Page:Richard Marsh--The goddess a demon.djvu/257

Rh "That's a demon!"

"What do you mean?" She took me by the arm. "Ask him what he means."

Lawrence answered.

"It's not a thing the meaning of which can be clarified by words. Come, and you shall see; come together—Mr. Ferguson and you."

She looked at me, inquiry in her eyes. I questioned him.

"Where do you propose to take us?"

"To a little place of mine, where the Goddess is." "What is this stuff about the Goddess?"

"Come, and you shall see."

I glanced at her.

"Let's go," she said.

He caught her words.

"There speaks the lady who would learn; the woman possessed of the spirit of inquiry."

I repeated my former suggestion.

"Let's get into a cab."

But he declined.

"No; I'll have none of your cabs, I'll walk. I'm cribb'd, cabined, and confined out in the open; in a cab I'd stifle. There's a hand upon my heart, a grip upon my throat, a weight upon my head; they make it hard to breathe. I'll be in close quarters soon enough; I'll keep out of them as long as I can."