I do not know what followed; there came--all in a confused
blur of instant sequence--an oath from Rupert, a rush from me, a
scuffle, as though some one sought to hold him back; then he was
on me; I felt a great thud on my forehead, and I felt nothing
more. Again I was on my back, with a terrible pain in my head,
and a dull, dreamy consciousness of a knot of men standing over
me, talking eagerly to one another.
I could not hear what they were saying; I had no great desire to
hear. I fancied, somehow, that they were talking about me; they
looked at me and moved their hands towards me now and again. I
heard Rupert's laugh, and saw his club poised over me; then
Rischenheim caught him by the wrist. I know now that Rischenheim
was reminding his cousin that he had promised not to kill me,
that Rupert's oath did not weigh a straw in the scales, but that
he was held back only by a doubt whether I alive or my dead body
would be more inconvenient to dispose of. Yet then I did not
understand, but lay there listless. And presently the talking
forms seemed to cease their talking; they grew blurred and dim,
running into one another, and all mingling together to form one
great shapeless creature that seemed to murmur and gibber over
me, some such monster as a man sees in his dreams.
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