Page:Storm Over Paris.pdf/43

Eric, Eric, is it in truth our bridal night? Why don't you come to me, oh my bridegroom? A bridegroom must not leave his bride alone. Shadows slip about me, surround me, flooding in and out from the broken wall... And I, fool that I am, wanted to tear myself away from him, never to see him any more... Where is it I am rushing to so tempestuously? If only my heart didn't gallop so, I would sit down so quietly and think everything out so carefully . . . See how calm I can be... One and one are two; two and two are- There are footsteps. Someone is knocking at the door. Maybe it is only my fancy... Who did you say it was?

The concierge? "But it was only yesterday I paid you the rent, paid for a whole month in advance! Then who, in God's name? Soma? Who is Soma? You must be out of your mind! I know no one by that name. You are making a mistake, Madame, and I really have no time. And even if I do know him, that person on the second floor, what has it all to do with me?"

No, really, those days are gone when I felt so sorry for him, and let him kiss me out of pity. Quelle horreur! Such odious kisses! "Your pardon, s'il vous plaît. I don't hear you. Someone is sick, you say? But why should that matter to me? And even if it did concern me, there's really nothing I can do about it, not with all the best will in the world. Believe me, Madame, it's the truth. I swear it to you." Haven't you heard that tonight is to be a bridal night? "Well, very well, Madame. As you say-a sick man all alone. It would be a pity. I'll look in, just for a moment... Bon soir, Madame, bon soir..."

When Anna entered Soma's room she was confronted with a strange sight. A thick cloud of vapor, cut through with writhing veins of smoke, separated the ceiling from the floor, dividing the room in two-like Heaven and Hell in a Renaissance