San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-12-20

grotesque repetition that occurs in
some sorts of dreaming-the dim,
arras-hung room, the two candles,
the woman coming toward him
with the silver cup. Was this un-
real-or was it the other that had
been illusion?
He drank like an automaton,
knowing before hand the curious
aftertaste that would linger in his
mouth. A certain amount of sed-
iment contained in the love-
philtre was mingled with the lees
of the wine. Gervais had already
drunk a good deal and now, sud-
denly, his head swan. The pair
of candle flames became four and
it was only by a conscious steady
ing of his sight that he was able
to reduce them to two again. The
sensation of bodily passion, tenn
porarily blurred, reasserted itself
and it was as though, in SWIM
ming haze, the touch and sight of
the nameless girl encompassed him.
Sabine, who had seated herself
in her cushioned chair, looked up
at him, standing a couple of feet
away from her. Beneath her
feline tranquility she was expect
ant. Would he go down on his
knee, tumble for her hand and
kiss it? He was pale. He
did not look at her, but past her
towards the lighted candles. What
span of time should suffice for the
philtre to do its work upon the
blood of the young man?
This matter ! wished to speak
of concerns your father and my
self"
No answer. But Gervais, turn
ing his head slowly, looked towards
her now. From head to foot he
was in deep-red raiment, grit with
a costly swordbelt, and with a
heavy medal suspended from the
gold chain about his neck.
"Your father, as you know, has
withdrawn himself from all the
pleasures of a mamie has be-
come a saint. AS wife have
no duties to fulfill. ! have thought
for some time of retiring from the
world"
(Such an idea never crossed
her mind-but it was all the same;
a spiritual decision of this sort
should spur the action of the phil
tre.)
81 am sorry, Madam"
Gervais's response was purely
mechanical. He was bemused-
held in little revolving world of
his desires. The candle flames in
creased from two to four; de-
creased again in fact, waxed and
waned like tongues of yellow
moon-fre. He knew, subconscious-
ly, that something had been said
at which he ought to express re-
gret.
Sabine rose from her chair.
She came softly close-she laid
her hands against the shoulders of
the young man and lifted her face
to him.
what is there for me in the
world, Gervais? l feel that God
calls me-"
Oh, but the touch of him was
goodl Now-now to have his arms
90 about her. They were alone;
there would be no intrusion.
To Gervais, in the swimming
state of his senses, the automatic
impulse that had prompted him
to speak prompted him now to
enclasp the body that was almost
in contact with his own. But this
was not the girl of faery, with
the unbound black hair of maiden
hood. 1t was Sabine, his fathers
wife! What was he about to do?
The shock of if half sobered him.
A confused panic seized him. He
had enough sense left to know that
he was drunk-drunk and fevered.
He must 20 at once and with as
little self-betrayal as possible.
81 am sorry"
He stepped back from her,
steadily enough, though something
seemed to be chasing itself inside
his head like a kitten pursuing its
own tail. In some people, self
conscious and sensitive, liquor
intensifes dignity, and it was with
the carriage and manner of an EN-.
peror that Gervais turned and
made slowly towards the door
carefully, for he was absurdly
anxious to walk in a straight line,
as though his chance of salvation
and his honor as knight depend
ed on it. He was spoken 10 by