He had reached at last--so his whirling brain interpreted it--the very congress of all the spectres that had haunted him of late. The silent dull air was thick with silent threads--busy stitches in a shroud whose hem was the enceinte of the city. Here a silent white pack stood looking up at a white yoke. There was no terror in all the scene, save where, on the platform itself, the boots of the executioners slipped in a red thaw. Then, in a moment, he was aware of her. She rose from the cloud of white shapes--herself a statue of whiteness--pure at last--and other white shapes stooped and lifted her. He burst through the intervening whiteness--tore his way into the shroud. “Nicette!” he screamed. She struggled free for an instant--turned, looked down, and saw him. Through the rain of flakes the rapture of a deathless passion was revealed to him. The next moment she was fallen prostrate. A whirring silvery wing swooped upon her. She seemed to break in half, like a woman of snow. THE END. TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES. The 1899 Dodd, Mead & Co. edition was consulted for many of the following corrections. Alterations to the text: Add TOC. A few punctuation corrections: missing commas/periods, quotation mark pairing, etc. Note: minor spelling and hyphenization inconsistencies (_e.g._ unnamable/unnameable, seaport/sea-port, meadow-path/meadow path, etc.) have been preserved. [Book I/Chapter XIII] Change “his innate _migivings_ must once more gather” to _misgivings_. [Book I/Chapter XX] “and accepted his to her _carrriage_” to _carriage_. [Book II/Chapter II] “I sink, Was there evaire the time when” change comma to period. “this same wife lay _adying_” to _a-dying_. [Book II/Chapter XV] “committed himself to the _hoplessness_ of slumber” to _hopelessness_. [Book II/Chapter XVI] “turned upon her in _uttter_ desperation” to _utter_. “Oh, _monsier_, monsieur! if I could learn it” to _monsieur_. [End of Text]