THE SERPENT IN LITERATURE 209 
failings touching her only in a faint vague way, like 
the memories of her childhood, of her lost kindred, 
and of her passion. And after long years, during 
which she has been a wonder and mystery to the 
villagers, on one of her solitary rambles on the 
mountain occurs the catastrophe which the author 
has described—the fall of the huge overhanging 
ledge of rock under which the serpent brood had 
their shelter—burying her for ever with her ophidian 
relations, and thus bringing to an end the strange 
story of “ Elsie Venner Infelix.” 
