or ever lost to you. I possess you here alone; You are absolutely
in my power, and I burn with desires which I must either gratify or
die: But I would owe my happiness to yourself. My lovely Girl! My
adorable Antonia! Let me instruct you in joys to which you are still a
Stranger, and teach you to feel those pleasures in my arms which I must
soon enjoy in yours. Nay, this struggling is childish,' He continued,
seeing her repell his caresses, and endeavour to escape from his grasp;
'No aid is near: Neither heaven or earth shall save you from my
embraces. Yet why reject pleasures so sweet, so rapturous? No one
observes us: Our loves will be a secret to all the world: Love and
opportunity invite your giving loose to your passions. Yield to them,
my Antonia! Yield to them, my lovely Girl! Throw your arms thus
fondly round me; Join your lips thus closely to mine! Amidst all her
gifts, has Nature denied her most precious, the sensibility of
Pleasure? Oh! impossible! Every feature, look, and motion declares
you formed to bless, and to be blessed yourself! Turn not on me those
supplicating eyes: Consult your own charms; They will tell you that I
am proof against entreaty. Can I relinquish these limbs so white, so
soft, so delicate; These swelling breasts, round, full, and elastic!
These lips fraught with such inexhaustible sweetness? Can I relinquish
these treasures, and leave them to another's enjoyment? No, Antonia;
never, never! I swear it by this kiss, and this! and this!'

With every moment the Friar's passion became more ardent, and Antonia's
terror more intense. She struggled to disengage herself from his arms:
Her exertions were unsuccessful; and finding that Ambrosio's conduct
became still freer, She shrieked for assistance with all her strength.
The aspect of the Vault, the pale glimmering of the Lamp, the
surrounding obscurity, the sight of the Tomb, and the objects of
mortality which met her eyes on either side, were ill-calculated to
inspire her with those emotions by which the Friar was agitated. Even
his caresses terrified her from their fury, and created no other
sentiment than fear. On the contrary, her alarm, her evident disgust,
and incessant opposition, seemed only to inflame the Monk's desires,
and supply his brutality with additional strength. Antonia's shrieks
were unheard: Yet She continued them, nor abandoned her endeavours to
escape, till exhausted and out of breath She sank from