The brother, as I knelt there oblivious of all but the wounded man,
stepped across the room to the corner where his rapier lay, picked it up
softly and as softly stole up behind me. I tried to shout, to warn
myself; but my tongue was tied. The brother's arm was lifted. The
candlelight ran along the blade. Still the kneeling figure never
turned.

And as my heart stiffened and awaited it, there came a flash of pain--
one red-hot stroke of anguish.



III.


WHAT I SAW IN THE TARN.

As the steel entered my back, cutting all the cords that bound me to
life, I suffered anguish too exquisite for words to reach, too deep for
memory to dive after. My eyes closed and teeth shut on the taste of
death; and as they shut a merciful oblivion wrapped me round.

When I awoke, the room was dark, and I was standing on my feet. A cold
wind was blowing on my face, as from an open door. I staggered to meet
this wind and found myself groping along a passage and down a staircase
filled with Egyptian darkness. Then the wind increased suddenly and
shook the black curtain around my senses. A murky light broke in on me.
I had a body. That I felt; but where it was I knew not. And so I felt
my way forward in the direction where the twilight showed least dimly.