The candle smouldering on the floor lit up the delicate foot and the pure lines above it of the adorable creature.
Gilbert trod on the wick and in sudden obscurity was blotted out the dreadful smile which was curling his lips.
“Andrea,” he muttered, “I swore that you should not escape me the third time that you fell into my hands as you did the other two. Andrea, a terrible end was needed to the romance which you mocked at me for composing!”
With extended arms he walked towards the sofa where the girl was still cold, motionless and deprived of all feeling.
CHAPTER XXVI.
SARTINES BELIEVES BALSAMO IS A MAGICIAN.
THE mesmerist had galloped on the barb through Versailles in a few seconds and a league on the road to Paris when an idea came as comfort in the midst of his misery at the fear that all he did would be too late. He saw his brothers of the secret society at the mercy of his foes, and the woman who caused all this, through his infatuation for her, going free.
“Oh, if ever she returns into my power—— ”
He made a desperate gesture, as he pulled up the splendid horse short on its haunches.
“Let me see,” he said, frowning, “is silence a word or a fact? can it do or not do? let me try my will, again. Lorenza,” he said while making the passes to throw the magnetic fluid to a distance, “Lorenza, sleep, I will it! Wherever you are, sleep, I will it, and rely upon it. Cleave the air, oh, my supreme will! cross all the currents antipathetic or indifferent; go through the walls like a cannonball; strike her and annihilate her will. Lorenza, I will have you sleep—I will have you mute!”
After this mighty effort of animal magnetism, he resumed the race, but used neither whip nor spur and gave the Arab rein.