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"Some time elapsed before I learned the history of my friends.
It was one which could not fail to impress itself deeply on my
mind, unfolding as it did a number of circumstances, each
interesting and wonderful to one so utterly inexperienced as I was.
"The name of the old man was De Lacey. He was descended from
a good family in France, where he had lived for many years in
affluence, respected by his superiors and beloved by his equals.
His son was bred in the service of his country; and
Agatha had ranked with ladies of the highest distinction.
A few months before my arrival they had lived in a large and
luxurious city called Paris, surrounded by friends, and
possessed of every enjoyment which virtue, refinement of
intellect, or taste, accompanied by a moderate fortune,
could afford.
"The father of Safie had been the cause of their ruin. He was
a Turkish merchant, and had inhabited Paris for many years,
when, for some reason which I could not learn, he became
obnoxious to the government. He was seized and cast into
prison the very day that Safie arrived from Constantinople to
join him. He was tried and condemned to death. The injustice
of his sentence was very flagrant; all Paris was indignant; and
it was judged that his religion and wealth, rather than the
crime alleged against him, had been the cause of his condemnation.
"Felix had accidentally been present at the trial; his horror
and indignation were uncontrollable when he heard the decision
of the court. He made, at that moment, a solemn vow to deliver
him, and then looked around for the means. After many
fruitless attempts to gain admittance to the prison, he found
a strongly grated window in an unguarded part of the building
which lighted the dungeon of the unfortunate Mahometan; who,
loaded with chains, waited in despair the execution of the
barbarous sentence. Felix visited the grate at night, and made
known to the prisoner his intentions in his favour. The Turk,
amazed and delighted, endeavoured to kindle the zeal of his
deliverer by promises of reward and wealth. Felix rejected his
offers with contempt; yet when he saw the lovely Safie, who was
allowed to visit her father, and who, by her gestures,
expressed her lively gratitude, the youth could not help owning
to his own mind that the captive possessed a treasure which
would fully reward his toil and hazard.
"The Turk quickly perceived the impression that his daughter
had made on the heart of Felix, and endeavoured to secure him
more entirely in his interests by the promise of her hand in
marriage, so soon as he should be conveyed to a place of safety.
Felix was too delicate to accept this offer; yet he looked
forward to the probability of the event as to the consummation
of his happiness.
"During the ensuing days, while the preparations were going
forward for the escape of the merchant, the zeal of Felix was
warmed by several letters that he received from this lovely
girl, who found means to express her thoughts in the language
of her lover by the aid of an old man, a servant of her father,
who understood French. She thanked him in the most ardent
terms for his intended services towards her parent; and at the
same time she gently deplored her own fate.
"I have copies of these letters; for I found means, during my
residence in the hovel, to procure the implements of writing;
and the letters were often in the hands of Felix or Agatha.
Before I depart, I will give them to you, they will prove the
truth of my tale; but at present, as the sun is already far
declined, I shall only have time to repeat the substance of
them to you.
"Safie related that her mother was a Christian Arab, seized and
made a slave by the Turks; recommended by her beauty, she had
won the heart of the father of Safie, who married her. The
young girl spoke in high and enthusiastic terms of her mother,
who, born in freedom, spurned the bondage to which she was now
reduced. She instructed her daughter in the tenets of her
religion, and taught her to aspire to higher powers of
intellect, and an independence of spirit, forbidden to the
female followers of Mahomet. This lady died; but her lessons
were indelibly impressed on the mind of Safie, who sickened at
the prospect of again returning to Asia and being immured
within the walls of a harem, allowed only to occupy herself
with infantile amusements, ill suited to the temper of her
soul, now accustomed to grand ideas and a noble emulation for
virtue. The prospect of marrying a Christian, and remaining in
a country where women were allowed to take a rank in society,
was enchanting to her.
"The day for the execution of the Turk was fixed; but, on the
night previous to it, he quitted his prison, and before morning
was distant many leagues from Paris. Felix had procured
passports in the name of his father, sister, and himself.
He had previously communicated his plan to the former, who aided
the deceit by quitting his house, under the pretence of a
journey, and concealed himself, with his daughter, in an
obscure part of Paris.
"Felix conducted the fugitives through France to Lyons, and
across Mont Cenis to Leghorn, where the merchant had decided to
wait a favourable opportunity of passing into some part of the
Turkish dominions.
