The Ingoldsby Legends; or, Mirth and MarvelsIngoldsby, Thomas
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The Ingoldsby Legends; or, Mirth and Marvels
Ingoldsby, Thomas
English fiction -- 19th century; English poetry -- 19th century; English wit and humor; Humorous poetry, English
Mary Graham, it appears, died the same night. Before her departure
she repeated to my friend the singular story she had before told him,
without any material variation from the detail she had formerly given.
To the last she persisted in believing that her unworthy lover had
practised upon her by forbidden arts. She once more described the
apartment with great minuteness, and even the person of Francis's
alleged companion, who was, she said, about the middle height,
hard-featured, with a rather remarkable scar upon his left cheek,
extending in a transverse direction from below the eye to the nose.
Several pages of my reverend friend's manuscript are filled with
reflections upon this extraordinary confession, which, joined with
its melancholy termination, seems to have produced no common effect
upon him. He alludes to more than one subsequent discussion with the
surviving sister, and piques himself on having made some progress in
convincing her of the folly of her theory respecting the origin and
nature of the illness itself.
His memoranda on this and other subjects are continued till about the
middle of September, when a break ensues, occasioned, no doubt, by
the unwelcome news of his grandson's dangerous state, which induced
him to set out forthwith for Holland. His arrival at Leyden was, as
I have already said, too late. Frederick S---- had expired, after
thirty hours' intense suffering, from a wound received in a duel
with a brother student. The cause of quarrel was variously related;
but according to his landlord's version it had originated in some
silly dispute about a dream of his antagonist's, who had been the
challenger. Such, at least, was the account given to him, as he said,
by Frederick's friend and fellow-lodger, W----, who had acted as
second on the occasion, thus acquitting himself of an obligation of the
same kind due to the deceased, whose services he had put in requisition
about a year before on a similar occasion, when he had himself been
severely wounded in the face.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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