 Section 17 of Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Bill Cisna. Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 1 by Julian Hawthorne Editor. Section 17, Wheelan's Madness, Part 2 by Charles Brockton Brown. Pale and breathless, it was with difficulty I could support myself. He anxiously inquired into the cause of my affright and the motive of my unusual absence. He had returned from my brothers at a late hour and was informed by Judith that I had walked out before sunset and had not yet returned. This intelligence was somewhat alarming. He waited some time, but my absence continuing, he had set out in search of me. He had explored the neighborhood with the utmost care, but receiving no tidings of me, he was preparing to acquaint my brother with this circumstance. When he recollected the summer house on the bank and conceived it possible that some accident had detained me there. He again inquired into the cause of this detention and of that confusion and dismay which my looks testified. I told him that I had strolled hither in the afternoon, that sleep had overtaken me as I sat, and that I had awakened a few minutes before his arrival. I could tell him no more. In the present impetuosity of my thoughts, I was almost dubious whether the pit into which my brother had endeavored to entice me and the voice that talked through the lattice were not parts of the same dream. I remembered likewise the charge of secrecy and the penalty denounced if I should rashly divulge what I had heard. For these reasons I was silent on that subject and shutting myself in my chamber delivered myself up to contemplation. What I have related will no doubt appear to you as a fable. You will believe that calamity has subverted my reason and that I am amusing you with the chimeras of my brain instead of facts that have really happened. I shall not be surprised or offended if these be your suspicions. I know not indeed how you can deny them admission, for if to me the immediate witness they are fertile of perplexity and doubt, how must they affect another to whom they are recommended only by my testimony. It was only by subsequent events that I was fully and incontestably assured of the veracity of my senses. Meanwhile, what was I to think? I had been assured that a design had been formed against my life. The Ruffians had leagued to murder me, whom had I offended, who was there with whom I had ever maintained intercourse, who was capable of harboring such atrocious purposes. My temper was the reverse of cruel and imperious. My heart was touched with sympathy for the children of misfortune, but this sympathy was not a barren sentiment. My purse, scanty as it was, was ever open, and my hands ever active to relieve distress. Many were the wretches whom my personal exertions had extricated from want and disease, and who rewarded me with their gratitude. There was no face which lowered at my approach, and no lips which uttered implications in my hearing. On the contrary, there was none over whose fate I had exerted any influence, or to whom I was known by reputation, who did not greet me with smiles and dismiss me with proofs of veneration, yet did not my senses assure me that a plot was laid against my life? I am not destitute of courage. I have shown myself deliberative and calm in the midst of peril. I have hazarded my own life for the preservation of another, but now was I confused and panic struck. I have not lived so as to fear death. Yet to perish by an unseen and secret stroke, to be mangled by the knife of an assassin, was a thought at which I shuddered. What had I done to deserve to be made the victim of malign passions? But soft! Was I not assured that my life was safe in all places but one? And why was the treason limited to take effect in this spot? I was everywhere equally defenseless. My house and chamber were at all times accessible. Danger still impended over me. The bloody purpose was still entertained, but the hand that was to execute it was powerless in all places but one. Here I had remained for the last four or five hours without the means of resistance or defense, yet I had not been attacked. A human being was at hand who was conscious of my presence and warned me hereafter to avoid this retreat. His voice was not absolutely new, but had I never heard it but once before? But why did he prohibit me from relating this instant to others? And what species of death will be awarded if I disobey? Such were the reflections that haunted me during the night, in which effectually deprived me of sleep. Next morning at breakfast, Plial related an event which my disappearance had hindered him from mentioning the night before. Early the preceding morning his occasions called him to the city. He had stepped into a coffee house to while away an hour. Here he had met a person whose appearance instantly bespoke to him to be the same whose hasty visit I have mentioned and whose extraordinary visage and tones had so powerfully affected me. On an attentive survey, however, he proved likewise to be one with whom my friend had had some intercourse in Europe. This authorized the liberty of accosting him and after some conversation mindful as Plial said of the footing which this stranger had gained in my heart he had ventured to invite him to Mettingen. The invitation had been cheerfully accepted and a visit promised on the afternoon of the next day. This information excited no sober emotions in my breast. I was, of course, eager to be informed as to the circumstances of their ancient intercourse, when and where had they met? What knew he of the life and character of this man? In answer to my inquiries he informed me that three years before he was a traveler in Spain. He had made an excursion from Valencia to Merviedro with a view to inspect the remains of Roman magnificence scattered in the environs of that town. While traversing the site of the theater of Old Saguntum he alighted upon this man seated on a stone and deeply engaged in perusing the work of the deacon Marty. A short conversation ensued which proved the stranger to be English. They returned to Valencia together. His garb, aspect and deportment were wholly Spanish. A residence of three years in the country, indefatigable attention to the language and a studious conformity with the customs of the people had made him indistinguishable from a native when he chose to assume that character. Plial found him to be connected on the footing of friendship and respect with many eminent merchants in that city. He had embraced the Catholic religion and adopted a Spanish name instead of his own which was Carwin and devoted himself to the literature and religion of his new country. He pursued no profession but subsisted on remittances from England. While Plial remained in Valencia, Carwin betrayed no aversion to intercourse and the former found no small attractions in the society of this new acquaintance. On general topics he was highly intelligent and communicative. He had visited every corner of Spain and could furnish the most accurate details respecting its ancient and present state. On topics of religion and of his own history, previous to his transformation into a Spaniard, he was invariably silent. You could merely gather from his discourse that he was English and that he was well acquainted with the neighboring countries. His character excited considerable curiosity in the observer. It was not easy to reconcile his conversion to the Romish faith with those proofs of knowledge and capacity that were exhibited by him on different occasions. A suspicion was sometimes admitted that his belief was counterfeited for some political purpose. The most careful observation however produced no discovery. His manners were at all times harmless and inartificial and his habits those of a lover of contemplation and seclusion. He appeared to have contracted an affection for Plial who was not slow to return it. My friend, after a month's residence in this city, returned into France and since that period had heard nothing concerning Carwin till his appearance at Mettingen. On this occasion Carwin had received Plial's greeting with a certain distance and solemnity to which the latter had not been accustomed. He had waved noticing the inquiries of Plial respecting his desertion of Spain in which he had formerly declared that it was his purpose to spend his life. He had assiduously diverted the attention of the latter to indifferent topics but was still on every theme as eloquent and judicious as formerly. Why he had assumed the garb of a rustic, Plial was unable to conjecture. Perhaps it might be poverty. Perhaps he was swayed by motives which it was his interest to conceal but which were connected with the consequences of the utmost moment. Such was the sum of my friend's information. I was not sorry to be left alone during the greater part of this day. Every employment was irksome which did not leave me at liberty to meditate. I had now a new subject on which to exercise my thoughts. Before evening I should be ushered into his presence and listen to those tones whose magical and thrilling power I had already experienced. But with what new images would he then be accompanied? Carwin was an adherent to the Romish faith yet was an Englishman by birth and perhaps a Protestant by education. He had adopted Spain for his country and had intimated a design to spend his days there yet now was an inhabitant of this district and disguised by the habiliments of a clown. What could have obliterated the impressions of his youth and made him abjure his religion and his country? What subsequent events had introduced so total a change in his plans? In withdrawing from Spain had he reverted to the religion of his ancestors? Or was it true that his former conversion was deceitful and that his conduct had been swayed by motives which it was prudent to conceal? Hours were consumed in revolving these ideas. My meditations were intense and when the series was broken I began to reflect with astonishment on my situation. From the death of my parents till the commencement of this year my life had been serene and blissful beyond the ordinary portion of humanity. But now my bosom was corroded by anxiety. I was visited by dread of unknown dangers and the future was a scene over which the clouds rolled and thunders muttered. I compared the cause with the effect and they seemed disproportioned to each other. All unaware and in a manner which I had no power to explain I was pushed from my immovable and lofty station and cast upon a sea of troubles. I determined to be my brother's visitant on this evening yet my resolves were not unattended with wavering and reluctance. Plials and situations that I was in love affected in no degree my belief. Yet the consciousness that this was the opinion of one who would probably be present at our introduction to each other would excite all that confusion which the passion itself is apt to produce. This would confirm him in his error and call forth new raileries. His mirth when exerted upon this topic was the source of the bitterest vexation. Had he been aware of its influence upon my happiness his temper would not have allowed him to persist. But this influence it was my chief endeavour to conceal that the belief of my having bestowed my heart upon another produced in my friend none but ludicrous sensations was the true cause of my distress. But if this had been discovered by him my distress would have been unspeakably aggravated. Three As soon as the evening arrived I performed my visit. Carwyn made one of the company into which I was ushered. Appearances were the same as when I before beheld him. His gar was equally negligent and rustic. I gazed upon his countenance with new curiosity. My situation was such as to enable me to bestow upon it a deliberate examination. Viewed it more leisure it lost none of its wonderful properties. I could not deny my homage to the intelligence expressed in it but was wholly uncertain whether he were an object to be dreaded or adored and whether his powers had been exerted to evil or to good. He was sparing in discourse but whatever he said was pregnant with meaning and uttered with rectitude of articulation and force of emphasis of which I had entertained no conception previously to my knowledge of him. Notwithstanding the uncouthness of his garb his manners