entry in ———'s diary burst upon me, entry in and I sat shivering as under a sudden deluge of icy water. 'July 21st.' Two weeks more would make it August 5th, and three days more would bring it to—August 8th!
"'Great God!' I cried aloud, 'tonight is the night!'
"'Yes, tonight is the night!' echoed a sepulchral voice from the cavern's inner darkness.
"In an agony of dread I looked, and the blood within me paled to water at the sight that met my gaze. Something—something with but a single hand and foot—emerged from the shadows of the back of the cavern and began to come forward, leaning heavily upon a rough staff for support.
"'Stay back—stay back! For the love of God!" I shrieked. But the terrible thing came on and on, and the awful eyes fastened themselves upon my person and suddenly recognized me—and it smiled a hideous smile.
"When it drew nearer, I could see that all above the shoulders flamed orange, while around the neck a livid purple cincture seemed actually to be searing its way into the flesh.
"'This is your revenge,' it spoke. 'And this is mine,' raising the hellish stump of its mutilated left arm and panting heavily at me: 'My suffering is over—but yours is all to come. And to the bodily pains of hell will be added the mental tortures of hopeless remorse—knowing your wife was innocent. With that I curse you.'
"Even as it spoke, the eyes rolled out of sight behind horrible lids, the tongue protruded itself in flaming agony, and the whole head, suddenly severed at the neck, thudded upon the cavern floor.
"I came to my feet with a mad cry, that, shattering the silence beyond the deepest shadows, swelled up in a thousand echoes, from the wail of a soul in torment to the screech of a crucified demon. Then I rushed headlong out.
"For the rest"
The last page was illegible, as the first had been, worn and corroded by the slow action of years of decay.
I put the notebook slowly in my pocket and sat there thinking, sickened and awed by the astounding manuscript.
Again I went over to the skeleton there in the fissure. Now I understood why the hand and foot were missing, and why I had found the head many feet from the body.
There it lay, mute evidence that the retribution was complete.
| After Two Nights of the |
| Ear-Ache |
By FRANCIS HARD
Most gentle Sleep! Two nights I wooed in vain;
Thou wouldst not come to banish racking pain:
For what is Sleep but Life in stone bound fast?
Oblivion of the Present, Future, Past.
