| With hands that trembled with eagerness, I... 187 |
[Jan. 31st, 2010|02:43 am] |
With hands that trembled with eagerness, I unhooked the chains and threw back the massive bolts
But the door would not moveI pulled and pulled at the door, and shook it till, massive as it was, it rattled in its casementI could see the bolt shotIt had been locked after I left the Count
Then a wild desire took me to obtain the key at any risk, and I determined then and there to scale the wall again, and gain the Count's roomHe might kill me, but death now seemed the happier choice of evilsWithout a pause I rushed up to the east window, and scrambled down the wall, as before, into the Count's roomIt was empty, but that was as I expectedI could not see a key anywhere, but the heap of gold remainedI went through the door in the corner and down the winding stair and along the dark passage to the old chapelI knew now well enough where to find the monster I sought
The great box was in the same place, close against the wall, but the lid was laid on it, not fastened down, but with the nails ready in their places to be hammered home
I knew I must reach the body for the key, so I raised the lid, and laid it back against the wallAnd then I saw something which filled my very soul with horrorThere lay the Count, but looking as if his youth had been half restoredFor the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron-greyThe cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneathThe mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran down over the chin and neckEven the deep, burning eyes seemed set amongst swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches underneath were bloatedIt seemed as if the whole awful creature were simply gorged with bloodHe lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion
I shuddered as I bent over to touch him, and every sense in me revolted at the contact, but I had to search, or I was lostThe coming night might see my own body a banquet in a similar war to those horrid threeI felt all over the body, but no sign could I find of the keyThen I stopped and looked at the CountThere was a mocking smile on the bloated face which seemed to drive me madThis was the being I was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the helpless
The very thought drove me madA terrible desire came upon me to rid the world of such a monsterThere was no lethal weapon at hand, but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the hateful faceBut as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell upon me, with all their blaze of basilisk horrorThe sight seemed to paralyze me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, merely making a deep gash above the foreheadThe shovel fell from my hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade caught the edge of the lid which fell over again, and hid the horrid thing from my sightThe last glimpse I had was of the bloated face, blood-stained and fixed with a grin of malice which would have held its own in the nethermost hell
I thought and thought what should be my next move, but my brain seemed on fire, and I waited with a despairing feeling growing over meAs I waited I heard in the distance a gipsy song sung by merry voices coming closer, and through their song the rolling of heavy wheels and the cracking of whipsThe Szgany and the Slovaks of whom the Count had spoken were comingWith a last look around and at the box which contained the vile body, I ran from the place and gained the Count's room, determined to rush out at the moment the door should be openedWith strained ears, I listened, and heard downstairs the grinding of the key in the great lock and the falling back of the heavy |
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