"Smith, Clark Ashton - Tales of Averoigne" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Clark Ashton)

a lamia, an ancient vampire, who maintains in these noisome vaults her. _ў
palace of beatific illusions. How she came to take up her abode at
Faussesflammes is not known, for her coming antedates the memory of
men. She is old as paganism; the Greeks knew her; she was exorcised
by Apollonius of Tyana; and if you could behold her as she really is,
you would see, in lieu of her voluptuous body, the folds of a foul and
monstrous serpent. All those whom she loves and admits to her
hospitality, she devours in the end, after she has drained them of life
and vigor with the diabolic delight of her kisses. The laurel-wooded
plain you saw, the ilex-bordered river, the marble palace and all the
luxury therein, were no more than a satanic delusion, a lovely bubble
that rose from the dust and mold of immemorial death, of ancient
corruption. They crumbled at the kiss of the holy water I brought with
me when I followed you. But Nycea, alas! has escaped, and I fear she
will still survive, to build again her palace of demoniacal enchantments,
to commit again and again the unspeakable abomination of her sins.'
Still in a sort of stupor at the ruin of my new-found happiness, at
the singular revelations made by the abbot, I followed him obediently
as he led the way through the vaults of Faussesflammes. He mounted
the stairway by which I had descended, and as he neared the top and
was forced to stoop a little, the great flagstone swung upward, letting in
a stream of chill moonlight. We emerged; and I permitted him to take
me back to the monastery.
As my brain began to clear, and the confusion into which I had
been thrown resolved itself, a feeling of resentment grew apace Љ a
keen anger at the interference of Hilaire. Unheedful whether or not he
had rescued me from dire physical and spiritual perils, I lamented the
beautiful dream of which he had deprived me. The kisses of Nycea
burned softly in my memory, and I knew that whatever she was,
woman or demon or serpent, there was no one in all the world who
could ever arouse in me the same love and the same delight. I took
care, however, to conceal my feellings fron Hilaire, realizing that a
betrayal of such emotions would merely lead him to look upon me as a
soul that was lost beyond redemption.
On the morrow, pleading the urgency of my return home, I
departed from Perigon. Now, in the library of my father's house near
Moulins, I write this account of my adventures. The memory of Nycea
is magically clear, ineffably dear as if she were still beside me, and still I
see the rich draperies of a midnight chamber illumined by lamps of
curiously carven gold, and still I hear the words of her farewell:
'Have no fear. You shall find me again if you are brave and patient.'
Soon I shall return, to visit again the ruins of the Chateau des
Faussesflammes, and redescend into the vaults below the triangular.Ў
flagstone. But, in spite of the nearness of Perigon to Faussesflammes, in
spite of my esteem for the abbot, my gratitude for his hospitality and
my admiration for his incomparable library, I shall not care to revisit
my friend Hilaire.
[1930]. _€
The Satyr
RAOUL, COMTE DE LA FRENAIE, was by nature the most unsuspicious