New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-08-23


/ to study. the honors won-and the suRse.
quent connection with Drexel d Banked
believe few young men enter life with
brighter prospects than mine appeared to
the world to be-. If ! was not passi0nately
in love with Jenny Featherst0naugh GER
tainly admired her, and there at that time
appeared to be ne bar to our marriage.
"You know, perhaps, that it was one of
the pet schemes of my aunt C0rnelia Bios
som s-life to bring about this union, and it
promised through her to be one Of indepen.
dence as well as happiness to me. But
threw up my connection with Drexel d
Banks, broke off the match with Miss
Festherstonaugh, abandoned all intention
of earning name ut the bar; mortally
offended my aunt, and was cut Oh with q
shilling, and finally married my or rather
my aunt's housekeeper, aud turned my
back on the world, becoming, in fact,
recluse. But committed no crime. l was
not the victim Of bOyish passion. was
not dissipated, demented, or dull. l was
pursued by an invisible fiend more dread
| full than the malign monsters that torment
ed our race in the days Of superstition. Do
you remember the morning before We left
| college, when you came into my room and,
| struck by something in my face, asked me
with sudden alarm what had happened?"
81 remember it distinctly l replied.
"Your looks appalled, me-"
II have NO doubt of it. That was my
| first acquaintance with the fiend."
For Gods sake, Melton, explain your
self can not comprehend you," cried.
He smiled q curiOusly sad smile, and pro-
ceeded in his deliberate way:
"You shall understand. My story is one
| of terror, but hardly of mystery. / had
been seriously Overworked that year, and
long before that day curious symptoms of
| what conceived to be cerebral disorder
| had made themselves felt. They took the
| form of what we call Familiarity absence of
| mind though they were not fits of
abstraction, but rather moments of blank
Inconsistencies. The first attack was
about six weeks previous to our breaking
up. 1 was out walking and studying in
Marks grove. 1t was just nine O'Clock, tor
was in the act of putting my watch in
my pocket, when an awful sensation crepr
over me of moral fear Something was
taking place in my body which made my
sOul shudder, but which affected none OF my
senses I was conscious, to speak properly,
but was devoid of physical sensation. And
leaving me. 1t is very difficult to make you
understand by words the exact physical
condition which ensued. My reason went
out, if you will allow me to use the express
sion. stood there in the wood transfxed
with horror, and a vain struggle Of the will
tore me at the same time. All knowledge
of events and of the external world passed
away, and nothing remained but the cloudy
cOgnition Of my condition. l know now
that kept saying over to myself with
q gasping, automatic ferceness, as if
to preserve my sense of identity,
Here I am, walking between these.
trees. Here I am, here I am But it
availed nothing. A blank supervened.
in which there were dim, ftful CLEANS of
something having gone from me forever.
When recovered myself looked about
and tried to recall how got there. 1t was
some moments before my mind recovered
its normal action. This, then. l said to
myself, is incipient idiocy. No one can IN
derstand the horror it left upon me. l
knew that had overtasked my brain, and
flung my books away, redoubling my ex-
ercise in the open air. ard asking permis
sion, as you will remember, to absent my
tacks, however, became periodical, and
when you discovered nae in my room that
morning l was just waking up to the fact
that rGs in that room For long time
afterward the apprehension OF my danger
and the constant fear that in one OF these
spells would pass beyond the power of
recovery, untitled me for any of the active
duties of life.
"When came to the city lived at my
aunt's house. She was still rather gay
society woman, and l was thrown into
fashionable circle, which. althoughdistaste-
full to me, helped to wean me from my mel
ancholy intrOspectiOn. 1t was during the
interval of social relaxation that l discov-
cred how frivolous and hollow Miss
Featherstonaugh wac. l think we felt
deep contempt Tor each other before / had
been there week. But We both concealed
it for polite reasons.
''There was in my aunt's house girl en-
ployed originally as a chambermaid; a
stout, healthy country girl, with red cheeks
and round dimpled arms, and q hearty
laugh that rang through the mansion and
had q strange charm for me. Owing to her
own clevernsss and honesty, as much az to
nv aunt's need of such person, she be.
came the hOusekeeper. Her name was
Judy, but that atrocity had been sottened
into Ju, and it was only as Ju that knew
her for a long time. From the moment
that became an inmate of the place this
girl attached herself to me with petina-.
ciOus devotion that was remarkable. Under
stand me, it was the modest, respectful at
tachment of sincere friend. She appear
ed to comprehend by some instinct of her
own, and almost Immediately, the exact
discrepancy that existed between myself
and the people around me, and she man
aged the affairs of the house in such man
0er tl6G Q1y t8SUe6 were Quietly CO0Sult6O
and many of my whims gratifed.
1.-THE girl kept out of my sight as much as
possible, but she exerted an influence over
me not Of an amOrOus, but Of a vital kind.
There was q wholesome June flavor to her |
that refreshed me. used to open my
chamber of mornings, when she was bust |
lihg about the house, to listen to her laugh, |
for in it there was a subtle suggestion Of |
health that was like the magnetism of out |
doors. Whenever l came home late, no mat |
ter what the hour, was sure that she had
been waiting for me to come in. Whether it |
was one of the phases of q valetudinarian |
weakness or the natural selishness of a |
hyper sensitive man / can not tell, but this |
loyalty pleased me. Well, the |
summer came on. 1t was now generally I'M |
derstOod that was to marry Miss Feather |
stonaugh. My aunt went off to Cape May,
where IprOmised to join her later in the sea-
son, and flung myself into the mysteries of |
the law. No sooner had l recommended my |
studies than my mental troubles returned. |
One morning l went to my window to pull
up the shade, preparatory to dressing.
There was Q church clock visible from the |
window, and / noticed that it was nine /
D clock to the minute as drew up the cur
tain. Then my tit came on. l despair of
making you understand the nature Of it, or
the intensity of my agony before and after
It. l suppose that not more than three
seconds elapsed between the lifting of my
hand and the full paralysis of all my
powers But in that instant of time suf-
Tered an eternity of terror. There / stood,
with only q dull, icy consciousness that
could not take my arm down, and that life
sOr me was suspended. Nor was this i'm
paired consciousness continuous. 1t seemed
% return after long, long intervals of utter
extinction, like the glimmer OF distant
iphf IN faohjv irrodiata for a no FIJI |