51. “Within that chamber,” observed he, “a whole life-time since, did I sit by the death-bed of a goodly young man, who, being now at the last gasp”—
Atmosphere.
52. Apparently there was some powerful excitement in the ideas which had now flashed across his mind. He snatched the torch from his companion’s hand, and threw open the door with such sudden violence that the flame was extinguished, leaving them no other light than the moonbeams, which fell through two windows into the spacious chamber. Note author’s device.It was sufficient to discover all that could be known. In a high-backed oaken armchair, upright, with her hands clasped across her heart, and her head thrown back, sat the “Old Maid in the Winding Sheet.” The stately dame had fallen on her knees, with her forehead on the holy knees of the Old Maid, one hand upon the floor and the other pressed convulsively against her heart. The decision must be inferred.It clutched a lock of hair, once sable, now discolored with a greenish mould. As the priest and layman advanced into the chamber, the Old Maid’s features assumed such a semblance of shifting expression that they trusted to hear the whole mystery explained by a single word. Tone of vagueness to the end.But it was only the shadow of a tattered curtain waving betwixt the dead face and the moonlight.
Climax.
Vague denouement.
53. “Both dead!” said the venerable man. “Then who shall divulge the secret? Methinks it glimmers to and fro in my mind, like the light and shadow across the Old Maid’s face. And now ’tis gone!”
FOR ANALYSIS
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
Son cœur est un luth suspendu;
Sitôt qu’on le touche il résonne.
Beranger.