36 Shadowings 



rider : " Now, for my own sake, I must leave 

 you alone with her. . . . Remain as you are ! 

 . . . Above all things, remember that you must 

 not let go of her hair." And he went away, 

 closing the doors behind him. 



Hour after hour the man sat upon the corpse in 

 black fear ; and the hush of the night deepened 

 and deepened about him till he screamed to break 

 it. Instantly the body sprang beneath him, as to 

 cast him off; and the dead woman cried out 

 loudly, " Oh, how heavy it is ! Yet I shall bring 

 that fellow here now ! " 



Then tall she rose, and leaped to the doors, 

 and flung them open, and rushed into the night, 

 always bearing the weight of the man. But 

 he, shutting his eyes, kept his hands twisted 

 in her long hair, tightly, tightly, though 

 fearing with such a fear that he could not even 

 moan. How far she went, he never knew. 

 He saw nothing : he heard only the sound of 

 her naked feet in the dark, picba-ptcba, 

 picba-picba, and the hiss of her breathing as 

 she ran. 



At last she turned, and ran back into the 

 house, and lay down upon the floor exactly as 



