The Purcell Papers — Volume 2 by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
page 173 of 199 (86%)
page 173 of 199 (86%)
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ground. It was much deranged and
travel-soiled. The poor creature had hardly entered the chamber when she fell senseless on the floor. With some difficulty they succeeded in reviving her, and on recovering her senses she instantly ex- claimed, in a tone of eager, terrified impatience: 'Wine, wine, quickly, or I'm lost!' Much alarmed at the strange agitation in which the call was made, they at once administered to her wishes, and she drank some wine with a haste and eagerness which surprised them. She had hardly swallowed it, when she exclaimed, with the same urgency: 'Food, food, at once, or I perish!' A considerable fragment of a roast joint was upon the table, and Schalken immediately proceeded to cut some, but he was anticipated; for no sooner had she become aware of its presence than she darted at it with the rapacity of a vulture, and, seizing it in her hands she tore off the flesh with her teeth and swallowed it. When the paroxysm of hunger had been |
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