then was the period fixed for the fulfillment of my destiny.

In that hour I should die and at once satisfy and extinguish his malice.

The prospect did not move me to fear.

Yet when I thought of my beloved Elizabeth, of her tears and endless sorrow, when she should find her lover so barbarously snatched from her tears, the first I had shed for many months streamed from my eyes, and I resolved not to fall before my enemy without a bitter struggle.

The night passed away, and the sun rose from the ocean.

My feelings became calmer, if it may be called calmness, when the violence of rage sinks into the depths of despair.

I left the house, the horrid scene of the last night s contention, and walked on the beach of the sea, which I almost regarded as an inseparable barrier between me and my fellow creatures.

Nay, I wish that such should prove the fact stole across me.

I desired that I might pass my life on that barren rock wearily, it is true, but uninterrupted by any sudden shock of misery.

If I returned, it was to be sacrificed, or to see those whom I most loved die under the grasp of a demon whom I had myself created.

I walked about the aisle like a restless specter, separated from all it loved, and miserable in the separation.

When it became noon and the sun rose higher, I lay down on the grass and was overpowered by a deep sleep.

I had been awake the whole of the preceding night.

My nerves were agitated, and my eyes inflamed by watching and misery.

The sleep into which I now sank refreshed me, and when I awoke I again felt as if I belonged to a race of human beings like myself, and I began to reflect upon what had passed with greater composure.

Yet still the words of the fiend rang in my ears like a death knell.

They appeared like a dream yet distinct and oppressive as a reality.

The sun had far descended and I still sat on the shore satisfying my appetite, which had become ravenous with an oatan cake, when I saw a fishing boat land close to me and one of the men brought me a packet.

It contained letters from Geneva and one from Clerville entreating me to join him.

He said that he was wearing away his time fruitlessly where he was, that letters from the friends he had formed in London desired his return to complete the negotiation they had entered into for his Indian enterprise.

He could not any longer delay his departure but as his journey to London might be followed even sooner now than he conjectured, by his longer voyage he entreated me to bestow as much of my society on him as I could spare.

He besought me, therefore, to leave my solitary aisle and meet him at Perth, that we might proceed southwards together.

This letter in a degree recalled me to life and I determined to quit my island at the expiration of two days.

Yet before I departed there was a task to perform on which I shuddered to reflect.

I must pack up my chemical instruments and for that purpose I must enter the room which had been the scene of my odious work and I must handle those utensils the sight of which was sickening to me.

The next morning at daybreak I summoned sufficient courage and unlocked the door of my laboratory.

The remains of the half finished creature whom I had destroyed lay scattered on the floor and I almost felt as if I had mangled the living flesh of a human being.

I paused to collect myself and then entered the chamber.

With trembling hand I conveyed the instruments out of the room but I reflected that I ought not to leave the relics of my work to excite the horror and suspicion of the peasants and I accordingly put them into a basket with a great quantity of stones and laying them up determined to throw them into the sea that very night.

And in the meantime I sat upon the beach employed in cleaning and arranging my chemical apparatus.

Nothing could be more complete than the alteration that had taken place in my feelings since the night of the appearance of the demon.

I had before regarded my promise with a gloomy despair as a thing that with whatever consequences, must be fulfilled.

But I now felt as if a film had been taken from before my eyes and that I for the first time thought clearly.

The idea of renewing my labors did not for one instant occur to me.

The threat I had heard weighed on my thoughts but I did not reflect that a voluntary act of mine could avert it.

I had resolved in my own mind that to create another like the fiend I had first made would be an act of the basest and most atrocious selfishness, and I banished from my mind every thought that could lead to a different conclusion.

Between two and three in the morning the moon rose, and I then, putting my basket aboard a little skiff, sailed out about 4 miles from the shore.

The scene was perfectly solitary.

A few boats were returning towards land, but I sailed away from them.

I felt as if I was about the commission of a dreadful crime, and avoided with shuddering anxiety any encounter with my fellow creatures.

At one time the moon, which had before been clear, was suddenly overspread by a thick cloud, and I took advantage of the moment of darkness and cast my basket into the sea.

I listened to the gurgling sound as it sank and then sailed away from the spot.

The sky became clouded, but the air was pure, although chilled by the northeast breeze that was then rising.

But it refreshed me and filled me with such agreeable sensations that I resolved to prolong my stay on the water and, fixing the rudder in a direct position, stretched myself at the bottom of the boat.

Clouds hid the moon, everything was obscure and I heard only the sound of the boat as its kill cut through the waves.

