Modern Mephistopheles and A Whisper in the Dark

Without, a midwinter twilight, where wandering snowflakes eddied in the bitter wind between a leaden sky and frost-bound earth.Within, a garret; gloomy, bare, and cold as the bleak night coming down.A haggard youth knelt before a little furnace, kindling a fire, with an expression of quiet desperation on his face, which made the simple operation strange and solemn.A pile of manuscript lay beside h...