were not unpolished. All topics were handled by him with skill and without pedantry or effectation. He uttered no sentiment calculated to produce a disadvantageous impression. On the contrary his observations denoted a mind alive to every generous and heroic feeling. They were introduced without parade and accompanied with that degree of earnestness which indicates sincerity. He parted from us not till late refusing an invitation to spend the night here but readily consented to repeat his visit. His visits were frequently repeated each day introduced us to a more intimate acquaintance with his sentiments but left us wholly in the dark concerning that about which we were the most inquisitive. He studiously avoided all mention of his past or present situation. Even the place of his abode in the city he concealed from us. Our sphere in this respect being somewhat limited and the intellectual endowments of this man being indisputably great his deportment was more diligently marked and copiously commented on by us than you perhaps will think the circumstances warranted. Not a gesture or glance or accent that was not in our private assemblies discussed and inferences deduced from it. It may well be thought that he modeled his behavior by an uncommon standard when with all our opportunities and accuracy of observation we were able for a long time to gather no satisfactory information. He afforded us no ground on which to build even a plausible conjecture. There is a degree of familiarity which takes place between constant associates that justifies the negligence of many rules of which in an earlier period of their intercourse politeness requires the exact observance. Inquiries into our condition are allowable when they are prompted by a disinterested concern for our welfare and this solicitude is not only pardonable but may justly be demanded from those who choose us for their companions. This state of things was more slow to arrive at on this occasion than on most others on account of the gravity and loftiness of this man's behavior. Plial however began at length to employ regular means for this end. He occasionally alluded to the circumstances in which they had formerly met and remarked the incongruousness between the religion and habits of a Spaniard with those of a native of Britain. He expressed his astonishment at meeting our guest in this corner of the globe especially as when they parted in Spain he was taught to believe that Carwyn should never leave that country. He insinuated that a change so great must have been prompted by motives of a singular and momentous kind. No answer or an answer wide of the purpose was generally made to these insinuations. Britons and Spaniards he said are votaries of the same deity and square their faith by the same precepts. Their ideas are drawn from the same fountains of literature and they speak dialects of the same tongue. Their government and laws have more resemblances than differences. They were formerly provinces of the same civil and till lately of the same religious empire. As to the modus which induced men to change the place of their abode these must unavoidably be fleeting and mutable if not bound to one spot by conjugal or parental ties or by the nature of that employment to which we are indebted for subsistence the inducements to change are far more numerous and powerful than opposite inducements. He spoke as if desirous of showing that he was not aware of the tendency of plow's remarks yet certain tokens were apparent that proved him by no means wanting impenetration. These tokens were to be read in his countenance and not in his words. When anything was said indicating curiosity in us the gloom of his countenance was deepened his eyes sunk to the ground and his wanted air was not resumed without visible struggle. Hence it was obvious to infer that some incidents of his life were reflected on by him with regret and that since these incidents were carefully concealed and even that regret which flowed from them laboriously stifled they had not been merely disastrous. The secrecy that was observed appeared not designed to provoke or baffle the inquisitive but was prompted by the shame or by the prudence of guilt. These ideas which were adopted by Plial and my brother as well as myself hindered us from employing more direct means for accomplishing our wishes. Questions might have been put in such terms that no room should be left for the pretense of misapprehension and if modesty merely had been the obstacle such questions would not have been wanting but we considered that if the disclosure were productive of pain or disgrace it was inhuman to extort it. Amidst the various topics that were discussed in his presence illusions were of course made to the inexplicable events that had lately happened. At those times the words and looks of this man were objects of my particular attention. The subject was extraordinary and anyone whose experience or reflections could throw any light upon it was entitled to my gratitude. As this man was enlightened by reading and travel I listened with eagerness to the remarks which he should make. At first I entertained a kind of apprehension that the tale would be heard by him with incaduity and secret ridicule. I had formerly heard stories that resembled this in some of their mysterious circumstances but they were commonly heard by me with contempt. I was doubtful whether the same impression would not now be made on the mind of our guest but I was mistaken in my fears. He heard them with seriousness and without any marks either of surprise or incaduity. He pursued with visible pleasure that kind of disquisition that was naturally suggested by them. His fancy was eminently vigorous and prolific and if he did not persuade us that human beings are sometimes admitted to a sensible intercourse with the author of nature he at least won over our inclination to the cause. He merely deduced from his own reasonings that such intercourse was probable but confessed that though he was acquainted with many instances somewhat similar to those which had been related by us none of them were perfectly exempted from the suspicion of human agency. On being requested to relate these instances he amused us with many curious details. His narratives were constructed with so much skill and rehearsed with so much energy that all the effects of a dramatic exhibition were frequently produced by them. Those that were most coherent and most minute and of consequence least entitled to credit were yet rendered probable by the exquisite art of this rhetorician. For every difficulty that was suggested a ready and plausible solution was furnished. Mysterious voices had always a share in producing the catastrophe but they were always to be explained on some known principles either as reflected into a focus or communicated through a tube. I could not but remark that his narratives however complex or marvelous contained no instance sufficiently parallel to those that had befallen ourselves and in which the solution was applicable to our own case. My brother was a much more sanguine reasoner than our guest. Even in some of the facts which were related by Karwin he maintained the probability of celestial interference when the latter was disposed to deny it and had found as he imagined footsteps of a human agent. Plial was by no means equally credulous. He scrupled not to deny faith to any testimony but that of his senses and allowed the facts which had lately been supported by this testimony not to mold his belief but merely to give birth to doubts. It was soon observed that Karwin adopted in some degree a similar distinction. A tale of this kind related by others he would believe provided it was explicable upon known principles but that such notices were actually communicated by beings of a higher order he would believe only when his own ears were assailed in a manner which could not be otherwise accounted for. Civility forbade him to contradict my brother or myself but his understanding refused to acquiesce in our testimony. Besides, he was disposed to question whether the voices were not really uttered by human organs. On this supposition he was desired to explain how the effect was produced. He answered that the cry for help heard in the hall on the night of my adventure was to be ascribed to a human creature who actually stood in the hall when he uttered it. It was of no moment, he said, that we could not explain by what motives he that made the signal was led hither. How imperfectly acquainted were we with the condition and designs of the beings that surrounded us. The city was near at hand and thousands might there exist whose powers and purposes might easily explain whatever was mysterious in this transaction. As to the closet dialogue, he was obliged to adopt one of two suppositions and affirm either that it was fashioned in my own fancy or that it actually took place between two persons in the closet. Such was Karwin's mode of explaining these appearances. It is such perhaps as would commend itself as the most plausible to the most sagacious minds, but it was insufficient to impart conviction to us. As to the treason that was meditated against me, it was doubtless just to conclude that it was either real or imaginary, but that it was real was attested by the mysterious warning in the summer house, the secret of which I had hitherto locked up in my own breast. A month passed away in this kind of intercourse. As to Karwin, our ignorance was in no degree enlightened respecting his genuine character and views. Appearances were uniform. No man possessed a larger store of knowledge or a greater degree of skill in the communication of it to others. Hence, he was regarded as an inestimable addition to our society. Considering the distance of my brother's house from the city, he was frequently prevailed upon to pass the night where he spent the evening. Two days seldom elapsed without a visit from him, hence he was regarded as a kind of inmate of the house. He entered and departed without ceremony. When he arrived, he received an unaffected welcome, and when he chose to retire, no importunities were used to induce him to remain. Karwin never parted with his gravity. The inscrutableness of his character and the uncertainty whether his fellowship tended to good or to evil were seldom absent from our minds. This circumstance powerfully contributed to sadden us. My heart was the seat of growing disquietudes. This change in one who had formerly been characterized by all the exuberances of soul could not fail to be remarked by my friends. My brother was always a pattern of solemnity. My sister was clay, molded by the circumstances in which she happened to be placed. There was but one whose deportment remains to be described as being of importance to our happiness. Had Plial likewise dismissed his vivacity, he was as whimsical and justful as ever, but he was not happy. The truth in this respect was of too much importance to me, not to make me a vigilant observer. His mirth was easily perceived to be the fruit of exertion. When his thoughts wandered from the company, an air of dissatisfaction and impatience stole across his features. Even the punctuality and frequency of his visits were somewhat lessened. It may be supposed that my own uneasiness was heightened by these tokens, but strange as it may seem, I found in the present state of my mind no relief but in the persuasion that Plial was unhappy. That unhappiness indeed depended for its value in my eyes on the cause that produced it. There was but one source whence it could flow. A nameless ecstasy thrilled through my frame when any new proof occurred that the ambiguousness of my behavior was the cause. 