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Article BROTHERLY LOVE. ← Page 6 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brotherly Love.
Simon lost no time in having him conveyed to the castle , which he reached just as the last of the revellers had retired from the banquet room , which still smelt strongly of the fumes of wine .
CHAPTER XII . —THE MANIAC ' NARRATIVE . Though Ida expected to hear little more than the outpourings of remorse , or the incoherencies of a disordered imagination , still she kept her promise with the Maniac , and repaired to the Mount early the next day . She found him seated on the fragment of a rock , with a roll of paper in
his hand . He accosted her with more than usual sadness , but he appeared perfectly collected and rational . When she had seated herself by his side he said , "I have invited you , Ida , to hear my tale , which I have committed to paper in calmer moments . I know that long before it is concluded , ! shall have inspired you with horrorand that you will recoil from me with
, loathing . I intended to have deferred my narrative until my ( lying hour , for then I would have no necessity for your sympathy , or for your society , which lias been the only thing in existence that has afforded ' me pleasure since my abode here . But something impels me to make my disclosures
now , for something tells me I am on the threshold of eternity , that perhaps only a few hours are alloted to me , for this temple of madness has long been crumbling to decay . Look , Ida , " he said , baring his arm , which was worn to a skeleton , "look , and see if this wretched frame can long survive . Weep not , my child , for death will be a release ; and can the Infinite doom to eternal torment , one ' who has known no peace for years ,
and whose waking and sleeping moments have been haunted by a phantom of horror , that lias frequently tempted me to fling myself over this precipice ? Ida , I have loved you like my own child . Your kindness has caused to flow the iiist tear my seared brain could shed for years , and that afforded me a temporary relief . I do not ask you not to " loathe me , but before I commence , will you promise that you will not retain resentment to my son , who , though morose and wayward , is guiltless of his father ' s faults ? Will you promise this as though you were speaking to
a dying man ? " Yes , " said Ida , earnestly , " yes , I promise it most solemnly . " " Then I shall proceed , " he said , and unfolding the manuscript , he read the following , which was frequently interrupted by bursts of anguish , which wc have omitted , for , by this time , the reader must have a clear insight into the mental tortures he was enduring .
" Would you have ever thought that the wretched being who now addresses you , was once an object of the world ' s worship , the possessor of rank and wealth , to whom the incense of adulation was daily offered , by the venal parisites of prosperity ? Can you believe that I , whose latter associations have been only the rugged rock , the wild brambles and the mouldering oak , and whose only animated visitants are the snail , or the worm that crawls by my abode , that I have mixed with the noblelest and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brotherly Love.
Simon lost no time in having him conveyed to the castle , which he reached just as the last of the revellers had retired from the banquet room , which still smelt strongly of the fumes of wine .
CHAPTER XII . —THE MANIAC ' NARRATIVE . Though Ida expected to hear little more than the outpourings of remorse , or the incoherencies of a disordered imagination , still she kept her promise with the Maniac , and repaired to the Mount early the next day . She found him seated on the fragment of a rock , with a roll of paper in
his hand . He accosted her with more than usual sadness , but he appeared perfectly collected and rational . When she had seated herself by his side he said , "I have invited you , Ida , to hear my tale , which I have committed to paper in calmer moments . I know that long before it is concluded , ! shall have inspired you with horrorand that you will recoil from me with
, loathing . I intended to have deferred my narrative until my ( lying hour , for then I would have no necessity for your sympathy , or for your society , which lias been the only thing in existence that has afforded ' me pleasure since my abode here . But something impels me to make my disclosures
now , for something tells me I am on the threshold of eternity , that perhaps only a few hours are alloted to me , for this temple of madness has long been crumbling to decay . Look , Ida , " he said , baring his arm , which was worn to a skeleton , "look , and see if this wretched frame can long survive . Weep not , my child , for death will be a release ; and can the Infinite doom to eternal torment , one ' who has known no peace for years ,
and whose waking and sleeping moments have been haunted by a phantom of horror , that lias frequently tempted me to fling myself over this precipice ? Ida , I have loved you like my own child . Your kindness has caused to flow the iiist tear my seared brain could shed for years , and that afforded me a temporary relief . I do not ask you not to " loathe me , but before I commence , will you promise that you will not retain resentment to my son , who , though morose and wayward , is guiltless of his father ' s faults ? Will you promise this as though you were speaking to
a dying man ? " Yes , " said Ida , earnestly , " yes , I promise it most solemnly . " " Then I shall proceed , " he said , and unfolding the manuscript , he read the following , which was frequently interrupted by bursts of anguish , which wc have omitted , for , by this time , the reader must have a clear insight into the mental tortures he was enduring .
" Would you have ever thought that the wretched being who now addresses you , was once an object of the world ' s worship , the possessor of rank and wealth , to whom the incense of adulation was daily offered , by the venal parisites of prosperity ? Can you believe that I , whose latter associations have been only the rugged rock , the wild brambles and the mouldering oak , and whose only animated visitants are the snail , or the worm that crawls by my abode , that I have mixed with the noblelest and