Ah! At the last, who but Him of Galilee shall speak for us?
Never, until I shall be what she was then, shall I be able to forget
that return journey. Mr. Jelnik walked ahead, holding her on one
arm, and carrying the flash-light with his free hand. I followed
with a candle that burned with a low and reddish glare and gave off
a heavy, waxy odor in the still air. Whenever the faintest draft
lifted the dull flame, we two living creatures seemed to recede into
darkness, while the light sought her out and stayed upon her. The
motion of his body shook her lightly, and she gave forth a dry and
stealthy rattling, an uneasy rustling. One hand hung down, with a
loose, loose bracelet jingling on the brittle brown wrist. And her
poor little feet with the rotting shoes upon them moved delicately,
as if they trod the impalpable air. Once her head struck, with a
hollow thud, as we turned a corner. It was almost more than flesh
and blood could bear,--like things you were afraid of when you were
a child in the dark--the candles melting audibly, and walls, walls,
pressing us in.
I think it took us years to reach the room where Achmet waited. At
sight of what the master bore, The Jinnee started up and called upon
God the Lord Paramount, Help of the Faithful.
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