however, was little elevated above the cheeks; and its hands and feet
felt like those of a boy. At first we thought of placing the being on a
smooth surface and tracing its outlines with chalk, as shoemakers trace
the outline of the foot. This plan was given up as being of no value.
Such an outline would give not the slightest idea of its conformation.

A happy thought struck me. We would take a cast of it in
plaster-of-Paris. This would give us the solid figure, and satisfy all
our wishes. But how to do it. The movements of the creature would
disturb the setting of the plastic covering, and distort the mould.
Another thought. Why not give it chloroform? It had respiratory
organs--that was evident by its breathing. Once reduced to a state of
insensibility, we could do with it what we would. Doctor X---- was sent
for; and after the worthy physician had recovered from the first shock
of amazement, he proceeded to administer the chloroform. In three
minutes afterward we were enabled to remove the fetters from the
creature's body, and a modeller was busily engaged in covering the
invisible form with the moist clay. In five minutes more we had a mould,
and before evening a rough fac-simile of the Mystery. It was shaped like
a man--distorted, uncouth, and horrible, but still a man. It was small,
not over four feet and some inches in height, and its limbs revealed a
muscular development that was unparalleled. Its face surpassed in
hideousness anything I had ever seen. Gustave Dore, or Callot, or Tony
Johannot, never conceived anything so horrible. There is a face in one
of the latter's illustrations to _Un Voyage ou il vous plaira_, which
somewhat approaches the countenance of this creature, but does not equal
it. It was the physiognomy of what I should fancy a ghoul might be. It
looked as if it was capable of feeding on human flesh.

Having satisfied our curiosity, and bound every one in the house to
secrecy, it became a question what was to be done with our Enigma? It
was impossible that we should keep such a horror in our house; it was
equally impossible that such an awful being should be let loose upon the
world. I confess that I would have gladly voted for the creature's
destruction. But who would shoulder the responsibility? Who would
undertake the execution of this horrible semblance to a human being? Day
after day this question was deliberated gravely. The boarders all left
the house. Mrs. Moffat was in despair, and th