Egotism Or, the Bosom Serpent

The physical fact, to which it is here attempted to give a moral signification, has been known to occur in more than one instance. "Here he comes!" shouted the boys along the street. "Here comes the man with a snake in his bosom!" This outcry, saluting Herkimer's ears as he was about to enter the iron gate of the Elliston mansion, made him pause. It was not without a shudder that he found himself on the point of meeting his former acquaintance, whom he had known in the glory of youth, and whom now after an interval of five years, he was to find the victim either of a diseased fancy or a horrible physical misfortune.