Original subtitles

welcome back to story time with me

natasha negovanlis we are now on to

chapter 11 of joseph sheridan le fanu's

carmilla

chapter 11 the story with all my heart

said the general with an effort and

after a short pause in which to arrange

his subject

he commenced one of the strangest

narratives i've ever heard

my dear child was looking forward with

great pleasure to the visit

you had been so good as to arrange for

her to your charming daughter

here he made a gallant but melancholy

bow

in the meantime we had an invitation to

my old friend the count carlsfeld

whose schloss is about six leagues to

the other side of konstein

it was to attend the series of fets

which you remember were given by him in

honor of his illustrious visitor the

grand duke charles

yes and very splendid i believe they

were

said my father princely but then his

hospitalities are quite regal

he has aladdin's lamp the night from

which my sorrow dates was devoted to a

magnificent masquerade

the grounds were thrown open the trees

hung with coloured lamps

there was such a display of fireworks as

paris itself had never witnessed

and such music music you know is my

weakness such

ravishing music the finest instrumental

band perhaps in all the world

and the finest singers who could be

collected from all the great operas in

europe

as you wandered through these

fantastically illuminated grounds

the moonlighted chateau throwing a rosy

light from its long rows of windows

you would suddenly hear these ravishing

voices stealing from the silence of some

grove

or rising from boats upon the lake i

felt myself as i looked and listened

carried back into the romance and poetry

of my early youth

when the fireworks ended and the ball

beginning

we returned to the noble suite of rooms

that were thrown

open to the dancers a masked ball you

know is a beautiful sight but so

brilliant a spectacle of the kind i

never saw before

it was a very aristocratic assembly i

was myself

almost the nobody present

my dear child was looking quite

beautiful she wore

no mask her excitement and delight added

an unspeakable charm to her features

always

lovely i remarked a young lady dressed

magnificently but wearing a mask

who appeared to me to be observing my

ward with extraordinary interest

i had seen her earlier in the evening in

the great hall and again for a few

minutes walking near us on the terrace

under the castle windows similarly

employed

a lady also masked richly and gravely

dressed

and with a stately heir like a person of

rank accompanied her

as a chaperone had the young lady not

worn a mask i could of course

have been much more certain upon the

question whether she was really watching

my poor darling

i am now well assured that she was we

were now in one of the salons

my poor dear child had been dancing and

was resting a little in one of the

chairs near the door i was standing near

the two ladies i have mentioned had

approached and the younger took the

chair next to my ward while her

companion stood beside me

and for a little time addressed herself

in a low tone to her charge

availing herself of the privilege of her

masks she turned to me

and in the tone of an old friend and

calling me by name

opened a conversation with me which

piqued my curiosity a good deal

she referred to many scenes where she

had met me

at court and at distinguished houses

she alluded to little incidents which i

had long ceased to think of but which i

found

had only laid in ambiance in my memory

for

they instantly started into life at her

touch

i became more and more curious to

ascertain who she was

every moment she parried my attempts to

discover very adroitly and pleasantly

the knowledge she showed of many

passages in my life seemed to me

all but unaccountable and she appeared

to take not an

unnatural pleasure in foiling my

curiosity and

in seeing me flounder in my eager

perplexity from one conjecture to

another

in the meantime the young lady whom her

mother called by the odd name of malarka

when she once or twice addressed her had

with the same ease and grace got into

conversation with my

ward she introduced herself by saying

that her mother was a very old

acquaintance of mine

she spoke of the agreeable audacity

which a mask rendered practicable

and talked like a friend she admired her

dress

and insinuated very prettily her

admiration of her beauty

she amused her with laughing criticisms

upon the people

who crowded the ballroom and laughed at

my poor child's fun

she was very witty and lively when she

pleased and

after a time they had grown very good

friends and the young stranger lowered

her mask displaying

a remarkably beautiful face i'd never

seen it before

neither had my dear child but though it

was new to us

the features were so engaging as well as

lovely

that it was impossible not to feel the

attraction powerfully

my poor girl did so i never saw anyone

more taken with another at first sight

unless indeed it was the stranger

herself who seemed quite to have lost

her heart to her

in the meantime availing myself for the

license of a masquerade

i put not a few questions to the elder

lady you have puzzled me utterly i said

laughing

is that not enough won't you now consent

to stand on equal terms and do me the

kindness to remove your mask

can any request be more unreasonable she

replied

ask a lady to yield an advantage beside

how do you know you should recognize me

years make changes

as you see i said with a bow and i

suppose a rather

melancholy little laugh as philosophers

tell us

she said and how do you know that a

sight of my face would help you

though i should take a chance for that i

answered

it is vain trying to make yourself out

an old woman your figure betrays you

years nevertheless have passed since i

saw you

rather since you saw me for that is what

i am considering

malarka there is my daughter i could not

then be young

even in the opinion of people whom time

is taught to be indulgent

and i may not like to be compared with

what you remember me

you have no mask to remove you can offer

me nothing in exchange

my petition is your pity to remove it

and mine to yours

to let it stay where it is she replied

well then at least you will tell me

whether you are french or german you

speak

both languages so perfectly i don't

think i shall tell you that general

you intend a surprise and are

meditating the particular point of

attack at all events you won't deny this

i said that being honored by your

permission to converse i ought to know

how to address you

shall i say madame lacomtes

she laughed and she would no doubt have

met me with another evasion

if indeed i can treat any occurrence in

an interview every circumstance of which

was pre-arranged as i now believe

with the profoundest cunning as liable

to be modified by accident

as to that she began but she was

interrupted almost as she opened her

lips

by a gentleman dressed in black who

looked particularly elegant and

distinguished

with this drawback that his face was the

most deadly pale i

ever saw except in death he was in no

masquerade

in the plain evening dress of a

gentleman and he said without a smile

but with a courtly and unusually low bow

will the madame la contest permit me to

say a very few words which may interest

her

the lady turned quickly to him and

touched her lip in a token of silence

she then said to me keep my place for me

general

i shall return when i have said a few

words

and with this injunction playfully given

she walked a little aside with a

gentleman in black and talked for some

minutes apparently very earnestly

then they walked away slowly together in

the crowd and i lost them for some

minutes

i spent the interval in cudgeling my

brains for a conjecture as to the

identity of the lady who seemed to

remember me so kindly

and i was thinking of turning about and

joining in the conversation between my

pretty ward and the countess's daughter

and trying whether by the time she

returned i might not have a surprise in

store for her

by having her name title chateau and

estates at my fingers ends

but at this moment she returned

accompanied by the pale men in black who

said

i shall return and inform madame

lacontes when her carriage is at the

door

he withdrew with a bow and that's

chapter 11.

tune in for chapter 12.