ied with the great preacher
of thy faith in sanctity of motives, and in elevation above sensual and
selfish! Thou whom thy fate has changed into paricide and savage! Can I
wish for the continuance of thy being? No.

For a time his movements seemed destitute of purpose. If he walked; if
he turned; if his fingers were entwined with each other; if his hands
were pressed against opposite sides of his head with a force
sufficient to crush it into pieces; it was to tear his mind from
self-contemplation; to waste his thoughts on external objects.

Speedily this train was broken. A beam appeared to be darted into his
mind, which gave a purpose to his efforts. An avenue to escape presented
itself; and now he eagerly gazed about him: when my thoughts became
engaged by his demeanour, my fingers were stretched as by a mechanical
force, and the knife, no longer heeded or of use, escaped from my grasp,
and fell unperceived on the floor. His eye now lighted upon it; he
seized it with the quickness of thought.

I shrieked aloud, but it was too late. He plunged it to the hilt in his
neck; and his life instantly escaped with the stream that gushed from
the wound. He was stretched at my feet; and my hands were sprinkled with
his blood as he fell.

Such was thy last deed, my brother! For a spectacle like this was it
my fate to be reserved! Thy eyes were closed--thy face ghastly with
death--thy arms, and the spot where thou liedest, floated in thy life's
blood! These images have not, for a moment, forsaken me. Till I am
breathless and cold, they must continue to hover in my sight.

Carwin, as I said, had left the room, but he still lingered in the
house. My voice summoned him to my aid; but I scarcely noticed his
re-entrance, and now faintly recollect his terrified looks, his broken
exclamations, his vehement avowals of innocence, the effusions of his
pity for me, and his offers of assistance.

I did not listen--I answered him not--I ceased to upbraid or accuse. His
guilt was a point to which I was indifferent. Ruffian or devil, black
as hell or bright as angels, thenceforth he was nothing to me. I was
incapable of sparing a look or a thought from the ruin that was spread
at my feet.

When he left me, I was scarcely conscious of any variation in the scene.
He informed the inhabitants of the hut of what had passed, and they flew
to the spot. Careless of his own safety, he hasted to the city to inform
my friends of my condition.

My