Page:The Mystery of Madeline Le Blanc (1900).djvu/45

Rh very old, knelt beside the couch and prayed while the last person passed out. Presently he arose, and departed.

It was as dark as night in the room. The wind hurled the rain against the house and rustled the foliage of the hoary trees in the garden; and at short intervals the thunder rolled and crashed. “She is mine; she will die, but she will come to me," muttered Satiani to himself, as his lips curled in an ugly smile. There was the expression of a felon in his face; and his small, dissimilar eyes emitted the glare of a beast. His shoulders bent, his neck protruded, and every step was taken with an elasticity that deadened sound and caused no motion in the room. He locked the doors, drew the curtains and lighted a candle at Madeline's head. As he leaned over her, rubbing her gums with the contents of a phial he had taken from his pocket, the speck of candle-light shone on a decrepit soul that had come to the surface of his face. He chuckled to himself as a miser when recounting his gold, showing yellow tushes instead of teeth, and a forehead arched with sinister wrinkles. His blue and black eyes blinked glassily

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