Evil Personified

Closer and closer they gathered―a moving mass of evil personified.

As Spirit Franchezzo stood watching the crowd, his attention was drawn to a group of spirits who were pointing over at him. 

Faithful Friend left Spirit Franchezzo to speak with them alone, for they might recognise Spirit Franchezzo as having been there before.

As Faithful Friend moved away, the dark spirits drew near to Spirit Franchezzo with every gesture of friendliness.  

Spirit Franchezzo responded with politeness, though he felt the most violent repugnance to their company―they were repulsive-looking, horrible in their wicked, leering ugliness.

One touched Spirit Franchezzo on the shoulder.  

As Spirit Franchezzo turned to him, with a dim sense of having seen him before, the spirit laughed a wild horrid laugh, and cried out―

I hail thee, friend, who I see dost not so well remember me as I do thee, though it was upon the earth-plane we met before. 

I, as well as others, then sought hard to be of service to thee, only thou wouldst have none of our help, and played us, methinks, but a scurvy trick instead. 

None the less for this, we, who are as lambs, didst thou but know us, have forgiven thee.

Another also drew near to Spirit Franchezzo, leering with a smile perfectly diabolical and said―

So ho! You are here after all, friend, in this nice land with us. 

Then surely you must have done something to merit the distinction? 

Say whom you have killed―or caused to be killed, for none are here who cannot claim at least one slain by them, while many of us can boast of a procession as long as the ghosts that appeared to Macbeth, and others again―our more distinguished citizens―count their slain by hundreds. 

Did you kill that one after all?―ha! ha! ha!

And he broke into such a wild horrible peal of laughter that Spirit Franchezzo turned to fly from them, for, like a flash, the memory of that time when he, too, could have been almost a murderer came across his mind and he recognised in these horrible beings those who had surrounded him and counselled him how to fulfil his desire―how to wreak his vengeance. 

Spirit Franchezzo recoiled from them, but they had no thought to let him go.  

He was here―drawn down, as they hoped, at last, and they sought to keep him with them that he might afford them some sport and they might avenge themselves on him for their former defeat.

Spirit Franchezzo read this thought in their minds, though outwardly they were crowding around him with every protestation of hearty friendliness.  

For a moment, he was at a loss what to do.  

Then he resolved to go with them and see what they intended, watching at the same time for the first opportunity to free himself from them.  

He suffered them to take him by an arm each, and they proceeded towards a large house on one side of the square, which they said was theirs and where they would have the pleasure of introducing him to their friends. 

Faithful Friend passed close to them, and looking at Spirit Franchezzo impressed the warning―

Consent to go, but beware of entering into any of their enjoyments―or allowing your mind to be dragged down to their level.

They entered and passed up a wide staircase of greyish stone, which like all things here bore the marks and stains of shame and crime.  

The broad steps were broken and imperfect, with holes here and there large enough―some of them―to let a man through into the black dungeon-like depths beneath.  

As they passed up, he felt one of them give him a sly push just as they were stepping over one of these, and had he not been watching for some such trick, he might have been tripped up and pushed in.  

As it was, he simply drew aside and his too officious companion narrowly escaped tumbling in himself, at which the rest all laughed and he scowled savagely at Spirit Franchezzo.  

Spirit Franchezzo recognised him just then as the one whose hand had shrivelled in the silver ring of fire drawn around his beloved on the occasion when her love had drawn him to her and saved him from yielding to these dark fiends.  

This spirit held  his hand carefully hidden under his black cloak, yet Spirit Franchezzo could see through it, and he saw the shrivelled hand and arm, and knew that he might indeed beware of its owner.

At the top of the staircase, they passed into a large magnificent room, lighted up by a glare of fire, and hung around with dark draperies, which were  in perfect rags and tatters, and all splashed with crimson stains of wet blood, as though this had been the scene of not one, but many, murders. 

Around the rooms were placed ghostly phantoms of ancient furniture―ragged, dirty and defaced, yet retaining in them a semblance to an earthly apartment of great pretensions to splendour. 

This room was filled with the spirits of men and women. 

The women had lost all that could ever have given them any claim to the charms and privileges of their sex. 

They were worse to look on than the most degraded bedraggled specimens to be seen in any earthly slum at night. 

Only in Hell could women sink to such an awful degradation.  

The men were as bad―or even worse, and words utterly failed him to describe them.  

They were eating, drinking, shouting, dancing, playing cards and quarrelling over them―going on in such a way as the worst and lowest scenes of earthly dissipation could but faintly picture.

Spirit Franchezzo could see a faint reflection of the earthly-lives of each, and knew each alike had been guilty, not only of shameless lives, but also of murder from one motive or another. 

On his left was one who had been a Duchess in the days of the sixteenth century, and he saw that in her history she had from jealousy and cupidity poisoned no less than six persons. 

Beside her was a man who had belonged to the same era and had caused several persons obnoxious to him to be assassinated by his bravoes, and had slain another with his own hand in a treacherous manner during a quarrel.

Another woman had killed her illegitimate child because it stood between her and wealth and position. 

She had not been many years in this place and seemed more overcome by shame and remorse than any of the others, so Spirit Franchezzo resolved to get near to and speak to her.