Hawthorne, Nathaniel / 2008-07-02 00:00:00
1843
TWICE-TOLD TALES
EGOTISM, OR, THE BOSOM SERPENT
FROM THE UNPUBLISHED "ALLEGORIES OF THE HEART"
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
HERE HE COMES!" shouted the boys along the street. "Here comes
the man with a snake in his bosom!"
This outcry, saluting Herkimer's ears, as he was about to enter the
iron gate of the Elliston mansion, made him pause. It was not
without a shudder that he found himself on the point of meeting his
former acquaintance, whom he had known in the glory of youth, and whom
now, after an interval of five years, he was to find the victim either
of a diseased fancy, or a horrible physical misfortune.
"A snake in his bosom!" repeated the young sculptor to himself. "It
must be he. No second man on earth has such a bosom-friend! And now,
my poor Rosina, Heaven grant me wisdom to discharge my errand
aright! Woman's faith must be strong indeed, since thine has not yet
failed.
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