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with code PODCAST. When.

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The brilliant, raven haired beauty

0:17

like Jia falls ill. Will.

0:20

Her genius be enough to help her

0:22

recover. Edgar. Allan

0:24

Poe. Today. On the

0:26

Classic Tales Podcast. Welcome

0:39

to this vintage episode of the

0:41

Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for

0:43

listening. A vintage episode

0:45

is released every Tuesday. If.

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The show is helped you find comfort,

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Going to Classic Tales audio.com

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and becoming a supporter. New.

1:01

Stories are coming your way on Friday. Keep.

1:05

An ear open for our kickstarter for

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the Golden Triangle. The. Seventh novel

1:09

in the Arsene Lupin series. Will.

1:11

Let you know when we're ready to kick off. Playwright.

1:15

And critic George Bernard Shaw said of

1:17

Today Story. The. Story of

1:19

the Lady Lie jia. Is. Not merely

1:22

one of the wonders of literature, It

1:24

is unparalleled and on approached. I.

1:28

Hope you enjoy it! And. thou.

1:31

Lie. Jia. By. Edgar Allan

1:33

Poe. I.

1:42

Cannot well my soul remember

1:44

how when or you in

1:46

precisely where I first became

1:48

acquainted with the Lady Ledger.

1:51

Long. Years of since elapsed.

1:54

And. My memory is feeble through much

1:56

suffering. Or. perhaps i

1:58

cannot now bring these point to mind,

2:01

because in truth the

2:03

character of my beloved, her

2:06

rare learning, her

2:08

singular yet placid cast of

2:10

beauty, and the

2:12

thrilling and enthralling eloquence of her

2:15

low musical language made

2:17

their way into my heart by

2:19

paces so steadily and stealthily progressive

2:22

that they have been

2:24

unnoticed and unknown. Yet

2:28

I believe that I met her first and

2:30

most frequently in some large

2:32

old decaying city near the

2:34

Rhine. Of her

2:36

family, I have surely heard her speak, that

2:40

it is of a remotely ancient day it cannot

2:42

be doubted. Lygia.

2:46

Lygia. Buried

2:49

in studies of nature more than all

2:51

else adapted to deaden impressions of the

2:53

outward world, it

2:56

is by that sweet word alone, by Lygia,

3:01

that I bring before mine eyes in fancy

3:03

the image of her, who

3:05

is no more. And

3:08

now, while

3:10

I write, a

3:13

recollection flashes upon me that I have never

3:15

known the paternal name of her, who

3:18

is my friend and my betrothed, and

3:21

who became the partner of my

3:23

studies and finally the wife of

3:25

my bosom. Was

3:27

it a playful charge on the part of my

3:29

Lygia, or was it a test of

3:32

my strength of affection, that I should

3:34

institute no inquiries upon this point?

3:37

Or was it rather a caprice of

3:39

my own, a wildly romantic offering on

3:41

the shrine of the most passionate devotion?

3:44

But I indistinctly recall the fact

3:47

itself. What wonder

3:49

that I have utterly forgotten the

3:51

circumstances which originated or attended it!

3:55

And indeed, if ever that

3:57

spirit which is entitled romance, if ever

3:59

so, it is not a As she, the one

4:01

and the misty-winged Ashtafet of idolatrist

4:03

Egypt, presided, as they tell me,

4:06

over marriage's ill omen, then

4:08

most surely she presided

4:11

over mine. There

4:14

is one dear topic, however, on

4:17

which my memory fails me not. It

4:19

is the person of Lajjia. In

4:23

stature she was tall, somewhat slender,

4:26

and in her latter days even emaciated. I

4:29

would in vain attempt to portray

4:31

the majesty, the quiet ease of

4:33

her demeanor, or the

4:36

incomprehensible likeness and elasticity of

4:38

her footfall. She

4:40

came and departed as a shadow.

4:43

I was never made aware of her

4:45

entrance into my closed study, saved by

4:47

the dear music of her

4:49

low, sweet voice, as

4:51

she placed her marble hand upon my

4:53

shoulder. In beauty

4:56

of face no maiden ever equaled her.

4:59

It was the radiance of an

5:01

opium dream, an airy and spirit-loving

5:03

vision more wildly divine than the

5:05

fantasies which hovered about the

5:08

slumbering souls of the daughters of Delos.

5:11

Yet her features were not of that regular

5:14

mould which we have been falsely taught to

5:16

worship in the classical labors of the heathen.

5:19

There is no exquisite beauty, says

5:21

Bacon, Lord Verulam, speaking

5:24

truly of all the forms and genera

5:26

of beauty, without some

5:28

strangeness in the proportion. Yet

5:31

although I saw that the features

5:34

of Lajjia were not of classic

5:36

regularity, although I perceived

5:38

that her loveliness was indeed

5:40

exquisite and felt that

5:42

there was much of strangeness pervading in

5:45

it. Yet I have

5:47

tried in vain to detect the irregularity and

5:49

to trace home my own perception

5:51

of the strange. I

5:54

examined the contour of the lofty and

5:56

pale forehead. It was

5:58

faultless. how

6:00

cold indeed that word when applied

6:02

to a majesty so divine!

