Out of the Past — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Out of the Past. 9 and pretty madame! Jesu! without help, without a hu- man being!” The face of the mother grew gradually more clearly defined, until it seemed to have absorbed all the light there was in the room. It was thrown back, deep in the pillow, with dark circles about its eyes, and its nostrils widely distended. Under the touch of the Sister’s hands the child began to cry and she laid it down, wrapped in narrow strips of linen torn from the sheet. She listened in vain on the woman’s breast for the faintest heart-beat, and placed a hand mirror before the still face, whispering a prayer the while; but when she turned the mirror to look, her prayer ceased abruptly. There was not the faintest trace of film on the polished surface of the glass. The high, strident crying of the child had ceased, and but for its short, rapid breathing the silence of the place would have been complete. Green lights and shadows filled the room, and the sultry air crept slowly in between the slats. With a tender, hesitating touch, the Sister smoothed the face, which as yet showed no sign of death save its whiteness and cold, and spread the delicate lace, crumpled and matted about the shoulders and throat, drawing the folds of fresh linen about the figure until it lay perfect and chaste in its still white lines. CONNICLOOOKS.: