so--but not at once. Is
n't there a barrel of lime in the basement?"

"Yes."

"Come downstairs with me."

They started downward then, and Fairchild, creeping as swiftly as he
could, hurried under the protection of the rotten casing, where the
wainscoting had dropped away with the decay of years. There he watched
them pass, Rodaine in the lead, carrying a smoking lamp with its
half-broken chimney careening on the base. Crazy Laura, mumbling her
toothless gums, her hag-like hands extended before her, shuffling along
in the rear. He heard them go far to the rear of the house, then
descend more stairs. And he went flat to his stomach on the floor,
with his ear against a tiny chink that he might hear the better.
Squint still was talking in his loving tones.

"See, Honey," he was saying. "I 've--I 've broken the spell by going
in upstairs. You should have told me. I did n't know--I just
thought--well, I thought there was some one in there you liked, and I
got jealous."

"Did you, Roady?" She cackled. "Did you?"

"Yes--I did n't know you had _him_ there. And you were making him
immortal?"

"I found him, Roady. His eyes were shut, and he was bleeding. It was
at dusk, and nobody saw him when I carried him in here. Then I started
giving him the herbs--"

"That you 've gathered around at night?"

"Yes--where the dead sleep. I get the red berries most. That's the
blood of the dead, come to life again."

The quaking, crazy voice from below caused Fairchild to shiver with a
sudden cold that no warmth could eradicate. Still, however, he lay
there listening, fearful that every move from below might bring a
cessation of their conversation. But Rodaine talked on.

"Of course, I know. But I 've spoiled that now. There's another way,
Laura. Get that spade. See, the dirt's soft here. Dig a hole about
four feet deep and six or seven feet long. Then put half that lime
from the barrel in there. Understand?"

"What for?"

"It's the only way now; we 'll have to do that. It's the other way to
immortality. You 've given him the herbs?"

"Yes."

"Then this is the end. See? Now do that, won't you, Honey?"

"You'll kiss me, Roady?"

"There!" The faint sound of a kiss came from below. "And there's
another one. And another!"

"Just like the night our boy was born. Don't you remember how you bent
over and kissed me then and held me in your arms?"

"I 'm holding you that way now, Honey--just the