Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde

Author:Oscar Wilde
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: Manners and customs -- Fiction, Short stories, English
Publisher: Standard Ebooks
Published: 2020-11-20T00:34:59+00:00

But I don’t know what they mean.”

“They mean,” he said sadly, “that you must weep for me for my sins, be­cause I have no tears, and pray with me for my soul, be­cause I have no faith, and then, if you have al­ways been sweet, and good, and gentle, the An­gel of Death will have mercy on me. You will see fear­ful shapes in dark­ness, and wicked voices will whis­per in your ear, but they will not harm you, for against the pur­ity of a little child the powers of Hell can­not pre­vail.”

Vir­gin­ia made no an­swer, and the Ghost wrung his hands in wild des­pair as he looked down at her bowed golden head. Sud­denly she stood up, very pale, and with a strange light in her eyes. “I am not afraid,” she said firmly, “and I will ask the An­gel to have mercy on you.”

He rose from his seat with a faint cry of joy, and tak­ing her hand bent over it with old-fash­ioned grace and kissed it. His fin­gers were as cold as ice, and his lips burned like fire, but Vir­gin­ia did not fal­ter, as he led her across the dusky room. On the faded green tapestry were broidered little hunts­men. They blew their tas­selled horns and with their tiny hands waved to her to go back. “Go back! little Vir­gin­ia,” they cried, “go back!” but the Ghost clutched her hand more tightly, and she shut her eyes against them. Hor­rible an­im­als with liz­ard tails, and goggle eyes, blinked at her from the carven chim­neypiece, and mur­mured “Be­ware! little Vir­gin­ia, be­ware! we may nev­er see you again,” but the Ghost glided on more swiftly, and Vir­gin­ia did not listen. When they reached the end of the room he stopped, and muttered some words she could not un­der­stand. She opened her eyes, and saw the wall slowly fad­ing away like a mist, and a great black cav­ern in front of her. A bit­ter cold wind swept round them, and she felt some­thing pulling at her dress. “Quick, quick,” cried the Ghost, “or it will be too late,” and, in a mo­ment, the wains­cot­ing had closed be­hind them, and the Tapestry Cham­ber was empty.

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