6:04

The skin rivalling

6:07

the purest ivory and commanding

6:10

extent and repose! The

6:13

gentle prominence of the regions above

6:15

the temples, and then the raven

6:17

black! The glossy,

6:19

the luxuriant, and naturally curling

6:22

tresses, setting forth the

6:24

full force of the Homeric

6:26

epithet Hyacinthine! I

6:30

looked at the delicate outlines of the nose,

6:32

and nowhere but in the graceful medallions

6:35

of the Hebrews had I

6:37

beheld a similar perfection. There

6:39

were the same luxurious smoothness

6:41

of surface, the same scarcely

6:43

perceptible tendency to the aquiline,

6:46

the same harmoniously curved nostrils

6:48

speaking the free spirit. I

6:51

regarded the sweet mouth. Here

6:54

was indeed a triumph of all things

6:56

heavenly. The magnificent turn

6:59

of the short upper lip,

7:01

the soft, voluptuous slumber of

7:03

the under, the dimples

7:05

which sported, and the colour which

7:07

spoke, the teeth glancing

7:09

back, and a brilliancy almost

7:11

startling! Every ray of

7:14

the holy light which fell upon them,

7:16

in her serene and placid, yet

7:19

most exultingly radiant of all smiles!

7:22

I scrutinized the formation of the

7:24

chin, and here too I

7:26

found the gentleness of breath, the

7:28

softness and the majesty, the

7:31

fullness, and the spirituality

7:33

of the Greek, the

7:35

contour which the God Apollo revealed

7:37

but in a dream to Cleomenes,

7:39

the sun of the Athenian! And

7:42

then I peered into the large eyes

7:44

of Lygia. For eyes

7:47

we have no models in the remotely antique.

7:50

It might have been, too, that in these

7:52

eyes of my beloved lay the

7:54

secret to which Lord Verulam alludes.

7:58

They were, I must believe, far larger

8:00

than the ordinary eyes of our own

8:02

race. They were even fuller than

8:05

the fullest of the gazelle eyes of the

8:07

tribe of the Valley of Nourjahad, yet

8:09

it was only at intervals, in

8:12

moments of intense excitement, that

8:15

this peculiarity became more

8:17

than slightly noticeable in

8:19

Lijjia. And at such

8:21

moments was her beauty in my heated

8:23

fancy, thus it appeared, perhaps, the

8:26

beauty of beings either above or apart

8:28

from the earth, the

8:30

beauty of the fabulous Uri of

8:33

the Turk. The hue of

8:35

the orbs was the most brilliant of

8:37

black, and far over them

8:39

hung jetty lashes of great length. The

8:41

brows, slightly irregular in outline,

8:43

had the same tint. The

8:47

strangeness, however, which I found in the

8:49

eyes, was of a nature distinct

8:51

from the foundation, or the color, or

8:53

the brilliancy of the features, and

8:56

must, after all, be referred to the

8:58

expression. A word

9:01

of no meaning! Behind

9:03

whose vast latitude of mere sound

9:05

we entrench our ignorance of so

9:07

much of the spiritual, the

9:10

expression of the eyes of Lijjia.

9:13

How for long hours have I

9:15

pondered upon it? How

9:17

have I, through the

9:20

whole of a midsummer night, struggled

9:22

to fathom it? What

9:24

was it? That something

9:27

more profound than the well

9:29

of Democritus, which lay

9:31

far within the pupils of

9:33

my beloved. What was

9:35

it? I

9:38

was possessed with a passion to

9:40

discover those eyes, those

9:43

large, shining, those

9:45

divine orbs. They

9:47

became to me twin stars of

9:50

Lidar, and I to them devoutest

9:52

of astrologers. There

9:54

is no point among the

9:56

many incomprehensible anomalies of the science

9:58

of mind. point, more thrillingly

10:01

exciting than the fact, never,

10:03

I believe, noticed in the schools, that

10:05

in our endeavors to recall to

10:07

memory something long forgotten, we often

10:10

find ourselves upon the very verge

10:12

of remembrance without being

10:14

able in the end to remember. And

10:17

thus, how frequently, in

10:19

my intense scrutiny of Ligia's

10:21

eyes, have I felt

10:23

approaching the full knowledge of their

10:25

expression, felt it approaching, yet not

10:28

quite be mine. And

10:30

so at length, entirely

10:32

depart. And, strange,

10:34

oh, strangest mystery of all, I

10:37

found in the commonest objects of

10:39

the universe a circle

10:41

of analogies to that expression. I

10:44

mean to say that, subsequently to the period

10:46

when Ligia's beauty passed into my spirit,

10:50

their dwelling as in a shrine, I derived,

10:53

from any existences in the material

10:55

world, a sentiment such as

10:57

I felt always aroused within me by

10:59

her large and luminous orbs.

11:02

Yet not the more could I define

11:04

that sentiment, or analyze, or even steadily

11:07

view it. I

11:09

recognized it, let me repeat, sometimes

11:12

in the survey of a rapidly growing

11:14

vine, in the

11:16

contemplation of a moth, a

11:19

butterfly, a chrysalis, a

11:22

stream of running water. I

11:25

have felt it in the ocean, in the

11:27

falling of a meteor. I have felt it in

11:30

the glances of unusually aged people.

11:34

And there are one or two stars in

11:36

heaven, one especially a star of the sixth

11:38

magnitude, double and changeable, to

11:40

be found near the large star in Lyra,

11:43

in a telescopic scrutiny of which I

11:46

have been made aware of the feeling. I

11:50

have been filled with it, by certain

11:52

sounds from stringed instruments, and

11:55

not unfrequently by passages from books. Among

11:58

innumerable other insta- I will

12:01

remember something in a volume of Joseph

12:03

Glanville which, perhaps merely

12:05

from its quaintness, who shall say, never

12:08

failed to inspire me with the

12:10

sentiment. Quote, And

12:13

the will therein lieth which dieth not.

