Chapter 08 (Frankenstein (Full Cast))

01Section 10 of Frankenstein.

02This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

03Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley.

04Section 10.

05Chapter 8.

06We passed a few sad hours until eleven o'clock when that trial was to commence.

07My father and the rest of the family being obliged to attend as witnesses, I accompanied them to the court.

08During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice, I suffered living torture.

09It was to be decided whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my fellow-beings.

10One a smiling babe, full of innocence and joy.

11The other far more dreadfully murdered, with every aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror.

12Justine also was a girl of merit, and possessed qualities which promised to render her life happy.

13Now all was to be obliterated in an ignominious grave, and I the cause.

14A thousand times, rather, would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine.

15But I was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman, and would not have exculpated her who suffered through me.

16The appearance of Justine was calm.

17She was dressed in mourning, and her countenance, always engaging, was rendered by the solemnity of her feelings exquisitely beautiful.

18Yet she appeared confident in innocence, and did not tremble, although gazed on and execrated by thousands, for all the kindness which her beauty might otherwise have excited, was obliterated in the minds of the spectators by the imagination of the enormity she was supposed to have committed.

19She was tranquil, yet her tranquility was evidently constrained, and as her confusion had before been adduced as a proof of her guilt, she worked up her mind to an appearance of courage.

20When she entered the court, she threw her eyes round it, and quickly discovered where we were seated.

21A tear seemed to dim her eye when she saw us, but she quickly recovered herself, and a look of sorrowful affection seemed to attest her utter guiltlessness.

22The trial began, and after the advocate against her had stated the charge, several witnesses were called, several strange facts combined against her, which might have staggered any one who had not such proof of her innocence as I had.

23She had been out the whole of the night on which the murder had been committed, and towards morning had been perceived by a market-woman not far from the spot where the body of the murdered child had been afterwards found.

24The woman asked her what she did there, but she looked very strangely, and only returned a confused and unintelligible answer.

25She returned in the house about eight o'clock, and when one inquired where she had passed the night, she replied that she had been looking for the child, and demanded earnestly if anything had been heard concerning him.

26When shown the body, she fell into violent hysterics, and kept her bed for several days.

27The picture was then produced, which the servant had found in her pocket, and when Elizabeth, in a faltering voice, proved that it was the same which, an hour before the child had been missed, she had placed round the neck, a murmur of horror and indignation filled the court.

28Justine was called on for her defence.

29As the trial had proceeded, her countenance had altered.

30Surprise, horror, and misery were strongly expressed.

31Sometimes she struggled with her tears, but, when she was desired to plead, she collected her powers and spoke in an audible, although variable voice.

32God knows, she said, how entirely I am innocent.

33But I do not pretend that my protestations should acquit me.

34I rest my innocence on a plain and simple explanation of the facts which have been adduced against me, and I hope the character I have always borne will incline my judges to a favourable interpretation, where any circumstance appears doubtful or suspicious.

35She then related that, by the permission of Elizabeth, she had passed the evening of the night on which the murder had committed, at the house of an aunt in Chen, a village situated at about a league from Geneva.

36On her return, at about nine o'clock, she met a man who asked her if she had seen anything of the child who was lost.

37She was alarmed by this account, and passed several hours in looking for him, when the gates of Geneva were shut, and she was forced to remain several hours of the night in a barn belonging to a cottage, being unwilling to call up the inhabitants to whom she was well known.

38Most of the night she spent here watching.

39Towards morning she believed that she had slept for a few minutes.

40Some steps disturbed her, and she awoke.

41It was dawn, and she quitted her asylum, that she might again endeavour to find my brother.

42If she had gone near the spot where his body lay, it was without her knowledge.

43That she had been bewildered when questioned by the market-woman was not surprising, since she had passed a sleepless night, and the fate of the poor William was yet uncertain.

44Concerning the picture, she gave no account.

45I know, continued the unhappy victim, how heavily and fatally this one circumstance weighs against me.

46But I have no power of explaining it, and when I have expressed my utter ignorance, I am only left to conjecture concerning the probabilities by which it might have been placed in my pocket.

47But here also I am checked.

48I believe that I have no enemy on earth, and none surely would have been so wicked as to destroy me wantonly.

49Did the murderer place it there?

50I know of no opportunity affording him for so doing, or, if I had, why should he have stolen the jewel, to part with it again so soon?

51I commit my cause to the justice of my judges, yet I see no room for hope.

52I beg permission to have a few witnesses examined concerning my character, and, if their testimony shall not overweigh my supposed guilt, I must be condemned, although I would pledge my salvation on my innocence.

53Several witnesses were called who had known her for many years, and they spoke well of her.

