Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1921-03-03
CHAPTER NINE
The ChangeIing.
!. TRANSLATION.
-16--

AS on that first occasion when sleep
had stolen upon and overcome her
unawares in the stgdio, her unclos-
ing eyes comprehended only dark
ness absolute.
Unlike that time, when she had
reused instantaneously, self-consciOus-
ness springing suddenly, full witted,
full powered, clear, out of nightmare
thralldom, now she awoke slowly and
at expense of effort almost painful
senses and perceptions struggling long
and arduously to break the embrace
of a lethargy so deep and undisturbed
that the self-sense had lain in it be-
nun;bed and stifled, like a seed that
slurnbers in the pent darkness of
the earth against the coming of the
spring.
IN the confusion of those first wax
ing moments she believed herself to
be at home, in bed.
But the darkness of her bedchamber
had never been sheer; there was al
ways a diffused glow from the lights
III Ine street 10 temper II.
Then she remembered, duly, the
studio and the WEAKNESS that had
weighed upon her in the afternoon.
She must have slept several hours
a. The least reckoning, for it had been
broad daylight when she lay down,
the evenings were long, and it was
now judging by the backness of It
and the silence, dead of night.
But she looked IN vain for the
violet tinted rectangle of the north
light.
And mysteriOusly the windows were
shut which had been open when she
stretched out to rest. For there was
not only an utter absence of light but
a smOthering lack Of fresh air. Her
lungs starving, she lay fCf some time
stupidity contemplating the eNertiOn
that would be needed to rise and open
one of the windows. Somehow she
could not seem to nerve herself to it.
She was feeling actually i'll, squeam-
ish Her limbs We're stiff and heavy,
her hands hot her cheeks and fore
head afire, a prickling sensation af-
ficted her body, she was athirst and
the taste in her mouth was evil; and
when she moved her head upon the
pillow, pain like brutal blow crashed
from temple to temple and back again
and again, forcing feeble groans past
her lips.
Nevertheless conditions such as
these We're uncomfortable. At whatever
cost, she must have water and fresh
| air. -.
She steeled herself and presently,
by supreme eXertion of will power,
forced herself to sit up. For the time
being she could no more. The pain
rocked and smashed about like a mad
thing, till she wondered would it break
her skull. And as by degrees those
transports sdhsided. she was taken
with qualms of nausea.
She must have kicked off her Shoes
in her sleep. At least, she could not
down. At all events-whateve had
become of them-they were gone. Be
meath her stOckinged feet the floor
was bare and rough, of unfinished
wood. Now, there was a rug beside
the divan in the studio. And even
had it been spirited away like her
shoes, the studio floor was of hard
wood neatly Joined and polished till
its surface was like glass.
Then a hand that she dropped tc
the edge of her couch encountered the
coarse ticking of an uncovered mat
tress, instead of the slken rug that
clothed the divan.
Slowly it was borne in.upon her that
she was neither in her bedchambel
nor in her studio. ....s
This conviction struck home to hei
understanding with shock thai
brought her to her feet. What hat
happened? Where was she-and who
Was she Priscilla Maine, delirious
Or was she Leonora-yet once agar
that puppet of her life in dreams, EN-
barked upon some new and still more
terrible adventure?
But LeOncra was no more
She took blind step into obscurity
and another, Numbered into a chail
and knocked it over with a clatter.
While she waited, dashed, hands
clutching wildly at vacant blackness
key turned in n reluctant lock,
door opened, closed, and was relocked
Priscilla failed TO elicit more thar
harsh, inarticulate whisper from
swollen throat. .....,... .n.
A match rasped and spluttered il
the murk, gas-iet Kissed from
wall-bracket spreading a fan-like fam,
with a body Of CHASTITY blue and Dor
der Of tawny yellow.
1t revealed mean and ugly cubicle
perhaps six feet by eight with ding,
walls to whose crumbling plaster clunj
n Jew dismal rags of ancient paper
Tie single window was stoutly board
ed Oh the inside. The begrmed foo
was a stranger alike 10 carpeting an,
soap and water, had apparently beel
so since time out of memory. Fc
furnishing there was a small table o
II