[87931] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Save BIG on Solar Panels
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Solar Panel Installation)
Thu Sep 1 22:39:44 2016
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2016 22:35:28 -0400
From: "Solar Panel Installation" <solar_panel_installation@ourthanks.stream>
To: <mit-talk-mtg@charon.mit.edu>
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<p>Save BIG on Solar Panels<br /> Now this is the point. You fancy me ma=
d. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen h=
ow wisely I proceeded - with what caution - with what foresight - with what=
dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than durin=
g the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I tu=
rned the latch of his door and opened it - oh so gently! And then, when I h=
ad made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all clo=
sed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you=
would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly =
- very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man' s sleep. It t=
ook me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I coul=
d see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as t=
his, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cauti=
ously-oh, so cautiously - cautiously (for the hinges creaked) - I undid it =
just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I d=
id for seven long nights - every night just at midnight - but I found the e=
ye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not t=
he old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day =
broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calli=
ng him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night.=
So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect =
that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept. Upon=
the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A w=
atch' s minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that nig=
ht had I felt the extent of my own powers - of my sagacity. I could scarcel=
y contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the do=
or, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or though=
ts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on=
the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back - but=
no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutt=
ers were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he co=
uld not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, ste=
adily. I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb s=
lipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out=
- " Who' s there?" I kept quite still and said nothing. For a wh=
ole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him li=
e down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening; - just as I have done=
, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall. Presently=
I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It w=
as not a groan of pain or of grief - oh, no! - it was the low stifled sound=
that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew =
the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, i=
t has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the t=
errors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man fe=
lt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been l=
ying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed=
His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fan=
cy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself - " It=
is nothing but the wind in the chimney - it is only a mouse crossing the f=
loor," or " It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp.=
" Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: =
but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching hi=
m had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. A=
nd it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him =
to feel - although he neither saw nor heard - to feel the presence of my he=
ad within the room. When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without =
hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little - a very, very little cre=
vice in the lantern. So I opened it - you cannot imagine how stealthily, st=
ealthily - until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider=
, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye. It was open=
- wide, wide open - and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with p=
erfect distinctness - all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chi=
lled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old m=
an' s face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precise=
ly upon the damned spot. And have I not told you that what you mistake for =
madness is but over-acuteness of the sense? - now, I say, there came to my =
ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cott=
on. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man' s heart=
It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier int=
o courage. But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I =
held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray =
upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew q=
uicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man' s ter=
ror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! - d=
o you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at t=
he dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so =
strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some =
minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, lo=
uder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me - the=
sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man' s hour had come! With a =
loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked o=
nce - once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the h=
eavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, =
for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, di=
d not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. =
The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he wa=
s stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many=
minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble =
me no more. If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I d=
escribe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The ni=
ght waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered=
the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs. I then took up t=
hree planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the=
scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no =
human eye - not even his - could have detected any thing wrong. There was n=
othing to wash out - no stain of any kind - no blood-spot whatever. I had b=
een too wary for that. A tub had caught all - ha! ha! When I had made an en=
d of these labors, it was four o' clock - still dark as midnight. As the be=
ll sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down =
to open it with a light heart, - for what had I now to fear? There entered =
three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of =
the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the night; suspic=
ion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the polic=
e office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises. =
I smiled, - for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shrie=
k, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in t=
he country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search - sea=
rch well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasure=
s, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chair=
s into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I=
myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upo=
n the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim. The officer=
s were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. T=
hey sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. Bu=
t, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached=
, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted.=
The ringing became more distinct: - It continued and became more distinct:=
I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gaine=
d definiteness - until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my=
ears. No doubt I now grew _very_ pale; - but I talked more fluently, and w=
ith a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased - and what could I do? It w=
as a low, dull, quick sound - much such a sound as a watch makes when envel=
oped in cotton. I gasped for breath - and yet the officers heard it not. I =
talked more quickly - more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I =
arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulatio=
ns; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced t=
he floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observ=
ations of the men - but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I =
do? I foamed - I raved - I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been s=
itting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and con=
tinually increased. It grew louder - louder - louder! And still the men cha=
tted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! =
- no, no! They heard! - they suspected! - they knew! - they were making a m=
ockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was bet=
ter than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I coul=
d bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or di=
e! and now - again! - hark! louder! louder! louder! louder! " Villains=
!" I shrieked, " dissemble no more! I admit the deed! - tear up t=
he planks! here, here! - It is the beating of his hideous heart!" ~~~ =
End of Text ~~~ =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D BERENICE Dicebant mihi sodales, si sepul=
chrum amicae visitarem, curas meas aliquantulum forelevatas. - _Ebn Zaiat_.=
MISERY is manifold. The wretchedness of earth is multiform. Overreaching t=
he wide horizon as the rainbow, its hues are as various as the hues of that=
arch - as distinct too, yet as intimately blended. Overreaching the wide h=
orizon as the rainbow! How is it that from beauty I have derived a type of =
unloveliness? - from the covenant of peace, a simile of sorrow? But as, in =
ethics, evil is a consequence of good, so, in fact, out of joy is sorrow bo=
rn. Either the memory of past bliss is the anguish of to-day, or the agonie=
s which _are_, have their origin in the ecstasies which _might have been_. =
My baptismal name is Egaeus; that of my family I will not mention. Yet ther=
e are no towers in the land more time-honored than my gloomy, gray, heredit=
ary halls. Our line has been called a race of visionaries; and in many stri=
king particulars - in the character of the family mansion - in the frescos =
of the chief saloon - in the tapestries of the dormitories - in the chisell=
ing of some buttresses in the armory - but more especially in the gallery o=
f antique paintings - in the fashion of the library chamber - and, lastly, =
in the very peculiar nature of the library' s contents - there is more than=
sufficient evidence to warrant the belief. The recollections of my earlies=
t years are connected with that chamber, and with its volumes - of which la=
tter I will say no more. Here died my mother. Herein was I born. But it is =
mere idleness to say that I had not lived before - that the soul has no pre=
