He had
left the manuscript, which he so much and so justly prized, in his
cabinet. He entered the chamber in my absence, and found the cabinet
unfastened and the manuscript gone. It was I by whom the cabinet was
opened; but the manuscript supposed to be contained in it was buried in
the earth beneath the elm. How should Clithero be unacquainted with its
situation, since none but Clithero could have dug for it this grave? This mystery vanished when I reflected on the history of my own
manuscript. Clithero had buried his treasure with his own hands, as mine
had been secreted by myself; but both acts had been performed during
sleep. The deed was neither prompted by the will nor noticed by the
senses of him by whom it was done. Disastrous and humiliating is the
state of man! By his own hands is constructed the mass of misery and
error in which his steps are forever involved. Thus it was with thy friend. Hurried on by phantoms too indistinct to be
now recalled, I wandered from my chamber to the desert. I plunged into
some unvisited cavern, and easily proceeded till I reached the edge of a
pit. There my step was deceived, and I tumbled headlong from the
precipice. The fall bereaved me of sense, and I continued breathless and
motionless during the remainder of the night and the ensuing day. How little cognizance have men over the actions and motives of each
other! How total is our blindness with regard to our own performances! Who would have sought me in the bowels of this mountain? Ages might have
passed away, before my bones would be discovered in this tomb by some
traveller whom curiosity had prompted to explore it. I was roused from these reflections by Sarsefield's return. Inquiring
into Clithero's condition, he answered that the unhappy man was
insensible, but that, notwithstanding numerous and dreadful gashes in
different parts of his body, it was possible that, by submitting to the
necessary treatment, he might recover. Encouraged by this information, I endeavoured to awaken the zeal and
compassion of my friend in Clithero's behalf. He recoiled with
involuntary shuddering from any task which would confine him to the
presence of this man. Time and reflection, he said, might introduce
different sentiments and feelings, but at present he could not but
regard this person as a maniac, whose disease was irremediable, and
whose existence could not be protracted but to his own misery and the
misery of others. Finding him irreconcilably averse to any scheme connected with the
welfare of Clithero, I began to think that his assistance as a surgeon
was by no means necessary. He had declared that the sufferer needed
nothing more than common treatment; and to this the skill of a score of
aged women in this district, furnished with simples culled from the
forest, and pointed out, of old time, by Indian _leeches_, was no
less adequate than that of Sarsefield. These women were ready and
officious in their charity, and none of them were prepossessed against
the sufferer by a knowledge of his genuine story. Sarsefield, meanwhile, was impatient for my removal to Inglefield's
habitation, and that venerable friend was no less impatient to receive
me. My hurts were superficial, and my strength sufficiently repaired by
a night's repose. Next day I went thither, leaving Clithero to the care
of his immediate neighbours. Sarsefield's engagements compelled him to prosecute his journey into
Virginia, from which he had somewhat deviated in order to visit
Solesbury. He proposed to return in less than a month, and then to take
me in his company to New York. He has treated me with paternal
tenderness, and insists upon the privilege of consulting for my interest
as if he were my real father. Meanwhile these views have been disclosed
to Inglefield, and it is with him that I am to remain, with my sisters,
until his return. My reflections have been various and tumultuous. They have been busy in
relation to you, to Weymouth, and especially to Clithero. The latter,
polluted with gore and weakened by abstinence, fatigue, and the loss of
blood, appeared in my eyes to be in a much more dangerous condition than
the event proved him to be. I was punctually informed of the progress of
his cure, and proposed in a few days to visit him. The duty of
explaining the truth, respecting the present condition of Mrs. Lorimer,
had devolved upon me. By imparting this intelligence, I hoped to work
the most auspicious revolutions in his feelings, and prepared,
therefore, with alacrity, for an interview. In this hope I was destined to be disappointed. On the morning on which
I intended to visit him, a messenger arrived from the house in which he
was entertained, and informed us that the family, on entering the sick
man's apartment, had found it deserted. It appeared that Clithero had,
during the night, risen from his bed and gone secretly forth. No traces
of his flight have since been discovered. But, oh, my friend, the death of Waldegrave, thy brother, is at length
divested of uncertainty and mystery. Hitherto, I had been able to form
no conjecture respecting it; but the solution was found shortly after
this time. Queen Mab, three days after my adventure, was seized in her hut on
suspicion of having aided and counselled her countrymen in their late
depredations. She was not to be awed or intimidated by the treatment she
received, but readily confessed and gloried in the mischief she had
done, and accounted for it by enumerating the injuries which she had
received from her neighbours. These injuries consisted in contemptuous or neglectful treatment, and in
the rejection of groundless and absurd claims. The people of Chetasco
were less obsequious to her humours than those of Solesbury, her ancient
neighbourhood, and her imagination brooded for a long time over nothing
but schemes of revenge. She became sullen, irascible, and spent more of
her time in solitude than ever. A troop of her countrymen at length visited her hut. Their intentions
being hostile, they concealed from the inhabitants their presence in
this quarter of the country. Some motives induced them to withdraw and
postpone, for the present, the violence which they meditated. One of
them, however, more sanguinary and audacious than the rest, would not
depart without some gratification of his vengeance. He left his
associates and penetrated by night into Solesbury, resolving to attack
the first human being whom he should meet. It was the fate of thy
unhappy brother to encounter this ruffian, whose sagacity made him
forbear to tear away the usual trophy from the dead, lest he should
afford grounds for suspicion as to the authors of the evil. Satisfied with this exploit, he rejoined his companions, and, after an
interval of three weeks, returned with a more numerous party, to execute
a more extensive project of destruction. They were counselled and
guided, in all their movements, by Queen Mab, who now explained these
particulars and boldly defied her oppressors.