Startled, the panther leaps out the window and disappears. The blast lights up the room and startles the intruder, a panther dragging the dead body by the throat toward the window. Instantly, he grabs for his rifle and fires it without aiming. He hears a scuffle he reaches across the table for his wife, but her corpse is gone. Something heavy falls violently onto the floor. The table shakes, and he hears footfalls. He sleeps.ĭuring the night, something wakes him in the room. He wonders if it’s a wild animal, or that perhaps he’s merely dreaming it. Then he hears it again, this time nearer. Through the window, he hears an unearthly wail, like that of a child lost in the forest. Without tears and unaccustomed to tragedy, Murlock places her on a table, thinking his grief will pour forth when he puts her in the grave the next day.Įxhausted, he sits at the table where she lies and lays his head down to sleep. Doctors are far away, so he tries to help her, but she fades away and all signs of life depart. One day, he returns from hunting to find his wife in a delirium of fever. Murlock and his young bride head west and carve a homestead out of the forest. The story flashes back to Murlock’s youth. Few remember her, and only the narrator’s grandfather knew the cause of Murlock’s isolation. He’s buried next to his wife’s grave on the property. Murlock is found dead at his cabin, apparently of natural causes.
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