This minister is evil, but he from whom his commission was received is
God. Submit then with all thy wonted resignation to a decree that cannot
be reversed or resisted. Mark the clock. Three minutes are allowed to
thee, in which to call up thy fortitude, and prepare thee for thy doom."
There he stopped.

Even now, when this scene exists only in memory, when life and all its
functions have sunk into torpor, my pulse throbs, and my hairs uprise:
my brows are knit, as then; and I gaze around me in distraction. I was
unconquerably averse to death; but death, imminent and full of agony as
that which was threatened, was nothing. This was not the only or chief
inspirer of my fears.

For him, not for myself, was my soul tormented. I might die, and no
crime, surpassing the reach of mercy, would pursue me to the presence
of my Judge; but my assassin would survive to contemplate his deed, and
that assassin was Wieland!

Wings to bear me beyond his reach I had not. I could not vanish with a
thought. The door was open, but my murderer was interposed between
that and me. Of self-defence I was incapable. The phrenzy that lately
prompted me to blood was gone; my state was desperate; my rescue was
impossible.

The weight of these accumulated thoughts could not be borne. My sight
became confused; my limbs were seized with convulsion; I spoke, but my
words were half-formed:--

"Spare me, my brother! Look down, righteous Judge! snatch me from this
fate! take away this fury from him, or turn it elsewhere!"

Such was the agony of my thoughts, that I noticed not steps entering my
apartment. Supplicating eyes were cast upward, but when my prayer was
breathed, I once more wildly gazed at the door. A form met my sight: I
shuddered as if the God whom I invoked were present. It was Carwin that
again intruded, and who stood before me, erect in attitude, and stedfast
in look! The sight of him awakened new and rapid thoughts. His recent
tale was remembered: his magical transitions and mysterious energy of
voice: Whether he were infernal or miraculous, or human, there was no
power and no need to decide. Whether the contriver or not of this spell,
he was able to unbind it, and to check the fury of my brother. He had
ascribed to himself intentions not malignant. Here now was afforded a
test of his truth. Let him interpose, as from above; revoke the
savage decree which the madness of Wieland has assigned to heaven, and
extinguish for ever this pas