University of Virginia Library

9. CHAPTER IX.

The Jew remained in the shadow of the trees over-arching the
gateway until the sound of the hoofs of the fearless attorney's horse
died away in the distance, when he took his way with a rapid, unhesitating
step back towards the mansion. He soon came in sight
of the window in the wing, from which still streamed the penciled
rays of the miser's lamp. He stole softly to the spot from which he
had before looked in upon him. The housekeeper was just leaving
the room, and he was left alone. He was seated at table, and his
face wore a look of exhilaration strikingly in contrast with that
expression which was upon it when Jacob had first seen him sitting
there, poring over the will. He was talking aloud.

`It is fixed now, and Duncan shall die in a ditch! The infamous
boy! to compel me to pay twenty-six thousand dollars for him by
the means of that accursed Jew! But thank God the will is made,
and gone to be recorded! I would not have signed it now but
somehow I feared sickness was coming upon me, and,' he added,
shuddering, `it is a fearful thing to die rich! I have not had much
charity in this life, and now that death is at hand, I tremble to meet
him with so much wealth in my hands, that should have made so
many poor people happy! I have hopes my will will make my
peace with God! I have made it and signed it now, lest I should
be prevented! What could have been that voice I heard! It must
have been my own conscience. Yet James and the housekeeper
heard it! Could it have been the hated Israelite himself, who is
haunting me?'

Here he glanced furtively about him, and his appalled gaze was
arrested by the dark, glittering eyes of the Jew, peering through the
window. They fixed him like basilisks! Slowly the window
ascended—up, up—to a man's height, and Jacob Goldschnapp stood
before him.

`I am no spirit, Beasely Powell,' said Jacob, with malicious irony.

`Then why art thou here?' cried the commissary, recovering from
his alarm so far as to question him, and gazing upon him with looks
expressive both of fear and hatred.

`Sit down again, and we will converse together,' answered Jacob,
taking a chair, and laying his brown leathern bag across his knees.

`I have nought to say to thee, Israelite,' said the commissary.
`You can have nought with me, unless to pay me back that money
you robbed me of!'

`You have made a will, which I have seen this night signed and
attested, devising all your estate on your death to found a Charity
Hospital. Is it not thus?'

`Yes,' answered the commissary, firmly.

`Here,' said Jacob, opening his leather satchel and taking out
and unfolding a parchment, `is a will in another form. It devises to
your son Duncan Powell'—

`I will not hear—'

`Listen! to Duncan Powell, the heir at law of your real and personal
property, the estate of Kirkwood, and your three farms in
Dutchess, and your farm in Orange, with all appurtenances, &c. &c.
reserving to yourself a residence at this place (Kirkwood) and a
suitable maintenance during your natural life. This will is properly
and legally drawn up, and only requires your signature, which
your man James or I will attest. This will revokes, as you will read,
all other wills and codicils previously made, and so no harm will
come of that executed to-night.'

`Do you think me mad, Jew?' exclaimed the commissary, confounded
and infuriated.

`No—This will presupposes you to be `in a sane and sound mind.'

`And so I am. I do not fear you. You dare not mention that
affair of the Panther's Gap again! I defy you!'

`My oath is binding only so far as it relates to advances of money!
I swore I would never ask you again for money!' said the wily Jew.

`It is false! This is a distinction without a difference!'

`No! I knew the oath I was taking, the wording of it, and the
mental reservation!'

`An oath with a mental reservation! Jew, thou art accurst! I
defy thee!'

`You are in my power!'

`I will never sign that!' cried Mr. Powell, rising, and crossing the
room to and fro with an agitated step, and highly excited.

`I will denounce you as a traitor!'

`You dare not! I swear I will not revoke my will! I will never
put my hand to that parchment, so help me God!'

`Be the issue on your own head,' said Jacob, menacingly. `Within
twelve hours you shall exchange this room for a felon's cell, and
ere long your withered carcase shall swing between earth and sky!'

The commissary became fearfully excited,—his face, from the
ghastliest pallor, became suddenly a dark purple hue, and his lips
moved with an extraordinary effort to express his rage and disgust,
but his speech failed him, and, glaring upon the Jew with hate and
revenge, he staggered forward and fell dead at his feet! The excitement
had been too great for him, and he had ruptured a blood-vessel!

The money-lender stood appalled; and gazed upon the victim of
his persecution with a shudder, while his heart lowered black with
rage at his disappointment.

