Page:Des Grieux, The Prelude to Teleny.djvu/69

 beast on her bed; she screamed with affright and forthwith threw the loathsome animal away from her.

At last night came on, dreaded night, that filled her with dire apprehension. Little by little every noise was hushed, silence soon reigned everywhere, deep silence outside, hushed silence within. The perfect stillness of the night was only interrupted by some snatches of a song coming occasionally from alar, by the dull barking of a dog at some hollow distance, by the pulsatory ticking of the clock in the hall downstairs, which by its monotonous beatings seemed like the systole and diastole of the house's heart.

By and by all the occasional sounds outside ceased, and nothing was heard save a low murmuring sound, like the cadenced breathing of the town or the low purring of the slumbering earth.

Had it not been for the foolish terrors of the after-world that religion had instilled in her, death just then would have been a boon and a benefit.

Were it not for the priest-craft, would