that a most frantic effort only availed to wrench one arm free.
With that, on the impulse of sheer despair, he cast at her with
all his force. The door swung behind her, and the flask flew into
fragments against it. Then, as Sweyn's grasp slackened, and he met
the questioning astonishment of surrounding faces, with a hoarse
inarticulate cry: "God help us all!" he said. "She is a
Were-Wolf."

Sweyn turned upon him, "Liar, coward!" and his hands gripped his
brother's throat with deadly force, as though the spoken word
could be killed so; and as Christian struggled, lifted him clear
off his feet and flung him crashing backward. So furious was he,
that, as his brother lay motionless, he stirred him roughly with
his foot, till their mother came between, crying shame; and yet
then he stood by, his teeth set, his brows knit, his hands
clenched, ready to enforce silence again violently, as Christian
rose staggering and bewildered.

But utter silence and submission were more than he expected, and
turned his anger into contempt for one so easily cowed and held in
subjection by mere force. "He is mad!" he said, turning on his
heel as he spoke, so that he lost his mother's look of pained
reproach at this sudden free utterance of what was a lurking dread
within her.

Christian was too spent for the effort of speech. His hard-drawn
breath laboured in great sobs; his limbs were powerless and
unstrung in utter relax after hard service. Failure in his
endeavour induced a stupor of misery and despair. In addition was
the wretched humiliation of open violence and strife with his
brother, and the distress of hearing misjudging contempt expressed
without reserve; for he was aware that Sweyn had turned to allay
the scared excitement half by imperious mastery, half by
explanation and argument, that showed painful disregard of
brotherly consideration. All this unkindness of his twin he
charged upon the fell Thing who had wrought this their first
dissension, and, ah! most terrible thought, interposed between
them so effectually, that Sweyn was wilfully blind and deaf on her
account, resentful of interference, arbitrary beyond reason.

Dread and perplexity unfathomable darkened upon him; unshared, the
burden was overwhelming: a foreboding of unspeakable calamity,
based upon his ghastly discovery, bore down upon him, crushing out
hope of power to withstand impending fate.

Sweyn the while was observant of his brother, despite the
continu