`Here is an end to my hopes of possessing these lands,' he muttered,
in a tone of intense disappointment, as he released his fingers
from the unanswering pulse. `Here, also, have perished Duncan
Powell's hopes, and he himself is yet likely to fulfil his father's
words and perish in a ditch! Jacob Goldschnapp! thou art for once
completely defeated! Farewell, old man! Thou hast well escaped
the gallows! By the rod of Moses! if he had lived, I believe he
would have defied me to the last, and I should either have had to
arrest him or be beaten! Better to be wasted by death! Farewell,
old man, thou wilt to-night rest sounder than thy conscience hath
let thee for many a year!'

Thus speaking, the sarcastic Jew, forgetful how nearly parallel the
lines of his own life and character were drawn to those of the dead
man before him, turned away from him, and gathered up his parchments
and bag, and hastily withdrew from the window, which he
closed after him.

He now took his way at a rapid pace along the path, looking behind
and around every moment, as if he feared he should see the
ghost of the man he felt in his heart he had murdered! Arrived at
the gate where he had attacked the horseman, he began to entertain
apprehensions that it would not be perfectly safe for him to walk
openly in case alarm had been given by the attorney. He therefore
skulked along within the fence, over walls and through patches of
fern and tangled woodlands, to his no little discomfiture, and startled
at every sound of the whispering leaves and swaying branches.

At length he came near a dwelling, which stood a little back from
the road. He was making a detour to avoid it when he heard female
voices; and a light from an open door shone broadly into the
field. Curiosity — some idea that his attack upon the lawyer was
the subject — led him to advance, till, aided by an intervening tree,
which grew close by the door, he was enabled to command a view
of the interior.

It was a plain apartment in a humble country dwelling. Upon
a bed lay a female, with a calm and interesting, though pale and
emaciated countenance, conversing in a low yet sweetly distinct
voice with a young girl, who was bending over her pillow, listening
with deep attention to what fell from her lips. Her face was not
visible to the Jew, but her flowing tresses of raven hair, that fell
over the pillow, and the exquisite symmetry of her figure, told him
that she must be beautiful, and his daughter Ruth came into his
mind.

`Your happiness, Catharine, is dear to me!' said the invalid.
`Your strange story has greatly interested me in you, with your love,
confessed for my poor lost boy! May God turn his heart, and yet
bring him to see me ere I die! But shall a poor mortal herein
question the wisdom of the Most High? Your story — your birth
and parentage' continued the widow, `your confession of your
doubts of the reality of God's being, your nearness to my heart
through your regard for Paul, have filled my soul with a strong
yearning to do you good, ere I am called away! Oh, if I could be
instrumental in making you a Christian I should die in peace! I wish
also to show you the sinfulness of yielding to the superstition you
have spoken of, which will render you miserable through life! A
Christian, Catharine, never is superstitious! In God's goodness
and wisdom is his sublime and peaceful trust!'

`Do you really believe in the existence of a God?' asked the rich,
low voice of Catharine Ogiivie. `It is a fearful thought!' And
the Gipsy raised her face, and, as she bent her earnest gaze upon
the countenance of the invalid, the Jew caught sight of her features,
and he thought he had never seen any human face so darkly beautiful.
It wore an expression of earnest inquiry, that was touchingly
interesting.

`Look through that window, child,' said the widow, raising herself
to her elbow and looking devotionally upward, `and behold the
countless worlds of light that blaze in space! Call to mind the glory
of the morning and evening of each day, and the regularity of
their return! Gaze upon the mountains, and the rivers, and the fair-spread
landscapes of earth, which you tell me fills your heart with
strange delight to gaze upon! Think of the adaptation of all things
for what they are designed! consider the harmony of nature! — the
glory and excellence of the whole visible universe! and oh, will
your heart deny, that there is a Being who set the stars in the firmament
and launched the planets from his hand? Who makes the
sun to rise? — creates the day, and bids serene night descend upon
earth? Who laid the foundation of the hills, poured the rivers from
the hollow of his hand, and spread out the valley with beauty and
verdure?'

The maiden bowed her head and hid her face, but spake not, and
the widow continued.

`From the external world, dear child, turn and look within your
own heart! That is a world of beauty, and of power, and of love, and
of happiness! Who gave you the sublime attribute of thought?
and who filled your soul with desires of happiness and susceptibility
of the beautiful? Who made your heart alive to friendship, and
sensible to the thousand enjoyments that life affords? Who created
in you the appreciation of the grand and beautiful in nature,
and gave you a soul to understand and feel and enjoy? Who filled
your bosom with sweet sensibilities, and fashioned your countenance
a mirror, so fair, with eye and lip to clothe, in the angelic drapery
of expression, every emotion flitting across your soul? In a
word, who made you the sentient, reflecting, loving, and understanding
creature you are, glorious and beautiful in the youth and innocence
of your nature, save a Being who is Himself the source of
mind, the fountain of love, the centre of the affections, and the great
Intelligence of the Universe! who, but God! Adore Him! child,
for his power, displayed in the arching firmament, and in the majesty
of the earth's scenery; worship him for the greatness of His dominion;
love him for his goodness and his perfections, and serve
him with an humble and obedient spirit, for he is thy God!'

The widow ceased, and lay with her hands clasped upon her white-robed
bosom, and her eyes elevated to heaven with devotion. The
infidel maiden lay with her head buried within the pillow, and spake
not; but the heaving of her form showed that she was deeply agitated.
At length she lifted her face, and embracing the clasped hands
of the invalid, said, with earnestness, while her whole form trembled,
and her voice was strangely deep with feeling—

`I believe! You have convinced my understanding! There is a
God! oh, how fearful is the idea! That there is a Being, who is
our maker; in whose power we are, as worms; who, with his lightnings,
can blast us, and in his malevolence make us the victims of
his terrible pleasure! It is fearful to think that even death will not
release us from his stern dominion, nor hide us from his searching
eye! It is terrible!' she repeated, shuddering. `It were better I had
never believed, than, convinced of his existence and eternal Being,
I should now shrink into the depths of my soul with fear, from the
contemplation of his awful majesty, and crouch in spirit like a slave
in the realization of his presence! You have no conception how
the reflection, that there is an invisible Being, in whose presence I
am continually, and who reads my heart, and knows every emotion
of my bosom, appals me!'

`Such a feeling, dear Catharine, should lead us to purify our
hearts, as he himself is pure!' said the widow, with her transparent
hand putting aside the dark hair from her fair young disciple's
face. `It is natural that the heart should shrink from God, when
his existence and omnipresence are first admitted by the mind,—
for he is holy, and from the light of his holiness guilt flies as darkness
before the sun! It is natural that you should, at first, conceive
God to be a Being fearful to contemplate, and in whose presence
the soul shrinks with fear! But this proceeds from the sad condition
of our fallen nature! God, himself, dearest Miss Ogilvie, is
indeed all-powerful and infinitely holy, but his power is exercised
in benevolence, and love, and goodness, all of which are manifest in
all his works; and his holiness goes out from him as streams from
a fountain, to enliven and beautify; changing the hearts that receive
it from barrenness to verdure, cleansing the impure, and converting all
things it penetrates into its own divine character! There is no malevolence
in God, as you fear! There is nothing in his awful and adorable
attributes that should make you tremble! God is love! His
regard for his creatures is parental! His care over us is tender and
provident, and our happiness and welfare, here and hereafter, are the
dearest objects of the exercise of that vast power, which you tremble
to contemplate, as being exercised by any one independent Being.
Let us rather rejoice and adore, that He who sits on the
throne of the Universe; who, `in his strength, setteth fast the mountains,
and is girded with power,' and in whose hands we live,
move, and have our being, has promised to be our Father, to hide
us under the shadow of his wings, to bless us with his love and
favor in this life, and, at length, to bring us to dwell in his presence
forever!'

`Yet all mankind are not blessed! There is much misery on earth,'
said Catharine, thoughtfully. `How can God be good?'

`God is good! He has no pleasure in the ruin of his creatures!
If they abuse his goodness and turn his grace into wantonness, and
thereby plunge themselves into greater depths of guilt and misery,
this is the effect of their obstinate wickedness, and not the design
of those benefits which he bestows. As I have said, all things proclaim
his goodness. He gave us our being, and by preserving us in
it, renews the donation every moment. He has placed us in a rich
and well-furnished world, and liberally provided for all our necessities;
he blesses us hourly; he sends rain from heaven, and sunshine,
and causeth the earth to bring forth our provision; he giveth us
food and raiment, and, while we are spending the productions of
one year, he is preparing for us against another! He sweetens our

lives with innumerable comforts, and gratifies every faculty with
suitable objects; the eye of his providence is always upon us, and
he watches for our safety when night envelopes the earth, and we
are asleep, neither heeding him or ourselves! And, lest we should
think these testimonials of his kindness less considerable, because
they are the easy issues of his omnipotent power, and do not put
him to any trouble or pain, he hath taken a more wonderful method
to endear himself to us!'

