have I become. I
found yesterday that you were a man of culture and intellectual power,
and I cannot help wondering that such a story could so influence you."

"No, honestly, I do not think I am a fool, and, believe me, I have read
and studied, as few men have, in order to free myself from the fear
that possesses me. Look at me! I look sixty years of age, and yet I
am only fifty. Fear and dread have made me old. Naturally, I am fond
of society, but an invisible presence, which always seems to confront
me, makes me live alone, without friends, without companionship."

"Will you tell me the sequel of what I have read, then?" I said,
anxiously, for I was greatly interested.

"Yes, I will tell you as plainly as I can. It is said that my
grandfather--the writer of the confessions--died a terrible death, and
that dread thoughts ever haunted him. Of that, however, I cannot speak
authoritatively."

"I do not believe it," I said. "No one who reads the closing words of
his confession could believe such a thing. Nay, I feel sure his end
was peace."

"Well, it may be so; I hope it is. But directly after his death my
grandfather's brother, the Wilfred he speaks so much about, sent for my
father. What he said to him I do not know, but from that time he
became as one possessed of the devil. He married, and although his
wife was my mother, and it is hard to say it, she made his life
terrible to bear. They had several children, all of whom died at an
early age, excepting me. Everything to which my father put his hand,
seemed accursed, and every life he touched he blighted. Although,
before he died, my grandfather had put the property on a firm and
secure basis, my father, in spite of himself, let a great deal of it
slip out of his hands. Disappointed in life, he drifted away into sin,
and died with his mouth full of curses, a raving maniac. After his
death I of course succeeded him. True, I do not need money, but a
great part of the estate is gone, while the whole of the Morton estate
has passed from my hands."

"To whom?"

"To the other branch of the family. Before my father's death, Wilfred
had secured the whole of my grandmother's estate, and a great deal of
mine," as he spoke his eyes lit up with an angry flash.

"And does the enmity still exist?"

"Ay, does it? Man, I tell you the hatred is not one-sided now. I have
prayed to love, and I cannot; if hatred can make a man liable to come
under a curse,