"'Fiend!' cried I in frenzy; 'devil in human shape!—do you seek me in the body? What want you here?'
"His features were pale with excitement, and his lips quivered as he made answer: 'Be calm, Algernon, be calm; it was meant but in jest!'
"'Jest!' screamed I; 'do you then own to a knowledge of it, villain?—were you its author?—then take that, and answer it as you dare!'—and as I spoke, with the breech of my undischarged pistol, I stretched him senseless at my feet. Under the excitement of the moment, I was about to take a more terrible revenge; when others suddenly rushed in—seized and disarmed me—bore my rival from my sight—and, to conclude, placed me in bed, where I was confined for three weeks by a delirious fever, and then only recovered as it were by a miracle.
"During my convalescence, I learned that my cousin, soon after my return, had been privately married to Elvira; and prompted by his evil genius, and some of my enemies, had induced his wife to enter into the plot, the result of which has already been briefly narrated. I do not think she did it through malice, and doubtless little thought of the consequences that were destined to follow; but whether so or not, her punishment has, I think, been fully adequate to her crime; for the last I heard of her, she was an inmate of a mad-house—remorse for her conduct, the abuse heaped upon her by society, and her own severe fright at the termination of the stratagem, having driven her insane. Now comes the most tragic part of my narrative.
"When so far recovered as to again be abroad, I was cautioned by my parents against my rash act; and for their sakes, I promised to be temperate in all my movements; but, alas! how little we know when we promise, what we may be in sooth destined to perform. On my father's estate, about a mile distant from his residence, was a beautiful grove—whither, for recreation, I was in the habit of repairing at all periods of my life; and where, so soon as my strength permitted, after my sickness, I rambled daily. About ten days from my recovery, as I was taking my usual stroll through these grounds, I was suddenly confronted by my cousin. His cheeks were hollow and pale, and his whole appearance haggard in the extreme. His eyes, too, seemed to flash, or burn, as it were, with an unearthly brightness; and his voice, as he addressed me, was hoarse, and his manner hurried.
"'We meet well,' he said, 'well! I have watched for you long.'
"'Away!' cried I; 'tempt me no more—or something will follow I may regret hereafter!'
"'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed he, in derision, with that peculiar, hollow sound, which even now, as I recall it, makes my blood run cold:—'Say you so, cousin?—I came for that;' and again he laughed as before. 'See here—see here!' and he presented, as he spoke, with the butts toward me, a brace of pistols. 'Here is what will settle all our animosities,' he continued; 'take your choice, and be quick, or perchance we may be interrupted.'
"'Are you mad,' cried I, 'that you thus seek my life, after the wrongs you have done me?'
"'Mad!—ha, ha!—yes!—yes!—I believe I am,' he answered; 'and my wife is mad also. I did you wrong, I know—went to apologise for it, and you struck me down. Whatever the offence, a blow I never did and never will forgive; so take your choice, and be quick, for one or both of us must never quit this place alive.'