ARTHUR
56

At that moment, I thought I heard footsteps slowly and constantly climbing the stairs. I am confused by this incident. The footsteps had a ghost-like solemnity and delay. This ghost disappeared in an instant, and produced a simpler conjecture. A human being is approached, whose position and duties cannot be understood. That we were strangers to each other is easy to imagine; but how would my appearance, in this secluded space, and laden with other people's property, be interpreted? Did he enter the house after me, or was he tenant of some room that hitherto had never been visited; whose entrance I had woken up from his trance and called from his couch?

In the confusion of my mind, I still lifted my weight. Placing it on the floor, and meeting this visitor, without any vague sign of me, was an obvious process. Indeed, only time can decide whether these footsteps lead to this apartment, or to another apartment.

My doubts quickly disappeared. The door opened, and a body slid in. Portmanteau fell from my arm, and my heart's blood froze. If a sighting of a dead person is possible, (and that possibility I cannot deny), this is such an apparition. A hue, yellowish and pale; a bone, not covered in flesh; an eye, terrible, hollow, wretched, and fixated in anguish astonished at me; and a key, tangled and inattentive, and, this is the picture I see now. My belief in something rather supernatural in this appearance is confirmed by the memory of the resemblance between these traits and the traits of the dead. In this form and face, like shadows and like death, the lines of Wallace, from him who had misled the simplicity of my countryside on my first visit to this city, he said, and whose death I imagine will certainly be ascertained, forcibly acknowledged. .

This recognition, which at first alarmed my superstition, quickly led to a more rational conclusion. Wallace has been dragged to the hospital. There was nothing to suspect other than that he would come back alive from that terrible container, but this was by no means impossible. The figure standing before me had just risen from the bed of sickness, and from the threshold of the grave. The crisis of his illness had passed, and he once again deserved to rank among the living.

These events, and the consequences associated with my imagination, filled me with the most lively excitement. I don't think about his ignorance of the causes of my satisfaction, the doubts that will give birth to the circumstances of our interview, respecting the integrity of my goals. I forgot the intelligence with which I had previously been betrayed, and the shame that the encounter with the victim of his intelligence would bring; I only thought of the happiness that his recovery would bring to his uncle and cousin.

I walked towards him with congratulations, and offered my hand. He retreated, and exclaimed, in a weak voice, "Who are you? What business are you doing here?"

"I'm a friend of Wallace's, if he'll let me. I'm a messenger from your uncle and cousin in Malverton . I've come to know the cause of your silence, and given you any help in my power."

He looked at me with suspicion and doubt. This I attempted to remove by explaining the motive that brought me here. With great difficulty he seemed to appreciate my representation. When completely convinced of the truth of my statement, he asked with great anxiety and tenderness regarding his relationship; and expressed his hope that they did not know what had happened to him.

I cannot push his hopes. I regretted my own outpouring of heart in adopting his death conviction. This belief has been pronounced confidently, and without stating my reason for embracing it, to Mr. Hadwin . This news will be conveyed to his daughters, and their grief will be very sad and perhaps to a fatal degree.

My colleague was as helpless in thought as in a limb. He seems unable to consult on how to escape the discomfort that surrounds him.

As soon as his strength recovered, he left the hospital. Correcting Malverton was an action clearly determined by prudence; but he was desperate to make it happen. The city was near; this was his usual home; and here his staggered and almost accidental steps took him.

He listened to my statements and advice, and acknowledged his propriety. He placed himself under my protection and guidance, and promised to implicitly conform to my directives. His strength was enough to take him this far, but now it was completely exhausted. The task of finding the carriage and the horse was handed to me.

In achieving this goal, I was obliged to rely on my own ingenuity and perseverance. Wallace, despite having lived in the city for a long time, had no idea to whom I could apply, or with whom trains were allowed to be rented. My own reflection taught me, that these accommodations would most likely be furnished by the innkeeper, or that some of them might at least tell me about the best course of action to take. I decided to start this search immediately. Meanwhile, Wallace is persuaded to take refuge in Medlicote's apartment; and to make, with Austin's help, the necessary preparations for his trip.

The morning has moved forward. The sultry sun had a sickening and debilitating effect beyond anything I had ever experienced. Droughts of unusual duration have lost air and earth from every particle of water vapor. The element I inhaled seemed to have stagnated into poison and decay. I was astonished to see my enormous lack of strength. My eyebrows are heavy, my intelligence is numb, my muscles are weakened, and my sensations are universally unsettled.

This prognostic is easily interpreted. What I fear the most is that they will paralyze me from carrying out the tasks I have done. I gather all my resolutions, and cherish the humiliation of giving in to this despicable destiny. I contemplate that the source of all energy, and even life, lies within the mind; that nothing is difficult for human endeavor; that the external skeleton seldom languishes, while being moved by an invincible soul.

I struggled against my gloomy feelings, which drew me to earth. I sped up my steps, lifted up my drooping eyelids, and hummed a cheerful and favorite air. For all that I have accomplished during this day, I believe myself indebted to the strength and spirit of my resolution.

I went from one store to another. One was empty; in another the people were sick, and their servants refused to listen to my question or offer; in the third, their horses were engaged. I was determined to continue my search as long as the inn or stables were not inspected, and my strength allowed.