human
I think I understand what you mean, said he,--
gpt
he added, with a grave smile,
human
I could explain it better than yourself. Here, turning to the others, he added,
gpt
You must often have felt, gentlemen,-- each and all of you,--especially when sitting alone at night, a strange and unaccountable sensation of coldness and awe creep over you; your blood curdles, and the heart stands still; the limbs shiver, the hair bristles; you are afraid to look up, to turn your eyes to the darker corners of the room; you have a horrible fancy that something unearthly is at hand. Presently the whole spell, if I may so call it, passes away, and you are ready to laugh at your own weakness. Have you not often felt what I have thus imperfectly described? If so, you can understand what our young friend has just experienced, even amidst the delights of this magical scene, and amidst the balmy whispers of a July night.
human
Sir, replied Glyndon, evidently much surprised,
gpt
I know the signs of the visitation, returned the stranger, gravely;
human
According to one of our national superstitions, said Merton, the Englishman who had first addressed Glyndon,
gpt
There are in all lands different superstitions to account for so common an occurrence, replied the stranger;
human
It is evidently a mere physical accident,--a derangement of the stomach; a chill of the blood,
gpt
Then why is it always coupled, in all nations, with some superstitious presentiment or terror,--some connection between the material frame and the supposed world without us? asked the stranger.
human
For my part, I think--
gpt
What do you think, sir?
human
I think, continued the stranger,
gpt
You are a believer in spirits, then?
human
Nay, I said not so. I can form no notion of a spirit, as the metaphysicians do, and certainly have no fear of one; but there may be forms of matter as invisible and impalpable to us as the animalculae to which I have compared them. The monster that lives and dies in a drop of water, carniverous, insatiable, subsisting on the creatures minuter than himself, is not less deadly in his wrath, less ferocious in his nature, than the tiger of the desert. There may be things around us malignant and hostile to men, if Providence had not placed a wall between them and us, merely by different modifications of matter.
gpt
And could that wall never be removed? asked young Glyndon, abruptly.
human
Are the traditions of sorcerer and wizard, universal and immemorial as they are, merely fables?
gpt
Perhaps yes; perhaps no, answered the stranger, indifferently.
human
But who, in an age in which the reason has chosen its proper bounds, would be mad enough to break the partition that divides him from the boa and the lion, to repine at and rebel against the law of nature which confines the shark to the great deep? Enough of these idle speculations.
gpt
Who is that gentleman?
human
I never saw him before,
gpt
Nor I.
human
Nor I.
gpt
I have met him often, said the Neapolitan, who was named Count Cetoxa;
human
How was it?
gpt
I had been playing at a public gaming-house, and had lost considerably. I rose from the table, resolved no longer to tempt Fortune, when this gentleman, who had hitherto been a spectator, laying his hand on my arm, said with politeness, 'Sir, I see you enjoy play,--I dislike it; but I yet wish to have some interest in what is going on. Will you play this sum for me? The risk is mine,--the half-profits yours.' I was startled, as you may suppose, at such an address; but the stranger had an air and tone with him it was impossible to resist. Besides, I was burning to recover my losses, and should not have risen had I had any money left about me. I told him I would accept his offer, provided we shared the risk as well as profits. 'As you will,' said he, smiling, 'we need have no scruple, for you will be sure to win.' I sat down, the stranger stood behind me; my luck rose, I invariably won. In fact, I rose from the table a rich man.
human
There can be no foul play at the public tables, especially when foul play would make against the bank.