with a cry of anguish, she tottered forward, stretching out
her arms to him.

But he stepped aside, deliberately, and let her fall. She
caught herself at the side of the bed, and then sank down,
burying her face in her hands and bursting into frantic
weeping.

There came one of those hysterical crises that had so
often dismayed him. Ona sobbed and wept, her fear and
anguish building themselves up into long climaxes. Furi~
ous gusts of emotion would come sweeping over her, shak~
ing her as the tempest shakes the trees upon the hills; all
her frame would quiver and throb with them -- it was as
if some dreadful thing rose up within her and took pos~
session of her, torturing her, tearing her. This thing had
been wont to set Jurgis quite beside himself; but now
he stood with his lips set tightly and his hands clenched
-- she might weep till she killed herself, but she should
not move him this time -- not an inch, not an inch. Be~
cause the sounds she made set his blood to running cold
and his lips to quivering in spite of himself, he was glad
of the diversion when Teta Elzbieta, pale with fright,
opened the door and rushed in; yet he turned upon her
with an oath. "Go out!" he cried, "go out!" And
then, as she stood hesitating, about to speak, he seized
her by the arm, and half flung her from the room, slam~
ming the door and barring it with a table. Then he
turned again and faced Ona, crying -- "Now, answer
me!"

Yet she did not hear him -- she was still in the grip of
the fiend. Jurgis could see her outstretched hands, shak~
ing and twitching, roaming here and there over the bed
at will, like living things; he could see convulsive shud~
derings start in her body and run through her limbs.
She was sobbing and choking -- it was as if there were
too many sounds for one throat, they came chasing each
other, like waves upon the sea. Then her voice would be~
gin to rise into screams, louder and louder until it broke
in wild, horrible peals of laughter. Jurgis bore it until
he could bear it no longer, and then he sprang at her,

[[176]]

p175 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p176w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p177

v?