of shoutings and shriekings ... A woman's hand was locked in his own
.. "Tighter," he muttered, "tighter still, darling! hold as long as
you can!" It was the tenth night
of August, eighteen hundred and fifty-six ... --"Cheri!" Again the
mysterious
whisper startled him to consciousness,--the dim knowledge of a room
filled with ruby colored light,--and the sharp odor of vinegar. The
house swung round slowly;--the crimson flame of the lamp lengthened
and broadened by turns;--then everything turned dizzily
fast,--whirled as if spinning in a vortex ... Nausea unutterable; and
a frightful anguish as of teeth devouring him within,--tearing more
and more furiously
at his breast. Then one atrocious wrenching, rending, burning,--and
the gush of blood burst from lips and nostrils in a smothering
deluge. Again the vision of lightnings,
the swaying, and the darkness of long ago. "Quick!--quick!--hold
fast to the table, Adele!--never let go!" ... ...
Up,--up,--up!--what! higher
yet? Up to the red sky! Red--black-red ...
heated iron when its vermilion dies. So, too, the frightful flood!
And noiseless.
Noiseless because heavy, clammy,--thick, warm, sickening--blood? Well
might the land quake for the weight of such a tide!--Why did Adele
speak
Spanish?
Who prayed for him? ... --"Alma de Cristo santisima santificame!
"Sangre de Cristo, embriagame! "O buen Jesus, oye me!" ... Out of the
darkness into--such
a light! An azure haze! Ah!--the de