`It would seem he could do no more,' said the maiden, with grateful
enthusiasm. `My bosom is already filled with love and adoration!
Can he do more?'

`Yes, not satisfied with all this, he has testified his affection to
us by suffering as well as by doing! and, because he could not suffer
in his own nature, he assumed ours! For, fallen from the divine
life, it was needful that we should be restored; for God's love and
mercy would not suffer us to remain in our fallen state! He, therefore,
by assuming our nature, paid the debt due by it to divine justice!
When all his other gifts could not prevail, he at last made a
gift of himself, to testify his affection and engage ours!'

`This is mysterious and wonderful,' said the Gipsy, in a tone of
awe, and deep feeling, yet I think I understand it! `This incarnate
Divinity was, then, the Christ! There is gratitude due somewhere!
Is it to God or Christ? For, convinced of my need of a mediator
with an offended God, love melts my soul, and lays me humble at
the footstool of this majesty of Love! Who must I adore? to whom
must I offer the excellency of my heart's grateful adoration?'

`To God, who, as the Father, loved and pitied, and resolved to redeem
us!—to Him, who, as the Son, in the form of man, willingly
laid down his life, that we, whose eternal being was pledged unto
eternal death, might live!—to Him, as the Holy Ghost, whose
divine energy awakens the guilty heart—elevates its affections,
purifies and directs it to the cross, where hung the Sacrifice for
man's salvation!'

`This is wonderful and overwhelming!' said the maiden, solemnly!
`Yet I believe! I have heard these strange things before, but
with scornful incredulity! Your words have opened a new world
to me! I feel now, that there is an intellectual sublimity and a moral
beauty in the faith of the Christian, which undivine humanity
cannot furnish or conceive of! The humility of a child, united with
the elevated hope of a life to come, has something in the idea majestic
and touching! To believe in a God, and feel that that terrible
Power is exercised only for his good; that it has stooped to mortality,
to testify its energy to be entirely enlisted in behalf of his happiness;
to know that He is a benevolent and not, as I trembled to
think when you convinced me that he existed, a malevolent being,
and to feel, that to love him and obey him are the highest privileges
of his nature, as it is the highest service it can offer, must make the
present life of the Christian a peaceful and enviable one, and fitly
prepare him for the unknown felicity and glory which his God-Saviour,
in his infinite love, incarnated himself to purchase and secure
for him. I am a Christian!'

The young disciple, as she spake, sunk by the humble bedside
of the dying invalid, and, keeling, bent her head upon the bosom of
her grateful teacher and murmured low for her blessing.

The widow rose half up in bed, her face animated with divine
love and gratitude, and laying her hands upon the forehead of the
prostrate maiden, raised her ardent gaze full of faith to heaven, and
said, while her pale cheek flushed, and her large, floating eyes
sparkled with unearthly brilliancy, her voice thrilling through the
guilty soul of the Jew with its holy energy,

`Bless thee, Father and fountain of mercy and goodness, who
hast revealed to this thy child the knowledge of true happiness and
the way that leadeth unto it! Excite in her ardent desires after the
attainment of that life, which is everlasting. Open her heart to receive
thy divine truths, assist her to become holy as thou art holy!
Fill her soul with such a deep sense and full persuasion of these
great truths which thou hast revealed in the Gospel, as may influence
and regulate her whole conversation; so that the life which
she henceforth lives in the flesh, she may live through faith in the
Son of God. May the infinite perfections of thy blessed nature, and
the astonishing expressions of thy goodness and love, conquer
and overpower her heart, that she may perfect holiness in thy
fear, without which she can never hope to behold thy face, and
enjoy thy presence. Lead her in thy truth, and teach her, for thou
art the God of her salvation; guide her with thy counsel, and, after
this life is ended, receive her to thyself, through the merits and intercession
of thy beloved Son, our Saviour! Father, hear me, for my
erring child,' she said, gasping; `bless him—lead him to repentance
and`—here her voice failed her, and her eyes, after steadfastly
regarding heaven, slowly closed, while a smile came like sunlight
to her features, and then a shadow passed slowly across her falling
countenance—a sigh! and the pure spirit of the broken-hearted and
pious widow took its flight to heaven!

The maiden cast herself upon the body, in a paroxysm of tears;
while Jacob, who had listened spell-bound to the spot, stole away in
the darkness; his soul, guilty and avaricious and unbelieving as it
was, deeply impressed and troubled with what he had heard and
witnessed.