The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-10-09
| NADMAN'S MANUSCRIPT 7
BY CHARLES DICKENS.

BY CHARLES DICKENS.
"Yes!-a madman's! How that word would
have struck to my heart. many years ago How
1t would have reused the terror that used to
come upon me sometimes; sending the blood
kissing and tingling through my veins, till
the cold dew of fear stood in large drops upon
my skin, and my knees knocked together with
fright l like it now though. It's a fine
name. Shew mo the monarch whose angry
frown was ever feared like the glare
OF madman's eye-whose cord and AK were
ever half so sure as madman's grippe. Hol
hol It's grand thing to be mad to be peep
ed at like wild lion through the iron bars
to gnash ones teeth and howl, through the
long still night, to the merry ring of heavy
chain-and to roll and Irvine among the straw,
transported with such brave music. Hurrah
for the madhouse! Oh, it's q rare placei
II remember days when i was afraid of
being mad; when L used to start from my
sleep, and fall upon my knees, and pray to DO
spared from the curse of my race; when 1
rushed from the sight of merriment or happi-
ness, to hide myself in some lonely place, and
spend the weary hours in watching the pro-
gress of the fever that was to consume nv
brain. 1 know that madness was mixed up
with my very blood, and the marrow of my
bones; that only one generation had passed
away without the pestilence appearing among
them. and that was the first in whom it
would revive. knew it must be so; that so
1t had always been, and SO it ever would
De; and when l covered in some OBJ
men whisper, and point, and turn their eyos
towards me, knew they were telling each
other of the doomed mailman; and / skunk
away again to NOPE in solitude.
81 did this for years; long, long years they
were. The nights here are long sometimes
very long; but they are nothing to the restless
nights, and dreadful dreams I had at that
time. 1t makes me cold to remember them.
Large dusky forms with sly and jeering faces
crouched in the corner of the room, and bent
NIGHT mi IN IL
ness. They told me in low whispers, that the
floor OF the old house in which my fathers
father died, was stained with his own blood,
shed by his own hand in raging madness.
I drove my fingers into my ears,
but they screamed into my head till
the room rang with it, that in one generation
before him the madness slumbered, but that
his grandfather had lived for years with his
tearing himself to pieces. / knew they told
the TRUTH knew it WELL had found it out
years before, though they had tried to keep it
from me. Ha! hal l was too cunning for
them, mailman as they thought me.
AT last 1t came upon me, and wondered
how 1 could ever have feared it. 1 could go
into the world now, and laugh and shout with
the best among them. / knew was mad, but
they did not even suspect it. How used to
hug myself with delight when 1 thought of
the fine trick | was playing them after their
old pointing and leering, when was not mad,
but only dreading that might one day be-
como sol And how used to laugh for joy,
when was alone, thought how well kept my
would have fallen from me if they
had known the truth. I could have
screamed with ecstasy when I dined alone
with some fine roaring fellow, to think how
pale he would have turned, and how fast he
would have run, if ho had known that the
dear friend who sat close to him. sharpening
bright glittering knife, was O mailman with
all the power, and half the will, to plunge it
in his heart. Oh, it was q merry life
"Riches became mine, wealth poured in
upon me, and | rioted in pleasures enhanced
thousand fold to me by the consciousness of
my well-kept secret. / Inherited an estate.
The law-the eagle-eyed law itself-had been
deceived, and handed over disputed thous-
ands to O madman's hand, Where was the
wit of the sharp-sighted men of sound mind !?
Where the dexterity of tho lawyers, eager to
discover q flaw? The madman's cunning had
over-reached them all.
~ had money. How was courtedl spent
IL profusely, How = was praised! How those
themselves beforeat boS The old wbite-headed
father too--such d. oniS .loe-such respect-such
devoted friendship2r.s' worshipped mel The
old man had daughter, and the young men a
sister and all the five were poor. was rich |;
and when ! married the girl, saw smile OF
triumph play upon the faces of her needy rela-
tives, as they thought of their well-planned
scheme. and their fine prize. 1t was for me to
tear my hair, and roll upon the ground with
shrieks OF merriment. They little thought
they had married her to mailman.
Stay If # they had known It !
A sisters happiness against her husbands
gold. The lightest feather I blow into the
air, against the chain that ornaments my
bodyl
ain one thing was deceived with all my
cunning. If had not been mad-for though
W "a m q Wa
bewildered sometimes-I should have known
that the girl would rather have been placed,
stiff and cold in a dull loaded coffin, than
borne an enyied bride to my rich, glittering
house. / should have known that her heart
was with the dark-eyed boy whose name I
once heard her breathe in her troubled sleep;
and that she had been sacrificed to me, to
relieve the poverty of the old white-headed
man, and the naughty brothers.
IL don't remember forms or faces now, but
l know the girl was beautiful. / know she
was; for in the bright moon light nights,
when I start up from my sleep, and all is quiet
about me, see, standing still and motionless
in one corner of this cell, q slight and wasted
figure, with long, black hair, which, streaming
down her back, stirs with no earthly wind,
and eyes that fix their gaze OIL me, and never
wink or close. Hush the blood chills at my
heart as l write it down. that form is hers
tho face is very pale, and the eyes are CLASSY
bright; but know them well. That figure
never moves; it never frowns and mouths as
others do, that fill this place sometimes; but
it is much more dreadful to me, even than the
spirits that tempted me many years ago-t
comes fresh from the grave; and is so very
death-lke
''For nearly year I saw that face grow
paler; for nearly year saw the tears steal
down the mournful cheeks, and never knew
the cause. found it out at last though. They
could not keep it from me long. She had
never liked me l had never thought she did
she despised my wealth and hated the splendor
in which she lived il had not expected that.
She loved another. This had never thought
Of. Strange feelings came over me, and
thoughts, forced upon me by some secret
power, whirled round and round my brain. /
did not hate her, though hated the boy she
still wept for. 1 pitied-yes, / pited-the
wretched life to which her cold and selfish
relations had doomed her. / knew that she
could not live long, but the thought that before
her death she might give birth TO some ill
fated being, destined to hand down madness
to its offspring, determined me. / resolved to
kill her.
"For many weeks / thought Of poison, and
then of drowning, and then OF fire. A fine
sight the grand house in flames, and the mad
mans wife smouldering away to cinders.
Think Of the jest Of large reward, too, and
of some sane man swinging in the wind for
deed he never did, and all through mad
mans cunning 1 thought often of this, but