exactly as though she were made of gold?' As I
said, nothing new had occurred, yet nevertheless a vague sort of terror
began little by little to master me and to develop itself in my mind, at
first merely as a bit of foolish fancy, and then as a haunting belief that
dominated my entire thought, so that I perpetually seemed to see a thing
which it was in reality quite impossible to see."

"Why, it's easy enough to guess," interrupted the young lady who had
spoken at the beginning of his story.

"Linda and the cat were the same thing."

Tribourdeaux smiled.

"I should not have been quite so positive as that," he said, "even then;
but I cannot deny that this ridiculous fancy haunted me for many hours
when I was endeavoring to snatch a little sleep amid the insomnia that a
too active brain produced. Yes, there were moments when these two beings
with greenish eyes, sinuous movements, golden hair, and mysterious ways,
seemed to me to be blended into one, and to be merely the double
manifestation of a single entity. As I said, I saw Linda again and again,
but in spite of all my efforts to come upon her unexpectedly, I never was
able to see them both at the same time. I tried to reason with myself, to
convince myself that there was nothing really inexplicable in all of this,
and I ridiculed myself for being afraid both of a woman and of a harmless
cat. In truth, at the end of all my reasoning, I found that I was not so
much afraid of the animal alone or of the woman alone, but rather of a
sort of quality which existed in my fancy and inspired me with a fear of
something that was incorporeal--fear of a manifestation of my own spirit,
fear of a vague thought, which is, indeed, the very worst of fears.

"I began to be mentally disturbed. After long evenings spent in
confidential and very unconventional chats with Linda, in which little by
little my feelings took on the color of love, I passed long days of secret
torment, such as incipient maniacs must experience. Gradually a resolve
began to grow up in my mind, a desire that became more and more
importunate in demanding a solution of this unceasing and tormenting
doubt; and the more I cared for Linda, the more it seemed absolutely
necessary to push this resolve to its fulfilment. I decided to kill the
cat.

"One evening before meeting Linda on the balcony, I took out of my medical
cabinet a jar of glycerin and a small bottle of hydrocyanic acid, together
with one of those l