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But theodd thing was that, after the first second,
there was recognitionin her face.
They will burn this House, he said finally.
Thehillmen are said to be mongrels, but they are handsome mongrels andfought bravely
in the war.
If Monsieur will be so good he willwait here till I
fetch him. But it was not the junk which filled it that caught Vernons
eye.
He felt keyed up to any enterprise, and
singularlyconfident.
He had thought her a modish, artificial being,
amoth hatched out of the latest freak of fashion. Presently a great wall of masonry
rose above them, and whatseemed the aperture of a door. Oh, Colonel Milburne, you
must understand what I feel. Had there been no fog, they would not have let me come
toyou. Abroken statuette of a boy which made him sick. Once, twice, theyhave cursed
our threshold and made the blood mark on the door. She said you were asleep and must
not be wakened, but that Ishould speak to you in the morning.
The wind had dropped utterly, andthe land which
they saw was only an outline in the haze. If the first room had been the shrine
ofinhuman lust, this had been the chapel of inhuman cruelty. Down at the jetty were
men and boats, butout on the water there was no sign of the anchored
yacht.
Vernon saw himfirst alone, and got from him the
details of the next eveningsceremonial.
But hewas too young to be able to refuse such an
appeal. The next step atany rate was clearly ordained. She stopped half-way to
whisper an injunction to go quietly. The oldfurniture I am storing till I have time
to destroy it. What kind of owner could such a housepossess?
They have resurrected an old paganrite of
sacrifice.
You see, you cant refuse myhelp now, for we are in
the same boat.
Vernon accordingly protested a confidencewhich he
was very far from feeling.
I had to go off without saying goodbye tohim, and
he was my greatest friend. When theycast anchor the fog was rolling like a tide over
the sea, andmuffling their yards.
Sheturned to him at last:I must prepare my
mistress.
I wonder if you could give me a cigarette? Because
it reminds me of something I have read somewhere.
A mans head seemed tomove behind a cypress hedge.
Monsieur will stay here to-night and speak with her inthe morning? You speak like a
Greek, but like one from another island. He found Mitri in his lair in the ancient
kitchen. Otherwise, dont you see, it makes the guilt of my family so muchheavier. It
was the woman, and with a finger on her lipsshe motioned him back into the room.
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