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Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan, 1814-1873

"Uncle Silas A Tale of Bartram-Haugh"


'Remember, then, that when you fancy yourself alone and wrapt in darkness,
you stand, in fact, in the centre of a theatre, as wide as the starry floor
of heaven, with an audience, whom no man can number, beholding you under a
flood of light. Therefore, though your body be in solitude and your mortal
sense in darkness, remember to walk as being in the light, surrounded with
a cloud of witnesses. Thus walk; and when the hour comes, and you pass
forth unprisoned from the tabernacle of the flesh, although it still has
its relations and its rights'--and saying this, as he held the solitary
candle aloft in the doorway, he nodded towards the coffin, whose large
black form was faintly traceable against the shadows beyond--'you will
rejoice; and being clothed upon with your house from on high, you will not
be found naked. On the other hand, he that loveth corruption shall have
enough thereof. Think upon these things. Good-night.'
And the Swedenborgian Doctor stepped into the room, taking the candle with
him, and closed the door upon the shadowy still-life there, and on his own
sharp and swarthy visage, leaving Mrs.


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