4. My brother had received a new book from Germany. It was a tragedy in the first attempt of a Saxon poet of whom my brother had been taught to entertain the highest expectations. The exploits of Ziska, the Bohemian hero, were woven into a dramatic series in connection. According to German custom, it was minute and diffuse and dictated by an adventurous and lawless fancy. It was a chain of audacious acts and unheard of disasters. The moded fortress and the thicket, the ambush and the battle and the conflict of headlong passions were portrayed in wild numbers and with terrific energy. An afternoon was set apart to rehearse this performance. The language was familiar to all of us but Carwent, whose company therefore was tacitly dispensed with. The morning previous to this intended rehearsal I spent at home, my mind was occupied with reflections relative to my own situation. The sentiment which lived with chief energy in my heart was connected with the image of Plyle. In the midst of my anguish I had not been destitute of consolation. His late deportment had given spring to my hopes. It was not the hour at hand which should render me the happiest of human creatures. He suspected that I looked with favorable eyes upon Carwent. Hence arose disquietudes which he struggled in vain to conceal. He loved me, but was hopeless that his love would be compensated. Is it not time, said I, to rectify this error? But by what means is this to be affected? It can only be done by a change of deportment in me. But how must I demean myself for this purpose? I must not speak. Neither eyes nor lips must impart the information. I will not be assured that my heart is his previous to the tender of his own. But he must be convinced that it has not been given to another. He must be supplied with space whereon to build a doubt as to the true state of my affections. He must be prompted to avow himself, the line of delicate propriety, how hard it is not to fall short and not to overleap it. This afternoon we shall meet. We shall not separate till late. It will be his province to accompany me home. The airy expanse is without a speck. This breeze is usually steadfast, and its promise of a bland and cloudless evening may be trusted. The moon will rise at eleven, and at that hour we shall wind along this bank. Possibly that hour may decide my fate. If suitable encouragement be given, Plial will reveal his soul to me, and I ere I reach this threshold will be made the happiest of beings. And is this good to be mine? Add wings to thy speed, sweet evening, and thou moon I charge thee shroud thy beams at the moment when my Plial whispers love. I would not for the world that the burning blushes and the mounting raptures of that moment should be visible. But what encouragement is wanting? I must be regardful of insurmountable limits. Yet when minds are imbued with a genuine sympathy, are not words and looks superfluous, are not motion and touch sufficient to impart feelings such as mine? Has he not eyed me at moments when the pressure of his hand has thrown me into tumult, and was it impossible that he mistook the impetuosities of love for the eloquence of indignation? But the hastening evening will decide. Would it were come? And yet I shudder at its near approach. An interview that must thus terminate is surely to be wished for by me, and yet it is not without its terrors would to heaven it were come and gone. I feel no reluctance, my friends, to be thus explicit. Time was when these emotions would be hidden with immeasurable solicitude from every human eye. Alas, these airy and fleeting impulses of shame are gone. My scruples were preposterous and criminal. They are bred in all hearts by a perverse and vicious education, and they would still have maintained their place in my heart, had not my portion been set in misery. My errors have taught me thus much wisdom, that those sentiments which we ought not to disclose, it is criminal to harbor. It was proposed to begin the rehearsal at four o'clock. I counted the minutes as they passed. Their flight was at once too rapid and too slow. My sensations were of an excruciating kind. I could taste no food, nor apply to any task, nor enjoy a moment's repose. When the hour arrived I hastened to my brother's. Plial was not there. He had not yet come. On ordinary occasions he was eminent for punctuality. He had testified great eagerness to share in the pleasures of this rehearsal. He was to divide the task with my brother, and in tasks like these he always engaged with peculiar zeal. His elocution was less sweet than sonorous, and therefore better adapted than the malefluences of his friends to the outrageous vehemence of this drama. What could detain him? Perhaps he lingered through forgetfulness. Yet this was incredible. Never had his memory been known to fail upon even more trivial occasions. Not less impossible was it that the scheme had lost its attractions, and that he stayed because his coming would afford him no gratification. But why should we expect him to adhere to the minute? A half hour elapsed, but Plial was still at a distance. Perhaps he had misunderstood the hour which had been proposed. Perhaps he had conceived that tomorrow and not today had been selected for this purpose, but no. A review of preceding circumstances demonstrated that such mishaprehension was impossible, for he had himself proposed this day and this hour. This day his attention would not otherwise be occupied, but tomorrow an indispensable engagement was foreseen by which all his time would be engrossed. His detention therefore must be owing to some unforeseen an extraordinary event. Our conjectures were vague, tumultuous, and sometimes fearful. His sickness and his death might possibly have detained him. Tortured with suspense, we sat gazing at each other and at the path which led from the road. Every horseman that passed was, for a moment, imagined to be him. Our succeeded hour, and the sun gradually declining at length disappeared. Every signal of his coming proved fallacious, and our hopes were at length dismissed. His absence affected my friends in no insupportable degree. They should be obliged, they said, to defer this undertaking till the morrow, and perhaps their impatient curiosity would compel them to dispense entirely with his presence. No doubt some harmless occurrence had diverted him from his purpose, and they trusted that they should receive a satisfactory account of him in the morning. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jersey City Frankie Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 1 by Julian Hawthorne, Editor. Section 18, Wylons Madness, Part 3 by Charles Brockton Brown It may be supposed that this disappointment affected me in a very different manner. I turned aside my head to conceal my tears. I fled into solitude to give vent to my reproaches without interruption or restraint. My heart was ready to burst with indignation and grief. Plale was not the only object of my keen but unjust abriding. Deeply did I execrate my own folly. Thus falling into ruins was the gay fabric which I had reared. Thus had my golden vision melted into air. How fondly did I dream that Plale was a lover! If he were, would he have suffered any obstacle to hinder his coming? Blind and infatuated man, I exclaimed, to sport us with happiness. The good that is offered thee, thou hast the insolence and fondly refuse. Well, I will henceforth entrust my felicity to no one's keeping but my own. The first agonies of this disappointment would not allow me to be reasonable or just. Every ground on which I had built the persuasion that Plale was not unimpressed in my favor appeared to vanish. It seemed as if he had been misled into this opinion by the most palpable illusions. I made some trifling excuse and returned much earlier than I expected to my own house. I retired early to my chamber without designing to sleep. I placed myself at a window and gave the reins to reflection, the hateful and degrading impulses which said, lately controlled me, were in some degree removed, new dejection succeeded. But it was now produced by contemplating my late behavior. Surely that passion is worthy to be at horde, which obscures our understanding and urges us to commission of injustice. What right had I to expect his attentions? Had I not demeaned myself like one indifferent to his happiness and as having bestowed my regards upon another, his absence might be prompted by the love which I considered his absence as a proof that he wanted. He came not because of the sight of me, the spectacle of my coldness or aversion contributed to his despair. Why should I prolong my hypocrisy or silence, his misery as well as my own? Why not deal with him explicitly and assure him of the truth? You will hardly believe that in obedience to this suggestion I rose for the purpose of ordering a light that I might instantly make this confession in a letter. A second thought showed me the rashness of this scheme and I wondered by what infirmity of mind I could be betrayed into a momentary approbation of it. I saw with the utmost clearness that a confession like that would be the most remedy-less and unpardonable outrage upon the dignity of my sex, and utterly unworthy of that passion which controlled me. I resumed my seed and my musing to account for the absence of play-al, became once more the scope of my conjectures. How many incidents might occur to raise insuperable impediment in his way? When I was a child, a scheme of pleasure in which he and his sister were parties had been in like manner frustrated by his absence, but his absence in that instance had been occasioned by his falling from a boat into the river, in consequence of which he had run the most imminent hazard of being drowned. He was a second disappointment endured by the same persons and produced by his failure. Might it not originate in the same cause? Had he not designed to cross the river that morning to make some necessary purchases in New Jersey? He had pre-concerted to return to his own house to dinner. Perhaps some disaster had befallen him. Experience had taught me the insecurity of a canoe, and that was the only kind of boat which play-al used. I was likewise actuated by an hereditary dread of water. These circumstances combined to bestow considerable plausibility on this conjecture. But the consternation with which I had began to be seized was laid by reflecting that if this disaster had happened, my brother would have received the speediest information of it, the consolation which this idea imparted was ravished from me by a new thought. This disaster might have happened and his family not be appraised of it. The first intelligence of his fate may be communicated by the livid corpse which the tide may cast many days hence upon the shore. Thus I was distressed by opposite conjectures. Thus was I tormented by fandoms of my own creation. It was not always thus. I can ascertain the date when my mind became the victim of this imbecility. Perhaps it was co-evil with the in-road of a fatal passion, a passion that will never rank me in the number of its eulogies. It was alone sufficient to exterminate of my peace. It was itself a plenious source of calamity and needed not the concurrence of other evils to make way the attractions of existence. It did for me an untimely grave. The state of my mind naturally introduced a train of reflections upon the dangers and cares which never leave a set of human being. By no violent transition was I led to ponder on the turbulent life and mysterious end of my father. I cherished with the utmost veneration the memory of this man and every relic connected with his fate was preserved with the most scrupulous care. Among these was to be numbered a manuscript containing memoirs of his own life. The narrative was by no means recommended by its eloquence, but neither did all its value flow from my relationship to the author. Its style had an unaffected and picturesque simplicity. The great variety and circumstantial display of the incidents together with their intrinsic importance as descriptive of human manners and passions made it the most useful book in my collection. It was late, but being sensible of no inclination to sleep, I resolved to but take myself of the peruse of it. To do this, it was requisite to procure a light. The girl had long since retired to her chamber. It was therefore proper to wait upon myself. A lamp and a means of lighting it were only to be found in the kitchen. Thither I resolved forthwith to repair, but the light was of use merely to enable me to read the book. I knew the shelf and the spot where it stood. Whether I took down the book or prepared the lamp in the first place, it paired to be a matter of no moment. The latter was preferred, and leaving my seat, I approached the closet in which, as I mentioned formerly, my books and papers were deposited. Suddenly the remembrance of what had lately passed in this closet occurred. Whether midnight was approaching