One tempestuous night, Metzengerstein, awaking from a heavy slumber,
descended like a maniac from his chamber, and, mounting in hot
haste, bounded away into the mazes of the forest. An occurrence so
common attracted no particular attention, but his return was looked
for with intense anxiety on the part of his domestics, when, after
some hours' absence, the stupendous and magnificent battlements of the
Chateau Metzengerstein, were discovered crackling and rocking to their
very foundation, under the influence of a dense and livid mass of
ungovernable fire.
As the flames, when first seen, had already made so terrible a
progress that all efforts to save any portion of the building were
evidently futile, the astonished neighborhood stood idly around in
silent and pathetic wonder. But a new and fearful object soon rivetted
the attention of the multitude, and proved how much more intense is
the excitement wrought in the feelings of a crowd by the contemplation
of human agony, than that brought about by the most appalling
spectacles of inanimate matter.
Up the long avenue of aged oaks which led from the forest to the
main entrance of the Chateau Metzengerstein, a steed, bearing an
unbonneted and disordered rider, was seen leaping with an
impetuosity which outstripped the very Demon of the Tempest, and
extorted from every stupefied beholder the ejaculation- "horrible.
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