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212 |
LILITH |
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Apparently the leopardess had flung herself against the heavy door. I looked at my companion.
' Come ; come ! ' he said.
Ere we reached the door of the library, a howling yell came after us, mingled with the noise of claws that scored at the hard oak. I hesitated, and half turned.
' To think of her lying there alone,' I murmured, '—with that terrible wound ! '
' Nothing will ever close that wound,' he answered, with a sigh. ' It must eat into her heart! Annihilation itself is no death to evil. Only good where evil was, is evil dead. An evil thing must live with its evil until it chooses to be good. That alone is the slaying of evil'
I held my peace until a sound I did not understand overtook us.
' If she should break loose !' I cried.
' Make haste ! ' he rejoined. ' I shall hurry down the moment you are gone, and I have disarranged the mirrors.'
We ran, and reached the wooden chamber breathless. Mr. Raven seized the chains and adjusted the hood. Then he set the mirrors in their proper relation, and came beside me in front of the standing one. Already I saw the mountain range emerging from the mist.
Between us, wedging us asunder, darted, with the yell of a demon, the huge bulk of the spotted leopardess. She leaped through the mirror as through an open window, and settled at once into a low, even, swift gallop.
I cast a look of dismay at my companion, and sprang through to follow her. He came after me leisurely. |
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