settled it finally in his mind, whenever circumstances would permit, to return to this part of the country, and if possible ferret out the secret murder. But of all things in this life man is the least master of the future. He imagines himself the sole director of his own conduct, though nine times in ten his fate is at the mercy of events which he can neither foresee nor control; and nothing is more common in the experience of mankind than success which eventually leads to misery and ruin, or disappointments which conduct to happiness in the end.

The traveller, after a long, tedious journey, arrived at its end only to see his father die and to find himself the heir of one who left nothing behind him but debts which his estate was insufficient to pay. He had gone the way, I will not say of all flesh, but of thousands, yea, hundreds of thousands, of his sanguine countrymen, who, greedy of gain without being misers, so often play double or quits, and in attempting to grow suddenly rich lose all at a single throw. He was utterly ruined by improving his estate with the money and labor of other people instead of his own, and the traveller, finding the case desperate, having declined the heirship of debts which he could not pay, the entire property was sold to the highest bidder. He had to begin the world anew with no other capital than his own exertions, a position which carries with it this advantage, that a man has nothing to lose and everything to gain. How he buffetted with the strong sea of life, alternately rising and sinking; how he labored and struggled in distant lands for that which is considered the great, if not the sole end of human existence, it is not our purpose to relate. Suffice it to say that he returned home after an exile of many years, with a full purse and a shattered constitution, purchased his patrimonial property and set himself down to enjoy the fruits of his sacrifices and exertions, on the spot of his nativity, among the surviving friends of his youth.

Inmured in the cares and turmoils of active life and at a distance from all his former associations, he had long since forgotten the adventure of the old fishing-house, or if he ever recalled it to mind, it was more as a dim, distant vision, than as an actual occurrence, He no longer cherished the determination to investigate the mysterious midnight murder, but contented himself with following his own pursuits and occasionally meddling with those of his neighbors, among whom his opinions carried great weight, for he was a rich man, and had seen much of the world, in countries so entirely different in all respects from his own, that his experience abroad could have no practical application whatever at home.

Among the changes which had taken place in this topsy-turvy New World of ours, during the absence of the traveller, was the appearance of a

very splendid mansion placed in a fine situation about hair a mile from the village, which it overlooked together with an extensive range of country presenting a variety of beautiful scenery. On inquiring, as people naturally do into such matters, he was told that it belonged to a gentleman who had erected it several years after he left home to seek, his fortune and had resided there ever since. Everybody had something to say of the gentleman, as he was called by way of distinction, for he was reported to be immensely rich, lived in great splendor and, as is universally the case, was envied by all his neighbors. Among other particulars he learned that the owner of the splendid mansion was a bachelor, or at least had neither wife nor children; that he had a numerous family of men servants and maid servants, the former of whom wore liveries; that he fared sumptuously every day, had a service of plate, drove a coach and four, and attended very regularly at church. Those who pretended to know most of him however thought, though they could not exactly tell why, that there was something odd or particular about him, they could not exactly tell what, but supposed it originated in his being a bachelor, with no one to control him and rich enough to do as he pleased. All however pronounced him a happy man, for he had wherewithal to buy everything he wanted, and all wished themselves in his place. The only dissentient was a sage old lady of the village, who would take a pinch of snuff, look wise, shake her head and exclaim :

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Well, I don't know. I see him every Sunday at church, but somehow he looks to me as if he didn't like to hear the ten commandments read; and I noticed-for he sits right opposite me-that he never makes any response to that which says Thou shalt do no murder.'"

This excited strange suspicions among her auditors, who thereupon watched the rich gentleman at church and sure enough it was as the old woman said. There is a magnetic telegraph in every country village, a pulsation of news which at the same instant seems to pervade the entire body politic, and from this time the eyes of the whole congregation were fixed on the gentleman, instead of the parson. On one occasion the pastor chose this commandment as his text, and dwelt with eloquent fervor on the enormity of the crime as well as the guilty horror of the perpetrator. In the course of his sermon he happened to fix his eye on the gentleman and was struck with the paleness of his countenance, which at the same time exhibited an expression of the deepest emotion. He attempted to rise as if to leave the church, but sat down again, leaned his head on his hands against the pew, and did not look up again till the service was concluded. Being a simple, kind-hearted, benevolent man, as became his calling, no shadow

of suspicion crossed his mind, and when next day he heard that the gentleman had been seized with a sudden indisposition at church, he thought no more of the matter.

