![]() ![]() Oh! no mortal could support the horror of that countenance. I took refuge in the court-yard belonging to the house which I inhabited where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life. ![]() He might have spoken, but I did not hear one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped, and rushed down stairs. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. ![]() He held up the curtain of the bed and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. I started from my sleep with horror a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window-shutters, I beheld the wretch-the miserable monster whom I had created. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became lurid with the hue of death her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. But it was in vain: I slept indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams. At length lassitude succeeded to the tumult I had before endured and I threw myself on the bed in my clothes, endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing my bed-chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature. Beautiful!-Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing his teeth of a pearly whiteness but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips. How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. It was already one in the morning the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. ![]()
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