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for an instant, and then passed on. I, instead, ran with whatever strength was left in me.
"My head was reeling, my strength was breaking down, I stumbled several times, still I ran on.
"Was I mad?
"All at once, panting, breathless, bruised in body and in mind, I found myself standing on the bridge—nay, on the very same spot on which I had stood some months before.
"I uttered a harsh, jarring laugh that frightened me. So it had come to this, after all.
"I cast a hurried glance around me. A dark shadow loomed in the distance. Was it my other self?
"Trembling, shuddering, maddened, without a moment's thought, I climbed on the parapet and plunged head foremost into the foaming flood beneath.
"I was again in the very midst of a whirlpool, I heard the noise of rushing waters in my ears; darkness was pressing closely round me, a world of thoughts flitted through my brain