Our traveller, who had seen so much of the world and its inhabitants that he was not anxious to extend his acquaintance, neither sought nor was sought by the owner of the splendid mansion on the hill. It was some time before they met and then accidentally. He had, without exactly knowing why or wherefore, set him down in his own mind as a purse-proud, ostentatious upstart, but found to his surprise, and it may be added to his mortification, that his conversation was agreeable and unaffected, and his deportment that of humility rather than pride. By degrees an intimacy took place between them and they were much together, insomuch that something approaching to friendship gradually grew up between them. At first the traveller saw nothing particular in the conduct and deportment of his new acquaintance, but as their intimacy increased he came at length to notice that he would sometimes, nay often in the midst of a conversation on ordinary subjects, give a sudden start, gaze with a look of deep apprehension on vacancy and appear greatly agitated. If he saw himself observed, he would ascribe it to a nervous affection which sometimes came over him suddenly and was the consequence of a fright in his youth.

The intimacy continued and the friendly feeling increased, when one day it so happened that the traveller called at the splendid mansion and entering, as was now his custom, without ceremony, found the gentleman was not in his usual sittingroom. Supposing he would soon return he took up a newspaper and falling on the catalogue of accidents, crimes and wonders, with which it is customary to regale the amateur, his attention was arrested by the details of the discovery of a murder perpetrated many years ago and now brought to light by a chain of extraordinary circumstances. Some of these details once more recalled to his recollection the night scene at the old fishing-house, to which they bore a striking resemblance in more than one particular, and he sat with the paper in his hand pondering on the subject, when the gentleman came in, looking much disturbed and giving a sudden start as he saw him thus employed.

After the usual salutations, the traveller took occasion to refer to the article in the newspaper he held in his hand, and to state its singular coincidence with an adventure which had happened to him many years ago, of which he related the particulars, omitting, among other things he had forgotten, his warning exclamation. As he proceeded the gentleman became greatly agitated, and ere he had concluded, after a succession of ineffectual efforts to control his emotions, fell back in his chair,

exclaming in agony, "There was another witness besides the All-seeing eye, and that witness has come ! The traveller shuddered with a newly awakened conviction, and ringing for a servant took his departure, almost as much agitated as his friend. All that day and almost all the succeeding night he pondered on the subject, tossed with conflicting feelings and doubting as to the course it became him to pursue toward a man whom he had cherished as a friend, but who he was now convinced was stained with a deep, long concealed crime. He could not doubt for a moment that this wretched man, the envy of all his neighbors, was the guilty actor of the mysterious scene at the old fishing-house; and that, judging from the uncontrollable emotions he had exhibited on the relation of the story, if publicly charged with his crime he would render all other testimony unnecessary by betraying himself. If, however, he should be mistaken in this anticipation, he would be placed in a position equally painful and degrading, in coming forward with an accusation he could not substantiate.

The next morning he learned that the gentleman had been suddenly taken ill of a return of the nervous disorder to which his servants now said he had been long subjected; that at times he exhibited symptoms of mental derangement and occasionally uttered strange exclamations, which nobody could comprehend, but which seemed to refer to some painful circumstance of his former life. His most usual cry was that " The All-seeing eye was upon him and the witness had come." Day after day it was reported he was growing worse and that his agonies increased. The physician visited him often and came forth shaking his head; the good pastor called too, but came forth with clasped hands and eyes cast upward, and the neighbors began to pity the man they had envied so long. Thus matters went on till at the expiration of a fortnight the traveller received a message purporting that the gentleman desired to see him that evening on business of importance, and that he must not fail to come as it was the last time they would ever meet. Thus urged, he determined to comply, and accordingly, when the evening came, he took his way toward the splendid mansion on the hill.

