e agitated its placid bosom--no sound--no wind
breathed over its fearful stillness. A lone rock, cold, barren, and
dismal, yet like an oasis in a desert, lifted its gray summit from the
sluggish surface. Upon this he stood, rigid and motionless, like a
marble statue on its pedestal; and, ever and ever, around and above
him, rushed to and fro shadowy forms, upon whose countenances was
engraven unutterable anguish. Suddenly, over the vast and dreary
profound, went the low, deep, muffled tolling of a bell, bursting on
the red air like the knell of hope, peace, and mercy, lost forever to
another soul. As it ceased, the boundless sea of ebbless and
unextinguishable flame, that glowed with a lurid but intolerable light
at his feet, began to uplift in one mighty and unbroken mass.
Slowly--slowly it rose up--up--up, until the liquid fire was frothing,
and the sky and ocean seemed to blend--then flowed back, returned, and
closed hissing around him. A groan, deep, intense, and fearful,
bubbled up in a gush of blood, and echoed in the distance like
fiendish laughter. Higher and higher rose the living flames. They were
about to close over him--his head sunk upon his bosom, and a
voice--the voice of her whom he had murdered, shrieked in his
ear--"THE OCEAN OF REMORSE!"

"A change came o'er the spirit of his dream."

He stood upon the narrow verge of an awful precipice. Night, black,
rayless night, enshrouded the yawning gulf below, save that, ever and
anon, hideous and fleshless forms--skeletons wrought in lurid and
undying flame--strode to and fro within the thick panoply of gloom;
while, at intervals, howls of despair came up from its midst, like
howls from the lips of the damned in hell. With a thrill of horror, he
turned hurriedly from the scene, and cast his despairing eyes
heavenward. In the centre of a massive cloud, burning with the
brilliancy of a summer sunset, appeared a vast city, with domes and
palaces of pearl and ruby, and whose gates were gates of burnished
gold. As he gazed, they were flung open on silent hinges, and a host,
clothed in spotless white, entered their portals, welcomed with
swelling anthems and seraphic songs. Then the toppling precipice began
to reel and stagger beneath his feet--a fierce bright flame burst from
amidst the night below, more brilliant than the sun's intensest ray.
It drank up the darkness, and filled the gulf with liquid fire. It
flashed through his eye-balls like a glance of li