"You lie, you lie."
"What do I care if you are the bondwoman who bears his child? The child will be my child, and when he is born he will have my face----"
"No, it is not possible."
"It is, it is--you know it is."
Thora gasped for breath. Then an extraordinary change came over her that made her almost unrecognizable. The patient and gentle woman seemed suddenly possessed by a demon. Something strange and horrible seemed in an instant to enter into her soul. The homicidal impulse which takes hold of wild animals appeared to assail and conquer her. One moment she stood facing her sister, convulsed and livid, and then in a voice that was hoarse with rage and shame she said:
"Very well, if that is so, and if my child is not my own, if it has been conceived in the love of another woman, and I am only the bondwoman who bears it, then--then--then--it shall never be born, or if it is born I--I--I will kill it!"
With that she burst into a peal of laughter, and fell on to the floor.
The noise brought Anna into the room panting.
"What have you done to her? What have you said? Thora! Thora!"
"I will kill the child. I will kill it, I will kill it!"