or had passed, I knew not, I was, as then alone and defenseless. The wind was in that direction in which aided by the death-like repose of nature. It brought to me the murmuring of the waterfall. This was mingled with the solemn and enchanting sound which a breeze produces among the leaves of pines. The words of that mysterious dialogue, their fearful import and the wild excess to which I was transported by my terrors, filled my imagination anew. My steps faltered, and I stood a moment to recover myself. I prevailed on myself at length to move towards the closet. I touched the lock, but my fingers were powerless. I was visited afresh by unconquerable apprehensions, a sort of belief darted into my mind that some being was concealed within whose purposes were evil. I began to contend with those fears when it occurred to me that I might, without impropriety, go for a lamp, previously to open in the closet. I receded a few steps, but before I reached the chamber-door my thoughts took a new direction. Motions seemed to produce a mechanical influence upon me. I was ashamed of my weakness. Besides, what aid could be afforded me by a lamp? My fears had pictured to themselves no precise object. It would be difficult to depict in words the ingredients and hues of that fandom which haunted me. A hand invisible, and a patronatural strength lifted by human passions and selecting my life for its aim were parts of this terrific image. All places were alike accessible to this foe, or if his empire were restricted by local bounds, those bounds were utterly inscrutable by me. But had I not been told by someone in league with this enemy that every place but the recesses in the bank was exempt from danger? I returned to the closet, and once more put my hand upon the lock. Oh, may my ears lose their sensibility, ere they be again assailed by a shriek so terrible. Not merely my understanding was subdued by the sound, it acted on my nerves like an edge of steel. It appeared to cut a sound of the fibers of my brain and rack every joint with agony. The cry, loud and piercing as it was, was nevertheless human. No articulation was ever more distinct. The breath which accompanied it did not fan my hair, yet did every circumstance combine to persuade me that the lips which uttered it touched my very shoulder. Hold, hold, with the words of this tremendous prohibitation in whose tone the whole soul seemed to be wrapped up and every energy converted into eagerness and terror. Shuddering, I dashed myself against the wall, and by the same involuntary impulse turned my face backwards to examine the mysterious monitor. The moonlight streamed into each window, every corner of the room was conspicuous, and yet I beheld nothing. The interval was too brief to be artificially measured between the utterance of these words and my scrutiny directed to the quarter once they came. Yet if a human being had been there, could he fail to have been visible? Which of my senses was the prey of a fatal illusion? The shock which the sound produced was still felt in every part of my frame. The sound, therefore, could not but be a genuine commotion, but that I had heard it was not more true than that the being who uttered it was stationed at my right ear, yet my attendant was invisible. I cannot describe the state of my thoughts at that moment. Surprise had mastered my faculties. My frame shook and the vital current was congealed. I was conscious only of the vehemence of my sensations. This condition could not but be lasting. Like a tide which suddenly mounts to an overwhelming height and gradually subsides, my confusion slowly gave place to order and my tumults to a calm. I was able to deliberate and move. I resumed my feet and advanced into the midst of the room. Upward and beyond and on each side I threw penetrating glances. I was not satisfied with one examination. He that hitherto refused to be seen might change his purpose and on the next survey be clearly distinguishable. Solitude imposes least restraint upon the fancy. Dark is less fertile of images than the feeble luster of the moon. I was alone and the walls were checkered by shadowy forms. As the moon passed behind a cloud and emerged, these shadows seemed to be endowed with life and to move. The apartment was open to the breeze and the curtain was occasionally blown from its ordinary position. This motion was not unaccompanied with sound. I failed not to snatch a look and to listen when this motion and this sound occurred. My belief that my monitor was posted near was strong and instantly converted these appearances to tokens of his presence and yet I could discern nothing. When my thoughts were at length permitted to revert to the past, the first idea that occurred was a resemblance between the words of the voice which I had just heard and those which had terminated my dream in the summer house. There are means by which we are able to distinguish a substance from a shadow. A reality from a phantom of a dream. The pit, my brother beckoning me forward, the seizure of my arm and the voice behind were surely imaginary. That these incidents were fashioned in my sleep is supported by the same indoubable evidence that compels me to believe myself awake at present. Yet the words and the voice were the same. Then by some inexplicable contrivance I was aware of the danger while my actions and sensations were those of one wholly unacquainted with it. Now, was it not equally true that my actions and persuasions were at war? Had not the belief that evil lurked in a closet gained admittance and had not my actions betokened an unwarranted security? To obviate the effects of my infatuation the same means had been used. In my dream, he that tempted me to my destruction was my brother. Death was ambushed in my path. From what evil was I now rescued? What minister or implement of ill was shut up in this recess? Who was it whose suffocating grasp I was to feel should I dare to enter? What monstrous conception is this? My brother? No. Protection and not injury is his province. Strange and terrible Shamira. Yet it would not be suddenly dismissed. It was surely no vulgar agency that gave this form to my fears. He to whom all parts of time are equally present who no contingency approaches was the author of that spell which now seized upon me. Life was dear to me. No consideration was present that enjoined me to relinquish it. Sacred duty combined with every spontaneous sentiment to endear to me my being. Should I not shudder when my being was endangered? But what emotion should possess me when the arm lifted against me was violence? Ideas exist in our mind can be accounted for by no established laws. Why did I dream that my brother was my foe? Why but because an omen of my fate was ordained to be communicated? Yet what salutary end did it serve? Did it arm me with caution to elude or fortitude to bear the evils to which I was reserved? My present thoughts were no doubt indebted for their hue to the similitude existing between these incidents and those of my dream. Surely it was frenzy that dictated my need. That a ruffian was hidden in the closet was an idea that the genuine tendency of which was to urge me to flight. Such had been the effect formerly produced. Had my mind been simply occupied with this thought at present, the same impulse would have been experienced. But now it was my brother whom I was irresistibly persuaded to regard as the contriver of that ill of which I had been forewarned. This persuasion did not extenuate my fears or my danger. Why then did I again approach the closet and withdraw the bolt? My resolution was instantly conceived and executed without faltering. The door was formed of light materials, the lock of simple structure, easily forewent its hold. It opened into the room and commonly moved upon its hinges after being unfastened without any effort of mind. This effort, however, was bestowed upon the present occasion. It was my purpose to open it with the quickness, but the exertion which I made was ineffectual. It refused to open. At another time this circumstance would not have looked with a face of mystery. I should have supposed some casual obstruction and repeated my efforts to surmount it. But now my mind was accessible to no conjecture but one. I was reminded from opening by human force. Surely here was a new cause for a fright. This was confirmation proper to decide my conduct. Now was all ground of hesitation taken away. What could be supposed but that I deserted the chamber of the house. That I at least endeavored no longer to withdraw the door. Have I not said that my actions were directed by frenzy? My reason had foreborn for a time to suggest or to sway my resolve. I reiterated my endeavors. I exerted all my force to overcome the obstacle but in vain. The strength that was exerted to keep it shut was superior to mine. A casual observer might perhaps applaud the audaciousness of this conduct once, but from a habitual defiance of danger could by perseverance arise. I have already assigned as distinctly as I am able the cause of it. The frantic conception that my brother was within, that the resistance made to my design was exerted by him, had rooted itself in my mind. You will comprehend the height of this infatuation when I tell you that, finding all my exertions vain, I but took myself to exclamation. Surely I was utterly bereft of understanding. Now I had arrived at the crisis of my fate. Oh, hindered not the door to open, I exclaimed in a tone that has less of fear than the grief in it. I know you well, come forth. But, Hammy, not me, I beseech you, come forth. I had taken my hand from the lock and removed to a small distance from the door. I had scarcely uttered these words when the door swung upon its hinges and displayed to my view the interior of the closet. Whoever was within was shrouded in darkness. A few seconds passed without interruption of the silence. I knew not what to expect or to fear. My eyes would not stray from the recess. Presently a deep sigh was heard. The quarter from which it came heightened the eagerness of my gaze. Someone approached from the farther end. I quickly perceived the outlines of a human figure. Its steps were irresolute and slow. I recoiled as it advanced. But coming at length within the verge of the room this form was clearly distinguishable. I had prefigured to myself a very different personage. The face that presented itself was the last that I should desire to meet at an hour and in a place like this. My wonder was stifled by my fears. Assassins had lurked in this recess. Some divine voice warned me of a danger that at this moment awaited me. I had spurned the intimation and challenged at my adversary. I recalled the mysterious continents and dubious character of Karwin. What motive but atrocious ones could guide his steps hither. I was alone. And the place. And the warmth of the season. All suker was remote. He had placed himself between me and the door. My frame shook with the vehemence of my apprehensions. I was not wholly lost to myself. I had visionally marked his demeanor. His looks were grave, but not without perturbation. What species of iniquitude had betrayed the light was not strong enough to enable me to discover. He stood still, but his eyes wandered away. When those powerful organs were fixed upon me, I shrunk into myself. At length he broke the silence. earnestness and not embarrassment was in his tone. He advanced close to me while he spoke. What voice was that which lately addressed you? He paused for an answer, but observing my preprediction he resumed with undiminished solemnity. Be not terrified. Whoever he was, that sound was beyond the compass of human organs. The knowledge that enabled him to tell you who was in the closet was obtained by incomprehensible means. You knew that Karin was there. Were you not appraised of his intense, the same power could impart the one as well as the other, yet knowing these you persisted audacious girl. But perhaps you confided in his guardianship your confidence was just with suker like this at hand to safely defy me. He is my eternal foe, the baffler of my best concerted schemes. Twice have you been saved by his accursed interposition, but from him I should no longer ear now have borne away the spoils of your honour. He looked at me with greater steadfastness than before. I became every