The lips were slightly
parted, the eyes half closed and drowsy, shaded with sweeping lashes;
and a wealth of dark hair in massive plaits served as a foil to the
translucent skin.
Our friend had drawn back the bedclothes a few inches, and now there was
revealed, beneath the comely face, so serene and inscrutable, and yet so
dreadful in its fixity and waxen pallor, a horrible, yawning wound that
almost divided the shapely neck.
Thorndyke looked down with stern pity at the plump white face.
"It was savagely done," said he, "and yet mercifully, by reason of its
very savagery. She must have died without waking."
"The brute!" exclaimed Hart, clenching his fists and turning crimson
with wrath. "The infernal cowardly beast! He shall hang! By God, he
shall hang!" In his fury the young fellow shook his fists in the air,
even as the moisture welled up into his eyes.
Thorndyke touched him on the shoulder. "That is what we are here for,
Hart," said he. "Get out your notebook;" and with this he bent down over
the dead girl.
At the friendly reproof the young surgeon pulled himself together, and,
with open notebook, commenced his investigation, while I, at Thorndyke's
request, occupied myself in making a plan of the room, with a
description of its contents and their arrangements.
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