'Tis nothing but the blast?
I, too, have had my fears like these,
But such vain fears are past.

"I'll show thee what thy mother saw--
I feel 'twill ease my breast,
And this wild tempest-laden night
Suits with the purpose best.
Come hither--thou hast often sought
To open this old chest.

"It has a secret spring; the touch
Is known to me alone;
Slowly I raise the lid, and now--
What see you, that you groan
So heavily? That thing is but
A bare-ribbed skeleton."

A sudden crash--the lid fell down--
Three strides he backward gave,
"Oh, God! it is my brother's self
Returning from the grave!
His grasp of lead is on my throat--
Will no one help or save?"

That night they laid him on his bed,
In raving madness tossed;
He gnashed his teeth, and with wild oaths
Blasphemed the Holy Ghost;
And, ere the light of morning broke,
A sinner's soul was lost.

VI

SCENES FROM THE DRAMA

The selections in this division are cut, condensed, and adapted for
practical use as dramas or monologues. In some cases lines of the
text as well as explanations are written in to connect the scenes
for clearer unity. For scenes from Shakespeare and readings from
the Bible, already universally printed and accessible, see the
indexes and directions as to the omissions of lines in various
cuttings in Fulton and Trueblood's "Choice Readings," published by
Messrs. Ginn & Company.

THE BELLS

HENRY L. WILLIAMS

ACT III, SCENE I

CHARACTERS: Hans Matthis, keeper of "the Merry Andrew"; Dr. Frantz,
the magnetizer; the Judge.

SCENE: Alsatia, in a hamlet at the foot of the mountains;
Christmas, 1868; a room in an inn. Matthis, a prosperous
burgomaster, recalls with friends the murder of a Polish Jew,
fifteen years before. He wonders that the murderer has never been
apprehended. The sound of sleigh bells is heard and the apparition
of the Jew appears. Matthis is prostrated by the incident and
consults a mesmerist, Dr. Frantz, who assures him that he has power
to compel a criminal to divulge his secret thought. Matthis
isolates himself and sleeps alone to avoid eavesdropping. On the
night of his daughter's wedding he makes payment of her dowry, and
as the money is