The thought haunted me; so I shall go to hell,
my son, unless you carry out my wishes."
"Oh, quick; tell me quickly, father."
"As soon as I have closed my eyes," Don Juan went on, "and that
may be in a few minutes, you must take my body before it grows
cold and lay it on a table in this room. Then put out the lamp;
the light of the stars should be sufficient. Take off my clothes,
reciting Aves and Paters the while, raising your soul to God in
prayer, and carefully anoint my lips and eyes with this holy
water; begin with the face, and proceed successively to my limbs
and the rest of my body; my dear son, the power of God is so
great that you must be astonished at nothing."
Don Juan felt death so near, that he added in a terrible voice,
"Be careful not to drop the flask."
Then he breathed his last gently in the arms of his son, and his
son's tears fell fast over his sardonic, haggard features.
It was almost midnight when Don Felipe Belvidero laid his
father's body upon the table. He kissed the sinister brow and the
gray hair; then he put out the lamp.
By the soft moonlight that lit strange gleams across the country
without, Felipe could dimly see his father's body, a vague white
thing among the shadows. The dutiful son moistened a linen cloth
with the liquid, and, absorbed in prayer, he anointed the revered
face.
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