circumstance all conveyed the idea that,
though she moved and spoke, she was not quick, but dead. She was young
and very beautiful, but pale, like the grey pallor of death. Through the
still white of her face, which made her look as cold as the wet marble
she stood on, her dark eyes seemed to gleam with a strange but enticing
lustre. Even in the unsearching moonlight, which is after all rather
deceptive than illuminative, I could not but notice one rare quality of
her eyes. Each had some quality of refraction which made it look as
though it contained a star. At every movement she made, the stars
exhibited new beauties, of more rare and radiant force. She looked at me
imploringly as the heavy curtain rolled back, and in eloquent gestures
implored me to admit her. Instinctively I obeyed; I rolled back the
steel grille, and threw open the French window. I noticed that she
shivered and trembled as the glass door fell open. Indeed, she seemed so
overcome with cold as to seem almost unable to move. In the sense of her
helplessness all idea of the strangeness of the situation entirely
disappeared. It was not as if my first idea of death taken from her
cerements was negatived. It was simply that I did not think of it at
all; I was content to accept things as they were--she was a woman, and in
some dreadful trouble; that was enough.

I am thus particular about my own emotions, as I may have to refer to
them again in matters of comprehension or comparison. The whole thing is
so vastly strange and abnormal that the least thing may afterwards give
some guiding light or clue to something otherwise not understandable. I
have always found that in recondite matters first impressions are of more
real value than later conclusions. We humans place far too little
reliance on instinct as against reason; and yet instinct is the great
gift of Nature to all animals for their protection and the fulfilment of
their functions generally.

When I stepped out on the balcony, not thinking of my costume, I found
that the woman was benumbed and hardly able to move. Even when I asked
her to enter, and supplemented my words with gestures in case she should
not understand my language, she stood stock-still, only rocking slightly
to and fro as though she had just strength enough left to balance herself
on her feet. I was afraid, from the condition in which she was, that she
might drop down dead at any moment. So I took her by the hand to