To see a woman in that
place was not so strange; but such a woman! Even in the first casual
glance I gave her, I at once acknowledged to myself her extraordinary
power. Not the slightness of her form, the palor of her countenance,
or the fairness of the locks of golden red hair that fell in two long
braids over her bosom, could for a moment counteract the effect of
her dark glance or the vivid almost unearthly force of her
expression. It was as if you saw a flame upstarting before you, waving
tremulously here and there, but burning and resistless in its white
heat. I took off my hat with deference.
"A shudder passed over her, but she made no effort to return my
acknowledgement. As we cast our eyes dilating with horror, down some
horrible pit upon whose verge we suddenly find ourselves, she allowed
her gaze for a moment to dwell upon my face, then with a sudden
lifting of her hand, pointed towards the door as if to bid me
depart--when it swung open with that shrill rushing of wind that
involuntarily awakes a shudder within you, and the two men entered and
came stamping up to my side. Instantly her hand sunk, not feebly as
with fear, but calmly as if at the bidding of her will, and without
waiting for them to speak, she turned away and quietly left the room.
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