54But fear and hatred of the crime of which they supposed her guilty rendered them timorous and unwilling to come forward.

55Elizabeth saw even this last resource, her excellent dispositions and irreproachable conduct, about to fail the accursed, when, although violently agitated, she desired permission to address the court.

56I am, said she, the cousin of the unhappy child who was murdered, or rather his sister, for I was educated by, and have lived with his parents ever since, and even long before, his birth.

57It may, therefore, be judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion, but when I see a fellow-creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I know of her character.

58I am well acquainted with the accused.

59I have lived in the same house with her, at one time for five, and at another for nearly two years.

60During all that period she appeared to me the most amiable and benevolent of human creatures.

61She nursed Madame Frankenstein, my aunt, in her last illness, with the greatest affection and care, and afterwards attended her own mother during a tedious illness, in a manner that excited the admiration of all who knew her, after which she again lived in my uncle's house, where she was beloved by all the family.

62She was warmly attached to the child who was now dead, and acted towards him like a most affectionate mother.

63For my own part, I do not hesitate to say that notwithstanding all the evidence produced against her, I believe and rely on her perfect innocence.

64She had no temptation for such an action.

65As to the barbell on which the chief proof rests, if she had earnestly desired it, I should have willingly given it to her.

66So much do I esteem and value her.

67A murmur of approbation followed Elizabeth's simple and powerful appeal, but it was excited by her generous interference, and not in favour of poor Justine, on whom the public indignation was turned with renewed violence, charging her with the blackest ingratitude.

68She herself wept as Elizabeth spoke, but she did not answer.

69My own agitation and anguish was extreme during the whole trial.

70I believed in her innocence.

71I knew it.

72Could the demon who had, I did not for a minute doubt, murdered my brother, also in his hellish sport have betrayed the innocent to death and ignominy?

73I could not sustain the horror of my situation, and when I perceived that the popular voice and the countenances of the judges had already condemned my unhappy victim, I rushed out of the court in agony.

74The tortures of the accused did not equal mine.

75She was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of remorse tore my bosom and would not forego their hold.

76I passed a night of unmingled wretchedness.

77In the morning I went to the court.

78My lips and throat were parched.

79I dared not ask the fatal question, but I was known, and the officer guessed the cause of my visit.

80The ballots had been thrown.

81They were all black, and Justine was condemned.

82I cannot pretend to describe what I then felt.

83I had before experienced sensations of horror, and I have endeavoured to bestow upon them adequate expressions, but words cannot convey an idea of the heart-sickening despair that I then endured.

84The person to whom I addressed myself added that Justine had already confessed her guilt.

85That evidence, he observed, was hardly required in so glaring a case, but I am glad of it, and indeed none of our judges like to condemn a criminal upon circumstantial evidence, be it ever so decisive.

86This was strange and unexpected intelligence.

87What could it mean?

88Had my eyes deceived me, and was I really as mad as the whole world would believe me to be if I disclosed the object of my suspicions?

89I hastened to return home, and Elizabeth eagerly demanded the result.

90My cousin, replied I, it is decided as you may have expected.

91All judges had rather that ten innocent should suffer than that one guilty should escape.

92But she has confessed.

93This was a dire blow to poor Elizabeth, who had relied with firmness upon Justine's innocence.

94Alas!

95said she, how shall I ever again believe in human goodness?

96Justine, whom I loved and esteemed as my sister, how could she put on those smiles of innocence only to betray?

97Her mild eyes seemed incapable of any severity or guile, and yet she has committed a murder.

98Soon after we heard that the poor victim had expressed a desire to see my cousin.

99My father wished her not to go, but said that he left it to her own judgment and feelings to decide.

100Yes, said Elizabeth.

101I will go, although she is guilty, and you, Victor, shall accompany me.

102I cannot go alone.

103The idea of this visit was a torture to me, yet I could not refuse.

104We entered the gloomy prison chamber, and I will abide on your innocence.

105And although I was then very wretched, I was not so miserable as I am now.

106And do you also believe that I am so very, very wicked?

107Do you also join with my enemies to crush me, to condemn me as a murderer?

108Her voice was suffocated with sobbs.

109Rise, my poor girl, said Elizabeth.

110Why do you kneel if you are innocent?

111I am not one of your enemies.

112I believed you guiltless, notwithstanding every evidence, until I heard that you had yourself declared your guilt.

113That report, you say, is false.

114And be assured, dear Justine, that nothing can shake my confidence in you for a moment, but your own confession.

115I did confess, but I confessed the lie.

116I confessed that I might obtain absolution, but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than all my other sins.

117The God of heaven forgive me.

118Ever since I was condemned, my confessor has besieged me.

