Therese and Laurent
took the parts adapted to them, and proceeded with extreme prudence,
calculating the slightest gesture, and the least word. At the bottom
of their hearts, they were devoured by a feeling of impatience that
stiffened and strained their nerves. They lived in a state of constant
irritation, and it required all their natural cowardice to compel them
to show a smiling and peaceful exterior.
If they yearned to bring the business to an end, it was because they
could no longer remain separate and solitary. Each night, the drowned
man visited them, insomnia stretched them on beds of live coal and
turned them over with fiery tongs. The state of enervation in which they
lived, nightly increased the fever of their blood, which resulted in
atrocious hallucinations rising up before them.
Therese no longer dared enter her room after dusk. She experienced the
keenest anguish, when she had to shut herself until morning in this
large apartment, which became lit-up with strange glimmers, and peopled
with phantoms as soon as the light was out. She ended by leaving her
candle burning, and by preventing herself falling asleep, so as to
always have her eyes wide open.
Pages:
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163