Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist (A Fragment)

etence. She was without children, and had often expressed her desire that her nephew Frank, whom she always considered as a sprightly and promisi

ne but himself. To me, it was a scheme of ravishing felicity, and to be debarred from it was a source of anguish known to few. I had too much experience of my father's pertinaciousness ever to hope for a change in his views; ye

aturally connect itself with these wishes, and the question could not fail

iever in supernatural tokens. The voice of his wife, who had been many years dead, had been twice heard at midnight whispering at his pillow. I frequently asked myself wh

ot fail to draw after it the vengeance of the deity. My wishes for a time yielded to my fears, but this scheme in proportion as I meditated on it, became more plausible; no other occurred to me so easy

any tedious deliberation. It was easy to gain access to my father's chamber without notice or detection, cautious footsteps and the suppression of breath would place me, unsuspected and unthought of, by hi

we inhabited was slight in its structure, and full of crevices through which the gale found easy way, and whistled in a thousand

to be present and to disapprove my work; I listened to the thunder and the wind, as to the stern voice of t

s intense and I sought with outstretched hands for his bed. The darkness, added to the trepidation of my thoughts, disa

the bed. At this moment lightning flashed into the room: the brightness of the gleam was dazzling, yet it afforded me an exact knowledge of my situation. I had mistaken my way, and discovered that my knees

ined a dread of thunder, and now recoiled, overborne with terror. Never had I witnessed so lumino

exploring my way out of the chamber. Just then a light seen through the window, caught my eye. It was at first weak but speedily increased; no second thought was neces

yself on my father, awakened him by loud cries. The family were speedily roused, and were compelled to remain impotent

ng wholly of wood, and filled with a plenteous harvest. Thus supplied with fuel, and fanned by the wind, the fire raged with incredible fury; meanwhile clouds rolled above, whose blackness was rendered more conspicuous by reflection from the flames; the vast volumes of smoke were dissipated in a mom

ering and obscure, lurked in my mind; something more than a coincidence merely casual, appeared to have subsisted between my situation, at my father's bed side,

hood, but by falsehood only could I elude detection. That my guilt was the offspring of a fatal necessity, that the injustice of others gave it birth and made it unavoidable, afforded me slight consolation. Nothing can be more injurious than a lie, but its evil tendency chiefly respe

ser. On this occasion I expected nothing but arraignment and punishment. Weary of oppression, and hopeless of any change in my father's temper and views, I had formed the resolution of eloping from his house, and of trusting, young as I was, to the cap

the preparation in my power to make, was indeed small; a few clothes, made into a bundle, was the sum of my posses

a stile that led out of the field into a bye path, when my father appeared before me, advancing in an op

under her protection, and had concluded that the plan was proper; if I still retained my wishes on that head, he would readily

expected a change in his maxims.... These I afterwards discovered. Some one had instilled into him fears, that my aunt exasperated at his opposition to her request, respecting the unfortunate Frank, would bequ

eness. I was master of my time, and the chuser of my occupations. My kinswoman on discovering that I entertained no relish for the drudgery of c

mproved it by assiduous exercise; I deeply reflected on the use to which it might be applied. I was not destitute of pure intentions; I delighted not

e, without much solicitude concerning consequences. I sported frequently with the apprehensions of my associates, and threw out a bait for their wo