12:16

Who knoweth the mysteries of the

12:18

will with its vigor? For

12:21

God is but a great will,

12:23

pervading all things by nature of

12:25

its intentness. One

12:27

doth not yield him to the angels, nor

12:30

unto death utterly, save

12:32

only through the weakness of

12:35

his feeble will. Unquote.

12:38

Length of years and subsequent

12:40

reflection have enabled me

12:42

to trace, indeed, some remote connection

12:44

between this passage in the English

12:46

moralist and a portion of the character

12:49

of Ligia. An

12:51

intensity in thought, action, or

12:53

speech was possibly in

12:55

her a result or at

12:58

least an index of that gigantic

13:00

volition which, during our long intercourse,

13:02

failed to give other and more

13:05

immediate evidence of its existence. Of

13:07

all the women whom I have ever known,

13:10

she, the outwardly calm,

13:12

the ever placid Ligia, was

13:15

the most violently appray to

13:17

the tumultuous vultures of stern

13:19

passion. And of

13:21

such passion I could form no estimate,

13:23

saved by the miraculous expansion of those

13:26

eyes, which at once so

13:28

delighted and appalled me, by

13:30

the almost magical melody, modulation,

13:33

distinctness, and placidity of her

13:35

very low voice, and

13:38

by the fierce energy, rendered doubly effective

13:40

by contrast with her manner of utterance,

13:43

of the wild words which

13:45

she habitually uttered. I

13:47

have spoken of the learning of Ligia, it

13:50

was immense. Such as

13:52

I have never known in woman. In

13:54

the classical tongues she was deeply

13:56

proficient, and as far as my

13:58

own acquaintance extended to the modern dialects

14:00

of Europe, I have never known

14:03

her at fault. Indeed, upon

14:05

any seam of the most admired,

14:07

because simply the most abstruse of

14:09

the boasted erudition of the Academy,

14:12

have I ever found Ligia at fault. How

14:15

singularly, how thrillingly, this one

14:17

point in the nature of

14:19

my wife has forced

14:21

itself at this late period only

14:24

upon my attention. I

14:26

said her knowledge was such as I have never known

14:28

in women, but where breathes the

14:31

man who has traversed and successfully

14:33

all the wide areas of

14:36

moral, physical, and mathematical science.

14:39

I saw not then what I

14:41

now clearly perceive, that

14:43

the acquisitions of Ligia were

14:46

gigantic, were astounding. Yet,

14:50

I was sufficiently aware of her

14:52

infinite supremacy to resign myself with

14:54

a childlike confidence to her

14:56

guidance through the chaotic

14:58

world of metaphysical investigation,

15:01

at which I was most busily occupied

15:04

during earlier years of our marriage. With

15:07

how vast a triumph and how

15:09

vivid a delight, with how much of

15:11

all that is ethereal in hope did

15:14

I feel as she bent

15:16

over me in studies but little sought, but

15:19

less known, that delicious

15:21

vista by slow degrees expanding

15:23

before me, down whose

15:26

long, gorgeous, and all-unrodden

15:29

path I might

15:31

at length pass onward to the

15:33

goal of a wisdom too divinely

15:35

precious not to be forbidden. How

15:38

poignant, then, must have

15:41

been the grief with which, after

15:43

some years, I beheld

15:45

my well-grounded expectations, take

15:47

wings to themselves and fly away. Without

15:51

Ligia, I was but

15:53

as a child groping the nighted. Her

15:56

presence, her readings alone, rendered

15:59

vividly luminous. the many

16:01

mysteries of the transcendentalism in

16:03

which we were immersed, wanting

16:06

the radiant luster of her

16:08

eyes, letters, lambit and golden,

16:10

grew duller than Saturnian lead.

16:14

And now those eyes shone less and

16:16

less frequently upon the pages over which I

16:18

board. The

16:24

wild eyes blazed with a

16:26

too glorious effulgence. The

16:29

pale fingers became of the transparent waxen

16:31

hue of the grave, and

16:33

the blue veins upon the lofty forehead

16:36

swelled and sank impetuously

16:38

with the tides of the most

16:40

gentle emotion. I

16:43

saw that she must die.

16:45

And I struggled desperately in spirit

16:47

with the grim asriel. And

16:50

the struggles of the passionate wife were, to

16:52

my astonishment, even more energetic

16:54

than my own. There had been

16:56

much in her stern nature to impress me

16:59

with the belief that to

17:01

her death would have come without

17:03

its terrors, but not so. Words

17:06

are impotent to convey any just

17:08

idea of the fierceness of resistance

17:11

to which she wrestled with the

17:13

shadow. I

17:15

groaned in anguish at the pitiable

17:18

spectacle. I

17:20

would have soothed, I would have reasoned,

17:22

but in the intensity of her wild

17:24

desire for life, but

17:26

for life, soulless

17:29

and reason were alike the uttermost

17:31

of folly. Yet,

17:34

not until the last instance, amid

17:37

the most convulsive writhings of her

17:39

fierce spirit, was shaken the external

17:41

placidity of her demeanor. Her

17:44

voice grew more gentle, grew

17:47

more low. Yet,

17:50

I would not wish to dwell upon

17:52

the wild meaning of the quietly uttered

17:54

words. My

17:56

brain reeled as I harkened and trans'd

17:59

to a melody more than mortal, to

18:02

assumptions and aspirations which mortality

18:04

had never before known. That

18:08

she loved me I should not have doubted, and

18:10

I might have been easily aware that, in

18:13

a bosom such as hers, love would

18:15

have reigned no ordinary passion. But

18:19

in death only, I was

18:21

fully impressed with the strength of her

18:23

affection. For long hours

18:26

detaining my hand which she pour

18:28

out before me the overflowing of

18:30

a heart whose more than passionate

18:32

devotion amounted to idolatry.

