ong this apartment
had been a sweet and tranquil asylum; I compared its former state with
its present dreariness, and reflected that I now beheld it for the last
time.

Here it was that the incomprehensible behaviour of Carwin was witnessed:
this the stage on which that enemy of man shewed himself for a moment
unmasked. Here the menaces of murder were wafted to my ear; and here
these menaces were executed.

These thoughts had a tendency to take from me my self-command. My feeble
limbs refused to support me, and I sunk upon a chair. Incoherent and
half-articulate exclamations escaped my lips. The name of Carwin was
uttered, and eternal woes, woes like that which his malice had entailed
upon us, were heaped upon him. I invoked all-seeing heaven to drag to
light and to punish this betrayer, and accused its providence for having
thus long delayed the retribution that was due to so enormous a guilt.

I have said that the window shutters were closed. A feeble light,
however, found entrance through the crevices. A small window illuminated
the closet, and the door being closed, a dim ray streamed through
the key-hole. A kind of twilight was thus created, sufficient for the
purposes of vision; but, at the same time, involving all minuter objects
in obscurity.

This darkness suited the colour of my thoughts. I sickened at the
remembrance of the past. The prospect of the future excited my loathing.
I muttered in a low voice, Why should I live longer? Why should I drag a
miserable being? All, for whom I ought to live, have perished. Am I not
myself hunted to death?

At that moment, my despair suddenly became vigorous. My nerves were no
longer unstrung. My powers, that had long been deadened, were revived.
My bosom swelled with a sudden energy, and the conviction darted through
my mind, that to end my torments was, at once, practicable and wise.

I knew how to find way to the recesses of life. I could use a lancet
with some skill, and could distinguish between vein and artery. By
piercing deep into the latter, I should shun the evils which the future
had in store for me, and take refuge from my woes in quiet death.

I started on my feet, for my feebleness was gone, and hasted to the
closet. A lancet and other small instruments were preserved in a
case which I had deposited here. Inattentive as I was to foreign
considerations, my ears were still open to any sound of mysterious
import that should occur. I thought I heard a ste