"
She broke into a short laugh that had a hard, metallic ring, and
then her face darkened, blackened, and she ground the foot that
crushed the rat fiercer, and with a sort of passionate
vindictiveness, as if she had the head of the dwarf under her
heel.
"I hate him! I hate him!" she said, through her clenched teeth and
though her tone was scarcely above a whisper, it was so terrible in
its fiery earnestness that Sir Norman thrilled with repulsion. "Yes,
I hate him with all my heart and soul, and I wish to heaven I had
him here, like this rat, to trample to death under my feet!"
Not knowing very well what reply to make to this strong and
heartfelt speech, which rather shocked his notions of female
propriety, Sir Norman stood silent, and looked reflectively after
the rat, which, when she permitted it at last to go free, limped
away with an ineffably sneaking and crest-fallen expression on
his hitherto animated features. She watched it, too, with a
gloomy eye, and when it crawled into the darkness and was gone,
she looked up with a face so dark and moody that it was almost
sullen.
"Yes, I hate him!" she repeated, with a fierce moodiness that was
quite dreadful, "yes, I hate him! and I would kill him, like
that rat, if I could! He has been the curse of my whole life; he
has made life cursed to me; and his heart's blood shall be shed
for it some day yet, I swear!"
With all her beauty there was something so horrible in the look
she wore, that Sir Norman involuntarily recoiled from her.
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