Marie Corelli

Vendetta Marie Corelli

I, who write this, am a dead man. Dead legally-dead by absolute proofs-dead and buried! Ask for me in my native city and they will tell you I was one of the victims of the cholera that ravaged Naples in 1884, and that my mortal remains lie moldering in the funeral vault of my ancestors. Yet-I live! I feel the warm blood coursing through my veins-the blood of thirty summers-the prime of early manhood invigorates me, and makes these eyes of mine keen and bright-these muscles strong as iron-this hand powerful of grip-this well-knit form erect and proud of bearing. Yes!-I am alive, though declared to be dead; alive in the fullness of manly force-and even sorrow has left few distinguishing marks upon me, save one. My hair, once ebony-black, is white as a wreath of Alpine snow, though its clustering curls are thick as ever."A constitutional inheritance?" asks one physician, observing my frosted locks."A sudden shock?" suggests another."Exposure to intense heat?" hints a third. I answer none of them. I did so once. I told my story to a man I met by chance-one renowned for medical skill and kindliness. He heard me to the end in evident incredulity and alarm, and hinted at the possibility of madness. Since then I have never spoken.