The Cecil Whig., 1873-03-15

and, but of hundreds of thousands. Even
if he went through the court he would
have to begin the world again; and to be-
gin the world is hard for one at whose fall
the world would rejoice.
l think-of course l cannot know-that
if the natural history of suicide were pro-
perry understood. it would be found that
the state of the body has far more to do
| with the matter than the state of the mind.
To speak in philosophical language, ment-
al anguish may be causa causans, but bod
lily misery is the causa sine qua non: in
other words, both mind and body must be
brought into harmony before the latter will
destroy itself for the sake of the former
! And there is no period at which the real
actual bodily wretchedness of a man who
is inclined to despair is SO complete as dur
ing the early hours of cold dawn after a
long and sleepless night. Reaction and
depression are then at their strongest, and
the very thought of new day is sufficient
to make the idea of life seem insupportable,
even in cases where mental anguish is not
extreme. Even to the exceptionally
healthy, to the exceptionally happy, there is
something unspeakably dreary about the
hours Immediately proceeding sunrise,
when they are numbed with cold and Sleep
lessness. 1t is, in very fact, the hour of
death, when more souls take their depart
ure from earth than at any of the twenty
| four, and when deaths fiend or angel,
whichever he may be, goes about to gather
all the harvest he can before the return of
his eternal enemy, the sun. No wonder,
then, that the ruined speculator called to
mind that among all his chemicals there
must at least be one that, in one moment,
would prevent the return of the sun forev-
er. SO shivering in every limb, he let
himself slide forward from the deep-arm
chair in which he had been sitting until
the disproportioned extremities of his short
legs touched the carpet aud then, stag
gering like man who has just slept off
heavy debauch followed by nightmare,
CROPPED about blindly for the means of strik-
ing a light, by no means an easy task in
the darkness, especially as the downfall of
the table had confused the geography of
the room.
At last, however, he found his way,
though not without having stumbled many
times, or without striking his Sims several
severe blows against pieces of furniture,
that, as is the way with furniture general
ly, had been spending their midnight holi-
day in apparently scattering themselves at
random about the room; and then the light
of lucifer threw it's feeble glimmer over
the general confusion. The first thing
that caught at all events one of his two
eyes was the broken frame that he had
hurled away from him, and that was now
lying at his feet. 1t was the final insult to
his remorse. Instinctively he kicked at it
once more; and then his other eye saw
upon the floor something just family shin
ing with the pale light of glowworm
that had hitherto been covered by the rags
of canvas.
He lighted another lucifer, picked up one
of the candles from it's CONCEALED pool Of
grease, and searched in a cupboard full OF
bottles. In minute or two he stood
ntently regarding phial labelled "Poi-
son."
What another second would have
brought about would have been the visit of
coronor's jury, had not just then the
same spot of pale green light upon the
carpet attracted, nay, unconsciously fasci-
mated, the eye which was not fixed upon
the bottle. 1t is in such moments as these
that men take notice of the very smallest
things.
Mechanically and without thought he
lifted it; mechanically he lifted it up to
the light. 1t was an instance of the
strength of the ruling passion even in
death. Suddenly bright flash seemed to
penetrate from it through his eyes. A
cold shiver, not caused by the outer cold,
ran through him from head to foot, while
the phial of poison fell from his hand and
broke to pieces on the floor. He bore it
frantically to the table; he examined it all
over with the energy of madman; he
turned over books and memoranda; he de-
voted himself 20 its inspection until the
sunlight of a bright frosty morning had
risen and pierced through the cracks of the
shutters. Then he drew a long breath,
rose, and threw them open, till the winter
sun fairly streamed in. The first ray of
daylight flashed back into his brain, trans
formed by what lay upon the table to
rich and glorious green.
II pas the Great Emerald Of Randahdr,
1oorM Sic Million Pounds.