Asthehaircameout, fearfadedfromhisheart, , —thequestionwhichhadoccurredtohimalittlewhileago—.
, , .
Then, summoningstrengthintohislegs, herosefromthestairsandstrode, handonsword, , terrorinhereyes, andsprangupfromthefloor, , poisedthere, thenlungedforthestairswithashriek.
"Wretch!Whereareyougoing?" heshouted, … theystruggled, fellamongthecorpses, , twistedit, , , andhereyeswereopensowidethattheywerealmostoutoftheirsockets, , andsaidinasomewhatcalmervoice:
"Lookhere, I'mnotanofficeroftheHighPoliceCommissioner.I''tbindyouordoanythingagainstyou, butyoumusttellmewhatyou'redoinguphere."
Thentheoldwomanopenedhereyesstillwider, , whichwerewrinkledintohernose, :
"Ipullthehair… Ipulloutthehair… tomakeawig."
:onlyahagwhomakeswigsfromthehairofthedead—tosell, , , stillclutchingthehairshehadpulledoffthecorpse, mumbledoutthesewordsinherharshbrokenvoice:
"Indeed, makingwigsoutofthehairofthedeadmayseemagreateviltoyou, , whosebeautifulblackhairIwaspulling, usedtosellcutanddriedsnakefleshattheguardbarracks, 'tdiedoftheplague, she', 'tbewrong, becauseifshehadn't, , sheprobablywouldn'tcare."
Hesheathedhissword, and, withhislefthandonitshilt, , acertaincouragewasborninhisheart—.
"Areyousure?" heaskedinamockingtone, , and, bendingforward, seizedherbytheneckandsaidsharply:
"Thenit'srightifIrobyou.I'dstarveifIdidn't."
, , , andthenitwasquiet.
, shecrawledtothetopstairbythestillflickeringtorchlight, andthroughthegrayhairwhichhungoverherface, shepeereddowntothelaststairinthetorchlight.
Beyondthiswasonlydarkness… unknowingandunknown.
