conclusion.

The animal's soul within her no longer merely shrinks away in fear of
me. It has grown sinister. It lies in ambush, full of a cold, a stealthy
intention.

That curious, abrupt change in Margot's demeanour from avoidance to
invitation marked the subtle, inward development of feeling, the silent
passage from sensation only towards action.

Formerly she feared me. Now I must fear her.

The soul, Crouching in its cage, shows its teeth. It is compassing my
destruction.

The woman's body twitches with desire to avenge the death of the
animal's.

I feel that it is only waiting the moment to spring; and the inherent
love of life breeds in me a physical fear of it as of a subtle enemy.
For even if the soul is brave, the body dreads to die, and seems at
moments to possess a second soul, purely physical, that cries out
childishly against pain, against death.

Then, too, there is a cowardice of the imagination that can shake the
strongest heart, and this resurrection from the dead, from the murdered,
appals my imagination. That what I thought I had long since slain should
have companioned me so closely when I knew it not!

I am sick with fear, physical and mental.

Two days ago, when I unlocked my bedroom door in the morning, and saw
the autumn sunlight streaming in through the leaded panes of the hall
windows, and heard the river dancing merrily down the gully among the
trees that will soon be quite bare and naked, I said to myself: "You
have been mad. Your mind has been filled with horrible dreams, that have
transformed you into a coward and your wife into a demon. Put them away
from you."

I looked across the gully. A clear, cold,-thin light shone upon the
distant mountains. The cloud stacks lay piled above the Scawfell
range. The sky was a sheet of faded turquoise. I opened the window for
a moment. The air was dry and keen. How sweet it was to feel it on my
face!

I went down to the breakfast-room. Mar-got was moving about it softly,
awaiting me. In her white hands were letters. They dropped upon the
table as she stole up to greet me. Her lips were set tightly together,
but she lifted them to kiss me.

How close I came to my enemy as our mouths touched! Her lips were colder
than the wind.

Now that I was with her, my momentary sensation of acute relief deserted
me. The horror that oppressed me returned.

I could not eat--I could only make a pretence of doing so; and my hand
trembled so excessi