And What Could He Mean By Plying His Trade In
Biscay And The Landes, But That He Had Been A Robber In Those Wild
Regions, Of Which The Latter Is More Infamous For Brigandage And
Crime Than Any Other Part Of The French Territory.
Nothing
remarkable in his history!
Then what history in the world contains
aught that is remarkable?
I gave him the cigar and dollar: he received them, and then once
more folding his arms, leaned back against the wall and appeared to
sink gradually into one of his reveries. I looked him in the face
and spoke to him, but he did not seem either to hear or see me.
His mind was perhaps wandering in that dreadful valley of the
shadow, into which the children of earth, whilst living,
occasionally find their way; that dreadful region where there is no
water, where hope dwelleth not, where nothing lives but the undying
worm. This valley is the facsimile of hell, and he who has entered
it, has experienced here on earth for a time what the spirits of
the condemned are doomed to suffer through ages without end.
He was executed about a month from this time. The bagatelle for
which he was confined was robbery and murder by the following
strange device. In concert with two others, he hired a large house
in an unfrequented part of the town, to which place he would order
tradesmen to convey valuable articles, which were to be paid for on
delivery; those who attended paid for their credulity with the loss
of their lives and property.
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