"Nevertheless it was not well done," he replied, pushing past me.
The prisoner lay on his pallet, gasping, with his eyes wide open in a
rigor. "Take her away!" he panted. "Take her away! She has been
here!"
"Hey?" I cried: but my Master turned on me sharply. To this day I know
not how much of evil he suspected.
"I will summon you if I need you. For the present you will leave us
here alone."
Nor can I tell what passed between them for the next half-an-hour.
Only that when he came forth my Master's face was white and set beneath
its dry smear of blood. Passing me, who waited at the end of the
corridor, he said, but without meeting my eyes:
"Go to him. The end is near."
I went to him. He lay pretty much as I had left him, in a kind of
stupor; out of which, within the hour, he started suddenly and began to
rave. Soon I had to send for a couple of our stablemen; and not too
soon. For by this he was foaming at the mouth and gnashing, the man in
him turned to beast and trying to bite, so that we were forced to strap
him to his bed. I shall say no more of this, the most horrible sight of
my life. The end came quietly, about six in the evening: and we buried
the poor wretch that night in the orchard under the chapel wall.
All that day, as you may guess, I saw nothing of the strange lady.
And on the morrow until dinner-time I had but a glimpse of her.
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