119He threatened and menaced until I almost began to think that I was the monster that he said I was.

120He threatened excommunication and hell-fire in my last moments, if I continued obturate.

121Dear lady, I had none to support me.

122All looked on me as a wretch doomed to ignominy and perdition.

123What could I do?

124In an evil hour I subscribed to a lie, and now only am I truly miserable.

125She paused, weeping, and then continued, I thought with horror, my sweet lady, that you should believe your Justine, whom your blessed aunt had so highly honored and whom you loved, was a creature capable of a crime which none but the devil himself could have perpetrated.

126Dear William, dearest blessed child, I soon shall see you again in heaven, where we shall all be happy.

127And that consoles me, going as I am to suffer ignominy and death.

128Oh, Justine, forgive me for having for one moment distrusted you.

129Why did you confess?

130But do not mourn, dear girl, do not fear.

131I will proclaim, I will prove your innocence.

132I will melt the stony hearts of your enemies by my tears and prayers.

133You shall not die.

134You, my playfellow, my companion, my sister, perish on the scaffold.

135No, no, I never could survive so horrible a misfortune.

136Justine shook her head mournfully.

137I do not fear to die, she said.

138That pang is past.

139God raises my weakness and gives me courage to endure the worst.

140I live a sad and bitter world, and if you remember me and think of me as of one unjustly condemned, I am resigned to the fate awaiting me.

141Learn from me, dear lady, to submit in patience to the will of heaven.

142During this conversation I had retired to a corner of the prison room, where I could conceal the horrid anguish that possessed me.

143Despair!

144Who dared talk of that?

145The poor victim, who on the morrow was to pass the awful boundary between life and death, felt not, as I did, such deep and bitter agony.

146I gnashed my teeth and ground them together, uttering a groan that came from my inmost soul.

147Justine started.

148When she saw who it was, she approached me, and said, Dear sir, you are very kind to visit me.

149You, I hope, do not believe that I am guilty?

150I could not answer.

151No, Justine, said Elizabeth.

152He is more convinced of your innocence than I was, for even when he heard that you had confessed, he did not credit it.

153I truly thank him.

154In these last moments I feel the sincerest gratitude towards those who think of me with kindness.

155How sweet is the affection of others to such a wretch as I am!

156It removes more than half my misfortune, and I feel as if I could die in peace now that my innocence is acknowledged by you, dear lady, and your cousin.

157Thus the poor sufferer tried to comfort others and herself.

158She indeed gained the resignation she desired.

159But I, the true murderer, felt the never-dying worm alive in my bosom, which allowed of no hope or consolation.

160Elizabeth also wept, and was unhappy, but hers also was the misery of innocence, which, like a cloud that passes over the fair moon, for a while hides but cannot tarnish its brightness.

161Anguish and despair had penetrated into the core of my heart.

162I bore a hell within me which nothing could extinguish.

163We stayed several hours with Justine, and it was with great difficulty that Elizabeth could tear herself away.

164I wish, cried she, that I were to die with you.

165I cannot live in this world of misery.

166Justine assumed an air of cheerfulness, while she with difficulty repressed her bitter tears.

167She embraced Elizabeth and said in a voice of half-suppressed emotion, Farewell, sweet lady, dearest Elizabeth, my beloved and only friend.

168May heaven in its bounty bless and preserve you.

169May this be the last misfortune that you will ever suffer.

170Live and be happy, and make others so.

171On the morrow Justine died.

172Elizabeth's heart-rending eloquence failed to move the judges from their settled conviction in the criminality of the saintly sufferer.

173My passionate and indignant appeals were lost upon them, and when I received their cold answers and heard the harsh, unfeeling reasoning of these men, my purposed avowal died away on my lips.

174Thus I might proclaim myself a madman, but not revoke the sentence passed upon my wretched victim.

175She perished on the scaffold as a murderess.

176From the tortures of my own heart I turned to contemplate the deep and voiceless grief of my Elizabeth.

177This was also my doing, and my father's woe, and the desolation of that late so smiling home, all was the work of my thrice accursed hands.

178Ye weep, unhappy ones, but these are not your last tears.

179Again shall you raise the funeral wail, and the sound of your lamentations shall again and again be heard.

180Frankenstein, your son, your kinsman, your early much-loved friend, he who would spend each vital drop of blood for your sakes, who has no thought or sense of joy except as it is mirrored also in your dear countenances, who would fill the air with blessings and spend his life in serving you.

181He bids you weep to shed countless tears, happy beyond his hopes, if thus inexorable fate be satisfied, and if the destruction pause before the peace of the grave have succeeded to your sad torment.

182Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts.

183End of section 10