ed for the paper; but Claes had heard the almost whispered
words.

Of a sudden the dying man lifted himself up on his elbows. To his
frightened family his glance was like the flash of lightning. The fringe
of hair above his forehead stood up; every line in his countenance
quivered with excitement, a thrill of passion moved across his face and
made it sublime.

He lifted a hand, which was clenched with excitement, and uttering the
cry of Archimedes--"Eureka!"--fell back with the heaviness of a dead
body, and expired with an agonised groan. His eyes, till the doctor
closed them, expressed a frenzied despair. It was his agony that he
could not bequeath to science the solution of the great riddle which was
only revealed to him as the veil was rent asunder by the hand of Death.

* * * * *

WILLIAM BECKFORD

History of the Caliph Vathek

William Beckford, son of the famous Lord Mayor, was born at
Fonthill, Wiltshire, England, Sept. 29, 1759, and received his
education at first from a private tutor, and then at Geneva.
On coming of age, he inherited a million sterling and an
annual income of L100,000, and three years later he married
the fourth Earl of Aboyne's daughter, Lady Margaret Gordon,
who died in May, 1786. In 1787 Beckford's romance, the
"History of the Caliph Vathek," appeared in its original
French, an English translation of the work having been
published "anonymously and surreptitiously" in 1784. "Vathek"
was written by Beckford in 1781 or 1782 at a single sitting of
three days and two nights. Beckford was a great traveller and
a great connoisseur and collector both of pictures and of
books; and, apart from "Vathek" and some volumes of travels,
he is best known for having secluded himself for twenty years
in the magnificent residence which he built in Fonthill. He
died on May 2, 1844.

_I.--Vathek and the Magic Sabres_

Vathek, ninth caliph of the race of the Abassides, was the son of
Motassem, and the grandson of Haroun al Raschid. From an early accession
to the throne, and the talents he possessed to adorn it, his subjects
were induced to expect that his reign would be long and happy. His
figure was pleasing and majestic; but when he was angry one of his eyes
became so terrible that no person could bear it, and the wretch upon
whom it was fixed instantly fell backward, and somet