Volume VIII Part 57 (1/2)

And he began, in a tired voice, interrupted by frequent fits of coughing

”Schopenhauer had just died, and it was arranged that we should watch, in turn, two by two, till e apartloo on the bedside stand

”It waswith one of our comrades The two friends e replaced had left the apartment, and we came and sat down at the foot of the bed

”The face was not changed It was laughing That pucker which we kneell lingered still around the corners of the lips, and it seemed to us that he was about to open his eyes, to hts, enveloped us We felt ourselves enius, absorbed, possessed by hin now that he was dead

A sense of mystery was blended with the power of this incomparable spirit

”The bodies of these ht which follows the stoppage of their heart's beatings, I assure you,

”And in hushed tones we talked about his, certain for , by means of some words, into the darkness of the Unknown Life

”'It see to speak,' saidon fear at the an to feel ill at ease, oppressed, on the point of fainting I faltered:

”'I don't knohat is the matter with me, but, I assure you, I am not well'

”And at that moment we noticed that there was an unpleasant odor froested that we should go into the adjoining room, and leave the door open; and I assented to his proposal

”I took one of the wax candles which burned on the bedside stand, and I left the second behind Then ent and sat down at the other end of the adjoining apartment, so as to be able to see from where ere the bed and the corpse, clearly revealed by the light

”But he still held possession of us One would have said that his im, was flitting around us And sometimes, too, the dreadful smell of the deco and indefinable

”Suddenly a shi+ver passed through our bones: a sound, a slight sound, calances on him, and , yes,white flying over the bed, falling on the carpet, and vanishi+ng under an armchair

”We were on our feet before we had ti terror, ready to run away Then we stared at each other We were horribly pale Our hearts throbbed so fiercely that our clothes swelled over our chests I was the first to speak

”'You saw?'

”'Yes, I saw'

”'Can it be that he is not dead?'

”'Why not, when the body is putrefying?'

”'What are we to do?'

”My coo and look'