Chapter XV
ARTHUR wished to set about the invocations then and there, but Dr. Porhoët said it was impossible. They were all exhausted after the long journey, and it was necessary to get certain things together without which nothing could be done. In his heart he thought that a night’s rest would bring Arthur to a more reasonable mind. When the light of day shone upon the earth he would be ashamed of the desire which ran counter to all his prepossessions. But Arthur remembered that on the next day it would be exactly a week since Margaret’s death, and it seemed to him that then their spells might have a greater efficacy.
When they came down in the morning and greeted one another, it was plain that none of them had slept.
“Are you still of the same purpose as last night?” asked Dr. Porhoët gravely.
“I am.”
The doctor hesitated nervously.
“It will be necessary, if you wish to follow out the rules of the old necromancers, to fast through the whole day.”
“I am ready to do anything.”
“It will be no hardship to me,” said Susie, with
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