vious existence. You deny it? - let us not argue the matter. Convinced myse=
lf, I seek not to convince. There is, however, a remembrance of aerial form=
s - of spiritual and meaning eyes - of sounds, musical yet sad - a remembra=
nce which will not be excluded; a memory like a shadow - vague, variable, i=
ndefinite, unsteady; and like a shadow, too, in the impossibility of my get=
ting rid of it while the sunlight of my reason shall exist. In that chamber=
was I born. Thus awaking from the long night of what seemed, but was not, =
nonentity, at once into the very regions of fairy land - into a palace of i=
magination - into the wild dominions of monastic thought and erudition - it=
is not singular that I gazed around me with a startled and ardent eye - th=
at I loitered away my boyhood in books, and dissipated my youth in reverie;=
but it _is_ singular that as years rolled away, and the noon of manhood fo=
und me still in the mansion of my fathers - it _is_ wonderful what stagnati=
on there fell upon the springs of my life - wonderful how total an inversio=
n took place in the character of my commonest thought. The realities of the=
world affected me as visions, and as visions only, while the wild ideas of=
the land of dreams became, in turn, not the material of my every-day exist=
ence, but in very deed that existence utterly and solely in itself. * * * *=
* * * Berenice and I were cousins, and we grew up together in my paternal =
halls. Yet differently we grew - I, ill of health, and buried in gloom - sh=
e, agile, graceful, and overflowing with energy; hers, the ramble on the hi=
ll-side - mine the studies of the cloister; I, living within my own heart, =
and addicted, body and soul, to the most intense and painful meditation - s=
he, roaming carelessly through life, with no thought of the shadows in her =
path, or the silent flight of the raven-winged hours. Berenice! -I call upo=
n her name - Berenice! - and from the gray ruins of memory a thousand tumul=
tuous recollections are startled at the sound! Ah, vividly is her image bef=
ore me now, as in the early days of her light-heartedness and joy! Oh, gorg=
eous yet fantastic beauty! Oh, sylph amid the shrubberies of Arnheim! Oh, N=
aiad among its fountains! And then - then all is mystery and terror, and a =
tale which should not be told. Disease - a fatal disease, fell like the sim=
oon upon her frame; and, even while I gazed upon her, the spirit of change =
swept over her, pervading her mind, her habits, and her character, and, in =
a manner the most subtle and terrible, disturbing even the identity of her =
person! Alas! the destroyer came and went! - and the victim -where is she? =
I knew her not - or knew her no longer as Berenice. Among the numerous trai=
n of maladies superinduced by that fatal and primary one which effected a r=
evolution of so horrible a kind in the moral and physical being of my cousi=
n, may be mentioned as the most distressing and obstinate in its nature, a =
species of epilepsy not unfrequently terminating in _trance_ itself - tranc=
e very nearly resembling positive dissolution, and from which her manner of=
recovery was in most instances, startlingly abrupt. In the mean time my ow=
n disease - for I have been told that I should call it by no other appellat=
ion - my own disease, then, grew rapidly upon me, and assumed finally a mon=
omaniac character of a novel and extraordinary form - hourly and momently g=
aining vigor - and at length obtaining over me the most incomprehensible as=
cendancy. This monomania, if I must so term it, consisted in a morbid irrit=
ability of those properties of the mind in metaphysical science termed the =
_attentive_. It is more than probable that I am not understood; but I fear,=
indeed, that it is in no manner possible to convey to the mind of the mere=
ly general reader, an adequate idea of that nervous _intensity of interest_=
with which, in my case, the powers of meditation (not to speak technically=
) busied and buried themselves, in the contemplation of even the most ordin=
ary objects of the universe. To muse for long unwearied hours, with my atte=
ntion riveted to some frivolous device on the margin, or in the typography =
of a book; to become absorbed, for the better part of a summer' s day, in a=
quaint shadow falling aslant upon the tapestry or upon the floor; to lose =
myself, for an entire night, in watching the steady flame of a lamp, or the=
embers of a fire; to dream away whole days over the perfume of a flower; t=
o repeat, monotonously, some common word, until the sound, by dint of frequ=
ent repetition, ceased to convey any idea whatever to the mind; to lose all=
sense of motion or physical existence, by means of absolute bodily quiesce=
nce long and obstinately persevered in: such were a few of the most common =
and least pernicious vagaries induced by a condition of the mental facultie=
s, not, indeed, altogether unparalleled, but certainly bidding defiance to =
anything like analysis or explanation. Yet let me not be misapprehended. Th=
e undue, earnest, and morbid attention thus excited by objects in their own=
nature frivolous, must not be confounded in character with that ruminating=
propensity common to all mankind, and more especially indulged in by perso=
ns of ardent imagination. It was not even, as might be at first supposed, a=
n extreme condition, or exaggeration of such propensity, but primarily and =
essentially distinct and different. In the one instance, the dreamer, or en=
thusiast, being interested by an object usually _not_ frivolous, impercepti=
bly loses sight of this object in a wilderness of deductions and suggestion=
s issuing therefrom, until, at the conclusion of a day dream _often replete=
with luxury_, he finds the _incitamentum_, or first cause of his musings, =
