And yet to pretend that I was entirely innocent of where I stood and in
what perils were to play the hypocrite. Largely I knew; just as I knew
that lacking strength to resist, I must seek safety in flight. And
tomorrow I would go. That point was settled, and the page, meanwhile,
turned down. And for to-night I delivered myself up to the savouring of
this hunger that was upon me.
And then, towards the third hour of night, as I still sat there, the door
was very gently opened, and I beheld Giuliana standing before me. She
detached from the black background of the passage, and the light of my
three-beaked lamp set her ruddy hair aglow so that it seemed there was a
luminous nimbus all about her head. For a moment this gave colour to my
fancy that I beheld a vision evoked by the too great intentness of my
thoughts. The pale face seemed so transparent, the white robe was almost
diaphanous, and the great dark eyes looked so sad and wistful. Only in the
vivid scarlet of her lips was there life and blood.
I stared at her. "Giuliana!" I murmured.
"Why do you sit so late?" she asked me, and closed the door as she spoke.
"I have been thinking, Giuliana," I answered wearily, and I passed a hand
over my brow to find it moist and clammy. "To-morrow I go hence.
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