He spoke of his malady as a constitutional and family evil: a morbid acuteness of the senses. The most insipid food alone was endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odours of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light; and there were peculiar sounds, from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror. He was enchained by a superstition respecting the dwelling he tenanted, from which he had not ventured forth for many years. He admitted, however, that much of the gloom which afflicted him could be traced to a nearer cause: the severe and long-continued illness, indeed the evidently approaching dissolution, of a tenderly beloved sister, his sole companion for long years, his last and only relative on earth. While he spoke, the lady Madeline passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment and disappeared without having noticed my presence.