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But
nothing
seemed
to
please
Roderick
better
than
to
lay
hold
of
a
person
infected
with
jealousy
,
which
he
represented
as
an
enormous
green
reptile
,
with
an
ice
-
cold
length
of
body
,
and
the
sharpest
sting
of
any
snake
save
one
.
"
And
what
one
is
that
?
"
asked
a
by
-
stander
,
overhearing
him
.
It
was
a
dark
-
browed
man
who
put
the
question
;
he
had
an
evasive
eye
,
which
in
the
course
of
a
dozen
years
had
looked
no
mortal
directly
in
the
face
.
There
was
an
ambiguity
about
this
person
’
s
character
,
—
a
stain
upon
his
reputation
,
—
yet
none
could
tell
precisely
of
what
nature
,
although
the
city
gossips
,
male
and
female
,
whispered
the
most
atrocious
surmises
.
Until
a
recent
period
he
had
followed
the
sea
,
and
was
,
in
fact
,
the
very
shipmaster
whom
George
Herkimer
had
encountered
,
under
such
singular
circumstances
,
in
the
Grecian
Archipelago
.
"
What
bosom
serpent
has
the
sharpest
sting
?
"
repeated
this
man
;
but
he
put
the
question
as
if
by
a
reluctant
necessity
,
and
grew
pale
while
he
was
uttering
it
.
"
Why
need
you
ask
?
"
replied
Roderick
,
with
a
look
of
dark
intelligence
.
"
Look
into
your
own
breast
.
Hark
!
my
serpent
bestirs
himself
!
He
acknowledges
the
presence
of
a
master
fiend
!
"
And
then
,
as
the
by
-
standers
afterwards
affirmed
,
a
hissing
sound
was
heard
,
apparently
in
Roderick
Elliston
’
s
breast
.
It
was
said
,
too
,
that
an
answering
hiss
came
from
the
vitals
of
the
shipmaster
,
as
if
a
snake
were
actually
lurking
there
and
had
been
aroused
by
the
call
of
its
brother
reptile
.
If
there
were
in
fact
any
such
sound
,
it
might
have
been
caused
by
a
malicious
exercise
of
ventriloquism
on
the
part
of
Roderick
.
Thus
making
his
own
actual
serpent
—
if
a
serpent
there
actually
was
in
his
bosom
—
the
type
of
each
man
’
s
fatal
error
,
or
hoarded
sin
,
or
unquiet
conscience
,
and
striking
his
sting
so
unremorsefully
into
the
sorest
spot
,
we
may
well
imagine
that
Roderick
became
the
pest
of
the
city
.
Nobody
could
elude
him
—
none
could
withstand
him
.
He
grappled
with
the
ugliest
truth
that
he
could
lay
his
hand
on
,
and
compelled
his
adversary
to
do
the
same
.
Strange
spectacle
in
human
life
where
it
is
the
instinctive
effort
of
one
and
all
to
hide
those
sad
realities
,
and
leave
them
undisturbed
beneath
a
heap
of
superficial
topics
which
constitute
the
materials
of
intercourse
between
man
and
man
!
It
was
not
to
be
tolerated
that
Roderick
Elliston
should
break
through
the
tacit
compact
by
which
the
world
has
done
its
best
to
secure
repose
without
relinquishing
evil
.
The
victims
of
his
malicious
remarks
,
it
is
true
,
had
brothers
enough
to
keep
them
in
countenance
;
for
,
by
Roderick
’
s
theory
,
every
mortal
bosom
harbored
either
a
brood
of
small
serpents
or
one
overgrown
monster
that
had
devoured
all
the
rest
.
Still
the
city
could
not
bear
this
new
apostle
.
It
was
demanded
by
nearly
all
,
and
particularly
by
the
most
respectable
inhabitants
,
that
Roderick
should
no
longer
be
permitted
to
violate
the
received
rules
of
decorum
by
obtruding
his
own
bosom
serpent
to
the
public
gaze
,
and
dragging
those
of
decent
people
from
their
lurking
places
.
Accordingly
,
his
relatives
interfered
and
placed
him
in
a
private
asylum
for
the
insane
.
When
the
news
was
noised
abroad
,
it
was
observed
that
many
persons
walked
the
streets
with
freer
countenances
and
covered
their
breasts
less
carefully
with
their
hands
.