18:36

How had I deserved

18:39

to be so blessed by such

18:41

confession? How had I deserved

18:43

to be so cursed with the removal

18:45

of my beloved in the hour of

18:48

her making them? But

18:50

upon this subject I cannot bear to dilate.

18:54

Let me say only that in

18:56

Lygia's more than womanly abandonment to

18:58

a love, alas, all

19:01

unmerited, all unworthily

19:04

bestowed, I at length recognized

19:06

the principle of

19:08

her longing with so wildly earnest

19:10

a desire for the life which

19:12

was now fleeing so rapidly away.

19:16

It is this wild longing, it

19:18

is this eager vehemence of desire for

19:21

life, but for life,

19:24

that I have no power to portray,

19:26

no utterance capable of expressing. At

19:29

high noon of the night in which she

19:31

departed, beckoning me peremptorily

19:33

to her side, she

19:35

obeyed me repeat certain verses

19:38

composed by herself not

19:40

many days before. I obeyed

19:42

her and they were these.

19:46

Though is a gala

19:48

night within the lonesome

19:51

latter years, an

19:53

angel throng bewinged, bedight

19:56

in veils and drowned in tears,

19:58

sit in a theater. to

20:00

see a play of hopes and fears, while

20:03

the orchestra breathes fitfully the music

20:05

of the spheres, minds,

20:09

in a form of God on

20:11

high, mutter and mumble low, and

20:14

hither and thither fly mere puppets

20:16

they, who come and

20:18

go with the bidding of vast, formless

20:21

things that shift the scenery to and

20:23

fro, flapping from out their condor wings,

20:26

invisible woe. But

20:29

it is a great, motley drama. Oh,

20:32

be sure it shall not be forgot, with

20:35

its phantom chased forevermore by a

20:37

crowd that sees it not, through

20:39

a circle, that ever

20:41

returneth into the selfsame

20:44

spot, and much of

20:46

madness, and more of sin and horror

20:48

the soul of the plot, but

20:50

see, amid the

20:52

mimic rout, a crawling

20:54

shape intrude, a

20:57

blood-red thing that writhes from

20:59

outside the scenic solitude, it

21:01

rise. With

21:03

mortal pangs the mimes become

21:06

its food, and the seraphs

21:08

sob at vermin pangs, inhuman

21:10

gore imbued. Out! Out

21:13

are the lights! Out all! And

21:15

over each quivering form the curtain,

21:18

the funeral pall, comes down, with

21:20

the rush of a storm, and

21:23

the angels all pallid and won,

21:25

uprising, unveiling, affirm that the play

21:27

is a tragedy. Man

21:31

and its hero, the conqueror,

21:34

worm. Oh,

21:36

God! have shrieked

21:38

Lygia, leaping to her feet and

21:40

extending her arms aloft with a

21:42

spasmodic movement, as I made an

21:44

end of these lines. Oh, God!

21:47

Divine Father, shall

21:49

these things be undeviatingly

21:51

so? Shall

21:54

this conqueror be

21:56

not once conquered? And I

21:58

will be your Are we not

22:01

part and parcel in thee? Who?

22:06

Who knoweth the mysteries

22:09

of the will with

22:11

its vigor? Man

22:14

doth not yield him to the angels, nor

22:17

unto death utterly, save only

22:19

through the weakness

22:22

of his feeble will.

22:28

And now, as if

22:31

exhausted from emotion, she suffered

22:33

her white arms to fall,

22:35

and returned solemnly to

22:38

her bed of death. And

22:42

as she breathed her last sighs, there

22:45

came mingled with them a low murmur from

22:47

her lips. I

22:49

benteth in my ear, and distinguished again

22:52

the concluding words of

22:54

the passage in Glanville. Man

22:57

doth not yield

22:59

him to the angels,

23:01

nor unto death

23:03

utterly, save only through

23:06

the weakness of

23:08

his feeble will. She

23:14

died, and

23:17

I, crushed into

23:19

the very dust with sorrow, could no

23:21

longer endure that lonely desolation of my

23:23

dwelling in the dim and

23:26

decaying city by the Rhine. I

23:30

had no lack of what the world calls wealth.

23:33

Lygia had brought me far more, very

23:35

far more, than ordinarily falls to the

23:37

lot of mortals. After

23:40

a few months, therefore, of weary and

23:42

aimless wandering, I

23:44

purchased and put in some repair an

23:46

abbey, which I shall not

23:48

name, in one of the

23:51

wildest and least frequented portions of

23:53

fair England. The

23:55

gloomy and dreary grandeur of the building,

23:57

the almost savage aspect of the domain,

24:00

The many melancholy and time-honored memories

24:03

connected with self had

24:05

much in unison with the feelings of

24:08

utter abandonment which had driven me

24:10

into that remote and unsocial region of

24:12

the country. Yet

24:14

although the external abbey, with

24:16

its verdant decay hanging about it,

24:19

suffered but little alteration, I gave

24:22

way with a childlike perversity,

24:25

and perchance with a faint hope of

24:27

alleviating my sorrows, to display

24:29

of more than regal magnificence within.

