Strange Visitors | Page 9

culprit stood in the corner, gesticulating violently, but they with
their mortal eyes could not see him. They passed close to him, but their
lighted candles could not reveal the shadowless!
Having satisfied themselves that the room was tenantless, they departed.
Then I approached the unhappy wretch:
"Friend," said I, "let me aid you. Unburden your woo to me; I too have
suffered and am not without sin."
Casting his eyes upon me now for the first time, the man scowled with
dogged sullenness, and said:
"I want no help."
"Nay," said I, "your looks belie your words; come, go with me to my
quiet cottage; there you shall refresh yourself; you shall sleep to-night
in peace."

"Peace!" he repeated scornfully. "I know no peace; nor can I leave this
spot till every eye beholds the horrid deed that I committed here."
"Friend," said I, "tell me the nature of your crime; reveal to me your
secret and your heart will be lighter for it."
"Ha! ha!" he answered, his voice dying away in a low wail. "Look upon
that wall opposite the bed; it will speak better than I can." I looked, and
beheld a faint photograph or impression of the couch, with its
handsome drapery. Upon it reclined the figure of a female, and bending
over her appeared the form of a man, whose livid face and black,
disordered hair I recognized as an unmistakable reflection of the
unfortunate man before me.
"You see that 'the very stones cry out against me,'" said he. "Every
night for two years have I enacted that same scene, and I am held by
some unseen, influence to this baneful spot."
"Tell me your story," said I; "hide nothing--I am your friend."
He ran his thin fingers through his tangled hair, and with a voice husky
with emotion answered:
"I will tell you. Some years ago, when a young man, haughty and
passionate, I had the misfortune to love a girl whose youth and beauty
proved my bane, and in a moment of recklessness I married her. In her
nature were mingled the qualities of the serpent and the dove. She was
my inferior, and I could not own her outwardly nor inwardly as my
wife; but, unhappily for the peace of both, I could not rid myself of her.
I gave her money, but it availed not; she was ignorant, and persisted in
following me." Here the man looked around with a nervous air, as if he
expected to see the unwelcome face peering at him through the
shadows.
"To avoid her," he continued, "I secretly purchased this dwelling,
remote from the place of her abode. There I lived for a brief time,
happy; a new life with loftier purposes dawned upon me; I formed
another attachment--a higher and more noble one.

"One evening as I was walking upon the balcony thinking of my
new-found joys, a figure came creeping up through the shrubbery
towards me. To my amazement it proved to be the girl who claimed
me.
"When I saw her, rage entered my heart, and I felt as if I could
annihilate her. But, suppressing all show of feeling, I went with her into
the house, and appointed her this room for the night. A demoniac idea
had presented itself to my mind; it came unsought, but under the
excitement of the moment it seemed like a good angel of deliverance.
"To further this idea, I lay down beside her. Presently she fell into a
light slumber. At first a slight expression of pleasure played upon her
lips, but ere long the fatigue of her journey overcame her, and she slept
heavily.
"Then," said he, his countenance assuming a convulsive and ghastly
aspect, "I arose on tiptoe, and collecting the heavy comforters and large
downy pillows of the bed, I deliberately piled them on her one upon the
other, and pressing them down with all my gathered force, I stifled her
in her sleep!
"No cry, no groan from my victim betrayed the unhallowed deed, and
before the first dawn of day I was driving furiously over the road to the
river's bank, from which into the watery depth below I threw this
millstone of my life.
"When I drove back the morning had dawned. The daylight seemed to
pry into the secrets of the past night. I would fain shun it--the garish
light disturbed me. The morning sun, which had ever been my delight,
seemed now a mocking imp of curiosity; the house and grounds looked
bare and desolate; a blight had fallen upon their former comeliness.
"A strange fascination again drew me into the chamber which had been
the scene of my crime. When there I re-enacted the last night's work.
The bed and furniture seemed to come toward