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“I turned away from the swaentle press of Claudia’s hand coarden walls, and she held it crushed to the bosom of her yellow dress, her face buried in its perfume Now she said to me in such a whisper that I bent my ear to her, ‘Louis, it troubles you You know the remedy Let the flesh… let the flesh instruct the o, and I watched heronce to whisper the saet him Let the flesh instruct the mind…’
“It brought back to me that book of poems I’d held in my hand when she first spoke these words to e:
Her lips were red, her looks were free, Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy, The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she, Who thicks man’s blood with cold
“She was s from the far corner, a bit of yellow silk visible for a one My companion, my companion forever
“I was turning into the Rue Du past darkened s A lamp died very slowly behind a broad scrim of heavy lace, the shadow of the pattern on the brick expanding, growing fainter, then vanishing into blackness Ifaint but shrill the violins frohter of the guests I stood across fro a shted roouest, a pale lelass, his face turned towards the e and found it finally at the last , his hand on the dark drape
“Across froht fell on the passage at the far end I moved silently over the narrow street andon the air past the gate The slightly nauseating se Someone had just walked fast across the courtyard and shut a rear door But then I saw another figure She stood by the kitchen fire, a lean black wonon around her head, her features delicately chiseled and gleaure in diorite She stirred the ht the sweet sreen of marjoram and bay; and then in a wave cafluids I drew near and saw her set down her long iron spoon and stand with her hands on her generous, tapered hips, the white of her apron sash outlining her small, fine waist The juices of the pot foa coals below Her dark odor caer than the curiousas I drew nearer and rested back against a wall of an a waltz, and the floorboards groaned with the dancing couples The jasmine of the wall enclosedthe clean-swept beach; and again I sensed her salt perfuracefully bent as she peered into the shadows beneath the lighted‘Monsieur!’ she said, and stepped out now into the shaft of yellow light It fel
l on her great round breasts and long sleek silken ar cold beauty of her face ‘You’re looking for the party, Monsieur?’ she asked ‘The party’s upstairs…’
“ ‘No,for the party,’ I said to her,for you’
“Everything was ready when I woke the next evening: the wardrobe trunk on its way to the ship as well as chest which contained a coffin; the servants gone; the furnishings draped in white The sight of the tickets and a collection of notes of credit and soether in a flat black wallet ht of reality I would have forgone killing had that been possible, and so I took care of this early, and perfunctorily, as did Claudia; and as it neared ti for her She had been gone too long for h she could bewitch al her if she found herself too far away fro her to her very door, to her father, who thanked thehter
“When she ca, and I fancied as I put ht it later than it was By my pocket watch we had an hour But the instant she reached the door, I knew that this rong ‘Louis, the doors!’ she gasped, her chest heaving, her hand at her heart She ran back down the passage with naled allery ‘What is it?’ I asked her ‘What’s co to the front , the long French hich opened onto the narrow balconies over the street She lifted the shade of the lamp and quickly blew out the faradually with the illu, her hand on her breast, and then she reached out for me and drew me close to her beside the
“ ‘Someone followed me,’ she whispered now °I could hear hiht it was nothing!’ She stopped for breath, her face blanched in the bluish light that came from the s across the way ‘Louis, it was the musician,’ she whispered
“ ‘But what does that matter? He must have seen you with Lestat’
“ ‘Louis, he’s down there Look out theTry to see him’ She seemed so shaken, almost afraid
“As if she would not stand exposed on the threshold I stepped out on the balcony, though I held her hand as she hovered by the drape; and she held htly that it seemed she feared for me It was eleven o’clock and the Rue Royale for the moone away A door slae and hurry towards the corner, the woman’s face hidden beneath an enormous white hat Their steps died away I could see no one, sense no one I could hear Claudia’s labored breathing Sonized it as the jingling and rustling of the birds We’d forgotten the birds But Claudia had started worse than I, and she pulled near to me ‘There is no one, Claudia…’ I started to whisper to her
“Then I saw the musician