Frank Chapter 16

I crept into my hovel and remained in silent expectation of the accustomed hour when the family arose.

Suddenly, as I gazed on him, an idea seized me that this little creature was unprejudiced and had lived too short a time to have imbibed a horror of deformity.

"Presently two countrymen passed by, but pausing near the cottage, they entered into conversation, using violent gesticulations; but I did not understand what they said, as they spoke the language of the country, which differed from that of my prot

I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone.

I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge.

The labours I endured were no longer to be alleviated by the bright sun or gentle breezes of spring; all joy was but a mockery which insulted my desolate state and made me feel more painfully that I was not made for the enjoyment of pleasure.

I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery.

Thanks to the lessons of Felix and the sanguinary laws of man, I had learned now to work mischief.

But again when I reflected that they had spurned and deserted me, anger returned, a rage of anger, and unable to injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects.

"When my hunger was appeased, I directed my steps towards the well-known path that conducted to the cottage.

She continued her course along the precipitous sides of the river, when suddenly her foot slipped, and she fell into the rapid




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stream.

But again when I reflected that they had spurned and deserted me, anger returned, a rage of anger, and unable to injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects.

"As the night advanced, a fierce wind arose from the woods and quickly dispersed the clouds that had loitered in the heavens; the blast tore along like a mighty avalanche and produced a kind of insanity in my spirits that burst all bounds of reason and reflection.

As night advanced I placed a variety of combustibles around the cottage, and after having destroyed every vestige of cultivation in the garden, I waited with forced impatience until the moon had sunk to commence my operations.

I was oppressed by fatigue and hunger and far too unhappy to enjoy the gentle breezes of evening or the prospect of the sun setting behind the stupendous mountains of Jura.

Should she indeed awake, and see me, and curse me, and denounce the murderer?

But on you only had I any claim for pity and redress, and from you I determined to seek that justice which I vainly attempted to gain from any other being that wore the human form.

"The child still struggled and loaded me with epithets which carried despair to my heart; I grasped his throat to silence him, and in a moment he lay dead at my feet.

There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies?

She was senseless, and I endeavoured by every means in my power to restore animation, when I was suddenly interrupted by the approach of a rustic, who was probably the person from whom she had playfully fled.

I trembled violently, apprehending some dreadful misfortune.

Nature decayed around me, and the sun became heatless; rain and snow poured around me; mighty rivers were frozen;




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the surface of the earth was hard and chill, and bare, and I found no shelter.

"For some days I haunted the spot where these scenes had taken place, sometimes wishing to see you, sometimes resolved to quit the world and its miseries for ever.




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At length I wandered towards these mountains, and have ranged through their immense recesses, consumed by a burning passion which you alone can gratify.

"I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed,

`I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.'