be said, but in reality by some fatal instinct, fell full upon the lid,
on which I instantly recognised a name, long and fearfully known to
me--the name of the Mysterious Tailor of High Holborn. Oh, how many
thrilling recollections did this one name recal? The rencontre in the
streets of London--the scene at the masquerade--the meeting at
Bologne--the storm--the shipwreck--the sinking vessel--the appearance at
that moment of _the man_ himself--the subsequent visions of mingled
fever and insanity: all, all now swept across my mind, as for the last
time I gazed on the remains of him who was powerless henceforth for
ever. In a few minutes one little span of earth would keep down that
strange form which seemed once endowed with ubiquity. That wild
unearthly voice was mute; that wandering glance was fixed; a seal was
set upon those lips which eternity itself could not remove. Yes, my
Tormentor--my mysterious--omnipresent Tormentor was indeed gone; and in
that one word, how much of vengeance was forgotten! I was roused from
this reverie by the hollow sound of the clay as it fell dull and heavy
on the coffin-lid. The poor sleeper beneath could not hear it, it is
true; his slumber, henceforth, was sound; the full tide of human
population pressing fast beside the spot where he lay buried, should
never wake him more: no human sorrow should rack his breast, no dream
disturb his repose; yet cold, changed, and senseless as he was, the
first sound of the falling clods jarred strange and harsh upon my ear,
as if it must perforce awake him. In this feverish state of mind I
quitted the church-yard, and, on my road home, passed by the shop where
I had first met with the deceased. It was altered--strangely altered--to
my mind, revoltingly so. Its quaint antique character, its dingy
spectral look were gone, and there was even a studied air of
cheerfulness about it, as if the present proprietor were anxious to
obliterate every association, however slight, that might possibly remind
him of the past. The former owner had but just passed out, his ashes