24:33

For such follies, even in childhood, I

24:35

had imbibed at taste, and now

24:37

they came back to me as if in the dotage of

24:39

grief. Alas! I

24:42

feel how much even of incipient

24:45

madness might have been discovered

24:47

in the gorgeous and fantastic draperies,

24:49

in the solemn carvings of Egypt, in

24:52

the wild cornices of furniture, in

24:54

the bedlam patterns of the carpets

24:56

of tufted gold. I

24:59

had become a bounden slave in the

25:01

trammels of opium, and

25:03

my labors and my orders had

25:05

taken the coloring from my dreams.

25:08

That these absurdities I must not pause

25:10

to detail. Let me

25:13

speak only that one chamber

25:15

ever accursed, whither in a

25:18

moment of mental alienation, I

25:20

led from the altar as my bride, as

25:23

the successor of the unforgotten

25:25

Ligia, the fair-haired and

25:27

blue-eyed Lady Rowena Trevanyum

25:30

of Tremaine. There is

25:32

no individual portion of the architecture

25:34

and decoration of that bridle

25:37

chamber which is not now visibly before

25:39

me. Where were the

25:41

souls of the haughty family of the bride?

25:44

Then through thirst of gold they

25:46

permitted to pass the threshold of

25:48

an apartment so bedecked, a

25:51

maiden and a daughter so beloved. I

25:55

have said that I minutely remember the details

25:57

of the chamber, yet I am sadly forgetful

25:59

on time. topics of deep moment, and

26:02

here there was no system, no keeping

26:04

in the fantastic display to take hold

26:06

upon the memory. The

26:09

room, lay in a high

26:11

turret of the castellated abbey, was

26:14

pentagonal in shape and of

26:16

capacious size. Occupying the

26:18

whole southern face of the Pentagon was

26:21

the sole window, an immense

26:23

sheet of unbroken glass from

26:25

Venice, a single pane and

26:28

tinted of a leaden hue, so

26:30

that the rays of either the sun or moon

26:33

passing through it fell with

26:35

a ghastly luster on the objects within.

26:38

Over the upper portion of this

26:40

huge window extended the trellis-work of

26:43

an aged vine, which clambered

26:45

up the massy walls of

26:47

the turret. The ceiling of

26:49

gloomy-looking oak was excessively lofty,

26:51

vaulted, and elaborately fretted

26:54

with the wildest and most

26:56

grotesque specimens of a semi-Gothic,

26:59

semi-Druidical device. From

27:01

out of the most central recess

27:03

of this melancholy vaulting depended, by

27:05

a single chain of gold with

27:07

long links, a huge censer of

27:09

the same metal, Saracenic in

27:12

pattern, and with many perforations

27:14

so contrived that they arrived in and

27:16

out of them, as if

27:18

endued with a serpent fatality, a continual

27:21

succession of party-colored

27:23

fires. Some

27:26

few Ottomans and golden candelabra

27:28

of eastern figure were

27:30

in various stations about, and

27:32

there was a couch too, bridal

27:34

couch of an Indian model and

27:36

low and sculpted of solid ebony

27:39

with a pall-like canopy above. In

27:42

each of the angles of the

27:44

chamber stood on end a gigantic

27:46

sarcophagus of black granite from

27:48

the tombs of the kings over against

27:50

Luxor, with their aged

27:53

lids full of immemorial sculpture.

27:56

But in the draping of the

27:58

apartment lay a last. The chief

28:00

fantasy of all, the

28:03

lofty walls, gigantic in height,

28:05

even unproportionately so, were hung

28:07

from summit to foot in

28:09

vast folds, with a

28:12

heavy and massive-looking tapestry, tapestry

28:14

of a material which was found alike as a

28:17

carpet on the floor, as a

28:19

covering for the ottomans and the ebony bed,

28:21

as a canopy for

28:23

the bed, and as the gorgeous

28:25

volutes of the curtains which partially

28:27

shaded the window. The material was

28:29

the richest cloth of gold. It

28:33

was spotted all over at irregular

28:35

intervals with arabesque figures, about

28:38

a foot in diameter, but wrought upon

28:40

the cloth in patterns of the most

28:42

jetty black. But these

28:45

figures foretook the true character

28:47

of the arabesque only when regarded from

28:49

a single point of view, by a

28:52

contrivance now uncommon, and indeed traceable

28:54

to a very remote period of

28:57

antiquity, they were made changeable

28:59

in aspect. To one entering

29:01

the room they bore the appearance of

29:03

simple monstrosities, but upon a

29:05

farther advance. This appearance

29:08

gradually departed, and

29:10

step by step, as the

29:12

visitor moved his station in the chamber,

29:15

he saw himself surrounded by an

29:17

endless succession of the ghastly forms

29:20

which belonged to the superstition of

29:22

the Norman or a rise in

29:24

the guilty slumbers of the monk.

29:27

The phantasmagoric effect was vastly

29:29

heightened by the artificial introduction

29:32

of a strong, continual current

29:34

of wind behind the

29:36

draperies, giving a hideous

29:39

and uneasy animation to

29:41

the whole. In

29:44

halls such as these, in

29:46

a bridal chamber such as this, I

29:49

passed, with a lady tremain,

29:52

the unhallowed hours of the first

29:54

month of our marriage, passed

29:56

them with but little disquietude, that my wife, who had been a

29:58

man of his own, had been a man of his own. wife dreaded the

30:00

fierce moodiness of my temper, that

30:02

she shunned me and loved me

30:05

but little I could not help perceiving.

