The works of Edgar Allan Poe; newly collected and edited, with a memoir, critical introductions, and notes, by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry; the illustrations by Albert Edward Sterner.

WILLIAM WILSON
resemblance, moral or physical, between my rival and
myself. I had not then discovered the remarkable
fact that we were of the same age; but I saw that we
were of the same height, and I perceived that we were
even singularly alike in general contour of person
and outline of feature. I was galled, too, by the
rumor touching a relationship, which had grown current in the upper forms. In a word, nothing could
more seriously disturb me, (although I scrupulously
concealed such disturbance) than any allusion to a
similarity of mind, person, or condition existing between us. But, in truth, I had no reason to believe
that (with the exception of the matter of relationship,
and in the case of Wilson himself) this similarity
had ever been made a subject of comment, or even
observed at all by our schoolfellows. That he
observed it in all its bearings, and as fixedly as I,
was apparent; but that he could discover in such
circumstances so fruitful a field of annoyance can
only be attributed, as I said before, to his more than
ordinary penetration.
His cue, which was to perfect an imitation of my.
self, lay both in words and in actions; and most
admirably did he play his part. My dress it was
an easy matter to copy; my gait and general manner were, without difficulty, appropriated; in spite
of his constitutional defect, even my voice did not
escape him. My louder tones were, of course, unattempted, but then the key,-it was identical; and
his singular whisper, - it grew the very echo of my
own.
How greatly this most exqcisite portraiture harassed
me (for TFiould not justlylbe termed a caricature) I
will not now'venture to describe. I had but one con.
15: ~~"'\S