Walpurgisnacht by Gustav Meyrink

Author:Gustav Meyrink [Gustav Meyrink]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Jan Žižka of Trocnov

On the last stroke of twelve the servants had stood up respectfully: the hour of equality was over.

Polyxena was in the picture gallery, uncertain as to whether she should make Božena help her undress. Then she dismissed her.

“Good night, your Ladyship”, the girl took her sleeve and kissed it.

“Good night, Božena, off you go.”

Polyxena sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the candle flame.

‘Go to bed now?’ the idea was unbearable. She went over to the arched window that gave onto the garden and drew back the heavy curtains. The moon was a thin, gleaming sickle hanging over the trees in a vain struggle against the darkness. The gravel path to the gate was faintly illuminated by the light from the downstairs windows. Formless shadows slipped across it, gathered, separated, swelled, disappeared, returned, lengthened, stretched long necks over the dark patches of grass, stood for a while like shapes of black mist among the bushes, shrank and then put their heads together, as if they had discovered some mystery that they had to whisper to each other in inaudible voices: the silhouettes of the figures down below in the servants’ hall.

Immediately beyond the dark, massive park wall, as if the world came to an end at that point, a starless sky rose from cloudy depths, a gaping, immeasurable void.

Polyxena tried to deduce from the movements of the shadows what was being discussed down below, but in vain.

Was Ottokar already asleep?

She felt a soft yearning come over her, but only for a moment, then it was gone again. Her dreams were different from his, wilder, more passionate. Gentle fantasies could not hold her for long; she was not even sure that she really loved him.

What would happen if she were separated from him? She had occasionally thought about it, but never found an answer. It had been as pointless as her attempt just now to guess what the shadows were saying to each other.

To Polyxena, her own inner being was an unfathomable void, as impenetrable as the darkness outside. She was incapable of feeling sorrow, even when she imagined to herself that Ottokar had died that very moment She knew that he had a weak heart and that his life hung by a thin thread, but when he told her, it was as if he had been talking to a picture, ‘Yes’ - she turned round - ‘as if he had been talking to that picture on the wall there.’

She avoided the eyes of her ancestress, took the candle and went from one portrait to another: nothing but dead faces. None of them spoke to her. ‘Even if they were to come to life before me, they would still mean nothing to me, I have nothing in common with them. They have turned to dust in their graves.’

Her eye was caught by the white of the turned-down sheet on her bed. ‘Lie down and go to sleep?’ She could not contemplate the thought. ‘I think I would never wake up again.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.