mall
flask of gunpowder, in the neck of which he inserted a straw filled with
the same combustible; and in the end of the straw he fastened a small
slip of paper which he had previously prepared with saltpetre. Having
made these arrangements, he placed the powder flask completely in the
victim's abdomen, leaving the slow match to project slightly from the
wound. The Dead Man was perfectly conscious during this horrible
process, notwithstanding he suffered the most excruciating pain.

'You are going to blow me to atoms, Doctor,' he with difficulty
articulated, as a ghastly smile spread over his hideous features--'I
thank you for it; although I hate and curse you in this my dying hour.
Grant me a moment longer; if the spirits of the dead are allowed to
re-visit the earth, _my_ spirit shall visit you! Ha, ha, ha! In a few
seconds, I shall be free from the power of your torture--free to follow
you like a shadow through life, free to preside in ghastly horror over
your midnight slumbers and to breathe constantly in your ear,
curses--curses--curses!'

'Miserable devil, your blood-polluted spirit will be too strongly bound
to hell, to wander on earth,' said the Doctor, with a contempt not
unmingled with pity. 'Farewell, thou man of many crimes; for the wrongs
you have done me, I forgive you, but human and divine justice have
demanded this sacrifice.'

He ignited a match, touched it to the paper at the end of the straw, and
hastily retreated to the further extremities of the room.

It was an awful moment; slowly the paper burnt towards the straw--so
slowly, that the victim of this awful sacrifice had time to vent his
dying rage in malignant curses, on himself, his tormentor, and his
Maker! The straw is reached--the fire runs down to the powder flask with
a low hiss--and then--

Awful was the explosion that followed; the wretch was torn into a
hundred pieces; his limbs, his brains, his blood were scattered all
about. A portion of the mangled carcass struck the Doctor; the lamp was
broken by the shock and darkness prevailed in the room.

The inmates of the house, frightened at the noise, rushed to the scene
of the catastrophe with lights. Frank Sydney, Sophia and Mrs. Franklin,
as well as several other male and female domestics, entering the
apartment, stood aghast at the shocking spectacle presented to their
gaze. There stood the Doctor, with folded arms and his face stained with
blood; here an arm, here, a blackened mass