CHAPTER V.
THE WRITING OF MY CONFESSION.
Having become a member of the Secret Society as directed by the writerof the letter I have just read, and having obtained the secrets hintedat in the mystic directions, my next desire was to find a secluded spotwhere, without interruption, I could prepare for publication what I hadgathered surreptitiously in the lodges of the fraternity I designed tobetray. This I entitled "My Confession." Alas! why did my evil geniusprompt me to write it? Why did not some kind angel withhold my hand fromthe rash and wicked deed? All I can urge in defense or palliation isthat I was infatuated by the fatal words of the letter, "You must actwhat men will call the traitor, but humanity will be the gainer."
In a section of the state in which I resided, a certain creek forms theboundary line between two townships, and also between two counties.Crossing this creek, a much traveled road stretches east and west,uniting the extremes of the great state. Two villages on this road,about four miles apart, situated on opposite sides of the creek, alsopresent themselves to my memory, and midway between them, on the northside of the road, was a substantial farm house. In going west from theeasternmost of these villages, the traveler begins to descend from thevery center of the town. In no place is the grade steep, as the roadlies between the spurs of the hill abutting upon the valley that feedsthe creek I have mentioned. Having reached the valley, the road winds ashort distance to the right, then turning to the left, crosses thestream, and immediately begins to climb the western hill; here theascent is more difficult, for the road lies diagonally over the edge ofthe hill. A mile of travel, as I recall the scene, sometimes up a steep,and again among rich, level farm lands, and then on the very height,close to the road, within a few feet of it, appears the squarestructure which was, at the time I mention, known as the Stone Tavern.On the opposite side of the road were located extensive stables, and agrain barn. In the northeast chamber of that stone building, during asummer in the twenties, I wrote for publication the description of themystic work that my oath should have made forever a secret, a sacredtrust. I am the man who wantonly committed the deplorable act. Under theinfatuation of that alchemical manuscript, I strove to show the worldthat I could and would do that which might never benefit me in theleast, but might serve humanity. It was fate. I was not a bad man,neither malignity, avarice, nor ambition forming a part of my nature. Iwas a close student, of a rather retiring disposition, a stone-mason bytrade, careless and indifferent to public honors, and so thriftless thatmany trifling neighborhood debts had accumulated against me.
What I have reluctantly told, for I am forbidden to give the names ofthe localities, comprises an abstract of part of the record of my earlylife, and will introduce the extraordinary narrative which follows. ThatI have spoken the truth, and in no manner overdrawn, will be silentlyevidenced by hundreds of brethren, both of the occult society and thefraternal brotherhood, with which I united, who can (if they will)testify to the accuracy of the narrative. They know the story of mycrime and disgrace; only myself and God know the full retribution thatfollowed.