And my mother answered,--

"There is one here already."

We looked round: behind us on the floor lay a naked, light pink body

with its head thrown back. And instantly at its side there appeared a

second, and a third. And the earth threw them up one after the other,

and soon the orderly rows of light pink dead bodies filled all the

rooms.

"They are in the nursery too," said the nurse. "I saw them."

"We must go away," said my sister.

"But we cannot pass," said my brother.

"Look!"

And sure enough, they were lying close together, arm to arm, and their

naked feet were touching us. And suddenly they stirred and swayed and

rose up in the same orderly rows: the earth was throwing up new bodies,

and they were lifting the first ones upwards.

"They will smother us!" said I. "Let us save ourselves through the

window."

"We cannot!" cried my brother. "We cannot! Look what is there!"

... Behind the window, in a livid, motionless light, stood the Red

Laugh.

The red laugh: fragments of a discovered manuscript · 第 53 / 54 题