Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VIII. Naples
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
He raised his hands several times pointing at me,
his ghastly face twitching under a desperate
effort to speak. From his grimacing lips came
distinctly the word: “specchio!” A nun
brought after some delay a little mirror, I held
it before his half-closed eyes. He shook his head
several times, it was the last sign of life he gave,
an hour later the heart stood still.
The cart stood before the gate to take away the
bodies of the two nuns who had died during the
day. I knew it rested with me whether he was
to be taken away at the same time or left where he
was till the next evening. They would have
believed me had I said he was still alive, he
looked exactly the same as when I had come. I
said nothing. Two hours later his body was
thrown with hundreds of other bodies in the
common grave in the cholera cemetery. I had
understood why he had raised his hand and
pointed at me and why he had shaken his head
when I had held the mirror before his eyes. He
did not want his wife to see what he had seen in
the mirror, and he wanted me to go and tell her
when all was over.
As I stood before his house I saw the white
face of a woman, almost a child, in the window.
She reeled back with terror in her eyes as I opened
the door.
“You are the foreign doctor he has told me so
much about, he has not come back, I have been
standing in the window the whole night. Where
is he?”
She threw a shawl over her shoulders and
rushed to the door.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
