Instead of casting herself violently on her prey, and thinking
only, like her compeers, to destroy as soon as possible their life and
fortune, Cecily, fixing on her victims her magnetic glances, commenced by
attracting them, little by little, into the blazing whirlwind which seemed
to emanate from her; then, seeing them lost, suffering every torment of a
tantalized craving, she amused herself by a refinement of coquetry,
prolonging their delirium; then, returning to her first instincts, she
destroyed them in her homicidal embrace. This was more horrible still.
The famished tiger, who springs upon and carries off the prey which he
tears with wild roars, inspires less horror than the serpent, which
silently charms, attracts by degrees, twists in inextricable folds the
victim, feels it palpitate under its deadly stings, and seems to feed upon
its struggles with as much delight as upon its blood.
To the foregoing let there be joined an adroit, insinuating, quick mind--an
intelligence so marvelous, that in a year she spoke both French and German
with the most extreme facility--sometimes even with marked eloquence.
Imagine, in fine, a corruption worthy of the courtesan queens of ancient
Rome, and audacity and courage above all proof, propensities, diabolical
wickedness, and one would have a correct idea of the new _servant_ of
Jacques Ferrand--the determined creature who had dared to throw herself
into the den of the wolf.
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