In the greyness of the fading light, it had the sheen and pallor not of flesh so much as
of bone itself. Earlier, when I had looked at her, although admittedly it had been
scarcely more than a swift glance each time, I had not noticed any particular.
expression on her ravaged face, but then I had, after all, been entirely taken with the
look of extreme illness. Now, however, as I stared at her, stared until my eyes ached
in thair sockets, stared in surprise and bewilderment at her presence, now I saw that
he face did wear an expression. It was one of what I can only describe-and the words
seem hopelessly inadequate to express what I saw - as a desperate, yearning
malevolence; it was as though she were searching for something she wanted, needed
- must have, more than life itself, and which had been taken from her. And, towards
whoever had taken it she directed the purest evil and hatred and loathing, with all the
force that was available to her. Her face, in its extreme pallor, her eyes, sunken but
unnaturally bright, were burning with the concentration of passionate emotion which
was within her and which streamed from her. Whether or not this hatred and
matwolence was directed towards me I had no means of telling - I had no reason at
all to suppose that it could possibly have been, but at that moment I was far from able
to base my reactions upon reason and logic.
Annotate
