The blood ran cold upon my heart, and my brain reeled, as again and again I lifted the poison to my closed lips.

'It must be done,' thought I, 'I must drink it.' With a desperate effort I unlocked my clenched teeth and the deed was done! "'O God, have mercy upon me!' I murmured, as the empty glass fell from my hand.

I threw myself upon the bed, and awaited the awful termination.

An age of unutterable misery seemed crowded into a brief moment.

All the events of my past life, a life, as it then seemed to me, made up of folly and crime, rose distinct before me, like accusing witnesses, as if the recording angel had unrolled to my view the full and black catalogue of my unnumbered sins:-- 'O'er the soul Winters of memory seemed to roll, And gather, in that drop of time, A life of pain, an age of crime.' "I felt that what I had done was beyond recall; and the Phantom of Death, as it drew nearer, wore an aspect darker and more terrible.