International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science - Volume 1, No. 9, August 26, 1850Various
Science
International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science - Volume 1, No. 9, August 26, 1850
Various
Art -- Periodicals; Literature -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
The spirit of D'Effernay had gone to its last account!
It was, indeed, an awful moment. Death in its worst shape was before
them, and a terrible duty still remained to be performed.
Edward's cheek was blanched; his eye had a fixed look, yet he moved
and spoke with a species of mechanical action, which had something
almost ghastly in it. Causing the body to be removed into the house,
he bade the captain summon the servants of the deceased, and then
motioning with his hand to the awe-struck sexton, he proceeded with
him to the churchyard. A few clods of earth alone were removed ere the
captain stood by his friend's side.
Here we must pause. Perhaps it were better altogether to emulate the
silence that was maintained then and afterward by the two comrades.
But the sexton could not be bribed to entire secrecy, and it was a
story he loved to tell, with details we gladly omit, of how Wensleben
solemnly performed his task--of how no doubt could any longer exist
as to the cause of Hallberg's death. Those who love the horrible must
draw on their own imaginations to supply what we resolutely withhold.
Edward, we believe, never alluded to D'Effernay's death, and all the
awful circumstances attending it, but twice--once, when, with every
necessary detail, he and the captain gave their evidence to the legal
authorities; and once, with as few details as possible, when he had an
interview with the widow of the murderer, the beloved of the victim.
The particulars of this interview he never divulged, for he considered
Emily's grief too sacred to be exposed to the prying eyes of the
curious and the unfeeling. She left the neighborhood immediately,
leaving her worldly affairs in Wensleben's hands, who soon disposed
of the property for her. She returned to her native country, with the
resolution of spending the greater part of her wealth in relieving
the distresses of others, wisely seeking, in the exercise of piety
and benevolence, the only possible alleviation of her own deep
and many-sided griefs. For Edward, he was soon pronounced to have
recovered entirely from the shock of these terrible events. Of a
courageous and energetic disposition, he pursued the duties of his
profession with a firm step, and hid his mighty sorrow deep in the
recesses of his heart. To the superficial observer, tears, groans, and
lamentations are the only proofs of sorrow: and when they subside,
the sorrow is said to have passed away also. Thus the captive, immured
within the walls of his prison-house, is as one dead to the outward
world, though the gaoler be a daily witness to the vitality of
affliction.
* * * * *
Paris has been again emptied of its citizens to see M. Poitevin make
his second ascent on horseback from the Champ de Mars. To show that he
was not fastened to his saddle, the idiot, when some hundred yards
up in the air, stood upright on his horse, and saluted the multitude
below with both his hands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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