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Urged thus far, I had no choice but to adapt my nature to an

element which I had willingly chosen. The completion of my

demoniacal design became an insatiable passion. And now it is

ended; there is my last victim!"

I was at first touched by the expressions of his misery; yet,

when I called to mind what Frankenstein had said of his powers of

eloquence and persuasion, and when I again cast my eyes on the

lifeless form of my friend, indignation was rekindled within me.

"Wretch!" I said. "It is well that you come here to whine over

the desolation that you have made. You throw a torch into a pile

of buildings, and when they are consumed, you sit among the ruins

and lament the fall. Hypocritical fiend! If he whom you mourn

still lived, still would he be the object, again would he become

the prey, of your accursed vengeance. It is not pity that you

feel; you lament only because the victim of your malignity is

withdrawn from your power."