Chapter 225

212 MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE me in the silent hours of the night. Suddenly, these manifestations ceased; and the world grew dark before mine eyes; and I stood aghast at the burning thoughts which possessed — at the terrible temptations which beset me; for there came from some far, far distant unknown land, into the gay court of the king I served, a maiden to whose beauty my whole recreant heart yielded at once — at whose footstool I bowed down without a struggle, in the most ardent, in the most abject worship of love. What indeed was my passion for the young girl of the valley in comparison with the fervor and the delirium, and the spirit-lifting ecstasy of adoration with which I poured out my whole soul in tears at the feet of the ethereal Ermengarde ? — Oh, bright was the seraph Ermengarde ! and in that knowledge I had room for none other. — Oh, divine was the angel Ermengarde ! and as I looked down into the depths of her memorial eyes, I thought only of them — and of her. I wedded ; — nor dreaded the curse I had invoked ; and its bitterness was not visited upon me. And once — but once again in the silence of the night, there came through my lattice the soft sighs which had forsaken me; and they modeled themselves into familiar and sweet voice, saying — “Sleep in peace! — for the Spirit of Love reigneth and ruleth, and, in taking to thy passionate heart her who is Ermengarde thou art absolved, for reasons which shall be made known to thee in Heaven, of thy vows unto Eleonora.” LIGEIA I cannot, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia. Long years have since elapsed, and my memory