moment more anxious for my safety. It was with difficulty I stammered out in entreaty that he would instantly depart, or suffer me to do so. I paid no regard to my request, but proceeded in a more impassioned manner. What is it you fear? Have I not told you, you are safe? Has not one in whom you more recently placed trust assured you of it? Even if I execute my purpose, what injury is done? Your prejudice will call it by that name, but it merits it not. I was impelled by a sentiment that does you honour, a sentiment that would sanctify my deed. Whoever it be, you are safe. Be this Shamira still worshiped, I will do nothing to pollute it. There he stopped. The accents and gestures of this man left me drained of all courage. Surely, on no other occasion should I have been thus pusillanimous. My state I regarded as a hopeless one. I was wholly at the mercy of this being. Whichever way I turned, I saw no avenue by which I might escape. The resources of my personal strength, my ingenuity, and my eloquence I estimated at nothing. The dignity of virtue and the force of truth I had been accustomed to celebrate and had frequently wanted of the conquests which I should make with their assistance, I used to suppose that certain evils could never befall a being in possession of a sound mind. That true virtue supplies us with energy which vice can never resist. That it was always in our power to obstruct by his own death the designs of an enemy who aimed at less than our life. How was it that a sentiment like despair had now invaded me and that I trusted to the protection of chance or to the pity of my persecutor? His words imparted some notion of my injury which he had meditated. He talked of obstacles that he had risen in his way. He had relinquished his design. These sources supplied me with slender consolation. There was no security but in his absence. When I looked at myself when I reflected on the hour and the place I was overpowered by horror and ejection. He was silent, useful and inattentive to my situation yet made no motion to depart. I was silent in my turn. What could I say? I was confident that reason in this contest would be important. I must owe my safety to his own suggestions. Whatever purpose brought him hither he had changed it. Why then did he remain? What might fluctuate? The pause of a few minutes restored him his first resolutions yet was not this man who we had treated with unwearyed kindness? Whose society was endeared to us by his intellectual elevation and accomplishments? Who had a thousand times expatiated on the usefulness and beauty of virtue? Why should such a one be dreaded? If I could have forgotten the circumstances in which our interview had taken place I might have treated his words as jests. Presently he resumed. Fear not. The space that serves us is small and all visible suker is distant. You believe yourself completely in my power that you stand upon the brink of ruin such are your groundless fears. I cannot lift a finger to hurt you. Easier would it be to stop the moon in her course than to injure you. The power that protects you would crumble my sinews and reduce me to a heap of ashes in a moment. If I were to harbor a thought of hostility to your safety. Thus appearances at length solved little did I expect that they originated hence. What a portion is assigned to you. Scan by the eyes of this intelligence your path will be without pits to swallow or snares to entangle you. Envired by the arms of this protection all artifices will be frustrated and all malice repelled. Here succeeded a new pause. I was still observant of every gesture and look, the tranquil solemnity that had lately possessed his continent gave way to a new expression. All now was trepidation and anxiety. I must be gone," he said in a faltering accent. Why do I linger here? I will not ask your forgiveness. I see that your terrors are invincible. Your pardon will be extorted by fear and not dictated by compassion. I must fly from you forever. He that could plot against your honor and must expect from you and your friends' persecution and death. I must doom myself to endless exile. Saying this, he hastily left the room. I listened while he descended the stairs and unbolting the outer door went forth. I did not follow him with my eyes as the moonlight would have enabled me to do. Relieved by his absence and exhausted by the conflict of my fears I threw myself on a chair and resigned myself to those bewildering ideas which incidents like those could not fail to produce. Order could not readily be introduced into my thoughts. The voice still rung in my ears. Every accent that was uttered by Carr when it was fresh in my remembrance. His unwelcome reproach, the recognition of his person and his hasty departure produced a complex impression on my mind which no words can delineate. I strove to give a slower motion in my thoughts and to regulate a confusion which became painful. But my efforts were nougatory. I covered my eyes with my hand and sat. I know not how long, without power to arrange or utter my conceptions. I had remained for hours and believed in absolute solitude. No thought of personal danger had molested my tranquility. I made no preparation for defense. What was it that suggested the design of perusing my father's manuscript if instead of this I had retired to bed and to sleep? To what fate might I not have been reserved? The ruffian, who must almost have suppressed his breathing to screen himself from discovery would have noticed the signal and I should have awakened only to perish to abhor myself. Could I have remained unconscious of my danger? Could I have tranquilly slept in the midst of so deadly a snare? And who was he that threatened to destroy me? By what means could he hide himself in his closet? Surely he is gifted with supernatural power such as the enemy of whose attempts I was forewarned. Daily I had seen him and conversed with him. Nothing could be discerned through the impenetrable veil of his duplicity and busied in conjectures as to the author of the evil that was threatened. My mind did not light for a moment upon his image. Yet was he not avowed himself my enemy? Why should he be here if he had not meditated evil? He confesses that this has been his second attempt. What was the scene of his former conspiracy? Was it not he whose whispers betrayed him? Am I deceived? Or was there not a faint resemblance between the voice of this man and that which talked of grasping my throat and extinguishing my life in a moment? Then he had a colleague in his crime. Now he is alone. Then death was the scope of his thoughts. Now an injury unspeakably more dreadful. How thankful should I be to the power that has interposed to save me? That power is invisible. It is subject to the cognizance of one of my senses. What are the means that will inform me of what nature it is? He set himself to counterwork the machinations of this man who had menaced destruction to all that is dear to me and whose coming had surmounted every human embediment. There was none to rescue me from his grasp. My rashness even hastened the completion of his scheme and precluded him from benefits of deliberation. I had robbed him of the power to repent and forbear. Had I been appraised of the danger I should have regarded my conduct as the means of rendering my escape from it such likewise seems to have been the fears of my invisible protector else why that startling entry to refrain from opening the closet. By what inexplicable infatuations was I compelled to proceed? Surely, said I, there is omnipotence and the cause that changed the views of a man like Carwin. The divinity that shielded me from his attempts will take suitable care of my future safety. Thus, to yield to my fears is to deserve what they should be real. Scarcely had I uttered these words when my attention was startled by the sound of footsteps. They denoted someone stepping into the Piazza in front of my house. My newborn confidence was extinguished in a moment. Carwin, I thought, had repented his departure and was hastily returning. The possibility that his return was prompted by intentions consistent with my safety found no place in my mind. Images of violation and murder assailed me anew and the terrors which succeeded almost incapacitated me from taking any measure for my defense. It was an impulse of which I was scarcely conscious that made me fasten the lock and draw the bolts of my chamber door. Having done this I threw myself on a seat for I trembled to a degree which disabled me from standing, and my soul was so perfectly absorbed in the act of listening that almost the vital motions were stopped. The door below creaked on its hinges. It was not again thrust too, but appeared to remain open. Footsteps entered, traversed the entry and began to mount the stairs, how I detested the folly of not pursuing the man when he withdrew and bolting after him the outer door. Might he not conceive this omission to be a proof that my angel had deserted me and be thereby fortified in guilt? Every step on the stairs which brought him nearer to my chamber added vigor to my desperation. The evil with which I was menaced was to be at any rate eluded. How little did I preconceive the conduct which in an exigence like this I should be prone to adopt. You will suppose that deliberation and despair would have suggested the same course of action and that I should have unhesitatingly restored to the best means of personal defense within my power. A pen knife lay open upon my table I remembered that it was there and I seized it for what purpose you will scarcely inquire. It will be immediately supposed that I meant it huge and that, if all other means should fail, I should plunge it into the heart of my ravisher. I have lost all faith in the steadfastness of human resolves. It was thus that in periods of calm I had determined to act. No cowardice had been held by me in greater abhorrence than that which prompted an injured female to destroy not her injurer ere the injury was perpetrated but herself when it was without remedy. Yet now this pen knife appeared to me of no other use than to baffle my assailant and to prevent the crime by destroying myself. To deliberate at such a time was impossible, but among the tumultuous suggestions at the moment I do not recollect that it once occurred to me to use it as an instrument of direct defense. The steps had now reached the second floor. Every footfall accelerated the completion without augmentating the certainty of evil. The consciousness that the door was fast now that nothing but that was intersposed between me and danger was the source of some consolation. I cast my eye toward the window, this likewise, was a new suggestion. If the door should give way it was my sudden resolution to throw myself from the window. Its height from the ground which is carved beneath by a brick pavement would ensure my destruction. But I thought not of that. When opposite to my door the footsteps ceased. Was he listening? Whether my fears were allayed in my caution or sleep did he hope to take me by surprise yet? If so why did he allow so many noisiest signals to portray his approach? Presently the steps were again heard to approach the door. A hand was laid upon the lock and the latch pulled back. Did he imagine it possible that I should fail to secure the door? A slight effort was made to push it open as if all boats being withdrawn a slight effort only was required. I no sooner perceived this man than I moved swiftly toward the window. Carbon's frame might be said to be all muscle his strength and activity had appeared in various instances to be prodigious. A slight exertion of his force would demolish the door would not that exertion be made too surely it would but at the same moment that this obstacle then he should enter the apartment my determination was formed to leap from the window. My senses were still bound to this object. I gazed at the door in momentary expectation that the assault would be made. The pause continued. The person without was a resolute and motionless. Suddenly it occurred to me that Carbon might conceive me to have fled that I had not be taken myself to flight was indeed the least probable of all conclusions. In this persuasion he must have been confirmed on finding the lower door unfastened, and the chamber door locked. Was it no wiser to