Ever he has
escaped me, and the score between us is long.'
Now as I spoke thus it seemed to me that a cold and dreadful air played
upon my hands and brow and a warning sense of present evil crept into my
soul, overcoming me so that I could not stir or speak for a while.
'Let us go and see if he has gone,' said Diaz presently, and summoning
a guard, he was about to leave the chamber. It was at this moment that
I chanced to look up and see a woman standing in the doorway. Her hand
rested on the doorpost; her head, from which the long hair streamed, was
thrown back, and on her face was a look of such anguish that at first,
so much was she changed, I did not know her for Otomie. When I knew her,
I knew all; one thing only could conjure up the terror and agony that
shone in her deep eyes.
'What has chanced to our son?' I asked.
'DEAD, DEAD!' she answered in a whisper that seemed to pierce my marrow.
I said nothing, for my heart told me what had happened, but Diaz asked,
'Dead--why, what has killed him?'
'De Garcia! I saw him go,' replied Otomie; then she tossed her arms
high, and without another sound fell backwards to the earth.
In that moment I think that my heart broke--at least I know that nothing
has had the power to move me greatly since, though this memory moves me
day by day and hour by hour, till I die and go to seek my son.
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