She did not hear him. Her eyes gazed into infinity.
She murmured--
"Heaven opens. I see the angels, the prophets, and the saints. . . . The good Theodore is amongst them, his hands filled with flowers; he smiles on me and calls me. . . . Two angels come to me. They draw near. . . .
How beautiful they are! I see G.o.d!"
She uttered a joyful sigh, and her head fell back motionless on the pillow. Thais was dead.
Paphnutius held her in a last despairing embrace; his eyes devoured her with desire, rage, and love.
Albina cried to him--
"Avaunt, accursed wretch!"
And she gently placed her fingers on the eyelids of the dead girl.
Paphnutius staggered back, his eyes burning with flames and feeling the earth open beneath his feet.
The virgins chanted the song of Zacharias:
_"Blessed be the Lord G.o.d of Israel."_
Suddenly their voices stayed in their throat. They had seen the monk"s face, and they fled in affright, crying--
"A vampire! A vampire!"
He had become so repulsive, that pa.s.sing his hand over his face, he felt his own hideousness.