foster this persuasion? Should I maintain deep silence this in addition to other circumstances might encourage the belief and he would once more depart every new reflection at a plausibility to this reasoning. It was presently more strongly enforced when I noticed footsteps withdrawing from the door. The blood once more flowed back into my heart and a dawn of exultation began to rise. But my joy was short-lived. Instead of descending the stairs he passed the door of the opposite chamber, opened it, and having entered shut it after him with a violence that shook the house. End of Section 18, recorded by Jersey City Frankie Section 19 of Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Bill Cisna Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 1 by Julian Hawthorne Editor Section 19, Wheelan's Madness by Charles Brockton Brown. How was I to interpret this circumstance? For what end could he have entered this chamber? Did the violence with which he closed the door testify the depth of his vexation? This room was usually occupied by Plial. Was Carwin aware of his absence on this night? Could he be suspected of a design so sordid as pillage? If this were his view there were no means in my power to frustrate it. It behoove me to seize the first opportunity to escape. But if my escape were imposed by my enemy to have been already affected no asylum was more secure than the present. How could my passage from the house be accomplished without noises that might incite him to pursue me? Utterly at a loss to account for his going into Plial's chamber I waited in instant expectation of hearing him come forth. All, however, was profoundly still. I listened in vain for a considerable period to catch the sound of the door when it should again be opened. There was no other avenue by which he could escape but a door which led into the girl's chamber. Would any evil from this quarter befall the girl? Hence arose a new train of apprehensions. They merely added to the turbulence and agony of my reflections. Whatever evil impended over her I had no power to avert it. Seclusion and silence were the only means of saving myself from the perils of this fatal night. What solemn vows did I put up that if I should once more behold the light of day I would never trust myself again within the threshold of this dwelling minute lingered after minute but no token was given that Karwen had returned to the passage. What, I again asked, could detain him in this room? Was it possible that he had returned and glided unperceived away? I was speedily aware of the difficulty that attended an enterprise like this and yet as if by that means I were capable of gaining any information on that head I cast anxious looks from the window. The object that first attracted my attention was a human figure standing on the edge of the bank. Perhaps my penetration was assisted by my hopes. Be that as it will, the figure of Karwen was clearly distinguishable. From the obscurity of my station it was impossible that I should be discerned by him and yet he scarcely suffered me to catch a glimpse of him. He turned and went down the steep which in this part was not difficult to be scaled. My conjecture then had been right. Karwen has softly opened the door, descended the stairs and issued forth that I should not have overheard his steps was only less incredible than that my eyes had deceived me. But what was now to be done? The house was at length delivered from this detested inmate. By one avenue might he again re-enter. Was it not wise to bar the lower door? Perhaps he had gone out by the kitchen door. For this end he must have passed through Judith's chamber. These entrances being closed and bolted as great security was gained as was compatible with my lonely condition. The propriety of these measures was too manifest not to make me struggle successfully with my fear. Yet I opened my own door with the utmost caution and descended as if I were afraid that Karwen had been still imured in Playa's chamber. The outer door was a jar. I shut it with trembling eagerness and drew every bolt that appended to it. I then passed with light and less cautious steps through the parlor, but was surprised to discover that the kitchen door was secure. I was compelled to acquiesce in the first conjecture that Karwen had escaped through the entry. My heart was now somewhat eased of the load of apprehension. I returned once more to my chamber the door of which I was careful to lock. It was no time to think of repose. The moonlight began already to fade before the light of the day. The approach of mourning was betokened by the usual signals. I mused upon the events of this night and determined to take up my abode henceforth at my brothers. Whether I should inform him of what had happened was a question which seemed to demand some consideration. My safety unquestionably required that I should abandon my present habitation. As my thoughts began to flow with fewer impediments, the image of Plyl and the dubiousness of his condition again recurred to me. I again ran over the possible causes of his absence on the preceding day. My mind was attuned to melancholy. I dwelt with an obstinacy for which I could not account on the idea of his death. I painted to myself his struggles with the billows and his last appearance. I imagined myself a midnight wanderer on the shore and to have stumbled on his corpse which the tide had cast up. These dreary images affected me even to tears. I endeavored not to restrain them. They imparted a relief which I had not anticipated. The more copiously they flowed, the more did my general sensations appear to subside into calm, and a certain restlessness gave way to repose. Perhaps relieved by this effusion the slumber so much wanted might have stolen on my senses had there been no new cause for alarm. Six. I was aroused from this stupor by sounds that evidently arose in the next chamber. Was it possible that I had been mistaken in the figure I had seen on the bank or had car-win by some inscrutable means penetrated once more into this chamber? The opposite door opened. Footsteps came forth and the person advancing to mine knocked. So unexpected an incident robbed me of all presence of mind, and starting up I involuntarily exclaimed who is there? An answer was immediately given the voice to my inexpressible astonishment was Plyle's. It is I. Have you risen? If you have not make haste I want three minutes conversation with you in the parlor. I will wait for you there saying this he retired from the door. Should I confide in the testimony of my ears? If that were true it was Plyle that had been hitherto emured in the opposite chamber he whom my rueful fancy had depicted in so many ruinous and ghastly shapes. He whose footsteps had been listened to with such inquiitude. What is man that knowledge is so sparingly conferred upon him, that his heart should be rung with distress and his frame be exanimated with fear, though his safety be encompassed with impregnable walls? What are the bounds of human imbecility? He that warned me of the presence of my foe, refused the intimation by which so many wracking fears would have been precluded. Yet who would have imagined the arrival of Plyle at such an hour? His tone was desponding and anxious. Why this unseasonable summons and why this hasty departure? Some tidings he perhaps bears of mysterious and unwelcome import. My impatience would not allow me to consume much time and deliberation. I hastened down. Plyle I found standing at a window with eyes cast down as in meditation and arms folded on his breast. Every line in his countenance was pregnant with sorrow. To this was added a certain oneness and air of fatigue. The last time I had seen him appearances had been the reverse of these. I was startled at the change. The first impulse was to question him as to the cause. This impulse was supplanted by some degree of confusion, flowing from a consciousness that love had too large and as it might prove, a perceptible share in creating this impulse. I was silent. Presently he raised his eyes and fixed them upon me. I read in them an anguish altogether ineffable. Never had I witnessed a like demeanor in Plyle. Never indeed had I observed a human countenance in which grief was more legibly inscribed. He seemed struggling for utterance. But his struggles being fruitless, he shook his head and turned away from me. My impatience would not allow me to be longer silent. What, said I, for heaven's sake, my friend, what is the matter? He started at the sound of my voice. His looks for a moment became involved with an emotion very different from grief. His accents were broken with rage. The matter! O wretch! Thus exquisitely fashioned, on whom nature seemed to have exhausted all her graces, with terms so awful and so pure. How art thou fallen? From what height fallen? A ruin so complete, so unheard of? His words were again choked by emotion. Grief and pity were again mingled in his features. He resumed, in a tone half suffocated by sobs. But why should I abrade thee? Could I restore to thee what thou hast lost? If face this cursed stain snatch thee from the jaws of this fiend? I would do it. Yet what will avail my efforts? I have not arms with which to contend with so consummate, so frightful a depravity. Evidence less than this would have only excited resentment and scorn. The wretch who should have breathed a suspicion injurious to thy honour would have been regarded without anger. Not hatred or envy could have prompted him. It would merely be an argument of madness, that my eyes, that my ears should bear witness to thy fall by no other way could a testable conviction be imparted. Why do I summon thee to this conference? Why expose myself to thy derision? Here admonition and entreaty are vain. Thou knowest him already for a murderer and thief. I thought to have been the first to disclose to thee his infamy, to have warned thee of the pit to which thou art hastening, but thy eyes are open in vain. O foul and insupportable disgrace! There is but one path. I know you will disappear together. In thy ruin, how will the felicity and honour of multitudes be involved? But it must come. This scene shall not be blotted by his presence. No doubt thou wilt shortly see thy detested more. This scene will be again polluted by a midnight asignation. Inform him of his dangers. Tell him that his crimes are known. Let him fly far and instantly from this spot, if he desires to avoid the fate which menaced him in Ireland. And will thou not stay behind? But shame upon my weakness. I know not what I would say. I have done what I proposed. To stay longer, to expostulate, to beseech, to enumerate the consequences of thy act. What end can it serve but to blazen thy infamy and embitter our woes? And yet, oh, think, think, ere it be too late on the distresses which thy flight will entail upon us, on the base groveling and atrocious character of the rich to whom thou hast sold thy honour. But what is this? Is not thy effrontery impenetrable, and thy heart thoroughly cankered? Oh, most specious and most profligate of women. Saying this, he rushed out of the house. I saw him in a few moments hurrying along the path which led to my brothers. I had no power to prevent his going or to recall or to follow him. The accents I had heard were calculated to confound and bewilder. I looked around me to assure myself that the scene was real. I moved that I might banish the thought that I was awake. Such enormous imputations from the mouth of Plile, to be stigmatized with the names of Wanton and Prophlegate, to be charged with the sacrifice of honour, with midnight meetings, with our wretch known to be a murderer and thief, with an intention to fly in his company. What I had heard was surely the dictate of frenzy or it was built upon some fatal, some incomprehensible mistake. After the horrors of the night, after undergoing perils so imminent from this man, to be summoned to an interview like this, to find Plile fraught with the belief that, instead of having chosen death as a refuge from the violence of this man, I had hugged his baseness to my heart, had sacrificed for him my purity, my spotless name, my friendships and my fortune, that even madness could engender accusations like these was not to be believed. What evidence could possibly suggest conception so wild? After the unlooked