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assures me could have had reference only to that condition of seeming
unconsciousness. These shadows of memory tell, indistinctly, of tall
figures that lifted and bore me in silence down--down--still
down--till a hideous dizziness oppressed me at the mere idea of the
interminableness of the descent. They tell also of a vague horror at
my heart, on account of that heart's unnatural stillness. Then comes a
sense of sudden motionlessness throughout all things; as if those who
bore me (a ghastly train!) had outrun, in their descent, the limits of
the limitless, and paused from the wearisomeness of their toil. After
this I call to mind flatness and dampness; and then all is madness--the
madness of a memory which busies itself among forbidden things.
Very suddenly there came back to my soul motion and sound--the
tumultuous motion of the heart, and, in my ears, the sound of its
beating. Then a pause in which all is blank. Then again sound, and
motion, and touch--a tingling sensation pervading my frame. Then the
mere consciousness of existence, without thought--a condition which
lasted long. Then, very suddenly, thought, and shuddering terror, and
earnest endeavor to comprehend my true state. Then a strong desire
to lapse into insensibility. Then a rushing revival of soul and a
successful effort to move. And now a full memory of the trial, of the
judges, of the sable draperies, of the sentence, of the sickness, of
the swoon. Then entire forgetfulness of all that followed; of all that
a later day and much earnestness of endeavor have enabled me vaguely to
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