"I must see her,--I _must_!"--and dashes back toward the parsonage.
The Doctor, terrified, follows after. But he can keep no manner of pace
with that swift, dark figure that glides before him. He comes to the
porch panting. The door is closed. Has the infuriated woman gone in? No,
for presently her grasp is again upon his arm: for a moment she had
sunk, exhausted by fatigue, or overcome by emotion, upon the porch. Her
tone is more subdued.
"I entreat you, good Doctor, let me see Adèle!--for Christ's sake, if
you be His minister, let me see her!"
"Impossible, woman, impossible!" says the Doctor, more than ever
satisfied of her Satanic character by what he counts her blasphemous
speech. "Adaly is delirious,--fearfully excited; it would destroy her.
The only hope is in perfect quietude."
The woman releases her grasp.
"Please, Doctor, let me come to-morrow. I must see her! I will see her!"
"You shall not," said the Doctor, with solemnity,--"never, with my
permission. Go to your home, woman, and pray God to have mercy on you."
"Monster!" exclaimed she, passionately, as she shook the Doctor's arm,
still under her grasp; and murmuring other words in language the good
man did not comprehend, she slipped silently down the yard,--away into
the darkness.