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"If they send us anybody," Cutter shouted as a last riposte, "it&039;ll be a lunatic they plucked froly of asylums," Bidwell said, to no one in particular They passed the schoolhouse and next to it Schoolmaster Johnstone&039;s house a pasture where a srazed stood next to Lindstro-house with a flagpole before it from which drooped the British colors Just a little further on, and Bidwell&039;s pace hastened even faster; there looaol, its single entrance door secured with a chain and iron lock In front of the gaol was a pillory where miscreants who thieved, blasphemed, or otherwise incurred the wrath of the town council found themselves bound and sohted Winston&039;s right boot

Past the gaol, a nuardens, and small fieldplots occupied the last portion of Truth Street Some of the houses were empty, and one of them had dwindled to a charred shell Weeds and thorns had overtaken the forlorn gardens, the fields now htful swamp than fruitful earth Bidalked to the door of a house almost at the very end of the street and knocked solidly while Winston stood nearby, blotting the sweat from his face with a shirtsleeve

Presently the door was opened a crack and the grizzled, sunken-eyed face of a man who needed sleep peered out "Good afternoon to you, Mason," Bidwell said "I&039;ve come to see your wife"

Mason Barro full hy the master of Fount Royal was at his door; he drew it open and stepped back, his black-haired head slu about to be whipped Bid-well and Winston entered the house, which see box compared to the mansion they&039;d recently left The two Barrow children - eight-year-old Melissa and six-year-old Preston - were also in the front rooer clinging to his father&039;s trouser leg Bidas not an ungracious"She&039;s to bed, I understand"

"Yes sir Sick to the soul, she is"

"I shall have to speak to her"

"Yes sir" Barrow nodded numbly Bidwell noted that the two children also looked in need of sleep, as well as in need of a good hot meal "as you please" Barrow motioned toward the room at the rear of the house

"Very well Edward, come with me" Bidalked to the open door of the other roo in the bed there, a wrinkled sheet pulled up to her chin Her eyes were open and staring at the ceiling, her sallow face gleale as shuttered, but the light was strong because seven talloere aflame, as well as a clay bowl full of pine knots Bidwell kneas a reance for a far due to this surplus of illumination as Bidwell stepped across the threshold, a loose plank squeaked underfoot and the woman looked at him; her eyes widened, she sucked in her breath as if she&039;d been struck, and shrank away from him deeper into the confines of the bed

Bidwell immediately halted where he stood "Good afternoon, madam," he said "May I have a ith youi"

"Where&039;s onei"

"I&039; behind the other two ht to fear"

"Don&039;t let me sleep, Mason! Promise lance at Bidwell

"What&039;s all this nonsensei" Bidwell asked him "The woman&039;s feared to sleepi"

"Yes, sir She fears fallin&039; asleep and seein&039; - "

"Don&039;t speak it!" alice Barrow&039;s voice rose again, tre "If you love an to cry, the little boy still clinging to his father&039;s leg Barrow looked directly into Bidwell&039;s face "She&039;s in a bad way, sir She ain&039;t slept for the past two nights Cain&039;t abide the dark, not even the day shadows"

"This is how it begins," Winston said quietly

"Rein yourself!" Bidwell snapped at him He produced a lace-rimmed handkerchief from a pocket of his jacket and wiped beads of sweat from his cheeks and forehead "Be that as it may, Barrow, I must speak to her Madami May I enteri"

"No!" she answered, the damp sheet drawn up to her terror-stricken eyes "Go away!"

"Thank you" Bidalked to her bedside and stood there, looking down at her with both hands gripping his hat Winston followed behind him, but Mason Barrow reirl "Mada of tales about these dreams I know you&039;ve told Cass Swaine I would ask - "

"I told Cass &039;cause she&039;s my friend!" the woman said behind her sheet "I told others of my friends too! and why shouldn&039;t Ii They should knohatIknow, if they value their lives!"

"and what is it that e so valuable, madami"

She pushed the sheet away and stared defiantly up at him, her eyes wet and scared but her chin thrust toward him like a weapon "That whoever lives in this town is sure to die"

"That, I fear, is only worth a shilling all who live in any town are sure to die"

"Not by his hand! Not by fire and the torments of Hell! Oh, he told raveyard, and he showed me them names on the markers!" The veins in her neck strained, her brown hair lank and wet She said in an agonized whisper, "He showed me Cass Swaine&039;s marker! and John&039;s too! and he showed me the na down her cheeks "My own children, laid dead in the ground! Oh, sweet Jesus!" She gave a terrible, wrenching ain, her eyes squeezed shut

With all the candle fla in, the roo a breath was too much effort He heard the ru a response to alice Barrow&039;s phantasms was in order, but for the life of hireat Evil had seized upon the town, and had grown in both ht like poisonous mushrooms This Evil had invaded the dreams of the citizens of Fount Royal and driven them to frenzies Bidwell knew that Winston was correct: this indeed was how it began

"Courage," he offered, but it sounded so very weak

She opened her eyes; they had becoei" she repeated, incredulously "Courage again&039; hiraveyard full of markers! You couldn&039;t take a step without fallin&039; over a grave! It was a silent town Everybody goneor dead He told ht at my side, and I could hear hi straight through Bidwell "Those who stay here will perish and burn in Hell&039;s fires That&039;s what he said, right in my ear Burn in Hell&039;s fires, forever and a day It was a silent town Silent He said Shhhhhhhh, alice He said Shhhhhhhh, listen to my voice Look upon this, he said, and knohat I a to her eyes, but she still appeared dazed and disjointed "I did look," she said, "and I do know"

