Japhet In Search Of A Father Part 1, Frederick Marryat [top 10 inspirational books .TXT] 📗
- Author: Frederick Marryat
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Influence Of Them Towards The Evening. I'M Afraid That You Take More
Than Is Good For Your Health."
"Not More Than I Require For What I Have To Undergo To Keep Up The Faith
Part 1 Chapter 5 Pg 27Of My Disciples; But There Are Many Who Waver, Some Who Doubt, And I
Find That My Movements Are Watched. I Cannot Trust The Woman In This
House. I Think She Is A Spy Set Upon Me, But I Cannot Remove Her, As
This House, And All Which It Contains, Are Not Mine, But Belong To The
Disciples In General. There Is Another Woman, Not Far Off, Who Is My
Rival; She Calls Me An Impostor, And Says That She Is The True
Prophetess, And That I Am Not One. This Will Be Rather Difficult For Her
To Prove," Continued She, With A Mocking Smile. "Beset As I Am, I
Require Your Assistance, For You Must Be Aware That It Is Rather
Discreditable To A Prophetess, Who Has Risen From The Dead, To Be Seen
All Day At The Gin-Shop, Yet Without Stimulants Now, I Could Not Exist."
"And How Can I Assist You?"
"By Sending Me, As Medicine, That Which I Dare No Longer Procure In any
Other Way, And Keeping The Secret Which I Have Imparted."
"I Will Do Both With Pleasure; But Yet," Said I, "Is It Not A Pity, A
Thousand Pities, That One So Young--And If You Will Allow Me To Add, So
Lovely, Should Give Herself Up To Ardent Spirits? Why," Continued I,
Taking Her Small White Hand, "Why Should You Carry On The Deception;
Why Sacrifice Your Health, And I May Say Your Happiness--" What More I
Might Have Said I Know Not, Probably It Might Have Been An Offer Of
Marriage, But She Cut Me Short.
"Why Does Everybody Sacrifice Their Health, Their Happiness, Their All,
But For Ambition And The Love Of Power? It Is True, As Long As This
Little Beauty Lasts, I Might Be Courted As A Woman, But Never Should I
Be Worshipped As--I May Say--A God.--No, No, There Is Something Too
Delightful In That Adoration, Something Too Pleasant In Witnessing A
Crowd Of Fools Stare, And Men Of Three Times My Age, Falling Down And
Kissing The Hem Of My Garment. This Is, Indeed, Adoration! The Delight
Arising From It Is So Great, That All Other Passions Are Crushed By
It--It Absorbs All Other Feelings, And Has Closed My Heart Even Against
Love, Japhet. I Could Not, I Would Not Debase Myself, Sink So Low In My
Own Estimation, As To Allow So Paltry A Passion To Have Dominion Over
Me; And, Indeed, Now That I Am So Wedded To Stimulants, Even If I Were
No Longer A Prophetess, It Never Could."
"But Is Not Intoxication One Of The Most Debasing Of All Habits?"
"I Grant You, In Itself, But With Me And In My Situation It Is
Different. I Fall To Rise Again, And Higher. I Cannot Be What I Am
Without I Simulate--I Cannot Simulate Without Stimulants, Therefore It
Is But A Means To A Great And Glorious Ambition."
I Had More Conversation With Her Before I Left, But Nothing Appeared To
Move Her Resolution, And I Left Her Lamenting, In The First Place, That
She Had Abjured Love, Because, Notwithstanding The Orris Root, Which She
Kept In Her Mouth To Take Away The Smell Of The Spirits, I Found Myself
Part 1 Chapter 5 Pg 28Very Much Taken With Such Beauty Of Person, Combined With So Much Vigour
Of Mind; And In The Second, That One So Young Should Carry On A System
Of Deceit And Self-Destruction. When I Rose To Go Away She Put Five
Guineas In My Hand, To Enable Me To Purchase What She Required. "Add To
This One Small Favour," Said I, "Aramathea--Allow Me A Kiss."
"A Kiss," Replied She, With Scorn; "No, Japhet, Look Upon Me, For It Is
The Last Time You Will Behold My Youth; Look Upon Me As A Sepulchre,
Fair Without But Unsavoury And Rottenness Within. Let Me Do You A
Greater Kindness, Let Me Awaken Your Dormant Energies, And Plant That
Ambition In Your Soul, Which May Lead To All That Is Great And Good--A
Better Path And More Worthy Of A Man Than The One Which I Have Partly
Chosen, And Partly Destiny Has Decided For Me. Look Upon Me As Your
Friend; Although Perhaps, You Truly Say, No Friend Unto Myself.
Farewell--Remember That To-Morrow You Will Send The Medicine Which I
Require."
