“I came here to talk to you chiefly about her,” he said. “Ballau was my dear friend.”
De Medici’s eyes remained intently on the shadowed curtains.
“I know, I know,” he whispered. “You’ve been working hard. And you’ve found out what I know. You’ve found it was Florence.”
“Can you drag yourself out of your delusions long enough to think sanely?” the doctor cried.
“My mind is perfectly clear,” De Medici answered. He lighted a cigarette in the half dark, his eyes watching the glow of the tobacco. “You have discovered that someone telephoned her at the theater, that she was in the apartment more than a half hour before giving the alarm. And other details.”
“Yes, other details,” Dr. Lytton repeated warily. De Medici sighed.
“You’ve interrupted a charming dream,” he said, rising from the chair. His hand passed tiredly over his forehead. The scientist regarded him closely. He saw the lean face of his host shudder and the gleaming eyes close for a moment.
“Ah,” continued De Medici in a murmur, “it comes over me like that. A dream obliterates me. I sit and watch myself from a distance.” He smiled wearily at his friend. “Are you interested in my symptoms, Hugo?”
“Go on,” the doctor answered.
“From a distance,” repeated De Medici, “my gestures seem to change. They become slower. And my jaw shifts curiously to a side. My eyes droop and I keep staring out of their corners. The fears leave me, however. There is nothing to fear in this dream. Last night I sat there staring at the curtains and waiting. But there was no fear. And finally the hallucination came. As it did once before on the night of the murder. I was in the apartment and she appeared for an instant in the doorway. The Francesca one ... her hair down and a band circling her forehead. I knew last night she would come again. And she did. I sat looking at Florence—a Florence you don’t know.... Cold, cruel with a wild gleam to her.... A long robe and a dagger in her hand. She smiles at me and I feel my heart dissolve with rapture. The dream is horrible and beautiful. An exultation comes into me.”