handle, conscious less of its sudden
coolness than of the unbearable heat in which the room seemed almost
suddenly plunged. She could hear the drumming pulses in her temples and
the roaring of the voices.... She dropped the handle once more, and with
both hands tore at the loose white wrapper that she had put on this
morning....

Yes, that was a little easier; she could breathe better so. Again her
fingers felt for and found the handle, but the sweat streamed from her
fingers, and for an instant she could not turn the knob. Then it yielded
suddenly....

* * * * *

For one instant the sweet languid smell struck her consciousness like a
blow, for she knew it as the scent of death. Then the steady will that
had borne her so far asserted itself, and she laid her hands softly in
her lap, breathing deeply and easily.

She had closed her eyes at the turning of the handle, but now opened
them again, curious to watch the aspect of the fading world. She had
determined to do this a week ago: she would at least miss nothing of
this unique last experience.

It seemed at first that there was no change. There was the feathery head
of the elm, the lead roof opposite, and the terrible sky above. She
noticed a pigeon, white against the blackness, soar and swoop again out
of sight in an instant....

... Then the following things happened....

There was a sudden sensation of ecstatic lightness in all her limbs; she
attempted to lift a hand, and was aware that it was impossible; it was
no longer hers. She attempted to lower her eyes from that broad strip of
violet sky, and perceived that that too was impossible. Then she
understood that the will had already lost touch with the body, that the
crumbling world had receded to an infinite distance--that was as she had
expected, but what continued to puzzle her was that her mind was still
active. It was true that the world she had known had withdrawn itself
from the dominion of consciousness, as her body had done, except, that
was, in the sense of hearing, which was still strangely alert; yet there
was still enough memory to be aware that there was such a world--that
there were other persons in existence; that men went about their
business, knowing nothing of what had happened; but faces, names,
places had all alike gone. In fact, she was conscious of herself in such
a manner as she had never been before; it seemed as if she had
penetrated at last into some recess of her being into which