Page:Georges Eekhoud - Escal Vigor, a novel.djvu/195

Rh there, it is the old people's house that is in flames; and Wanna, thy Wanna, is burning with them! Now thou belong'st to me for ever!"

"And he embraced, with frantic energy the young man, who struggled to get free.

"Gerard! Thou frightenest me! Help. The wolfman! He's throttling me!"

"Be mine. 'Twas I who gave thee life. I am more than thy mother, do'st understand? More therefore, than any woman, no matter who she be! Thou demandest the secret reason of my departure. Thou shalt know. Their priest has cursed me. I am decreed to eternal fire. Well, I hasten to plunge myself in advance into this fire, but not before imbibing the very sources of thy life, not before satiating myself with the sweets of thy lips, that succulent fruit which shall quench my thirst in the heart of the infernal furnace! Be mine! Mine! Mine!

"A sudden storm flung itself loose the while the wretched man broke out thus in cries of vengeance to heaven.

"Ah," rejoiced he, "fire of chastisement, be my fire of joy! Nature, burn me, consume me! Whether thou com'st, as they say, from God, or from the Devil, what matters