108

CHAPTER XX.
Poe and Mrs. Osgood 119

CHAPTER XXI.
At Fordham 127

CHAPTER XXII.
The Shadow at the Door 137

CHAPTER XXIII.
Mrs. Shew 145

CHAPTER XXIV.
Quiet Life at Fordham 148

CHAPTER XXV.
With Old Friends 154

CHAPTER XXVI.
Mrs. Whitman 169

CHAPTER XXVII.
Again in Richmond 179

CHAPTER XXVIII.
A Morning with Poe--"The Raven" 184

CHAPTER XXIX.
Mrs. Shelton 194

CHAPTER XXX.
The Mystery of Fate 203

CHAPTER XXXI.
After the War 212

CHAPTER XXXII.
Poe's Character 219

Appendix 227

TO THE READER.

In considering this book, will the reader especially note that it is not
a "Life" or a "Biography" of Poe, of which too many already exist and to
which nothing can be added after the exhaustive works of Woodbury and
Prof. Harrison. I have not treated Poe in his character of poet or
author, but confined myself to his private home-life, domestic and
social, as I have heard it described by Poe's most intimate friends who
knew him from infancy--some of them my own relatives--and from my own
brief knowledge of him in the last three months of his life. The book
may therefore be considered as a _supplement_ to the more complete
"Lives and Biographies," showing Poe in a character as yet wholly
unknown to the public, but which should be known in order to enable us
to form a correct judgment of his character. I have corrected various
misstatements of writers which, repeated by one from another, have come
to be received as truth.

I have made no attempt at producing an artistic work, but have treated
the subject as it demands, in a plain and practical manner with regard
to facts apart from idealism of any kind.

THE AUTHOR.

HOME LIFE OF POE.

CHAPTER I.

FIRST GLIMPSE OF EDGAR POE.

It may be regarded as a somewhat curious coincidence that the first
glimpse afforded us of Edgar Poe is on the authority of my own mother.

This is t