Page 35 (2/2)

a long sweet savoring sigh He drank He drank, and there was nothe last draught all the ly frail and plastic, shuddered all over, as if the one into a final convulsion, and then was still

The Master drew hiue over his lips There was not a drop of blood to be seen But the blood was visible It was visible inside leam He turned and looked at me, and I could lister of his lips

"This is where it comes from, Amadeo," he said He shoved the corpse towards ainst me, and as the heavy head fell back in death, he pushed it even closer so that I had to look down at the doo, he was bearded, he was not beautiful, and he was pale and he was dead

A seam of white showed beneath each li fro yellowed teeth, his breathless and colorless mouth

I was speechless Fear, loathing, these things had no part in it I was siht it ondrous

In a sudden fit of seeer, my Master hurled the man's body to his left and out into the water where it fell with a dull splashing and bubbling sound

He snatchedpast me I almost screamed as we rose above the roofs His hands cla propelled him or thrust him upwards

We spun round or so it must have been, and when I opened olden curtains settled around us It arolden swan

It was Bianca's room, her private sanctuary, her very own room

"Master!" I said in fear and revulsion, that we should come like this, into her chamber, without so much as a word

Froht laid itself out upon her parqueted floor and its thick Persian carpet It laid itself upon the deep-carved feathers of her swan bed

Then ca froate alone the noise she heard

The cold wind swept into the rooainst the draught she slammed them shut, such a fearless creature, and she reached out with unerring accuracy and raised the wick of her nearby lah she had seen me as well, for sure

She was herself, as I had left her a world of hours ago, in gold velvet and silk tissue, her braid coiled about the back of her head to weigh down her voluminous tresses which fell in their rippled splendor over her shoulders and down her back

Her s and alarm