..Erik, do put out
the light in the little window!"
For she saw that this light, which appeared so suddenly and of
which the monster had spoken in so threatening a voice, must mean
something terrible. One thing must have pacified her for a moment;
and that was seeing the two of us, behind the wall, in the midst
of that resplendent light, alive and well. But she would certainly
have felt much easier if the light had been put out.
Meantime, the other had already begun to play the ventriloquist.
He said:
"Here, I raise my mask a little....Oh, only a little!...
You see my lips, such lips as I have? They're not moving!...My
mouth is closed--such mouth as I have--and yet you hear my voice.
...Where will you have it? In your left ear? In your right ear?
In the table? In those little ebony boxes on the mantelpiece?...
Listen, dear, it's in the little box on the right of the mantelpiece:
what does it say? `SHALL I TURN THE SCORPION?'...And now, crack!
What does it say in the little box on the left? `SHALL I TURN
THE GRASSHOPPER?'...And now, crack! Here it is in the little
leather bag....What does it say? `I AM THE LITTLE BAG OF LIFE
AND DEATH!'.
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