They formed a motley and heterogeneous
      admixture;—some petulant animosity, which was not yet hatred,
      some esteem, more respect, much fear, with a world of uneasy
      curiosity. To the moralist it will be unnecessary to say, in
      addition, that Wilson and myself were the most inseparable of
      companions. It was no doubt the anomalous state of affairs existing between
      us, which turned all my attacks upon him, (and they were many,
      either open or covert) into the channel of banter or practical
      joke (giving pain while assuming the aspect of mere fun) rather
      than into a more serious and determined hostility. But my
      endeavours on this head were by no means uniformly successful,
      even when my plans were the most wittily concocted; for my
      namesake had much about him, in character, of that unassuming and
      quiet austerity which, while enjoying the poignancy of its own
      jokes, has no heel of Achilles in itself, and absolutely refuses
      to be laughed at. I could find, indeed, but one vulnerable point,
      and that, lying in a personal peculiarity, arising, perhaps, from
      constitutional disease, would have been spared by any antagonist
      less at his wit’s end than myself;—my rival had a weakness in the
      faucal or guttural organs, which precluded him from raising his
      voice at any time above a very low whisper. Of this defect I did
      not fail to take what poor advantage lay in my power. Wilson’s retaliations in kind were many; and there was one form
      of his practical wit that disturbed me beyond measure. How his
      sagacity first discovered at all that so petty a thing would vex
      me, is a question I never could solve; but, having discovered, he
      habitually practised the annoyance. I had always felt aversion to
      my uncourtly patronymic, and its very common, if not plebeian
      praenomen. The words were venom in my ears; and when, upon the
      day of my arrival, a second William Wilson came also to the
      academy, I felt angry with him for bearing the name, and doubly
      disgusted with the name because a stranger bore it, who would be
      the cause of its twofold repetition, who would be constantly in
      my presence, and whose concerns, in the ordinary routine of the
      school business, must inevitably, on account of the detestable
      coincidence, be often confounded with my own. The feeling of vexation thus engendered grew stronger with every
      circumstance tending to show resemblance, moral or physical,
      between my rival and myself. I had not then discovered the
      remarkable fact that we were of the same age; but I saw that we
      were of the same height, and I perceived that we were even
      singularly alike in general contour of person and outline of
      feature. I was galled, too, by the rumor touching a relationship,
      which had grown current in the upper forms. In a word, nothing
      could more seriously disturb me, (although I scrupulously
      concealed such disturbance,) than any allusion to a similarity of
      mind, person, or condition existing between us. But, in truth, I
      had no reason to believe that (with the exception of the matter
      of relationship, and in the case of Wilson himself,) this
      similarity had ever been made a subject of comment, or even
      observed at all by our schoolfellows. That he observed it in all
      its bearings, and as fixedly as I, was apparent; but that he
      could discover in such circumstances so fruitful a field of
      annoyance, can only be attributed, as I said before, to his more
      than ordinary penetration. His cue, which was to perfect an imitation of myself, lay both in
      words and in actions; and most admirably did he play his part. My
      dress it was an easy matter to copy; my gait and general manner
      were, without difficulty, appropriated; in spite of his
      constitutional defect, even my voice did not escape him. My
      louder tones were, of course, unattempted, but then the key—it
      was identical; _and his singular whisper, it grew the very echo
      of my own_. How greatly this most exquisite portraiture harassed me, (for it
      could not justly be termed a caricature,) I will not now venture
      to describe. I had but one consolation—in the fact that the
      imitation, apparently, was noticed by myself alone, and that I
      had to endure only the knowing and strangely sarcastic smiles of
      my namesake himself. Satisfied with having produced in my bosom
      the intended effect, he seemed to chuckle in secret over the
      sting he had inflicted, and was characteristically disregardful
      of the public applause which the success of his witty endeavours
      might have so easily elicited. That the school, indeed, did not
      feel his design, perceive its accomplishment, and participate in
      his sneer, was, for many anxious months, a riddle I could not
      resolve. Perhaps the gradation of his copy rendered it not so
      readily perceptible; or, more possibly, I owed my security to the
      master air of the copyist, who, disdaining the letter, (which in
      a painting is all the obtuse can see,) gave but the full spirit
      of his original for my individual contemplation and chagrin. I have already more than once spoken of the disgusting air of
      patronage which he assumed toward me, and of his frequent
      officious interference with my will. This interference often took
      the ungracious character of advice; advice not openly given, but
      hinted or insinuated. I received it with a repugnance which
      gained strength as I grew in years. Yet, at this distant day, let
      me do him the simple justice to acknowledge that I can recall no
      occasion when the suggestions of my rival were on the side of
      those errors or follies so usual to his immature age and seeming
      inexperience; that his moral sense, at least, if not his general
      talents and worldly wisdom, was far keener than my own; and that
      I might, to-day, have been a better, and thus a happier man, had
      I less frequently rejected the counsels embodied in those meaning
      whispers which I then but too cordially hated and too bitterly
      despised. As it was, I at length grew restive in the extreme under his
      distasteful supervision, and daily resented more and more openly
      what I considered his intolerable arrogance. I have said that, in
      the first years of our connexion as schoolmates, my feelings in
      regard to him might have been easily ripened into friendship;
      but, in the latter months of my residence at the academy,
      although the intrusion of his ordinary manner had, beyond doubt,
      in some measure, abated, my sentiments, in nearly similar
      proportion, partook very much of positive hatred.