30:08

But it gave me rather pleasure than

30:10

otherwise. I loathed her

30:12

with a hatred belonging more to demon

30:14

than to man. My

30:16

memory flew back. Oh, with

30:19

intensity of regret. Laijia,

30:23

the beloved, the august,

30:26

the beautiful, the

30:29

entombed. I

30:32

reveled in recollections of her purity,

30:35

of her wisdom, of

30:37

her lofty, her ethereal nature,

30:40

of her passionate, her idolatrous

30:43

love. Now,

30:45

then, did my spirit

30:47

fully and freely burn with more than

30:50

all the fires of her own. In

30:53

the excitement of my opium dreams, for I

30:55

was habitually fettered in the shackles of the

30:57

drug, I would call aloud upon

30:59

her name during the silence of the

31:01

night, or among the sheltered recesses

31:03

of the glens by day, as

31:06

if, through the wild eagerness,

31:08

the solemn passion, the consuming

31:10

ardor of my longing for the departed,

31:12

I could restore her to

31:14

the pathway she had abandoned after. Could

31:19

it be forever?

31:21

Upon the earth. About

31:24

the commencement of the second month of the

31:26

marriage, the lady Rowena was attacked with a

31:28

sudden illness, from which her

31:30

recovery was slow. The

31:33

fever which consumed her rendered her

31:35

nights uneasy, and in

31:37

her perturbed state of half slumber she

31:40

spoke of sounds, and

31:42

of motions, in and about the

31:44

chamber of the turret, which

31:46

I concluded had no origin save in the

31:48

distemper of her fancy, or perhaps

31:50

in the phantasmagoric influences of the chamber

31:52

itself. She became

31:54

at length convalescent, finally, well,

31:57

yet but a brief period elapsed there a second

32:00

and more violent disorder, again

32:02

threw her upon a bed of suffering, and

32:05

from this attack her frame at all

32:07

times feeble never altogether

32:10

recovered. Her

32:12

illnesses were, after this epoch,

32:14

of alarming character and

32:16

of more alarming recurrence, defying

32:18

alike the knowledge and the

32:20

great exertions of her physicians.

32:23

With the increase of the chronic

32:25

disease which had thus apparently taken

32:27

too sure hold upon her constitution

32:30

to be eradicated by human means,

32:32

I could not fail to observe a

32:35

similar increase in the nervous irritation of

32:37

her temperament and in

32:39

her excitability by trivial causes of

32:41

fear. She spoke again,

32:43

and now more frequently

32:46

and perdinaciously of the sounds,

32:48

of the slight sounds, and

32:51

of the usual motions among the tapestries

32:54

to which she had formerly eluded. One

32:57

night, near the closing in

32:59

of September, she pressed this

33:01

distressing subject with more than usual

33:03

emphasis upon my attention. She

33:06

had just awakened from an unquiet slumber,

33:09

and I had been watching with feelings

33:11

half of anxiety, half of vague terror,

33:14

the workings of her emaciated countenance.

33:17

I sat by the side of her ebony bed upon

33:20

one of the Ottomans of India. She

33:23

partly arose and spoke in

33:25

an earnest low whisper of

33:28

sounds which she

33:30

then heard, but which I

33:32

could not hear, of

33:34

motions which she then saw but

33:36

which I could not perceive. The

33:40

wind was rushing hurriedly behind the

33:42

tapestries, and I wished to show

33:44

her what, let me confess

33:46

it, I could not all believe, that

33:48

these almost inarticulate breathings

33:51

and those very gentle variations of the figures

33:53

upon the wall were but the

33:56

natural effects of the customary rushing of the

33:58

wind, but a deadly color,

34:01

overspreading her face, had proved to

34:03

me that my exertions to

34:05

reassure her would be fruitless.

34:09

She appeared to be fainting, and no attendants

34:11

were within call. I remembered

34:13

where was deposited a decanter of light wine

34:15

which had been ordered by her physicians and

34:18

hastened across the chamber to procure it. But

34:21

as I stepped beneath the light

34:23

of the sensor, two circumstances of

34:25

a startling nature attracted my attention.

34:28

I had felt that some

34:30

palpable, although invisible, object had

34:32

passed lightly by my person,

34:35

and I saw that there lay upon the golden

34:37

carpet in the very middle of the rich luster

34:39

thrown from the sensor a shadow.

34:44

A faint, indefinite shadow

34:46

of angelic aspect, such

34:49

as might be fancied for the shadow of a

34:51

shade. But I was wild

34:53

with the excitement of an immoderate dose of

34:55

opium, and heeded these things but

34:57

little, nor spoke of them to Rowena. Having

35:01

found the wine, I recrossed the chamber and

35:03

poured out a gobletful which I held to

35:05

the lips of the fainting lady. She

35:07

had now partially recovered, however, and took

35:10

the vessel herself while I sank

35:12

upon an ottoman near me, with my

35:14

eyes fastened upon her person.