He found the gentleman sitting up in his bed, supported by pillows, his face deadly pale, and his countenance bearing an expression of deep, confirmed despair. He requested him in a feeble voice to close and lock the door and seat himself at his bed-side. After a silence of some minutes, he drew a long breath and, apparently with a mighty effort, addressed the traveller as follows:"I am about to make a full confession of what I feel I have already betrayed by my want of that self-command which the guilty can never tho

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roughly acquire, though ever so hardened by a long course of crime and a long habit of concealI have sought it for almost twenty years, but the effort was vain. Though I believed that my crime had no earthly witness but myself, myself was my own witness and accuser. I knew too that there was one other witness above, and that whenever it suited his purposes he could bring me to justice. But enough of this; let me tell the tale while I have breath to give it utterance."

Here the wretched man paused a moment, as if to gather strength or brace his mind for the crisis, and then proceeded:

"I am the younger of two brothers, both born and bred in a great commercial city, where almost the sole pursuit of every human being was money. From my earliest recollection all I saw and all I heard was calculated to impress upon my mind a belief that money constituted the sole means of happiness as well as the only reward of a life of perpetual slavery. My parents contributed to strengthen this common but dangerous illusion, by holding up to me daily, not merely the necessity of labor and economy as the means of acquiring those comforts of life which are indispensable as is supposed to the very existence of civilized man, but as the sole medium for the acquisition of distinction among men. They pointed out to me at the same time examples of more than one person who had acquired enormous riches, either by preying on the necessities of others, resorting to every artifice of superior cunning, or by withholding from their fellow-creatures those offices of charity and good neighborhood enjoined upon all, at the same time holding them up as objects of emulation and envy, on account of the influence they exercised in the community by their superior wealth. Thus was I early imbued with an exaggerated idea of the value of money, which has been the bane of my life and the parent of my crime.

"I will not enter on the particulars of my early youth farther than to say that all my thoughts and actions were directed to one sole object, the acquisition of wealth. Yet I was not a miser, who acquires money only for the sake of hoarding it. My object was the gratification of my pride, my vanity and my ambition, and I sought it as the sole means of rioting in luxury, splendor and power. My elder brother married, while I was yet a boy, a rich heiress, whose property being principally in lands, he took up his residence in the country, where his wife brought him an only son, and quitted this life almost at the same moment she had given life to another.

brought up in the country and imbued if possible with a taste for a country life, for reasons which he enumerated, as well as that I would quit the city for the purpose of living with him and superintending his education; I have fulfilled his wishes—” he exclaimed, falling back and covering his face with his hands. Recovering himself he proceeded:

"To make it worth my while to relinquish the pursuits, or rather pursuit in which I was engaged, my brother bequeathed me a handsome property, quite sufficient to satisfy one not devoured by the insatiate cravings of avarice. Accordingly I left the city and established myself in the fine mansion you probably saw, when-when-but no matterwe shall come to that too soon. My little nephew, who was called Leonard after me, was a fine, manly, intelligent, good-tempered boy, but had one peculiarity. He was a somnambulist, and one of an extraordinary class. He would sometimes get up at night and perform a task set him by his teacher, without knowing any thing about it in the morning, and carry on a regular, connected conversation in his sleep, totally unconscious at the time, and of which he afterward had not the least recollection. He was very fond of a boat while awake; was much given to rambling in the night, especially by moonlight, in his sleep, and on such occasions never failed to find his way to the river, which ran at the foot of the lawn in front of the house, where a boat was always moored. After rowing about till he was tired, he would return to his bed, awaking in the morning without the least recollection of his excursion. The infirmity seemed to increase with his years, insomuch that it became necessary to lock his chamber at night.

"But I dally on my way, like a guilty coward as I am, afraid to face the crime I was not afraid to perpetrate. The accursed thirst of gold, which had become a part of my nature, was rather aggravated than allayed by the liberal bequest of my brother. I was perpetually gloating over the idea of the far more splendid fortunes of my nephew and that were it not for him they would be mine. By degrees I became so accustomed to these contempla-tions, I could not banish them a moment from my mind. They occupied my waking hours, they beset me in my sleep, they haunted my dreams, and at length I saw nothing, I felt nothing but that between myself and the object of all my wishes there was nothing but this boy. 'Oh! that he would but follow his parents!' did I often mentally exclaim. But he continued to live and to exhibit more and more every year the frame and complexion of a long life of health, so that I had little hope of surviving him. Then-I know not precisely when or how-but at length the fiend that had beset me all my life whispered me cautiously and at a distance, as it were, that-that-all did not die a natural

