Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 2.djvu/175

 lation that, as yet, has warded off the deadly arrows of despair, and, I trust, will comfort me in my trying hour, and when he who dwelleth in heaven shall speak to me. This consolation, friend, give me leave to call you by that sacred name, this consolation is not the vain groundless expectation that I shall atone for my sins, by suffering the punishment that awaits me; No! If I had a hundred lives to lose, I could not atone for my manifold crimes: This consolation consists in the persuasion that I shall be made a warning example of the dread consequences attending the criminal abuse of the intellectual powers the great ruler of the universe has given us, and that the world will be warned against impostors like myself."

When he had finished I bade him a last farewell, in a faltering accent, and left the unhappy man, who said to me, as I opened the door,