First of all,  luminosity since it cauged in its yellotle lig room; tself into t of, of all ted dress of in draped y or sixty years out of fas once, obviously, intended for a y of ton of a mot o o enanted in ticulated garment in ant mantelpiece; tern o protect ress from too suddenly seeing, or t from too suddenly seeing her.

    So t it tle by little, as omed to t iful and  of a cting on to bring o life again.

    tess stood beable, beside a pretty, silly, gilt-and-retcracted attitude t  one of fligartled by try as if s requested it. itark raig , s broke   look; yet urbed, almost repelled, by raordinarily fles lips of a vibrant purplis  t aarveling cation of t s be only sixteen or seventeen years old, no more, ic, uny of a consumptive. Selaine of all this decay.

    itender precautions, t so sess s face. At t, tess let out a faint meure  s table and a butterfly dazzle of painted cards fell to t;oquot; of le and to ion. tsking under  on table until sesss nose.

    foro pick up  t, o  rotted aly encroac-looking fungi. rieved toget noto range playt a grisly picture of a capering skeleton!  up  one anot oys back into a  see t of bones beneatranslucent skin, a ed, as banjo picks.

    At ouco revive a little and almost smiled, raising .

    quot;Coffee,quot; s;You must ; And scooped up o a pile so t t before  kettle, a silver coffee pot, cream jug, sugar basin, cups ready on a silver tray, a strange toucated interior ed, submarine radiance.

    tittering noiselessly, departed, leaving ttle darker.

    tended to time to contemplate aste a furtraits ained and peeling orted ed eyes t all ing resemblance to tim of inbreeding noiently filtering  breures o s c; no sound but t to iny cup of rose-painted china.

    quot;elcome,quot; sies of t, a voice t seemed to come elseill t. quot;elcome to my ceau. I rarely receive visitors and ts a misfortune since notes me ranger. . . ted, and my one companion, alas, s speak. Often I am so silent t I too,  o do so and nobody alk any more.quot;

    S from a Limoges plate; ruck carillons from tique c do not move -- , a ventriloquists doll, or, more, like a great ingenious piece of clockrol; as if s s be an automaton, made of  and black fur, t could not move of its oe deserted  deeply moved . te dress empy, like a sad Columbine w ime ago and never reache fair.

    quot;And t. I must apologise for t. . . a ary affliction of t;

    acles gave o  because it would s once, poor nigcher bird.

    Vouse serez ma proie.

    You , msieu, like a column of marble. aining about you all t of t;Les Amoureuxquot;  emerged from tumbling c seemed to me you epped off to my darkness and, for a moment, I t, per irradiate it.

    I do not mean to  you. I s for you in my brides dress in the dark.

    to the chamber which has been prepared for him.

    I am condemned to solitude and dark; I do not mean to  you.

    I le.

    (And could love free me from t kno learn a new song?)

    See, ing for you in my wedding dress, w will all be over very quickly.

    You will feel no pain, my darling.

    Sed  possess ors sometimes come and peer out of t is very frigerious solitude of ambiguous states; sus sanguinary rosebud. tly forebears on to a perpetual repetition of their passions.

    (One kiss, y in the ood.)

    Nervously, to conceal  of inconsequential cter in Frencors leer and grimace on tries to tion.

    ruck, once again, by tory cla reaming er in tered tals of tal castle, no  a cat: he is a hero.

    A fundamental disbelief in u  true, o believe ones eyes. Not so muc  believe in akes off ream all t populate ted land, but, since o so y --  yet knoo be afraid of -- and due to  and foremost, an inbred, rung girl c in too long and pale as a plant t never sees t, ary condition of  feel terror; so ale, inue could do trick.

    tion gives o the hero.

    o srenc t make him shudder.

    No is dark. Bats sside tigtered s eaten. ter comes trickling and diminiso a stop; ss oget ts nervously in a of ion squeak and gibber all around us. No tion, no tion. Surns ion t eaten for t is dinner-time. It is bed-time.

    Suivez-moi.

    Je vous attendais.

    Vouse serez ma proie.

    t;Dinner-time, dinner-time,quot; clang traits on tly rails; sed for  kno.

    t, scarcely believing o ar burn  catcears stitco temptation: quot;My clot to fall and you eries.quot;

    So kiss, no o caress, only talons of a beast of prey. to touco invite al embrace;  voice, su.

    Embraces, kisses; your golden ure of tarot card, your golden s eyes roll upake for t of love and not of deated marriage bed. Stark and dead, poor bicyclist;  ess and some t too .

    tomorrohes lasciviously of forbidden pleasures.

    Suivez-moi

    quot;Suivez-moi!quot;

    t, fearful for esss y, gingerly folloo to take ect ors whe walls.

    a macabre bedroom!

    ites, ing card of a brotyr assured en louis  sucage, t played t all tomer took end corpse. uredly refused tiation; ake criminal advantage of t, bone-dry, taloned  deny all tic promise of error, tenderness?

    So delicate and damned, poor te damned.

    Yet I do believe s she is doing.

    S efficiently joined toget so pieces. So unfasten tears, trickle do take off akes off ual, it is no longer inexorable. t most. akes off to pieces on tiled floor. tion; and ted, mundane noise of breaking glass breaks tirely. S ters and ineffectively smears tears across .  is so do now?

    o try to gats of glass togeto t, sc bead of blood form a drop. S  exercises upon ion.

    Into t brings t remedies of tly takes  still it spurts out. And so s o t better for her, had she lived, would have done.

    All tears fall from tinkle. ed ancestors turn aheir fangs.

    he pain of becoming human?

    the end of being.

    ters, tains, even t and air streamed in; no all afalque not ebony at all but black-painted paper stretcruts of re. tals from tside in to tly about t out and s   lark free because it perco sing s ecstatic morning song. iff and ac on t for a pilloer  o bed.

    But norace of o be seen, except, ligossed across tin bedcover, a lace negligee lig mig must ess must  up early to enjoy tside to gat to , coaxed to  and took it to t first, it exed tance for t,  up on to ts of t spread its o tcs trajectory  of joy in .

    to take o Zurico a clinic; sreated for nervous eria. to an eye specialist, for opo a dentist, to put eeto better sent manicurist urn o tmares.

    tains are pulled back, to let in brilliant fusillades of early morning ligion of ts at able in e dress,  before o sleep over tiny t are so fingered, so soiled, so ant s you can no longer make t on any single one of t sleeping.

    In deatiful and so, for t time, fully human.

    I ion of darkness.

    And I leave you as a souvenir thighs, like a flower laid on a grave. On a grave.

    My keeper tend to everything.

    Nosferatu altends  go to ttended. And noerialised, er a searcly to Buc e restante, elegram summoning o rejoin  at once. Mucer,  into t pocket of  after  it so far a seem to be quite dead and, on impulse, because ted and patic, o try and resurrect ooter from to it, so t its ed on the surface.

    urned from t evening, t Nosferatus rose drifted doone corridor of to greet an quarters brimmed , monstrous floy, t, brilliant, baleful splendour.

    Next day,  embarked for France.