Short stories, American; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
"She motioned him to go, but he refused. She came to the side of the
bed and took off her long red sash and bound him down. Then he was
willing to go indeed, and strained his muscles in useless efforts
to break away, but she laughed at him and then breathed in his face
till her damp, icy breath chilled his very soul--and he woke, covered
with the sweat of terror--to see her standing at the foot of the bed,
looking, looking into his staring eyes!
III
"So it was true. There were such things. But at least his limbs were
free, and to his joy he discovered that he was not afraid. No; he
had a dull feeling of coming disaster, but no fear. She was a young
woman, with big shadowy eyes and a strange mouth. She had on a long,
loose white nightgown, open at the throat, and she carried a little
lamp. 'Go!' he saw in her eyes as plainly as if she said it. He looked
about the room--he could have sworn it was changed. It had the air of
a woman's room, that she is living in and keeps her things in. He had
no right there--none. He should have gone. But he was proud because
he wasn't afraid, and he answered her with his eyes that he would not
go. A tired, puzzled look came into her face, a kind of frown, and she
leaned over the footboard and begged him with those big dark eyes,
begged him hard to go. He had his chance--oh, yes, the fool had his
chance!
"But he was so proud that he could master her, master a returned
soul--for lovely as she was, he knew she wasn't human--that he only set
his teeth and started up to come nearer her. But she raised her hand
and he fell back, feeling queer and drowsy. Then she came to the edge
of the bed and sat down and took from behind her a soft red silk sash
and drew it across his face. A sweet, languid feeling stole over him;
the bed seemed like a cloud of down, her sash smelled like spice and
sandalwood in a warm wind. He felt he was being drugged and weakened,
and he tried to stumble up, but the soft silk smothered him, and he
became almost unconscious.
"He only wanted one thing--to feel her fingers touch his face and to
hold her long brown hair. And while she drew the sash across his mouth
he stretched out his hands on either side to catch it and reach her
fingers. There was nothing ghostly about her--she was only a lovely
dream-woman. Maybe he was asleep....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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