Charles died young. Much, much too young. His sudden illness and subsequent death had come so rapidly he scarcely had time for his final breath. Indeed, whatever it was that had afflicted him was of such a virulent nature that even the most seasoned doctors in our English county had no power against it, and it was clear to me that they where repulsed by the symptoms, even having seen grotesque injuries and infections of all sorts.  His eyes bulged, he complained of an earsplitting headache, and he ranted and raved like a madman. He found peace only in sleep, and even that was interrupted periodically by a loud shriek and another session of swearing and the most terrible blasphemy. He denounced the Bible, he denounced me, and he said terrible things about the horrific visions in his head. He seemed completely obsessed by a particular treasure he owned, and at the time  I had no idea what he was talking about. One of his most bizarre symptoms was a red ring of tissue around his wrist, as though it had been burned. These episodes were hard to bear, but when he was sensible, which was not often, he would dictate his final will and testament while I wrote, for he didn’t have the strength to lift a pen. He spoke in a muffled whisper, and I strained to hear him.

                  After discussing several charities to which he wished to donate, he made one last request. He told me of a fantastic and most valuable bracelet that he had come to procure. This, I assumed had been the subjects of many of his episodes. By and by I grew covetous of the fabulous jewels and solid gold he said it was formed by, but I held my peace and waited until his lengthy description of the piece had ended. Finally, he told me in his low whisper what he wanted done with it. I was horrified to hear that he wished to be entombed with it! “Never!” I thought as he thus spoke. How could I consign to the grave an item so precious? At length I curbed my enviousness and wrote down his wishes regarding the jeweled bracelet, which were that he wanted to have it placed on his wrist before entering his family vaults to stay. I did my best to remove my greed as he finished his will.