Martin Faber, the Story of a Criminal, and Other Tales. Volume II

He sprung upon his feet with undisguised horror. His face was ashen pale--his lips were parted in affright; and while I held one of his hands, the other involuntarily was passed over, entirely concealing his eyes. What prompted me to the narration I know not. I could not resist the impulse--I was compelled to speak. It was my fate. I described my crime--I dwelt upon all its particulars; but with a caution, strangely inconsistent with the open confidence I had manifested, I changed the name of the victim--I varied the period, and falsified, in my narrative, all the localities of the crime.