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Sometimes I grew alarmed at the wreck I perceived that I had

become; the energy of my purpose alone sustained me: my labours

would soon end, and I believed that exercise and amusement would

then drive away incipient disease; and I promised myself both of

these when my creation should be complete.

Chapter 5

It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the

accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted

to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I

might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at

my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered

dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out,

when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the

dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a

convulsive motion agitated its limbs.