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She had begun by submitting
meekly, for she longed to live, and had ended, for she was a shrewd woman,
by throwing the stuff at the apothecaries' heads. Now she ordained her own
diet, which was of lamb's flesh lightly boiled, and woman's milk, got from
a wench in the purlieus of St. Sauveur. The one medicine which she retained
was powdered elk's horn, which had been taken from the beast between two
festivals of the Virgin. This she had from the foresters in the Houthulst
woods, and swallowed it in white wine an hour after every dawn.
The bed was a noble thing of ebony, brought by the Rhine road from Venice,
and carved with fantastic hunting scenes by Hainault craftsmen. Its
hangings were stiff brocaded silver, and above the pillows a great
unicorn's horn, to protect against poisoning, stood out like the beak of a
ship. The horn cast an odd shadow athwart the bed, so that a big claw
seemed to lie on the coverlet curving towards the throat of her who lay
there. The parish priest had noticed this at his first coming that evening,
and had muttered fearful prayers.


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