instant before.

"Such a shudder ran through all my limbs that I nearly fell backward.
No one who has not experienced it can understand that frightful,
unreasoning terror! The mind becomes vague, the heart ceases to beat,
the entire body grows as limp as a sponge.

"I do not believe in ghosts, nevertheless I collapsed from a hideous
dread of the dead, and I suffered, oh! I suffered in a few moments more
than in all the rest of my life from the irresistible terror of the
supernatural. If she had not spoken I should have died perhaps. But she
spoke, she spoke in a sweet, sad voice that set my nerves vibrating. I
dare not say that I became master of myself and recovered my reason. No!
I was terrified and scarcely knew what I was doing. But a certain innate
pride, a remnant of soldierly instinct, made me, almost in spite of
myself, maintain a bold front. She said:

"'Oh, sir, you can render me a great service.'

"I wanted to reply, but it was impossible for me to pronounce a word.
Only a vague sound came from my throat. She continued:

"'Will you? You can save me, cure me. I suffer frightfully. I suffer,
oh! how I suffer!' and she slowly seated herself in my armchair, still
looking at me.

"'Will you?' she said.

"I nodded in assent, my voice still being paralyzed.

"Then she held out to me a tortoise-shell comb and murmured:

"'Comb my hair, oh! comb my hair; that will cure me; it must be combed.
Look at my head--how I suffer; and my hair pulls so!'

"Her hair, unbound, very long and very black, it seemed to me, hung over
the back of the armchair and touched the floor.

"Why did I promise? Why did I take that comb with a shudder, and why
did I hold in my hands her long black hair that gave my skin a frightful
cold sensation, as though I were handling snakes? I cannot tell.

"That sensation has remained in my fingers, and I still tremble in
recalling it.

"I combed her hair. I handled, I know not how, those icy locks. I
twisted, knotted, and unknotted, and braided them. She sighed, bowed her
head, seemed happy. Suddenly she said, 'Thank you!' snatched the comb
from my hands and fled by the door that I had noticed ajar.

"Left alone, I experienced for several seconds the horrible agitation of
one who awakens from a nightmare. At length I regained my senses. I ran
to the window and with a mighty effort burst open the shutters, letting
a flood of light into the room. Immediately I sprang to the door by
which t