The Hound of Florence (21 page)

At last the soft metallic chimes of the cathedral campanile echoed through the room. . . . Midnight!

At the first stroke Lucas started. The other church bells chimed in and he counted twelve strokes.

Nothing stirred within him. No metamorphosis tore him away.

A great outburst of joy flooded his being. “I am free! I am free!” he cried, laughing and sobbing at once. And when he could say no more his smiling lips continued to whisper. . . . “Free . . . free . . . free!”

“May I kiss you now?” asked Claudia.

He gazed into her face, which was close above his own. “Kiss me!” he begged. And as her lips met his, he seemed to gain fresh strength. “Ah . . .” he murmured, “how it all happened . . . I do not even know myself . . . nor can I explain it. . . . I was very poor . . . very poor. . . . I longed terribly for things, and was very unhappy . . . very. . . . Yes, I was a dog in my misery, and in my ­poverty . . . a dog. . . .” He stopped, overcome by weakness. “A dog . . .” he whispered presently, “Perhaps every poor man . . . a dog. . . .” Once more he opened his eyes and gazed at his beloved. “But now . . . I am free . . . free . . . free and happy.”

And he sank into a deep sleep.

Claudia turned to the mulatto, who had hastened to the room and stood gazing on the sleeping man shaking his head.

“Will he die?” she enquired anxiously.

Caligula gave a faint shrug of his shoulders. “Perhaps . . .” he said almost inaudibly.

“Will he live?” implored Claudia, gliding swiftly up to him.

The mulatto gazed over his shoulder into the distance and whispered, “Perhaps.”

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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Text copyright
©
1923 by Wien-Leipzig, Herz-Verlag ag.

English language translation copyright 1930 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., copyright renewed
©
1958 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Originally published in German in 1923 by Herz Verlag as
Der Hund von Florenz

Cover illustration and interior spot illustration copyright
©
2014 by Richard Cowdrey

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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Cover design by Karin Paprocki

Interior design by Hilary Zarycky

The text of this book was set in Yana.

Library of Congress Control Number 2013956891

ISBN 978-1-4424-8749-9 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-4424-8748-2 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4424-8750-5 (eBook)