Then he heard a moan on the other side
of the abyss, and he saw something white stir on the floor in
Camilla's room. It was she. She lay on her knees, and while her hips
were swaying, held her hands pressed against each side of her head.
She rose slowly, and came towards the edge of the abyss. She stood
straight upright, her arms hung limply down, and the head went to and
fro limply on the neck. Very, very slowly the upper part of her body
fell forward, her long, beautiful hair swept the floor; a short
violent flash of flame, and it was gone, the next moment she plunged
down into the flames.
Mogens uttered a moaning sound, short, deep and powerful, like the
roar of a wild beast, and at the same time made a violent movement, as
if to get away from the abyss. It was impossible on account of the
girder. His hands groped over the fragments of wall, then they
stiffened as it were in a mighty clasp over the debris, and he began
to strike his forehead against the wreckage with a regular beat, and
moaned: "Lord God, Lord God, Lord God."
Thus he lay. In the course of a little while, he noticed that there
was something standing beside him and touching him. It was a fireman
who had thrown the girder aside, and was about to carry him out of the
house. With a strong feeling of annoyance, Mogens noticed that he was
lifted up and led away. The man carried him to the opening, and then
Mogens had a clear perception that a wrong was being committed against
him, and that the man who was carrying him had designs on his life.
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