I could have screamed with ecstasy when I dined alonewith some fine roaring fellow, to think how pale he would have turned,and how fast he would have run, if he had known that the dear friend whosat close to him, sharpening a bright, glittering knife, was a madmanwith all the power, and half the will, to plunge it in his heart.
If I had not beenmad--for though we madmen are sharp-witted enough, we get bewilderedsometimes--I should have known that the girl would rather have beenplaced, stiff and cold in a dull leaden coffin, than borne an enviedbride to my rich, glittering house.
His wardrobe was extensive--very extensive--not strictly classicalperhaps, not quite new, nor did it contain any one garment madeprecisely after the fashion of any age or time, but everything was moreor less spangled; and what can be prettier than spangles! It may beobjected that they are not adapted to the daylight, but everybody knowsthat they would glitter if there were lamps; and nothing can be clearerthan that if people give fancy-balls in the day-time, and the dressesdo not show quite as well as they would by night, the fault lies solelywith the people who give the fancy-balls, and is in no wise chargeableon the spangles.
The sky wascloudless; the sun shone out bright and warm; the songs of birds,the hum of myriads of summer insects, filled the air; and the cottagegardens, crowded with flowers of every rich and beautiful tint,sparkled, in the heavy dew, like beds of glittering jewels.
But the garden itself, which lay in itsshadow: and should have been a tract of absolute darkness, showed arandom glitter, like that of fading fireworks; as if a giant rocket hadfallen in fire among the trees.
But it was not quite the first thing that they noticed; for evenbefore that they had seen that Mandeville was lying flat on his face inthe middle of the room and the blood was crawling out from under hisfallen face like a pattern of scarlet snakes that glittered evilly inthat unnatural subterranean light.