The Fall of the House of Usher | Page 9

now, some days of bitter grief having elapsed, an observable
change came over the features of the mental disorder of my friend. His
ordinary manner had vanished. His ordinary occupations were
neglected or forgotten. He roamed from chamber to chamber with
hurried, unequal, and objectless step. The pallor of his countenance had
assumed, if possible, a more ghastly hue--but the luminousness of his
eye had utterly gone out. The once occasional huskiness of his tone was
heard no more; and a tremulous quaver, as if of extreme terror,
habitually characterized his utterance. There were times, indeed, when I
thought his unceasingly agitated mind was labouring with some
oppressive secret, to divulge which he struggled for the necessary
courage. At times, again, I was obliged to resolve all into the mere
inexplicable vagaries of madness, for I beheld him gazing upon
vacancy for long hours, in an attitude of the profoundest attention, as if
listening to some imaginary sound. It was no wonder that his condition
terrified--that it infected me. I felt creeping upon me, by slow yet
certain degrees, the wild influences of his own fantastic yet impressive
superstitions.
It was, especially, upon retiring to bed late in the night of the seventh or
eighth day after the placing of the lady Madeline within the donjon,
that I experienced the full power of such feelings. Sleep came not near
my couch--while the hours waned and waned away. I struggled to
reason off the nervousness which had dominion over me. I endeavoured
to believe that much, if not all of what I felt, was due to the bewildering
influence of the gloomy furniture of the room--of the dark and tattered

draperies, which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising tempest,
swayed fitfully to and fro upon the walls, and rustled uneasily about the
decorations of the bed. But my efforts were fruitless. An irrepressible
tremor gradually pervaded my frame; and, at length, there sat upon my
very heart an incubus of utterly causeless alarm. Shaking this off with a
gasp and a struggle, I uplifted myself upon the pillows, and, peering
earnestly within the intense darkness of the chamber, hearkened-- I
know not why, except that an instinctive spirit prompted me--to certain
low and indefinite sounds which came, through the pauses of the storm,
at long intervals, I knew not whence. Overpowered by an intense
sentiment of horror, unaccountable yet unendurable, I threw on my
clothes with haste (for I felt that I should sleep no more during the
night,) and endeavoured to arouse myself from the pitiable condition
into which I had fallen, by pacing rapidly to and fro through the
apartment.
I had taken but few turns in this manner, when a light step on an
adjoining staircase arrested my attention. I presently recognized it as
that of Usher. In an instant afterwards he rapped, with a gentle touch, at
my door, and entered, bearing a lamp. His countenance was, as usual,
cadaverously wan--but, moreover, there was a species of mad hilarity
in his eyes--an evidently restrained hysteria in his whole demeanour.
His air appalled me--but anything was preferable to the solitude which I
had so long endured, and I even welcomed his presence as a relief.
"And you have not seen it?" he said abruptly, after having stared about
him for some moments in silence--"you have not then seen it?--but,
stay! you shall." Thus speaking, and having carefully shaded his lamp,
he hurried to one of the casements, and threw it freely open to the
storm.
The impetuous fury of the entering gust nearly lifted us from our feet. It
was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly
singular in its terror and its beauty. A whirlwind had apparently
collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent and violent
alterations in the direction of the wind; and the exceeding density of the
clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the house) did

not prevent our perceiving the lifelike velocity with which they flew
careering from all points against each other, without passing away into
the distance. I say that even their exceeding density did not prevent our
perceiving this--yet we had no glimpse of the moon or stars--nor was
there any flashing forth of the lightning. But the under surfaces of the
huge masses of agitated vapor, as well as all terrestrial objects
immediately around us, were glowing in the unnatural light of a faintly
luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation which hung about
and enshrouded the mansion.
"You must not--you shall not behold this!" said I, shudderingly, to
Usher, as I led him, with a gentle violence, from the window to a seat.
"These appearances, which bewilder you, are merely electrical
phenomena not uncommon--or it may be