death, and that there were various modes of anticipating the course of nature. In justice to myself. I declare that the first time and many times after when this idea presented itself to my mind, clothed in a sort of shadowy obscurity and yet without form or substance, I turned from it with dismay and horror. It was however a distant kinsman to the wish I had so long cherished that the boy would die, and in spite of myself-pshaw! why do I descend to such wretched cant? It was not in spite of myself, for it rests with man to repress forever if he will such wicked suggestions. It is sufficient to say that it did return, and that at every return it came divested of a portion of its horrors. At length-I feel I must be brief-at length it became familiar, and finally my constant companion. The next step was inevitable. began to con over, as a sort of abstraction, the various means by which such a deed-if really seriously meditated-might be accomplished without danger of discovery. The result of this series of approaches toward actual crime was that the difficulty became at length the only obstacle to its commission.

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But the means for the commission of crime are sure to present themselves when the mind is properly prepared, and if we suffer ourselves to think evil too long we almost always end in doing evil. One night-it was the night you passed at the old fishing house-after the wrath of Heaven seemed to have been let loose in the skies, and nature appeared falling into convulsions-you saw me do the accursed deed which I believed no mortal eye but mine had looked upon. A rural ball was to take place at a village some miles distant, at which my servants requested they might be present. A sudden thought struck me. I gave them all permission without exception, and they were allowed to stay till morning. Leonard and myself would thus be left alone together; I would forget to lock his door; he would wander forth as usual down to the river, enter the boat--and then-yes then I might consummate my crime, and not only entail on myself a life of misery in this world, but of perdition in that to come.

"I have said that the perpetual contemplation of the crime had at length familiarized it to my mind and divested it of a great portion of its atrocity. I therefore proceeded with all the cool wariness of a practised villain. I loosed a piece of whipcord that was strapped round a large box of old trumpery I had brought from the city, which had lain in the garret unopened; and when it became dark, and before the rising of the moon, went down to the boat-house, where I fastened it to a heavy stone which I placed in the stern of the boat. I then returned, and when the usual time came, conducted Leonard to his chamber, waited till he had said his prayers, bade him good

night and locked him in as usual. After sufficient time had elapsed to ensure his being asleep, I proceeded cautiously around to the rear of the house, where his room was situated, and softly shoved up a window which opened within about three feet of the ground, out of which I felt assured he would make his escape.

The hours passed from that time to the period when the poor deluded victim would come to act under the influence of his infirmity seemed as if they would never end, and if at any moment I had faltered in my purpose this delay served to increase my impatience. I sat hid in the shrubbery in the garden, whence I had a view of the window of his room, watching like a midnight beast of prey for my victim, and my impatience increased almost to agony when the storm you may remember came on and for a time drove me into the house. When it had cleared up, I again resumed my post and in a little while had the satisfaction-yes, the satisfaction! to see the poor boy come forth to meet his doom. I followed him cautiously as he proceeded according to his usual habit down to the riverside, and while making his preparations looked cautiously around in every direction. Up and down the river there was not a vessel to be seen. Not a light glimmered along the shore or in the houses on the side where ours was situated, and you may remember the opposite one was without one for some miles. Leonard, having made his preparations, stepped into the boat and took his seat on the bench while I quietly placed myself in the stern, where I had previously deposited the cord with a large stone at one end and a slipping noose at the other. He rowed himself out into the river round the high bluff, where the water was several fathoms deep. I stepped cautiously toward him, placed the slipping noose over his head-and-and-you' know the rest--though at that moment I thought no one saw me. Quick-quick--give me that glassI am dying!" exclaimed the wretched man, as he fell once more back on his pillow. The traveller obeyed; he drank and in a few moments recovered sufficiently to pursue his story.

As with guilty haste I rowed back to the boathouse, I gazed around, and seeing or hearing nothing living, said to myself" No one has seenno one can witness against me. But you had seen me, and there was another witness besides, for at that moment I heard a voice that seemed to come from the Heavens exclaim close to my ear, The All-seeing eye is upon you!' I looked upward toward the moon, which was then shining bright in the skies, and thought I saw that eye bent brightly and sternly on me. I shuddered, and for a moment or two the oars remained motionless in my hands; but the instinct of guilt at length roused me to exertion. I gained the shore, let the boat adrift, threw the oars into the river, returned

to the house and went to bed, but not to sleep. I heard only a repetition of the accusing voice and saw nothing but that bright menacing eye.

