a red-hot iron into my eyes. Help, help!" he
shrieked, twisting himself on his bed, a prey to the horrible
convulsions of his extreme agony.

Polidori, alarmed at the excess of this fresh fit, suddenly extinguished
the lamp, and they were both in perfect darkness. At this moment the
noise of a carriage was heard at the door in the street. When the
chamber had been rendered entirely dark in which Polidori and Ferrand
were, the latter was somewhat relieved from his extreme pains.

"Where are you going?" said Polidori, suddenly, when he heard Jacques
Ferrand rise, for the deepest obscurity reigned in the apartment.

"I am going to find Cecily!"

"You shall not go; the sight of that room would kill you!"

"Cecily awaits me up there!"

"You shall not go--I will prevent you!" said Polidori, seizing the
notary by the arm.

Jacques Ferrand having reached the extremity of exhaustion, was unable
to contend with Polidori, who grasped him with a powerful clutch. "What,
would you prevent me from seeking Cecily?"

"Yes; and besides, there is a lamp in the next room, and you know what
an effect light so recently produced on your sight!"

"Cecily is up above; she is waiting for me, and I would cross a red-hot
furnace to rejoin her. Let me go! She called me her old tiger; mind you,
then, for my claws are sharp!"

"You shall not go! I will sooner tie you down to your bed like a furious
madman!"

"Listen, Polidori! I am not mad--I am perfectly in my senses. I know
that Cecily is not really up there; but to me the phantoms of my
imagination are equal to realities."

"Silence!" cried Polidori, suddenly, and listening. "I just now thought
I heard a carriage stop at the door--and I was not mistaken! Now I hear
a sound of voices in the courtyard."

"You want to deceive me," said Jacques; "but I am not so easily
deceived."

"But, unhappy man, listen--listen! Don't you hear?"

"Let me go! Cecily is up-stairs; she calls me. Do not make me furious!
And now I say to you, mind--beware!"

"You shall not go out!"

"Take care!"

"You shall not go out. It is for my interest that you should remain."

"You would hinder me from seeking Cecily, and it is my interest that you
should die. There--there!" said the notary, in a gloomy tone.

Polidori uttered a cry. "Wretch! You have stabbed me in the arm. But
your hand was weak--the wound is slight--and you shall not escape me."

"Your wound is mortal, for it was given by the poisoned