e
him. There was a thoughtful softness upon the watcher's face, that came
not often there; and ever and anon he raised his hands, and pressed
them tightly upon his eyes, as if to keep back some emotion which would
fain force itself thence.

"What can have put these thoughts in my mind to-night?" he murmured,
impatiently, rising and walking the floor with bowed head and folded
arms. "I could almost believe the wine I drank was drugged with memories
of the past, and dark forebodings for the future. What form is this that
rises constantly before me, with haggard face and burning eyes, pointing
its skinny finger backward, ever backward, like an index turning ever to
the days gone by? It haunts me like a ghost; and turn I here or there,
'tis always crouching close before me, pointing that skinny finger
backward. Heavens! what does it mean?"

With a sharp shudder, Arthur again sought his brother's side, and sat
down upon the bed.

"If I should ever--if I should ever--_ever_ fall so low, _I_! Oh,
impossible! What a horrible picture! Yet, surrounded, as I am, by danger
and temptation--the beautiful habiliments in which vice here presents
itself--the constant laceration of my haughty pride--would it be, after
all, so impossible? Oh, my poor heart, be strong. Still that white
figure pointing backward. Can this be the foreshadowing of my own fate?
Oh, never, never! the wine I have taken has heated my brain. Guly! Guly!
wake up! I cannot bear to be here by myself!"

And, with a moan of anguish, Arthur buried his face in the pillow.

Guly started up quickly, and looked wildly around, like one suddenly
aroused from a nightmare; then his eye fell upon the prostrate figure
beside him.

"Dear Arthur, tell me what ails you to-night; you seem strangely at
variance with yourself. Tell me what troubles you, my brother."

"A ghost in my heart, Guly. I can't tell what brought it there--I feel
it, I see it constantly--a pale, haggard figure, pointing with its bony
finger backward."

"You have been asleep, and dreaming, Arthur; undress and come by me
here, and we will talk of something else."

"No, no, Guly, not asleep, but wide, wide awake--in my heart, in my
soul, everywhere!" exclaimed Arthur, flinging his clothes hastily off,
and creeping to his brother's side, as if flying from some horrid
phantom.

Guly threw an arm about him, and with the other hand stroked the dark
locks soothingly back from the excited brow.

"There, Art