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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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179
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THE CHOICE . FOURTH FANTASY PIECE AFTER HOFFMAN .
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Chapter I . On the night of the summer equinox , in the year 18— , Mr . Tusmann , private secretary of the chancery , was returning home from a coffee-house where he was accustomed to pass an hour or two every evening , towards his dwelling situated in Spandaustreet , Berlin .
Mr . Tusmann was the most precise , the most strictly exact man , perhaps , in the world , in all his actions . It was his almost invariable custom to commence preparing for bed , by pulling off his boots , exactly at the moment when the clock of Saint Nicholas ' church warned for eleven ; and so to time his further proceedings , that as the last stroke of the clock sounded he drew his nightcap over his ears . On the night in question he was , however , rather Later than usual , for the clock warned as he walked along ; in order , therefore , not to deviate from his praiseworthy punctuality , as regarded putting on his nightcap , he accelerated his pa , ce . and w ^ s just turning from Royal-street into Spandau-street , when a most singular noise attracted his attention and brought him to a stand-still .
Under the tower of the old town-house he perceived , by the dim light of a lamp , a tall man , enveloped in a dark cloak , who knocked violently at the shop-door of a dealer in iron trinkets , stepping back every now and then to look up at the ruined casements of the old tower . ' My dear sir , ' said Mr . Tusmann , very goodnaturedly , ' you are quite under a mistake ; there is not a living creature in the tower , excepting a few rats and mice , and a pair of owls . If you wish to purchase any iron-wire chains of the merchant Warnatz , I would recommend you to come here to-morrow morning about seven . '
i ' Honourable Mr . Tusmann ' e Private secretary of the chancery during many years , said Mr . Tusmann , involuntarily interrupting the stranger , though rather astonished to hear himself addressed by name ; but the stranger paid no attention , and continued , — c Honourable Mr . Tusmann , you are quite under a mistake respecting what brings me here . I have no wish to purchase iron-wire chains of the merchant Warnatz ; this is the night of the summer equinox , and I have come to see the bride . She has already heard the beating of my heart , my sighs of love , and will not long delay her appearance at the casement . ' The stranger spoke in a manner so solemn and lugubrious , that the private secretary of * he chancery felt his flesh begin to crawl on his bones . Hardly had the stranger ceased spejaking , when
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 179, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/35/
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