His resolution was taken, and a
deep, almost leaden, calmness pervaded his spirit. He had resolved
on self-destruction!
With a strange coolness, the self-doomed man now proceeded to select
the agent of death. He procured a work on poisons, and studied the
effects of different substances, choosing, finally, that which did
the fatal work most quickly and with the slightest pain. This
substance was then procured. But he could not turn forever from
those nearest and dearest, without a parting word.
The day had run almost to a close in these fearful struggles and
fatal preparations; and the twilight was falling, when, exhausted
and in tears, the wretched man folded, with trembling hands, a
letter he had penned to his wife. This done, he threw himself, weak
as a child, upon the bed, and, ere conscious that sleep was stealing
upon him, fell off into slumber.
Sleep! It is the great restorer. For a brief season the order of
life is changed, and the involuntary powers of the mind bear rule in
place of the voluntary.
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