A Reprise

Linda Ronstadt hearts call hearts fall swallowed in the rain who knows life grows hollow and so vain wandering in the winter light the wicked and the sane bear witness to salvation and life starts over again now the clear sky is all around you love's shadow will surround you all through the night star glowing in the twilight tell me true hope whispers and i will follow till you love me too

As she sat in her room, contemplating the new turn of her life, her thoughts turned to Anton, and his unnerving resemblance to the figment in her dreams. She felt inexplicably drawn to him, as though he were the answer to a puzzle she had worked over in her mind all of her life. She noticed him standing on the balcony, high above her head. Madeleine put her hands to her head, feeling a sudden sense of disorientation. She wanted to shout up to him, to demand the answers from him. But he would think her only mad. Perhaps he was only just there! Perhaps he had not gone there to watch her struggle with her disturbing visions. Did she imagine that he was some sort of sorcerer, and that he had conjured those visions to torment her in her sleep? It could not be! He was not a magician, only a man. But all of this changed for her on the day she met Barbara. Madeleine turned from him in the garden. "I did not know... about Barbara," she said merely. "Didn't you?" he ...

"You must let me go," she said. She pulled the cloak more tightly around her shoulders and shivered, looking at him longingly. The man she loved had lost his mind. "I cannot do that," he growled through the glass, his features contorted. She knew he felt as cold and dreadful as she did. They both believed that Hildegarde was dead. Anton was certain that Madeleine would be next, and she knew his suspicions were justified. She touched the glass as though to reach the features of his face. His face was more beast-like than ever to her now. It was harsh and angry. He would be easy to push over the edge. He was on the edge of sanity now. "Then come to me. Don't leave me here alone. Please." She shivered. "If my presence in the main house is missed for long then the murderer may grow suspicious. Your presence here must not be detected." "If you leave me I will scream." His eyebrows shot upward. "Don't do that. If you scream I wil...