Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/357

 However, she recovered, and her accouchement afterwards was more favorable than could have been expected, though the feelings inspired by that event acquired an influence over me, which could never afterwards be resisted. My evil star was now risen above the horizon, and had shot down those fatal rays which kindled in my heart one of the most extraordinary and destructive passions by which any poor mortal was ever misled and tormented.

'Already, in my earliest childhood, glittering gems and gold chains were, above all things, the delight of my existence. This was looked on merely as an instance of that fondness for finery, which is common to all infants. But time proved that there was far more in the matter; for, when arrived at boyhood, I began to steal gold and jewels whenever I could lay my hands upon them. Like the most experienced connoisseur, I knew, by mere instinct, how to distinguish all sorts of real and precious jewelry from those which were counterfeited. And it was only by the genuine specimens that I was attracted. All imitations, and even gold coins, I left as unworthy of my notice. It was in vain that my father endeavored, by the most violent chastisements, to eradicate those propensities, which were inherent in my nature, and which, accordingly, grew with my growth, and strengthened with my strength.

'Merely for the sake of getting, by fair means, such treasures into my hands, I resolved to become a goldsmith. I took lessons, and labored with passionate enthusiasm, till at length I surpassed all my instructors, and became a first-rate master in the art. I began business on my own account, and now there commenced a period in which my natural impulses, so long repressed, broke forth with such vehemence, that they soon got the better of every other consideration or propensity. No sooner had I delivered up any fine specimen of jewelry to the person by whom it had been ordered, than I fell into a state of disquietude, almost of despair, which was quite intolerable, and robbed me utterly of health and sleep. Like a ghost, the figure of the person for whom I had been working

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