Not merely the eye of man was a horror to him;
not merely the light of a friend's countenance; but even the blessed
sunshine, likewise, which, in its universal beneficence, typifies
the radiance of the Creator's face, expressing his love for all the
creatures of his hand. The dusky twilight was now too transparent
for Roderick Elliston; the blackest midnight was his chosen hour to
steal abroad; and if ever he were seen, it was when the watchman's
lantern gleamed upon his figure, gliding along the street with his
hands clutched upon his bosom, still muttering: "It gnaws me! It gnaws
me!" What could it be that gnawed him?
After a time, it became known that Elliston was in the habit of
resorting to all the noted quacks that infested the city, or whom
money would tempt to journey thither from a distance. By one of
these persons, in the exultation of a supposed cure, it was proclaimed
far and wide, by dint of hand-bills and little pamphlets on dingy
paper, that a distinguished gentleman, Roderick Elliston, Esq., had
been relieved of a SNAKE in his stomach! So here was the monstrous
secret, ejected from its lurking-place into public view, in all its
horrible deformity.
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