for interview with Karwen in my chamber, he retired. Could Plile have observed his exit? It was not long after that, Plile himself entered. Did he build on this incident his odious conclusions? Could the long series of my actions and sentiments grant me no exemption from suspicion so foul? Was it not more rational to infer that Karwen's designs had been illicit, that my life had been endangered by the fury of one whom by some means he had discovered to be an assassin and robber, that my honor had been assailed, not by blandishments, but by violence? He has judged me without hearing. He has drawn from dubious appearances. He has drawn from dubious appearances conclusions the most improbable and unjust. He has loaded me with all outrageous epithets. He has ranked me with prostitutes and thieves. I cannot pardon the Plile for this injustice. By understanding must be hurt. If it be not, if thy conduct was sober and deliberate, I can never forgive an outrage so unmanly and so gross. These thoughts gradually gave place to others. Plile was possessed by some momentary frenzy. Appearances had led him into palpable errors. Whence could his sagacity have contracted this blindness? Was it not love? Previously assured of my affection for Karwen, distracted with grief and jealousy and impelled hither at that late hour by some unknown instigation, his imagination transformed shadows into monsters and plunged him into these deplorable errors. This idea was not unattended with consolation. My soul was divided between indignation at his injustice and the source from which I conceived it to spring. For a long moment they would allow admission to no other thoughts. Surprise is an emotion that enfeebles, not invigorates. All my meditations were accompanied with wonder. I rambled with vagueness or clung to one image with an obstinacy which sufficiently testified the maddening influence gradually I proceeded to reflect upon the consequences of Plile's mistake and on the measures I should take to guard myself against future injury from Karwen. Should I suffer this mistake to be detected by time? When his passion should subside would he not perceive the vacancy of his injustice and hasten to atone for it? Did it not become my character to testify resentment for language and treatment so glorious? Wrapped up in the consciousness of innocence and confiding in the influence of time and reflection to confute so groundless a charge it was my province to be passive and silent. As to the violences meditated by Karwen and the means of eluding them the path to be taken by me was obvious. I resolved to tell the tale to my brother and regulate myself by his advice. For this end when the morning was somewhat advanced I took the way to his house my sister was engaged in her customary occupations as soon as I appeared she remarked a change in my looks I was not willing to alarm her by the information which I had to communicate her health was in that condition which rendered a disastrous tale particularly unsuitable I forbore a direct answer to her inquiries and inquired in my turn for Wieland. Why, she said I suspect something mysterious and unpleasant has happened this morning scarcely had we risen when Plial dropped among us what could have prompted him to make us so early and so unseasonable a visit I cannot tell to judge from the disorder of his dress and his countenance something of an extraordinary nature has occurred he permitted me merely to know that he had slept none nor even undressed during the past night he took your brother to walk with him some topic must have deeply engaged them for Wieland did not return till the breakfast hour was passed and returned alone his disturbance was excessive but he would not listen to my importunities or tell me what had happened gathered from hints which he let fall that your situation was in some way the cause yet he assured me that you were at your own house alive in good health and in perfect safety he scarcely ate a morsel and immediately after breakfast went out again he would not inform me wither he was going but mentioned that he probably might not return before night I was equally astonished and alarmed by this information Plial had told his tale to my brother and had by a plausible and exaggerated picture instilled into him unfavorable thoughts of me yet would not the more correct judgment of Wieland perceive and expose the fallacy of his conclusions perhaps his uneasiness might arise from some insight into the character of carwin and from apprehensions for my safety the appearances by which Plial had been misled might induce him likewise to believe that I entertained an indiscreet though not dishonorable affection for carwin such were the conjectures rapidly formed I was inexpressibly anxious to change them into certainty for this end an interview with my brother was desirable he was gone no one knew wither and was not expected speedily to return I had no clue by which to trace his footsteps my anxieties could not be concealed from my sister they heightened her solicitude to be acquainted with the cause there were many reasons persuading me to silence at least till I had seen my brother it would be an act of inexcusable temerity to unfold what had lately passed no other expedient for eluding her importunities occurred to me but that of returning to my own house I recollected my determination to become a tenant of this roof I mentioned it to her she joyfully exceeded to this proposal and suffered me with less reluctance to depart when I told her that it was with a view to collect and send to my new dwelling what articles would be immediately useful to me once more I returned to the house which had been the sense of so much turbulence and danger I was at no great distance from it when I observed my brother coming out on seeing me he stopped and after ascertaining as it seemed which way I was going he returned into the house before me I sincerely rejoiced at this event and I hastened to set things if possible on their right footing his brow was by no means expressive of those vehement emotions with which I had been agitated I drew a favorable omen from this circumstance without delay I began the conversation I have been to look for you said I but was told by Catherine that Plial had engaged you on some important and disagreeable affair before his interview with you he spent a few minutes with me these minutes he employed in upgrading me for crimes and intentions with which I am by no means I believe him to have taken up his opinions on very insufficient grounds his behavior was in the highest degree precipitate and unjust and until I receive some atonement I shall treat him in my turn with that contempt which he justly merits meanwhile I am fearful that he has prejudiced my brother against me that is an evil which I most anxiously deprecate in which I shall not exert myself to remove has he made me the subject of this morning's conversation my brother's countenance testified no surprise at my address the benignity of his looks was no wise diminished it is true said he your conduct was the subject of our discourse I am your friend as well as your brother there is no human being whom I love with more tenderness there is nearer my heart judge then with what emotions I listen to Pyle's story I expect and desire you to vindicate yourself from aspersions so foul if vindication be possible the tone with which he uttered the last words affected me deeply if vindication be possible repeated I from what you know do you deem a formal vindication necessary can you harbor for a moment the belief of my guilt he shook his head with an air of acute anguish I have struggled said he to dismiss that belief you speak before a judge who will profit by any pretense to acquit you who is ready to question his own senses when they plead against you these words incited a new set of thoughts in my mind I began to suspect that Pyle had built his accusations on some foundation unknown to me I may be a stranger to the grounds of your belief Pyle loaded me with indecent and virulent invectives but he withheld from me the facts that generated his suspicions events took place last night of which some of the circumstances were of an ambiguous nature I concede that these might possibly have fallen under his cognizance and that viewed through the mists of prejudice and passion they supplied a pretense for his conduct but believed that your more unbiased judgment would estimate them at their just value perhaps his tale has been different from what I suspect it to be listen then to my narrative if there be anything in his story inconsistent with mine his story is false I then proceeded to a circumstantial relation with the evidence of the last night we then listened with deep attention having finished this, continued I is the truth you see in what circumstances an interview took place between Karwen and me he remained for hours in my closet and for some minutes in my chamber he departed without haste or interruption if Pyle marked him as he left the house and it is possible that he did inferences injurious to my character might suggest themselves to him in admitting them he gave proofs of less discernment and less candor than I once ascribed to him his proofs said violent after a considerable pause are different that he should be deceived is not possible that he himself is not the deceiver could not be believed if his testimony were not inconsistent with yours but the doubts which I entertained are now removed your tale some parts of it is marvelous the voice which exclaimed against your rashness in approaching the closet your persisting notwithstanding that prohibition your belief that I was the ruffian and your subsequent conduct are believed by me because I have known you from childhood because a thousand instances have attested your veracity because nothing less than my own hearing and vision would convince me in opposition to her own assertions that my sister had fallen into wickedness like this I threw my arms around him and bathed his cheek with my tears that said I is spoken like my brother but what are the proofs he replied Pyle informed me that in going to your house there were no voices the person speaking sat beneath the bank out of sight these persons judging by their voices were Carwin and you I will not repeat the dialogue if my sister was the female Pyle was justified in concluding you to be indeed one of the most profligative women hence his accusations of you and his efforts to obtain my concurrence to a plan by which an eternal separation would be brought about between my sister and this man I made Wieland repeat this recital here indeed was a tale to fill me with terrible foreboding I had vainly thought that my safety could be sufficiently secured by doors and bars but this is a foe from whose grasp no power of divinity can save me his artifices will ever lay my fame and happiness at his mercy how shall I counter work his plots or detect his co-agitor he has taught some vile and abandoned female to mimic my voice Pyle's ears were the witnesses of my dishonor this is the midnight asignation to which he alluded thus is the silence he maintained when attempting to open the door of my chamber accounted for he supposed me absent and meant perhaps had my apartment been accessible yet some accusing memorial second part one as this part opens the unhappy Clara is describing her hurried return to the same ill-fated abode at Mettingen hence kind friends had borne her after the catastrophe of her brother Wieland's transformation this was the crowning horror of all the morbid fanatic prepared by gloomy anticipations of some terrible sacrifice to be demanded in the name of religion had found himself goaded to blind fury by a mysterious compelling voice to yield up to God the lives of his beloved wife and family and had done the awful deed though chained in his madhouse he persists in his delusion insists that it still remains for him to sacrifice his sister Clara and twice breaks away in wild efforts to find and destroy her I took an irregular path which led me to my own house all was vacant and forlorn a small enclosure near which the path led was the burying ground belonging to the family this I was obliged to pass once I had intended to enter it and ponder on the emblems and inscriptions which my uncle had caused to be made