tions. He knew himself to have been betrayed to
the murder of his wife and children, to have been the victim of infernal
artifice; yet he found consolation in the rectitude of his motives. He
was not devoid of sorrow, for this was written on his countenance; but
his soul was tranquil and sublime.

Perhaps this was merely a transition of his former madness into a new
shape. Perhaps he had not yet awakened to the memory of the horrors
which he had perpetrated. Infatuated wretch that I was! To set myself up
as a model by which to judge of my heroic brother! My reason taught
me that his conclusions were right; but conscious of the impotence of
reason over my own conduct; conscious of my cowardly rashness and my
criminal despair, I doubted whether any one could be stedfast and wise.

Such was my weakness, that even in the midst of these thoughts, my
mind glided into abhorrence of Carwin, and I uttered in a low voice, O!
Carwin! Carwin! What hast thou to answer for?

My brother immediately noticed the involuntary exclamation: "Clara!"
said he, "be thyself. Equity used to be a theme for thy eloquence.
Reduce its lessons to practice, and be just to that unfortunate man. The
instrument has done its work, and I am satisfied.

"I thank thee, my God, for this last illumination! My enemy is thine
also. I deemed him to be man, the man with whom I have often communed;
but now thy goodness has unveiled to me his true nature. As the
performer of thy behests, he is my friend."

My heart began now to misgive me. His mournful aspect had gradually
yielded place to a serene brow. A new soul appeared to actuate his
frame, and his eyes to beam with preternatural lustre. These symptoms
did not abate, and he continued:

"Clara! I must not leave thee in doubt. I know not what brought about
thy interview with the being whom thou callest Carwin. For a time, I was
guilty of thy error, and deduced from his incoherent confessions that I
had been made the victim of human malice. He left us at my bidding, and
I put up a prayer that my doubts should be removed. Thy eyes were shut,
and thy ears sealed to the vision that answered my prayer.

"I was indeed deceived. The form thou hast seen was the incarnation of
a daemon. The visage and voice which urged me to the sacrifice of my
family, were his. Now he personates a human form: then he was invironed
with the lustre of heaven.--

"Clara," he continued, advancing closer to me, "thy death must come.