35:18

It was then that I became

35:20

distinctly aware of a gentle footfall

35:22

upon the carpet and

35:24

near the couch, and in a

35:26

second thereafter as Rowena was in the act

35:28

of raising the wine to her lips, I

35:31

saw, or may have dreamed

35:34

that I saw, fall within the goblet

35:36

as if from some invisible

35:38

spring in the atmosphere of the

35:40

room three or four large

35:42

drops of a brilliant

35:45

and ruby-colored fluid. If

35:48

this I saw, not so Rowena. She

35:51

swallowed the wine unhesitatingly, and I forbore

35:53

to speak to her of a circumstance

35:55

which must, after all, I considered, have

35:58

been but the suggestion of a vivid

36:00

debate. imagination, rendered morbidly active

36:02

by the terror of the lady by

36:04

the opium and by the hour,

36:06

yet I cannot conceal it for

36:09

my own perception that, immediately

36:11

subsequent to the fall of the ruby

36:13

drops, a rapid change for the worse

36:15

took place in the disorder of my

36:17

wife, so that, on

36:19

the third subsequent night, the

36:22

hands of her menials prepared her for the tomb,

36:25

and on the fourth, I sat

36:27

alone with her shrouded body in

36:29

that fantastic chamber which had received her

36:32

as my bride. Wild

36:35

vision, opium engendered,

36:37

flitted, shadow-like before me.

36:40

I gazed with unquiet eye upon the

36:42

sarcophagi in the angles of the room,

36:46

upon the varying figures of the

36:48

drapery, and upon the writhing of

36:50

the party-coloured fires in the sensor

36:52

overhead. My

36:55

eyes then fell, as I

36:57

called to mind the circumstances of a former night,

37:00

to the spot beneath the glare of

37:02

the sensor, where I had

37:04

seen the faint traces of the shadow. It

37:07

was there, however, no longer, and

37:09

breathing with greater freedom, I

37:11

turned my glances to the pallid

37:13

and rigid figure upon the bed,

37:15

then rushed upon me a thousand

37:17

memories of Lygia, and

37:20

then came back upon my heart, with

37:22

a turbulent violence of a flood,

37:24

the whole of that unutterable woe

37:26

with which I had regarded her

37:29

thus enshrouded. The

37:31

night waned, and

37:33

still with a bosom full of

37:35

bitter thoughts of the one only

37:37

and supremely beloved, I remained

37:40

gazing upon the body of Rowena.

37:43

It might have been midnight, or perhaps

37:46

earlier or later, for I

37:48

had taken no note of time when

37:50

a song, low, gentle

37:54

but very distinct, startled me

37:56

from my reverie. I

37:58

Felt this. Came from a

38:01

bed of ebony. The bed of death.

38:04

I. Listened to the agony of superstitious

38:07

terror, No

38:09

repetition of the south. I

38:12

sprained my vision to detect any

38:14

motion. And the corpse. But.

38:17

There was not the slightest perceptible. It.

38:20

I could not have been deceived. I had

38:23

heard the noise however think that my soul

38:25

was a week and within me. A

38:28

resolutely and persevering Li kept my attention

38:30

riveted upon the body. Many

38:33

minutes elapsed. Before. Any circumstance

38:35

a the need to throw light

38:37

upon the mystery. At nine.

38:40

It. became evident. As.

38:43

A very feeble and barely

38:45

noticeable tinge. Of color.

38:48

That. Of last up within the cheeks.

38:51

The long, the sunken small veins on the i.

38:54

Threw. A species of an honorable horror

38:56

and offer which the language of

38:58

mortality as no sufficiently energetic expression

39:00

I felt my heart ceased to

39:02

beat. My. Limbs. Pro.

39:05

Rigid where I see. A.

39:08

Sense of Duty finally operated.

39:12

To. Restore myself position. I

39:14

could no longer doubt that we have been. Precipitous.

39:18

In our preparations that Rowena

39:20

still lived. It was necessary

39:22

that some immediate exertion be made it the

39:24

to It was altogether apart from the portion

39:26

of the at a tenant and by the

39:28

servants. There. Were none within call? I

39:31

had no means of summoning them to my aid

39:33

without leaving the room for many minutes and is

39:35

I could not venture to do. For

39:38

struggled alone in my endeavors to

39:40

call back the spirit still hovering.

39:44

In. A short period it was certain. However, That.

39:47

A relapse had taken place. The.

39:49

Color disappeared from both eyelid

39:51

antique. Leaving. A one us

39:53

even more than that of marble. The.

39:56

Lips became doubly shriveled and pinched

39:58

up in the gas leaks. Of

40:00

death. Repulsive.

40:03

Climbing us and coldness over spread rapidly

40:05

the surface of the body. And.

40:07

All the usual rigorous stiffness

40:09

immediately. Super weekend. I

40:12

fell back with the shudder. Upon.

40:14

The couch from which I am and

40:16

so startlingly aroused. And. Again,

40:18

gave myself up to passionate

40:20

waking visions. Of. Like

40:22

Chia. An hour. Thus the

40:25

last. When. Could.

40:27

It be possible. I

40:29

was a second time aware of

40:32

some vague sound. Issuing.

40:34

From the region of the bed. I

40:37

listen. An extremity of

40:39

horror. Solvent.

40:41

The Him again. Was

40:44

a sigh. Rushing

40:47

to the cause. I thought. Distinctly.

40:49

Saw. A. Tremor. Upon

40:52

the lives. In. A minute after

40:54

would say relaxed. Disclosing a bright

40:57

line of the poorly teeth. Amazement

41:00

now struggled in my boss. With

41:02

the profound or which had hitherto rain

41:04

there alone. I felt

41:06

that my vision grew dim. My

41:09

reason want it. And it

41:11

was only by a violent effort that I

41:14

at length succeeded in novi myself to the

41:16

task which duties those games more had pointed

41:18

out. There was now. A.

41:21

Partial glow upon the forehead. And

41:23

upon the cheek and throat a perceptible

41:25

want pervaded the whole frame. There was

41:27

even a slight postseason at the heart.

