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Chapter 24 My present situation was one in which all voluntary thought was swallowed up and lost . I was hurried away by fury ; revenge alone endowed me with strength and composure ; it moulded my feelings and allowed me to be calculating and calm at periods when otherwise delirium or death would have been my portion . My first resolution was to quit Geneva for ever ; my country , which , when I was happy and beloved , was dear to me , now , in my adversity , became hateful . I provided myself with a sum of money , together with a few jewels which had belonged to my mother , and departed . And now my wanderings began which are to cease but with life . I have traversed a vast portion of the earth and have endured all the hardships which travellers in deserts and barbarous countries are wont to meet . How I have lived I hardly know ; many times have I stretched my failing limbs upon the sandy plain and prayed for death . But revenge kept me alive ; I dared not die and leave my adversary in being . When I quitted Geneva my first labour was to gain some clue by which I might trace the steps of my fiendish enemy . But my plan was unsettled , and I wandered many hours round the confines of the town , uncertain what path I should pursue . As night approached I found myself at the entrance of the cemetery where William , Elizabeth , and my father reposed . I entered it and approached the tomb which marked their graves . Everything was silent except the leaves of the trees , which were gently agitated by the wind ; the night was nearly dark , and the scene would have been solemn and affecting even to an uninterested observer . The spirits of the departed seemed to flit around and to cast a shadow , which was felt but not seen , around the head of the mourner . The deep grief which this scene had at first excited quickly gave way to rage and despair . They were dead , and I lived ; their murderer also lived , and to destroy him I must drag out my weary existence . I knelt on the grass and kissed the earth and with quivering lips exclaimed , “ By the sacred earth on which I kneel , by the shades that wander near me , by the deep and eternal grief that I feel , I swear ; and by thee , O Night , and the spirits that preside over thee , to pursue the dæmon who caused this misery , until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict . For this purpose I will preserve my life ; to execute this dear revenge will I again behold the sun and tread the green herbage of earth , which otherwise should vanish from my eyes for ever . And I call on you , spirits of the dead , and on you , wandering ministers of vengeance , to aid and conduct me in my work . Let the cursed and hellish monster drink deep of agony ; let him feel the despair that now torments me . ”
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