I Left Her, And Returned Home: It Was Late. I Went To Bed, And Having
Disclosed As Much To Timothy As I Could Safely Venture To Do, I Fell
Fast Asleep, But Her Figure And Her Voice Haunted Me In My Dreams. At
One Time, She Appeared Before Me In Her Painted, Enamelled Face, And
Then The Mask Fell Off, And I Fell At Her Feet To Worship Her Extreme
Beauty; Then Her Beauty Would Vanish, And She Would Appear An Image Of
Loathsomeness And Deformity, And I Felt Suffocated With The Atmosphere
Impregnated With The Smell Of Liquor. I Would Wake And Compose Myself
Again, Glad To Be Rid Of The Horrid Dream, But Again Would She Appear,
With A Hydra'S Tail, Like Sin In Milton'S Paradise Lost, Wind Herself
Round Me, Her Beautiful Face Gradually Changing Into That Of A Skeleton.
I Cried Out With Terror, And Awoke To Sleep No More, And Effectually
Cured By My Dream Of The Penchant Which I Felt Towards Miss Aramathea
Judd.
Part 1 Chapter 6 Pg 29
My Prescriptions Very Effective And Palatable, But I Lose My
Patient--The Feud Equal To That Of The Montagues And The
Capulets--Results Different--Mercutio Comes Off Unhurt.
The Next Day I Sent Timothy To Purchase Some Highly Rectified White
Brandy, Which I Coloured With A Blue Tincture, And Added To It A Small
Proportion Of The Essence Of Cinnamon, To Disguise The Smell; A Dozen
Large Vials, Carefully Tied Up And Sealed, Were Despatched To Her Abode.
She Now Seldom Called Unless It Was Early In The Morning; I Made
Repeated Visits To Her House To Receive Money, But No Longer To Make
Part 1 Chapter 6 Pg 30Love. One Day I Requested Permission To Be Present At Their Meeting, And
To This She Gave Immediate Consent; Indeed We Were On The Most Intimate
Terms, And When She Perceived That I No Longer Attempted To Play The
Fool, I Was Permitted To Remain For Hours With Her In conversation. She
Had, As She Told Me She Intended, Re-Enamelled And Painted Her Face, But
Knowing What Beauty Was Concealed Underneath, I No Longer Felt Any
Disgust.
Timothy Was Very Much Pleased At His Share Of This Arrangement, As He
Seldom Brought Her The Medicine Without Pocketing Half-A-Crown.
For Two Or Three Months Every Thing Went On Very Satisfactorily; But One
Evening, Timothy, Who Had Been Sent With The Basket Of Vials For Miss
Judd'S Assistance, Returned In Great Consternation, Informing Me That
The House Was Empty. He Had Inquired Of The Neighbours, And From The
Accounts Given, Which Were Very Contradictory, It Appeared That The
Rival Prophetess Had Marched Up At The Head Of Her Proselytes The
Evening Before, Had Obtained Entrance, And That A Desperate Contention
Had Been The Result. That The Police Had Been Called In, And All Parties
Had Been Lodged In The Watch-House; That The Whole Affair Was Being
Investigated By The Magistrates, And That It Was Said That Miss Judd And
All Her Coadjutors Would Be Sent To The Penitentiary. This Was Quite
Enough To Frighten Two Boys Like Us; For Days Afterwards We Trembled
When People Came Into The Shop, Expecting To Be Summoned And Imprisoned.
Gradually, However, Our Fears Were Dismissed, But I Never From That Time
Heard Any Thing More Of Miss Aramathea Judd.
After This Affair, I Adhered Steadily To My Business, And Profiting By
The Advice Given Me By That Young Person, Improved Rapidly In My
Profession, As Well As In General Knowledge; But My Thoughts, As Usual,
Were Upon One Subject--My Parentage, And The Mystery Hanging Over It. My
Eternal Reveries Became At Last So Painful, That I Had Recourse To
Reading To Drive Them Away, And Subscribing To A Good Circulating
Library, I Was Seldom Without A Book In My Hand. By This Time I Had Been
Nearly Two Years And A Half With Mr Cophagus, When An Adventure Occurred
Which I Must Attempt To Describe With All The Dignity With Which It
Ought To Be Invested.
This Is A World Of Ambition, Competition, And Rivalry. Nation Rivals
Nation, And Flies To Arms, Cutting The Throats Of A Few Thousands On
Each Side Till One Finds That It Has The Worst Of It. Man Rivals Man,
And Hence Detraction, Duels, And Individual Death. Woman Rivals Woman,
And Hence Loss Of Reputation And Position In High, And Loss Of Hair, And
Fighting With Pattens In Low, Life. Are We Then To Be Surprised That
This Universal Passion, Undeterred By The Smell Of Drugs And Poisonous
Compounds, Should Enter Into Apothecaries' Shops? But Two Streets--Two
Very Short Streets From Our Own--Was Situated The Single-Fronted Shop Of
Mr Ebenezer Pleggit. Thank Heaven, It Was Only Single-Fronted; There, At
Least, We Had The Ascendancy Over Them. Upon Other Points, Our
Advantages Were More Equally Balanced. Mr Pleggit Had Two Large Coloured
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