41:30

The lady lived. And

41:32

with be doubled order I took

41:34

myself to the task of restoration

41:36

achieved and days the temples and

41:38

the hands and used every exertion

41:41

which experience and know little medical

41:43

reading could suggest. That

41:45

in vain. Suddenly. The.

41:48

Color fled. The. Postseason

41:51

ceased, the lips resumed the

41:53

expression of the dead. And

41:56

in an instant afterwards the whole body.

41:59

Took. upon itself the icy chilliness,

42:02

the livid hue, the intense rigidity,

42:05

the sunken outline, and all

42:07

the loathsome peculiarities of

42:10

that which has been for many days a tenant

42:12

of the tomb. And

42:16

again I sunk into visions of La Gia. And

42:19

again, marvel

42:21

that I shudder while I write, and

42:24

there reached my ears a low sob

42:27

from the region of the ebony bed. But

42:32

why shall I minutely detail the unspeakable horrors

42:34

of that night? Why

42:36

should I pause to relate how

42:38

time after time until the period

42:40

of the Grey Dawn this hideous

42:42

drama of revivocation was repeated, how

42:45

each terrific relapse was only

42:47

into a sterner and apparently

42:49

more irredeemable death, how each

42:52

agony wore the aspect of a

42:54

struggle with some invisible foe, and

42:56

how each struggle was succeeded by

42:58

I know not what of

43:00

wild change in the personal appearance of the

43:02

corpse? Let me hurry to

43:05

the conclusion. The

43:07

greater part of that fearful night had worn

43:09

away, and she who had been

43:11

dead once again stirred,

43:14

and now, more vigorously

43:16

than hitherto. Although arousing

43:18

from a dissolution more appalling in

43:20

its utter hopelessness than any, I

43:23

had long ceased to struggle or move, and

43:26

remained sitting rigidly upon the ottoman,

43:29

a helpless prey to a whirl

43:31

of violent emotions, of

43:33

which extreme awe was perhaps the least

43:35

terrible, the least consuming. The

43:38

corpse I repeat stirred, and now

43:40

more vigorously than before. The hues

43:42

of life flushed up with unwanted

43:44

energy into the countenance, the limbs

43:47

relaxed, and, say that the

43:49

eyelids were yet pressed heavily together, and

43:51

that the bandages and draperies of the grave

43:54

still imparted their charnel character to the figure,

43:56

I might have dreamed that Rowena had shaken

43:59

off utter leads. If

44:03

this idea. Was. Not even then,

44:05

altogether adopted. I. Could at least out

44:07

at no longer when. A rising

44:09

from the bed, tottering with feeble

44:12

steps with closed eyes than with

44:14

a manner of one bewildered in

44:16

a dream, this thing that was

44:19

in shrouded advanced bodily and palpably

44:21

into the middle of the apartment.

44:25

I tremble. I

44:28

still had not. For.

44:31

A crowd of uncontrollable fancies

44:33

connected with the air statue,

44:35

the demeanor of the cigarettes

44:37

rushing a theory ugly through

44:39

my brain had paralyzed. A.

44:42

To me to stoke. I

44:46

stirred, not. But

44:49

gazed. Upon the app or is. It

44:52

was a map disorder of my thoughts. To.

44:56

Mold and a peaceable. Could.

44:58

It indeed be the living room we

45:00

the who confronted me. Could.

45:02

Indeed, be Rowena at All.

45:04

The fair haired blue eyed

45:06

Lady Rowena Trevelyan of Tremaine.

45:10

Why? Should I doubt it? The

45:12

lay heavily about the mouth. But.

45:15

Then might not be the mouth of the

45:17

breezing lady of Tremaine. And the

45:19

cheeks. They were the roses

45:22

as in the nude of her life.

45:24

Yes, these might indeed be the say

45:26

her cheeks of the living. It's Lady

45:28

of Tremaine. And

45:30

the chin. With. It's dimples as

45:32

in health. I did

45:35

not be hers. But.

45:37

Had she hadn't. Grown.

45:40

Taller. Since. For:

45:42

malady. Was.

45:45

It expressible madness sees me with that

45:47

last. One. Bounded I had

45:49

reached her feet freaking from my

45:52

touch she let fall from her

45:54

head on loosened it's the ghastly

45:56

several months which had can find

45:58

it and their streamed forth into

46:00

the rushing the atmosphere of the

46:02

chamber huge masses of long and

46:04

disheveled hair. It was blacker than

46:06

the raven wings of the midnight

46:09

and here. Slowly. Opened.

46:12

The. Eyes. Of

46:15

the figure which stood before me. A

46:19

lot as I shrieked allowed. Can

46:21

I get never stood? I never

46:24

be mistaken. These ah. As a

46:26

fool and the black at the

46:28

why old. Eyes. Of

46:32

my last this is. Often

46:38

lady. I saw.

46:54

This. As Bj Harrison. I

46:56

hope you enjoyed this vintage episode

46:58

of Light Xia. By. Edgar Allan

47:00

Poe. If. He's enjoyed this book.

47:03

Please. Become a supporter by going

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to Classic Tales Audio books.com. And

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thanks for putting m. Thank.

47:09

You for joining me today. And. Allowing

47:11

classic literature to awaken your better

47:14

self. Please. Join me next time.

47:16

And. Will rediscover the greatest stories ever

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put to post. Something

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which is no sense. Wait. For you

47:40

as a face on you with all see

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not have a based on tv whom he.

47:46

Makes the car behind them. About.

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Save the Jaguars and all the. At.

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And only pay me based on you'd. Be

47:59

states or to determine. This is reading that doesn't seem very

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