"I understand," Bidwell told her, trying to sound as calm and rational as a man at the bitter end of his rope possibly could, "but weour fellows"

"I&039;m not wantin&039; to spread fear!" she answered sharply "I&039;m wantin&039; to tell the truth of as shown me! This place is cursed! You know it, I know it, every soul with sense knows it!" She stared directly at one of the candles The little girl in the other rooth in her voice, "Hush, Melissa Hush, now"

Bidwell, again, was lost for words He found hiers ache The distant thunder echoed, nearer now, and sas crawling down the back of his neck This hotbox roo his breath He had to get out He abruptly turned, al Winston over, and took the two strides to the door

"I saw his face," the woman said Bidwell stopped as if he&039;d run into a brick wall "His face," she repeated "I saw it He letfor the rest of what she had to say She was sitting up, the sheet fallen aside, a terrible shiny anguish in her eyes "He earin&039; your face," she said, with a savage and half-crazed grin "Like a mask, it was Wearin&039; your face, and showin&039; round" Her hands caht let loose a cry that would shatter her soul

"Steady, madam," Bidwell said, but his voice was shaky "You must tend to reality, and put aside these visions of the netherworld"

"We&039;ll all burn there, if he has his way!" she retorted "He wants her free, is what he wants! Wants her free, and all of us gone!"

"I&039;ll hear no ot out of the room

"Wants her free!" the woman shouted "He won&039;t let us rest &039;til she&039;s with hi, out the front door, with Winston following "Sir! Sir!" Barrow called, and he cahtily to display a cal pardon, sir," Barrow said "She meant no disrespect"

"None taken Your wife is in a precarious condition"

"Yes, sir Butthings bein&039; as they are, you&039;ll understand when I tell you we have to leave"

a fine drizzle was starting to fall from the dark-bellied clouds Bidwell pushed the tricorn down on his head "Do as you please, Barrow I&039;m not yourup the courage to say as on his ood town, sir Used to be, before" He shrugged "It&039;s all changed now I&039;m sorry, but we cain&039;t stay"

"Go on, then!" Bidwell&039;s facade cracked and soer and frustration spilled out like black bile "No one&039;s chaining you here! Go on, run like a scared dog with the rest of them! I shall not! By God, I have planted myself in this place and no phantas bell Once, then a second and third time

It was the voice of the bell at the watchman&039;s tower on Har that the watch the road

" - shall tear me out!" Bidwell finished, with fierce resolve He looked toward the ainst Indians New hope blossoe fro!" Without another word to Mason Barrow, Bidwell started off toward the junction of the four streets "Hurry!" he said to Winston, picking up his pace The rain was beginning to fall now in earnest, but not even the worst deluge since Noah would&039;ve kept hie this happy day The bell&039;s voice had started a chorus of dogs to barking, and as Bidwell and Winston rushed northward along Harasping for breath - a number of mutts chased round and round them as if at the heels of carnival clowns

By the tiate, bothlike bellows a group of a dozen or so residents had eather around, as a visitor from the outside was rare indeed Up in the watchtower, Malcol on the bell-cord, and twoto lift the log that served as the gate&039;s lock fro through the onlookers "Givewith anticipation He looked up at Jennings, as standing on the tower&039;s platform at the end of a fifteen-foot-tall ladder "are they white s answered He was a slim drink of water with a shockpate of unruly dark brown hair and perhaps five teeth in his head, but he had the eyes of a hawk

"Two of &039;em I mean to sayI think they be white"

Bidwell couldn&039;t decipher what that was supposed to mean, but neither did he want to tarry at this i and Reed "Open it!" The log was lifted and pulled frorips and drew the gate open

Bidwell stepped forward, his arms open to e advance abruptly stopped

Two e with a bald head, one slender with short-cropped black hair But neither one of thereet

He presumed they hite With all the er - and older - had on a mud-covered coat that sees He was barefoot, his skinny legs griht serve as a nightshirt, and he appeared to have recently rolled on the ground in it He did wear shoes, however filthy they ht be

The an to snarl and bark their lungs out at the two arrivals, who see

"Beggars," Bidwell said; his voice was quiet, dangerously so He heard thunder over the wilderness, and thought itarars," he said, louder, and then he began to laugh along with God Soft at first it was, and then the laughter spiraled out of him, raucous and uncontrollable; it hurt his throat and h he ardently wanted to stop - ardently tried to stop - he found he had asspun by the hand of a foolish child "Beggars!" he shouted through the wheezing "Ihaverunto ader man, and he took a barefooted step forward an expression of anger swept across his mud-splattered features "Sir!"

Bidwell shook his head and kept laughing - there see in it as well - and he waved his hand to dis jaybird

Isaac Woodward pulled in a deep breath If the night of wet hell had not been enough, this crackerjack dandy was here to test his mettle Well, his mettle broke He bellowed, "Sir!" in his judicial voice, which was loud and sharp enough to silence for a istrate Woodward, coasped, choked on a last frag ide and shocked eyes at the half-naked ht entered Bidwell&039;s : // they send us anybody, it&039;ll be a lunatic they plucked from the asylum up there!

He heard a moan, quite close His eyelids fluttered The world - rainstoristrates, parasites in the apples: ruin and destruction like the shadows of vulture wings - spun around hiainst

There was nothing He fell onto Har, and there was cradled to sleep