"The morning at length came and the servants returned by dawn of day. The sun rose, and the hour for arousing Leonard having arrived, the person who usually performed that office came running to me with staring eyes to say he was not there and the window standing wide open. I acted my part to the life. I despatched the servants in every direction and took an active agency in the search. But the boy could not be found, and the boat too was missing from her usual moorings. As the search was extended, it was found ashore some miles below. The oars too were picked up not far off, and the universal conclusion was that Leonard had sallied out in his sleep through the window-had taken to the boat as was his custom and by some accident fallen overboard. I caused the strictest investigation to be made into all the circumstances and every practicable mode, save one, to be used for the discovery of the body, which as you may suppose was never found.. Not a shadow of suspicion ever rested on me. I took possession of the estate, and the long cherished wish of my heart was fulfilled.

"And verily, verily it brought with it its due reward. From that hour I have never, either in my waking or sleeping, enjoyed a moment of happiness by day or balmy rest at night. The awful warning and the menacing eye have followed me everywhere and been ever present. Years passed away, and by a succession of what the world calls good fortune my wealth increased till my appetite became almost gorged. I had, not long after the commission of my crime, removed to the city, for I could not bear the contemplation of the scene of my villainy, and the silence of the country only rendered the warning voice more audible. Here I plunged deep into the vortex of business, in the delusive hope that the acquisition of gain would relieve me from the consciousness of guilt and the presence of man shield me from the vengeance of God.

But it would not be. The impression made by the warning voice and the menacing eye became every day stronger, until at length what might at first have been only a phantom conjured up by guilt became to me a sad reality. Whenever I was alone, and most especially whenever the moon shone bright, I heard that voice and saw that bright, threatening All-seeing eye bent upon

to persuade myself that the influence, the splendor and the enjoyment of wealth had made me really an object of envy, because I was envied by the world. But vain is all such miserable sophistry. Nor power, nor wealth, nor sensual enjoyments, nor the gratification of vanity and pride, nor the envy and admiration of the world, can sweeten a life of guilty fears. I was beset by avenging fiends. The All-seeing eye was fixed upon me. When standing before a mirror, I saw it gazing over my shoulder; when I looked into vacancy by day or by night it flashed before me; it peopled the moonlight nights, and when I closed my eyes to shut it out, it seemed inclosed within my eyelids, brighter than before. When I laid my head down on my pillow the first salutation was ever, "The All-seeing eye is upon thee!'-and so it was, scaring away sleep, glaring more fiercely in my dreams, and wakening me to new horrors.

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Apprehensive that I might excite suspicion by some time or other betraying the state of my mind in the presence of the throng with which I associated, I at length sought a place of retirement with the purpose of escaping as much as possible the prying eyes of men. I thought I found it in this remote region. But I could not escape from myself, and solitude, though it might screen me from observation, only brought with it a new accession of remorse and fear. At length you came and I formed an acquaintance with the only living witness of my crime. The very means I had taken to avoid discovery have brought my guilt to light.

But I could never have recognized you," interrupted the traveller.

No matter, I was known to the All-seeing eye, and you have been made the instrument of discovery."

The traveller thought for a moment and then added, But I will not betray you. Years have passed away, and though you have escaped the justice of man, you have been punished by the vengeance of Heaven. Live to repent, and if you cannot atone for your crime to the dead, make use of your boundless wealth to relieve the sufferings of the living."

"It is all in vain. The period is past. My days are numbered and the vengeance of Heaven denies me even the opportunity for atonement."

"You are mistaken, sir. You can at least bequeath the means of alleviating human suffering."

"What!" exclaimed the wretched man," What, when I can no longer enjoy the fruits of my crime, shall I attempt to bribe the justice of Heaven by bestowing them on others? No! I am doomed. Nothing can save me. Repentance comes too late. A few hours or days of snivelling fears, miscalled by that name, cannot make atonement. I desired your presence as the only mortal witness