"Isidora, the confessed bride of an unhallowed being, was taken before
the Inquisition, and sentenced to life-long imprisonment. But she did
not survive long; and ere she died, her husband appeared to her, and
offered her freedom, happiness, and love--at a dreadful price she would
not pay. Such was the history of the ill-fated love of Immalee for a
being to whom mortal love was a boon forbidden."

_IV.--The Fate of Melmoth_

When Moncada had completed the tale of Immalee, he announced his
intention of describing how he had left the house of the Jewish doctor,
and what was his purpose in coming to Ireland. A time was fixed for the
continuation of the recital.

The night when Moncada prepared to resume his story was a dark and
stormy one. The two men drew close to the fire.

"Hush!" suddenly said Moncada.

John Melmoth listened, and half rose from his chair.

"We are watched!" he exclaimed.

At that moment the door opened, and a figure appeared at it. The figure
advanced slowly to the centre of the room. Moncada crossed himself, and
attempted to pray. John Melmoth, nailed to his chair, gazed upon the
form that stood before him--it was indeed Melmoth the Wanderer. But the
eyes were dim; those beacons lit by an infernal fire were no longer
visible.

"Mortals," said the Wanderer, in strange and solemn accents, "you are
here to talk of my destiny. That distiny is accomplished. Your ancestor
has come home," he continued, turning to John Melmoth. "If my crimes
have exceeded those of mortality, so will my punishment. And the time
for that punishment is come.

"It is a hundred and fifty years since I first probed forbidden secrets.
I have now to pay the penalty. None can participate in my destiny but
with his own consent. _None has consented._ It has been reported of me,
as you know, that I obtained from the enemy of souls a range of
existence beyond the period of mortality--a power to pass over space
with the swiftness of thought--to encounter perils unharmed, to
penetrate into dungeons, whose bolts were as flax and tow at my touch.
It has been said that this power was accorded to me that I might be
enabled to tempt wretches at their fearful hour of extremity with the
promise of deliverance and immunity on condition of their exchanging
situations with me.

"No one has ever changed destinies with Melmoth the Wanderer. _I have
traversed the world in search, and no one to gain that world would lose
his own soul