"Safie resolved to remain with her father until the moment of
his departure, before which time the Turk renewed his promise
that she should be united to his deliverer; and Felix remained
with them in expectation of that event; and in the meantime he
enjoyed the society of the Arabian, who exhibited towards him
the simplest and tenderest affection. They conversed with one
another through the means of an interpreter, and sometimes with
the interpretation of looks; and Safie sang to him the divine
airs of her native country.
"The Turk allowed this intimacy to take place, and encouraged
the hopes of the youthful lovers, while in his heart he had
formed far other plans. He loathed the idea that his daughter
should be united to a Christian; but he feared the resentment
of Felix, if he should appear lukewarm; for he knew that he was
still in the power of his deliverer, if he should choose to
betray him to the italian state which they inhabited.
He revolved a thousand plans by which he should be enabled to
prolong the deceit until it might be no longer necessary, and
secretly to take his daughter with him when he departed.
His plans were facilitated by the news which arrived from Paris.
"The government of France were greatly enraged at the escape of
their victim, and spared no pains to detect and punish his
deliverer. The plot of Felix was quickly discovered, and De
Lacey and Agatha were thrown into prison. The news reached
Felix, and roused him from his dream of pleasure. His blind
and aged father, and his gentle sister, lay in a noisome
dungeon, while he enjoyed the free air and the society of her
whom he loved. This idea was torture to him. He quickly
arranged with the Turks that if the latter should find a
favourable opportunity for escape before Felix could return to
Italy, Safie should remain as a boarder at a convent at
Leghorn; and then, quitting the lovely Arabian, he hastened to
Paris, and delivered himself up to the vengeance of the law,
hoping to free De Lacey and Agatha by this proceeding.
"He did not succeed. They remained confined for five months
before the trial took place; the result of which deprived them
of their fortune, and condemned them to a perpetual exile from
their native country.
"They found a miserable asylum in the cottage in Germany where
I discovered them. Felix soon learned that the treacherous
Turk, for whom he and his family endured such unheard-of
oppression, on discovering that his deliverer was thus reduced
to poverty and ruin, became a traitor to good feeling and
honour, and had quitted Italy with his daughter, insultingly
sending Felix a pittance of money, to aid him, as he said, in
some plan of future maintenance.
"Such were the events that preyed on the heart of Felix, and
rendered him, when I first saw him, the most miserable of his
family. He could have endured poverty; and while this distress
had been the meed of his virtue, he gloried in it: but the
ingratitude of the Turk, and the loss of his beloved Safie,
were misfortunes more bitter and irreparable. The arrival of
the Arabian now infused new life into his soul.
"When the news reached Leghorn that Felix was deprived of his
wealth and rank, the merchant commanded his daughter to think
no more of her lover, but to prepare to return to her native
country. The generous nature of Safie was outraged by this
command; she attempted to expostulate with her father, but he
left her angrily, reiterating his tyrannical mandate.
"A few days after, the Turk entered his daughter's apartment,
and told her hastily that he had reason to believe that his
residence at Leghorn had been divulged, and that he should
speedily be delivered up to the French government; he had,
consequently, hired a vessel to convey him to Constantinople,
for which city he should sail in a few hours. He intended to
leave his daughter under the care of a confidential servant, to
follow at her leisure with the greater part of his property,
which had not yet arrived at Leghorn.
"When alone, Safie resolved in her own mind the plan of conduct
that it would become her to pursue in this emergency. A residence
in Turkey was abhorrent to her; her religion and her
feelings were alike adverse to it. By some papers of her
father, which fell into her hands, she heard of the exile of
her lover, and learnt the name of the spot where he then resided.
She hesitated some time, but at length she formed her determination.
Taking with her some jewels that belonged to her, and a sum of
money, she quitted Italy with an attendant, a native of Leghorn,
but who understood the common language of Turkey, and departed
for Germany.
"She arrived in safety at a town about twenty leagues from the
cottage of De Lacey, when her attendant fell dangerously ill.
Safie nursed her with the most devoted affection; but the poor
girl died, and the Arabian was left alone, unacquainted with
the language of the country, and utterly ignorant of the
customs of the world. She fell, however, into good hands.
The Italian had mentioned the name of the spot for which they were
bound; and, after her death, the woman of the house in which
they had lived took care that Safie should arrive in safety at
the cottage of her lover.
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