penness of demeanor
rather foreign to his nature, I discovered, or fancied I discovered,
in his accent, his air, and general appearance, a something which first
startled, and then deeply interested me, by bringing to mind dim visions
of my earliest infancy--wild, confused and thronging memories of a
time when memory herself was yet unborn. I cannot better describe the
sensation which oppressed me than by saying that I could with difficulty
shake off the belief of my having been acquainted with the being who
stood before me, at some epoch very long ago--some point of the past
even infinitely remote. The delusion, however, faded rapidly as it came;
and I mention it at all but to define the day of the last conversation I
there held with my singular namesake.

The huge old house, with its countless subdivisions, had several large
chambers communicating with each other, where slept the greater number
of the students. There were, however, (as must necessarily happen in a
building so awkwardly planned,) many little nooks or recesses, the
odds and ends of the structure; and these the economic ingenuity of Dr.
Bransby had also fitted up as dormitories; although, being the merest
closets, they were capable of accommodating but a single individual. One
of these small apartments was occupied by Wilson.

One night, about the close of my fifth year at the school, and
immediately after the altercation just mentioned, finding every one
wrapped in sleep, I arose from bed, and, lamp in hand, stole through a
wilderness of narrow passages from my own bedroom to that of my rival. I
had long been plotting one of those ill-natured pieces of practical wit
at his expense in which I had hitherto been so uniformly unsuccessful.
It was my intention, now, to put my scheme in operation, and I resolved
to make him feel the whole extent of the malice with which I was imbued.
Having reached his closet, I noiselessly entered, leaving the lamp, with
a shade over it, on the outside. I advanced a step, and listened to
the sound of his tranquil breathing. Assured of his being asleep, I
returned, took the light, and with it again approached the bed. Close
curtains were around it, which, in the prosecution of my plan, I
slowly and quietly withdrew, when the bright rays fell vividly upon
the sleeper, and my eyes, at the same moment, upon his countenance. I
looked;--and a numbness, an iciness of feeling instantly pervaded my
frame. My breast heaved, my knees t