| We could not see the face, for it was bent down... 392 |
[Jan. 27th, 2010|02:08 am] |
We could not see the face, for it was bent down over what we saw to be a fair-haired childThere was a pause and a sharp little cry, such as a child gives in sleep, or a dog as it lies before the fire and dreamsWe were starting forward, but the Professor's warning hand, seen by us as he stood behind a yew tree, kept us backAnd then as we looked the white figure moved forwards againIt was now near enough for us to see clearly, and the moonlight still heldMy own heart grew cold as ice, and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognized the features of Lucy WestenraLucy Westenra, but yet how changedThe sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness
Van Helsing stepped out, and obedient to his gesture, we all advanced tooThe four of us ranged in a line before the door of the tombVan Helsing raised his lantern and drew the slideBy the concentrated light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips were crimson with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her chin and stained the purity of her lawn death-robe
We shuddered with horrorI could see by the tremulous light that even Van Helsing's iron nerve had failedArthur was next to me, and if I had not seized his arm and held him up, he would have fallen
When Lucy, I call the thing that was before us Lucy because it bore her shape, saw us she drew back with an angry snarl, such as a cat gives when taken unawares, then her eyes ranged over usLucy's eyes in form and colour, but Lucy's eyes unclean and full of hell fire, instead of the pure, gentle orbs we knewAt that moment the remnant of my love passed into hate and loathingHad she then to be killed, I could have done it with savage delightAs she looked, her eyes blazed with unholy light, and the face became wreathed with a voluptuous smileOh, God, how it made me shudder to see it! With a careless motion, she flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls over a boneThe child gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaningThere was a cold-bloodedness in the act which wrung a groan from ArthurWhen she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell back and hid his face in his hands
She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, said, "Come to me, ArthurLeave these others and come to meMy arms are hungry for youCome, and we can rest togetherCome, my husband, come!"
There was something diabolically sweet in her tones, something of the tinkling of glass when struck, which rang through the brains even of us who heard the words addressed to another
As for Arthur, he seemed under a spell, moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his armsShe was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between them his little golden crucifixShe recoiled from it, and, with a suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter the tomb
When within a foot or two of the door, however, she stopped, as if arrested by some irresistible forceThen she turned, and her face was shown in the clear burst of moonlight and by the lamp, which had now no quiver from Van Helsing's nervesNever did I see such baffled malice on a face, and never, I trust, shall such ever be seen again by mortal eyesThe beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw out sparks of hell fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of the Greeks and JapaneseIf ever a face meant death, if looks could kill, we saw it at that moment
And so for full half a minute, which seemed an eternity, she remained between the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her means of entry
Van Helsing broke the silence by asking Arthur, "Answer me, oh my friend! Am I to proceed in my work?"
"Do as you will, friendThere can be no horror like this ever any |
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