I found that I could not compose a female without again devoting several months to profound study and laborious disquisition.

Alas! To me the idea of an immediate union with my Elizabeth was one of horror and dismay.

I was now about to form another being, of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant; she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness.

The wretch saw me destroy the monster on whose future existence he depended for happiness, and with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdrew.