his eyes, through his brain, with
every throb of the burning arteries; then utter darkness came,--a
darkness that surged and moaned, as the circumfluence of a shadowed
sea. And through and over the moaning pealed one multitudinous human
cry, one hideous interblending 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
delicious frost! ... All the streets were filled with the sweet blue
mist ... Voiceless the City and white;--crooked and weed grown its
narrow ways! ... Old streets of tombs, these ... Eh! How odd a
custom!--a Night-bell at every door. Yes, of course!--a
night-bell!--the Dead are Physicians of Souls: they may be summoned
only by night,--called up from the darkness and silence ... Yet
she?--might he not dare to ring for her even by day? ........ Strange
he had deemed it day!--why, it was black, starless ... And it was
growing queerly cold ...... How should he ever find her now? It was
so black ... so cold! ...

--"Cheri!"

All the dwelling quivered with the mighty whisper.

Outside, the great oaks were t