The Infernal Marriage | Page 2

spikes, those frightful paws clothed with claws of steel, that tail like a boa constrictor, those fiery eyes that blazed like the blood-red lamps in a pharos, and those three forky tongues, round each of which were entwined a vigorous family of green rattlesnakes!
'Ah! Cerby! Cerby!' exclaimed Pluto; 'my fond and faithful Cerby!'
Proserpine screamed as the animal gambolled up to the side of the chariot and held out its paw to its master. Then, licking the royal palm with its three tongues at once, it renewed its station with a wag of its tail which raised such a cloud of dust that for a few minutes nothing was perceptible.
'The monster!' exclaimed Proserpine.
'My love!' exclaimed Pluto, with astonishment.
'The hideous brute!'
'My dear!' exclaimed Pluto.
'He shall never touch me.'
'Proserpine!'
'Don't touch me with that hand. You never shall touch me, if you allow that disgusting animal to lick your hand.'
'I beg to inform you that there are few beings of any kind for whom I have a greater esteem than that faithful and affectionate beast.'
'Oh! if you like Cerberus better than me, I have no more to say,' exclaimed the bride, bridling up with indignation.
'My Proserpine is perverse,' replied Pluto; 'her memory has scarcely done me justice.'
'I am sure you said you liked Cerberus better than anything in the world,' continued the goddess, with a voice trembling with passion.
'I said no such thing,' replied Pluto, somewhat sternly.
'I see how it is,' replied Proserpine, with a sob; 'you are tired of me.'
'My beloved!'
'I never expected this.'
'My child!'
'Was it for this I left my mother?'
'Powers of Hades! How you can say such things!'
'Broke her heart?'
'Proserpine! Proserpine!'
'Gave up daylight?'
'For the sake of Heaven, then, calm yourself!'
'Sacrificed everything?'
'My love! my life! my angel! what is all this?'
'And then to be abused for the sake of a dog!'
'By all the shades of Hell, but this is enough to provoke even immortals. What have I done, said, or thought, to justify such treatment?'
'Oh! me!'
'Proserpine!'
'Heigho!'
'Proserpine! Proserpine!'
'So soon is the veil withdrawn!'
'Dearest, you must be unwell. This journey has been too much for you,'
'On our very bridal day to be so treated!'
'Soul of my existence, don't make me mad. I love you, I adore you; I have no hope, no wish, no thought but you. I swear it; I swear it by my sceptre and my throne. Speak, speak to your Pluto: tell him all your wish, all your desire. What would you have me do?'
'Shoot that horrid beast.'
'Ah! me!'
'What, you will not? I thought how it would be. I am Proserpine, your beloved, adored Proserpine. You have no wish, no hope, no thought but for me! I have only to speak, and what I desire will be instantly done! And I do speak, I tell you my wish, I express to you my desire, and I am instantly refused! And what have I requested? Is it such a mighty favour? Is it anything unreasonable? Is there, indeed, in my entreaty anything so vastly out of the way? The death of a dog, a disgusting animal, which has already shaken my nerves to pieces; and if ever (here she hid her face in his breast), if ever that event should occur which both must desire, my Pluto, I am sure the very sight of that horrible beast will--I dare not say what it will do.'
Pluto looked puzzled.
'Indeed, my Proserpine, it is not in my power to grant your request; for Cerberus is immortal, like ourselves.'
'Me! miserable!'
'Some arrangement, however, may be made to keep him out of your sight and hearing. I can banish him.'
'Can you, indeed? Oh! banish him, my Pluto! pray banish him! I never shall be happy until Cerberus is banished.'
'I will do anything you desire; but I confess to you I have some misgivings. He is an invaluable watch-dog; and I fear, without his superintendence, the guardians of the gate will scarcely do their duty.'
'Oh! yes: I am sure they will, my Pluto! I will ask them to, I will ask them myself, I will request them, as a particular and personal favour to myself, to be very careful indeed. And if they do their duty, and I am sure they will, they shall be styled, as a reward, "Proserpine's Own Guards."'
'A reward, indeed!' said the enamoured monarch, as, with a sigh, he signed the order for the banishment of Cerberus in the form of his promotion to the office of Master of the royal and imperial bloodhounds.
The burning waves of Phlegethon assumed a lighter hue. It was morning. It was the morning after the arrival of Pluto and his unexpected bride. In one of the principal rooms of the palace three beautiful females, clothed in cerulean robes spangled with stars, and their heads adorned with golden crowns, were at work together. One held a distaff, from which the