The murmur lulled me, and in a short time I slept soundly.

I do not know how long I remained in this situation, but when I awoke I found that the sun had already mounted considerably.

The wind was high, and the waves continually threatened the safety of my little skiff.

I found that the wind was northeast and must have driven me far from the coast from which I had embarked.

I endeavoured to change my course, but quickly found that if I again made the attempt, the boat would be instantly filled with water.

Thus situated, my only resource was to drive before the wind.

I confessed that I felt a few sensations of terror.

I had no compass with me, and was so slenderly acquainted with the geography of this part of the world that the sun was of little benefit to me.

I might be driven into the wide Atlantic and feel all the tortures of starvation, or be swallowed up in the immeasurable waters that roared and buffeted around me.

I had already been out many hours and felt the torment of a burning thirst, a prelude to my other sufferings.

I looked on the heavens, which were covered by clouds that flew before the wind, only to be replaced by others.

I looked upon the sea.

It was to be my grave.

Fiend, I exclaimed, your task is already fulfilled.

I thought of Elizabeth, of my father, and of Clerval, all left behind on whom the monster might satisfy his sanguinary and merciless passions.

This idea plunged me into a reverie so despairing and frightful that even now, when the scene is on the point of closing before me forever, I shudder to reflect on it.

Some hours passed thus but by degrees.

As the sun declined towards the horizon, the wind died away into a gentle breeze, and the sea became free from breakers, but these gave place to a heavy swell.

I felt sick and hardly able to hold the rudder, when suddenly I saw a line of Highland towards the south.

Almost spent as I was by fatigue and the dreadful suspense I endured for several hours, this sudden certainty of life rushed like a flood of warm joy to my heart, and tears gushed from my eyes.

How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life, even in the excess of misery.

I constructed another sail with a part of my dress and eagerly steered my course towards the land.

It had a wild and rocky appearance, but as I approached nearer I easily perceived the traces of cultivation.

I saw vessels near the shore and found myself suddenly transported back to the neighborhood of civilized man.

I carefully traced the windings of the land and hailed a steeple, which I at length saw issuing from behind a small promontory.

As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment.

Fortunately I had money with me.

As I turned to the promontory, I perceived a small, neat town and a good harbor which I entered, my heart bounding with joy at my unexpected escape.

As I was occupied in fixing the boat and arranging the sails, several people crowded towards the spot.

They seemed much surprised at my appearance, but instead of offering me any assistance, whispered together with gestures that any other time it might have produced in me a slight sensation of alarm.

As it was, I merely remarked that they spoke English, and I therefore addressed them in that language.

My good friends, said I, will you be so kind as to tell me the name of this town and inform me where I am?

You will know that soon enough, replied a man with a hoarse voice.

Maybe you are come to a place that will not prove much to your taste, but you will not be consulted as to your quarters, I promise you.

I was exceedingly surprised on receiving so rude an answer from a stranger, and I was also disconcerted on perceiving the frowning and angry countenances of his companions.

Why do you answer me so roughly?

I replied.

Surely it is not the custom of Englishmen to receive strangers so inhospitably?

I do not know, said the man, what the custom of the English may be, but it is the custom of the Irish to hate villains.

While this strange dialogue continued, I perceived the crowd rapidly increased.

Their faces expressed a mixture of curiosity and anger, which annoyed and in some degree alarmed me.

I inquired the way to the inn, but no one replied.

I then moved forward and a murmuring sound arose from the crowd as they followed and surrounded me, when an illlooking man approaching tapped me on the shoulder and said, come, sir, you must follow me to Mr.

Kerwin to give an account of yourself.

Who is Mr.

Kerwin?

Why am I to give an account of myself?

Is not this a free country?

Aye, sir, free enough for honest folks.

Mr.

Kerwin is a magistrate, and you are to give an account of the death of a gentleman who was found murdered here last night.

This answer startled me, but I presently recovered myself.

I was innocent.

That could easily be proved.

Accordingly, I followed my conductor in silence and was led to one of the best houses in the town.

I was ready to sink from fatigue and hunger, but being surrounded by a crowd, I thought it politic to rouse all my strength, that no physical debility might be construed into apprehension or conscious guilt.

Little did I then expect the calamity that was in a few moments to overwhelm me and extinguish in horror and despair all fear of ignominy or death.

I must pause here, for it requires all my fortitude to recall the memory of the frightful events which I'm about to relate in proper detail to my recollection.

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

Again, my name is Brie Carlyle, and I hope you come back tomorrow for the next bite of Frankenstein.

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