ght be.
The priest cast a glance upon the boy, who lay rigid and pale, his
eyes shut, and hardly seeming to breathe, as though dead and prepared
for burial. Then the priest signed the cross and said "_In Nomine_";
and as the holy words fell on the air, the cat looked fiercely at the
bird, but seemed to shrink into itself; and then it slipped away.

Then the priest's fear was that the bird might stray further outside
of his care; and yet he dared not try and wake the boy, for he knew
that this was death, if the soul was thrust apart from the body, and
if he broke the unseen chain that bound them; so he waited and prayed.
And the bird hopped upon the floor; and then presently the priest saw
the cat draw near again, and in a stealthy way; and now the priest
himself was feeling weary of the strain, for he seemed to be wrestling
in spirit with something that was strong and strongly armed. But he
signed the cross again and said faintly "_In Nomine_"; and the cat
again withdrew.

Then a dreadful drowsiness fell upon the priest, and he thought that
he must sleep. Something heavy, leaden-handed, and powerful seemed to
be busy in his brain. Meanwhile the bird hopped upon the window-sill
and stood as if preparing its wings for a flight. Then the priest beat
with his foot upon the floor, for he could no longer battle. In a
moment the lady glided in, and seemed as though scared to find the
scene of so fierce an encounter so still and quiet. She would have
spoken, but the priest signed her to be silent, and pointed to the boy
and to the bird; and then she partly understood. So they stood in
silence, but the priest's brain grew more numb; though he was aware of
a creeping blackness that seemed to overshadow the bird, in the midst
of which glared two bright eyes. So with a sudden effort he signed the
cross, and said "_In Nomine_" again; and at the same moment the lady
held out her hand; and the priest sank down on the floor; but he saw
the bird raise its wings for a flight, and just as the dark thing
rose, and, as it were, struck open-mouthed, the bird sailed softly
through the air, alighted on the lady's hand, and then with a light
flutter of wings on to the bed and to the boy's face, and was seen no
more; at the same moment the bells stopped in the church and left a
sweet silence. The black form shrank and slipped aside, and seemed to
fall on the ground; and outside there was a shrill and bitter cry
which echoed horribly on the air