entirely vanished and forgotten. In my case, the primary object was _invari=
ably frivolous_, although assuming, through the medium of my distempered vi=
sion, a refracted and unreal importance. Few deductions, if any, were made;=
and those few pertinaciously returning in upon the original object as a ce=
ntre. The meditations were _never_ pleasurable; and, at the termination of =
the reverie, the first cause, so far from being out of sight, had attained =
that supernaturally exaggerated interest which was the prevailing feature o=
f the disease. In a word, the powers of mind more particularly exercised we=
re, with me, as I have said before, the _attentive_, and are, with the day-=
dreamer, the _speculative_. My books, at this epoch, if they did not actual=
ly serve to irritate the disorder, partook, it will be perceived, largely, =
in their imaginative and inconsequential nature, of the characteristic qual=
ities of the disorder itself. I well remember, among others, the treatise o=
f the noble Italian, Coelius Secundus Curio, " _De Amplitudine Beati R=
egni Dei; _" St. Austin' s great work, the " City of God; " =
and Tertullian' s " _De Carne Christi_," in which the paradoxical=
sentence " _Mortuus est Dei filius; credible est quia ineptum est: et=
sepultus resurrexit; certum est quia impossibile est,_" occupied my u=
ndivided time, for many weeks of laborious and fruitless investigation. Thu=
s it will appear that, shaken from its balance only by trivial things, my r=
eason bore resemblance to that ocean-crag spoken of by Ptolemy Hephestion, =
which steadily resisting the attacks of human violence, and the fiercer fur=
y of the waters and the winds, trembled only to the touch of the flower cal=
led Asphodel. And although, to a careless thinker, it might appear a matter=
beyond doubt, that the alteration produced by her unhappy malady, in the _=
moral_ condition of Berenice, would afford me many objects for the exercise=
of that intense and abnormal meditation whose nature I have been at some t=
rouble in explaining, yet such was not in any degree the case. In the lucid=
intervals of my infirmity, her calamity, indeed, gave me pain, and, taking=
deeply to heart that total wreck of her fair and gentle life, I did not fa=
ll to ponder, frequently and bitterly, upon the wonder-working means by whi=
ch so strange a revolution had been so suddenly brought to pass. But these =
reflections partook not of the idiosyncrasy of my disease, and were such as=
would have occurred, under similar circumstances, to the ordinary mass of =
mankind. True to its own character, my disorder revelled in the less import=
ant but more startling changes wrought in the _physical_ frame of Berenice =
- in the singular and most appalling distortion of her personal identity. D=
uring the brightest days of her unparalleled beauty, most surely I had neve=
r loved her. In the strange anomaly of my existence, feelings with me, _had=
never been_ of the heart, and my passions _always were_ of the mind. Throu=
gh the gray of the early morning - among the trellised shadows of the fores=
t at noonday - and in the silence of my library at night - she had flitted =
by my eyes, and I had seen her - not as the living and breathing Berenice, =
but as the Berenice of a dream; not as a being of the earth, earthy, but as=
the abstraction of such a being; not as a thing to admire, but to analyze;=
not as an object of love, but as the theme of the most abstruse although d=
esultory speculation. And _now_ - now I shuddered in her presence, and grew=
pale at her approach; yet, bitterly lamenting her fallen and desolate cond=
ition, I called to mind that she had loved me long, and, in an evil moment,=
I spoke to her of marriage. And at length the period of our nuptials was a=
pproaching, when, upon an afternoon in the winter of the year - one of thos=
e unseasonably warm, calm, and misty days which are the nurse of the beauti=
ful Halcyon {*1}, - I sat, (and sat, as I thought, alone,) in the inner apa=
rtment of the library. But, uplifting my eyes, I saw that Berenice stood be=
fore me. Was it my own excited imagination - or the misty influence of the =
atmosphere - or the uncertain twilight of the chamber - or the gray draperi=
es which fell around her figure - that caused in it so vacillating and indi=
stinct an outline? I could not tell. She spoke no word; and I - not for wor=
lds could I have uttered a syllable. An icy chill ran through my frame; a s=
ense of insufferable anxiety oppressed me; a consuming curiosity pervaded m=
y soul; and sinking back upon the chair, I remained for some time breathles=
s and motionless, with my eyes riveted upon her person. Alas! its emaciatio=
n was excessive, and not one vestige of the former being lurked in any sing=
le line of the contour. My burning glances at length fell upon the face. Th=
e forehead was high, and very pale, and singularly placid; and the once jet=
ty hair fell partially over it, and overshadowed the hollow temples with in=
numerable ringlets, now of a vivid yellow, and jarring discordantly, in the=
ir fantastic character, with the reigning melancholy of the countenance. Th=
e eyes were lifeless, and lustreless, and seemingly pupilless, and I shrank=
involuntarily from their glassy stare to he contemplation of the thin and =
shrunken lips. They parted; and in a smile of peculiar meaning, _the teeth_=
of the changed Berenice disclosed themselves slowly to my view. Would to G=
od that I had never beheld them, or that, having done so, I had died! * * *=
* * * * The shutting of a door disturbed me, and, looking up, I found that=
my cousin had departed from the chamber. But from the disordered chamber o=
f my brain, had not, alas! departed, and would not be driven away, the whit=
e and ghastly _spectrum_ of the teeth. Not a speck on their surface - not a=
