And then, as a wind from a charnel, was heard its voice.  What it said, what revealed, it is forbidden the lips to repeat, the hand to record.  Nothing save the subtle life that yet animated the frame to which the inhalations of the elixir had given vigour and energy beyond the strength of the strongest, could have survived that awful hour.  Better to wake in the catacombs and see the buried rise from their cerements, and hear the ghouls, in their horrid orgies, amongst the festering ghastliness of corruption, than to front those features when the veil was lifted, and listen to that whispered voice!

....

The next day Glyndon fled from the ruined castle.  With what hopes of starry light had he crossed the threshold; with what memories to shudder evermore at the darkness did he look back at the frown of its time-worn towers!

CHAPTER 5.II.

     Faust:  Wohin soll es nun gehm? 
     Mephist:  Wohin es Dir gefallt. 
     Wir sehn die kleine, dann die grosse Welt. 
     “Faust.”

     (Faust:  Whither go now! 
     Mephist:  Whither it pleases thee. 
     We see the small world, then the great.)

Draw your chair to the fireside, brush clean the hearth, and trim the lights.  Oh, home of sleekness, order, substance, comfort!  Oh, excellent thing art thou, Matter of Fact!

It is some time after the date of the last chapter.  Here we are, not in moonlit islands or mouldering castles, but in a room twenty-six feet by twenty-two,—­well carpeted, well cushioned, solid arm-chairs and eight such bad pictures, in such fine frames, upon the walls!  Thomas Mervale, Esq., merchant, of London, you are an enviable dog!

It was the easiest thing in the world for Mervale, on returning from his Continental episode of life, to settle down to his desk,—­his heart had been always there.  The death of his father gave him, as a birthright, a high position in a respectable though second-rate firm.  To make this establishment first-rate was an honourable ambition,—­it was his!  He had lately married, not entirely for money,—­no! he was worldly rather than mercenary.  He had no romantic ideas of love; but he was too sensible a man not to know that a wife should be a companion,—­not merely a speculation.  He did not care for beauty and genius, but he liked health and good temper, and a certain proportion of useful understanding.  He chose a wife from his reason, not his heart, and a very good choice he made.  Mrs. Mervale was an excellent young woman,—­bustling, managing, economical, but affectionate and good.  She had a will of her own, but was no shrew.  She had a great notion of the rights of a wife, and a strong perception of the qualities that insure comfort.  She would never have forgiven her husband, had she found him guilty of the most passing fancy for another; but, in return, she had the most admirable sense of