Curtains, of that
antique chintz in which fasces of stripes are alternated by rows of
flowers, filled the interstices of three windows; a heavy sideboard
occupied the greater portion of one side of the room; and on the
opposite side, in the rear of Brandon, a vast screen stretched its
slow length along, and relieved the unpopulated and as it were desolate
comfort of the apartment.

Pale and imperfectly streamed the light upon Brandon's face, as he sat
in his large chair, leaning his cheek on one hand, and gazing with the
unconscious earnestness of abstraction on the clear fire. At that moment
a whole phalanx of gloomy thought was sweeping in successive array
across his mind. His early ambition, his ill-omened marriage, the causes
of his after-rise in the wrong-judging world, the first dawn of his
reputation, his rapid and flattering successes, his present elevation,
his aspiring hope of far higher office, and more patrician honours,--all
these phantoms passed before him in checkered shadow and light; but ever
with each stalked one disquieting and dark remembrance,--the loss of his
only son.

Weaving his ambition with the wish to revive the pride of his hereditary
name, every acquisition of fortune or of fame rendered him yet
more anxious to find the only one who could perpetuate these hollow
distinctions to his race.

"I shall recover him yet!" he broke out suddenly and aloud. As he spoke,
a quick, darting, spasmodic pain ran shivering through his whole frame,
and then fixed for one instant on his heart with a gripe like the
talons of a bird; it passed away, and was followed by a deadly sickness.
Brandon rose, and filling himself a large tumbler of water, drank
with avidity. The sickness passed off like the preceding pain; but the
sensation had of late been often felt by Brandon, and disregarded,--for
few persons were less afflicted with the self-torture of hypochondria;
but now, that night, whether it was more keen than usual, or whether
his thought had touched on the string that jars naturally on the most
startling of human anticipations, we know not, but, as he resumed his
seat, the idea of his approaching dissolution shot like an ice-bolt
through his breast.

So intent was this scheming man upon the living objects of the world,
and so little were his thoughts accustomed to turn toward the ultimate
goal of all things, that this idea obtruding itself abruptly upon him,
startled him with a ghastly awe. He felt th