stand in the intricate windings of that gloomy cavern, ready to seize me
if I dared to essay my escape. When my agony had reached its utmost
bounds of endurance, I felt myself growing strangely light, and like some
thin vapor I ascended to the mouth of the pit and made my exit into the
outer air.

"The place I then discovered to be merely a cavern or deserted mine, but
to my unhappy condition of mind it had appeared as the home of the
damned.

"Out into space again, I saw afar off, as across the continent, the
dwelling where I had passed the last days of my eventful life. A current
of air like the shock from an electric wire carried me back to the spot.

"Returned to the scene of my crime, I became possessed with the desire to
expose to view the deed I had committed, and to reveal my villany to the
community. For two weary years I have hovered around this place for that
purpose; but I have failed hitherto, as you have seen me fail to-night."

As he finished his narrative I observed he seemed about to relax into a
morbid condition again. To prevent this, I seized him kindly by the
shoulder and exclaimed, "Friend, you must come with me. Your life, your
future welfare is imperiled. You are like one shut up in a vault,
breathing his own exhalations. You do not understand the science of
mind."

"The science of mind?" said he. "What have I to do with that? 'Tis the
curse of Cain resting upon me. I cannot undo the evil that I have done. I
am an outcast!"