shade on their enamel - not an indenture in their edges - but what that pe=
riod of her smile had sufficed to brand in upon my memory. I saw them _now_=
even more unequivocally than I beheld them _then_. The teeth! - the teeth!=
- they were here, and there, and everywhere, and visibly and palpably befo=
re me; long, narrow, and excessively white, with the pale lips writhing abo=
ut them, as in the very moment of their first terrible development. Then ca=
me the full fury of my _monomania_, and I struggled in vain against its str=
ange and irresistible influence. In the multiplied objects of the external =
world I had no thoughts but for the teeth. For these I longed with a phrenz=
ied desire. All other matters and all different interests became absorbed i=
n their single contemplation. They - they alone were present to the mental =
eye, and they, in their sole individuality, became the essence of my mental=
life. I held them in every light. I turned them in every attitude. I surve=
yed their characteristics. I dwelt upon their peculiarities. I pondered upo=
n their conformation. I mused upon the alteration in their nature. I shudde=
red as I assigned to them in imagination a sensitive and sentient power, an=
d even when unassisted by the lips, a capability of moral expression. Of Ma=
demoiselle Salle it has been well said, " _Que tous ses pas etaient de=
s sentiments_," and of Berenice I more seriously believed _que toutes =
ses dents etaient des idees_. _Des idees!_ - ah here was the idiotic though=
t that destroyed me! _Des idees!_ - ah _therefore_ it was that I coveted th=
em so madly! I felt that their possession could alone ever restore me to pe=
ace, in giving me back to reason. And the evening closed in upon me thus - =
and then the darkness came, and tarried, and went - and the day again dawne=
d - and the mists of a second night were now gathering around - and still I=
sat motionless in that solitary room - and still I sat buried in meditatio=
n - and still the _phantasma_ of the teeth maintained its terrible ascendan=
cy, as, with the most vivid hideous distinctness, it floated about amid the=
changing lights and shadows of the chamber. At length there broke in upon =
my dreams a cry as of horror and dismay; and thereunto, after a pause, succ=
eeded the sound of troubled voices, intermingled with many low moanings of =
sorrow or of pain. I arose from my seat, and throwing open one of the doors=
of the library, saw standing out in the ante-chamber a servant maiden, all=
in tears, who told me that Berenice was - no more! She had been seized wit=
h epilepsy in the early morning, and now, at the closing in of the night, t=
he grave was ready for its tenant, and all the preparations for the burial =
were completed. * * * * * * * I found myself sitting in the library, and ag=
ain sitting there alone. It seemed that I had newly awakened from a confuse=
d and exciting dream. I knew that it was now midnight, and I was well aware=
, that since the setting of the sun, Berenice had been interred. But of tha=
t dreary period which intervened I had no positive, at least no definite co=
mprehension. Yet its memory was replete with horror - horror more horrible =
from being vague, and terror more terrible from ambiguity. It was a fearful=
page in the record my existence, written all over with dim, and hideous, a=
nd unintelligible recollections. I strived to decypher them, but in vain; w=
hile ever and anon, like the spirit of a departed sound, the shrill and pie=
rcing shriek of a female voice seemed to be ringing in my ears. I had done =
a deed - what was it? I asked myself the question aloud, and the whispering=
echoes of the chamber answered me, - " _what was it?_" On the ta=
ble beside me burned a lamp, and near it lay a little box. It was of no rem=
arkable character, and I had seen it frequently before, for it was the prop=
erty of the family physician; but how came it _there_, upon my table, and w=
hy did I shudder in regarding it? These things were in no manner to be acco=
unted for, and my eyes at length dropped to the open pages of a book, and t=
o a sentence underscored therein. The words were the singular but simple on=
es of the poet Ebn Zaiat: - " _Dicebant mihi sodales si sepulchrum ami=
cae visitarem, curas meas aliquantulum fore levatas_." Why then, as I =
perused them, did the hairs of my head erect themselves on end, and the blo=
od of my body become congealed within my veins? There came a light tap at t=
he library door - and, pale as the tenant of a tomb, a menial entered upon =
tiptoe. His looks were wild with terror, and he spoke to me in a voice trem=
ulous, husky, and very low. What said he? - some broken sentences I heard. =
He told of a wild cry disturbing the silence of the night - of the gatherin=
g together of the household - of a search in the direction of the sound; an=
d then his tones grew thrillingly distinct as he whispered me of a violated=
grave - of a disfigured body enshrouded, yet still breathing - still palpi=
tating - _still alive_! He pointed to garments; - they were muddy and clott=
ed with gore. I spoke not, and he took me gently by the hand: it was indent=
ed with the impress of human nails. He directed my attention to some object=
against the wall. I looked at it for some minutes: it was a spade. With a =
shriek I bounded to the table, and grasped the box that lay upon it. But I =
could not force it open; and in my tremor, it slipped from my hands, and fe=
ll heavily, and burst into pieces; and from it, with a rattling sound, ther=
e rolled out some instruments of dental surgery, intermingled with thirty-t=
wo small, white and ivory-looking substances that were scattered to and fro=
about the floor.</p>=20
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