on the tombs of Catherine and her children but now my heart faltered I approached and I hastened forward that distance which might conceal it from my view when I approached the recess my heart again sunk I averted my eyes and left it behind me as quickly as possible silence reigned through my habitation in a darkness which closed doors and shutters produced every object was connected with mine or my brother's history I passed the entry mounted the stair unlocked the door of my chamber it was with difficulty that I curbed my fancy and smothered my fears slight movements and casual sounds were transformed into beckoning shadows and calling shapes I proceeded to the closet I opened and looked round it with fearfulness all things were in their accustomed order I sought and found the manuscript where I was used to deposit it this being secured there was nothing to detain me yet I stood and contemplated a while the furniture and walls of my chamber I remembered how long this apartment had been a sweet and tranquil asylum I compared its former state with its present dreariness and reflected that I now beheld it for the last time here it was that the incomprehensible behavior of Carwin was witnessed this the stage on which many of man showed himself for a moment unmasked here the menaces of murder were wafted to my ear and here these menaces were executed these thoughts had a tendency to take me for my self command my feeble limbs refused to support me and I sunk upon a chair incoherent and half articulate exclamations escaped my lips the name of Carwin was uttered a feeble woes woes like that which his malice had entailed upon us were heaped upon him I invoked all seeing heaven to drag to light and punish this betrayer and accused its providence for having thus long delayed the retribution that was due to so enormous a guilt I have said that the window shutters were closed a feeble light however found entrance and the door being closed a dim ray streamed through the keyhole a kind of twilight was thus created sufficient for the purposes of vision but at the same time involving all my neuter objects in obscurity this darkness suited the color of my thoughts I sickened at the remembrance of the past the prospect of the future excited my loathing I muttered in a low voice why should I live longer why should I drag a miserable being all for whom I thought to live have perished am I not myself haunted to death at that moment my despair suddenly became vigorous my nerves were no longer unstrong my powers that had long been deadened were revived my bosom swelled with a sudden energy and the conviction darted through my mind that to end my torments was at once practicable and wise I knew how to find way to the recesses of life I could use a lancet with some skill and could distinguish between vein and artery by piercing deep into the latter I should shun the evils which the future had in store for me and take refuge from my woes in quiet death I started on my feet for my feebleness was gone to the closet a lancet and other small instruments were preserved in a case which I had deposited here inattentive as I was to foreign considerations my ears were still open to any sound of mysterious import that should occur I thought I heard a step in the entry my purpose was suspended and I cast an eager glance at my chamber door which was open no one appeared unless the shadow was discerned upon the floor was the outline of a man if it were I was authorized to suspect that someone was posted close to the entrance who possibly had overheard my exclamations my teeth chattered and a wild confusion took the place of my momentary calm thus it was when a terrific visage had disclosed itself on a former night thus it was when the evil destiny formed the lineaments of something human what horrid apparition was preparing to blast my sight still I listened and gazed not long for the shadow moved a foot unshapely and huge was thrust forward a form advanced from its concealment and stonked into the room it was carwin while I had breath I shrieked while I had power over my muscles I motioned with my hand that he should vanish my exertions could not last long I sunk into a fit oh that this grateful oblivion had lasted forever too quickly I recovered my senses the power of distinct vision was no sooner restored to me than this hateful form again presented itself and I once more relapsed a second time untobered nature recalled me from the sleep of death I found myself stretched upon the bed when I had power to look up I remembered only that I had cause to fear my distempered fancy fashioned to itself no distinguishable image I threw a languid glance round me once more my eyes lighted upon carwin he was seated on the floor his back rested against the wall his knees were drawn up and his face was buried in his hands that his station was at some distance that his attitude was not menacing that his ominous visage was concealed may account for my now escaping a shock violent as those which were past I withdrew my eyes but was not again deserted by my senses on perceiving that I had recovered my sensibility he lifted his head this motion attracted my attention his countenance was mild but sorrow and astonishment sat upon his features I averted my eyes and feebly explained oh fly fly far and forever I cannot behold you and live he did not rise upon his feet but clasped his hands and said in a tone of deprecation I will fly I am become a fiend the sight of whom destroys yet tell me my offence you have linked curses with my name you ascribe to me a malice monstrous an infernal I look around all his loneliness and desert this house and your brothers are solitary and dismantled you die away at the sight of me my fear whispers that some deed of horror has been perpetrated that I am the designing cause what language was this had he not avowed himself a ravisher had not this chamber witnessed his atrocious purposes I besought him with new vehemence to go he lifted his eyes great heaven what have I done I think I know the extent of my offences I have acted but my actions have possibly affected more than I designed this fear has brought me back my retreat I come to repair the evil of which my rashness was the cause and to prevent more evil I come to confess my errors wretch I cried when my suffocating emotions would permit me to speak the ghosts of my sister and her children do they not rise to accuse they who was it that blasted the intellect of wheeland who was it that urged him to fury and guided him to murder who but the thou and the devil with whom thou art confederated at these words a new spirit pervaded his countenance his eyes once more appealed to heaven if I have memory if I have being I am innocent I intended no ill but my folly indirectly and remotely may have caused it but what words are these your brother lunatic children dead what should I infer from this deportment was the ignorance which these words implied real or pretended yet how could I imagine a mere human agency in these events but if the influence was preternatural or maniacal in my brother's case they must be equally so in my own then I remembered that the voice exerted was to save me from carwin's attempts he has tended to abate my abhorrence of this man and to detect the absurdity of my accusations alas said I I have no one to accuse leave me to my fate fly from a scene stained with cruelty devoted to despair carwin stood for a time musing and mournful at length he said what has happened I came to expiate my crimes let me know them in their full extent I have horrible forebodings what has happened I was silent but recollecting the intimation given by this man when he was detected in my closet which implied some knowledge of that power which interfered in my favor I eagerly inquired what was that voice which called upon me to hold when I attempted to open the closet what face was that which I saw at the bottom of the stairs answer me truly I came to confess the truth your illusions are horrible and strange perhaps I have but faint conceptions of the evils which my infatuation has produced but what remains I will perform it was my voice that you heard it was my face that you saw for a moment I doubted whether my remembrance of events were not confused how could he be at once stationed at my shoulder and shut up in my closet how could he stand near me and yet be invisible but if car wins were the thrilling voice and the fiery image which I had heard and seen then was he the prompter of my brother and the author of these dismal outrages once more I averted my eyes and struggled for speech be gone thou man of mischief remorseless and implacable miscreant be gone hello bay said he in a disconsolate voice yet wretched that I am am I unworthy to repair the evils that I have committed I came as a repentant criminal it is you whom I have injured and at your bar am I willing to appear and confess and expiate my crimes I have deceived you I have sported with your terrors I have plotted to destroy your reputation I come now to remove your terrors to set you beyond the reach of similar fears to rebuild your fame as far as I am able this is the amount of my guilt and this the fruit of my remorse will you not hear me listen to my confession and then denounce punishment all I ask is a patient audience what, I replied was not thine the voice that commanded my brother to imbrew his hands in the blood of his children to strangle that angel of sweetness his wife has he not vowed my death and the death of Plial at thy bidding hast thou not made him the butcher of his family changed him who was the glory of his species into worse than brute robbed him of reason and consigned the rest of his days to fetters and stripes Carwin's eyes glared and his limbs were petrified at this intelligence no words were requisite to prove him guiltless of these enormities at the time however I was nearly insensible to these exculpatory tokens he walked to the farther end of the room and having recovered some degree of composure he spoke I am not this villain I have slain no one I have said none to slay I have handled a tool of wonderful efficacy without malignant intentions but without caution ample will be the punishment of my temerity if my conduct has contributed to this evil he paused I was likewise silent I struggled to command myself so far as to listen to the tale which he should tell observing this he continued you are not apprised of the existence of a power which I possess I know not by what name to call it footnote one by loquium or ventralocution sound is varied according to the variations of direction and distance the art of the ventriloquist consists in modifying his voice according to all these variations without changing his place see the work of the Abbey de la Chapelle in which are accurately recorded the performances of one of these artists and some ingenious though unsatisfactory speculations are given on the means by which the effects are produced this power is perhaps given by nature but is doubtless improvable if not acquirable by art it may possibly consist in an unusual flexibility or extension of the bottom of the tongue and the uvula that speech is producible by these alone must be granted since an atomist mentioned two instances of persons speaking without a tongue in one case the organ was originally wanting but its place was supplied by a small tubercle and the uvula was perfect in the other the tongue was destroyed by disease but probably a small part of it remained this power is difficult to explain but the fact is undeniable experience shows that the human voice can imitate the voice of all men and of all inferior animals the sound of musical instruments and even noises from the contact of inanimate substances have been accurately imitated the mimicry of animals is notorious and Dr. Bernie of musical travels mentions one who imitated a flute and violin so as to deceive even his ears it enables me to mimic exactly the voice of another and to modify the sound so that it shall appear to come from what quarter and be uttered at what distance I please I know not that everyone possesses this power perhaps, though a casual position of my organs in my youth showed me that I possessed it, it is an art which may be taught to all with to God I had died unknowing of the secret it has produced nothing and calamity