CHAPTER CCXX.
[Chapter 237]
THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF VARNEY THE VAMPYRE, AND CONCLUSION.
The manuscript which the clergyman had read with so much interest, here
abruptly terminated. He was left to conclude that Varney after that had been
resuscitated; and he was more perplexed than ever to come to any opinion
concerning the truth of the narration which he had now concluded.
It was one week after he had finished the perusal of Varney's papers that
the clergyman read in an English newspaper the following statement.
"We extract from the Algemeine Zeitung the following most curious
story, the accuracy of which of course we cannot vouch for, but still there is
a sufficient air of probability about it to induce us to present it to our
readers.
"Late in the evening, about four days since, a tall and melancholy-looking stranger arrived, and put up at one of the principal hotels at Naples.
He was a most peculiar looking man, and considered by the persons of the
establishment as about the ugliest guest they had ever had within the walls of
their place.
"In a short time he summoned the landlord, and the following conversation
ensued between him and the strange guest.
"'I want,' said the stranger, 'to see all the curiosities of Naples, and
among the rest Mount Vesuvius. Is there any difficulty?[']
"'None,' replied the landlord, 'with a proper guide.[']
"A guide was soon secured, who set out with the adventurous Englishman to
make the ascent of the burning mountain.
"They went on then until the guide did not think it quite prudent to go
any further, as there was a great fissure in the side of the mountain, out of
which a stream of lava was slowly issuing and speading itself in rather
an alarming manner.
"The ugly Englishman, however, pointed to a secure mode of getting higher
still, and they proceeded until they were very near the edge of the crater
itself. The stranger then took his purse from his pocket and flung it to the
guide saying, —
"'You can keep that for your pains, and for coming into some danger with
me. But the fact was, that I wanted a witness to an act which I have set my
mind upon performing.'
"The guide says that these words were spoken with so much calmness, that
he verily believed the act mentioned as about to be done was some scientific
experiment of which he knew that the English were very fond, and he replied,
—
"'Sir, I am only too proud to serve so generous and so distinguished a
gentleman. In what way can I be useful?'
"'You will make what haste you can,['] said the stranger, [']from the
mountain, inasmuch as it is covered with sulphurous vapours, inimical to human
life, and when you reach the city you will cause to be published an account of
my proceedings, and what I say. You will say that you accompanied Varney the
Vampyre to the crater of Mount Vesuvius, and that, tired and disgusted with a
life of horror, he flung himself in to prevent the possibility of a
reanimation of his remains.'
["]Before then the guide could utter anything but a shriek, Varney took
one tremendous leap, and disappeared into the burning mouth of the
mountain.["]
THE END
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