For some time Macfarlane stood motionless, holding up the lamp. A nameless dread was swathed, like a wet sheet, about
the
body, and tightened the white skin upon the face of Fettes; a fear that was meaningless, a horror of what could not be, kept mounting to his brain. Another beat of the watch, and he had spoken. But his comrade forestalled him.
''That is not a
woman,'' said Macfarlane, in a hushed voice.
''It was a woman when we put her in,'' whispered Fettes.
''Hold that lamp,'' said the other. ''I must see her face.''
And as Fettes took the lamp his companion untied the fastenings of the sack and drew down the cover from the head. The light fell very clear upon the dark, well-moulded features and smooth-shaven cheeks of a too familiar countenance, often beheld in dreams of both of these young men. A wild yell rang up into the night; each leaped from his own side into the roadway: the lamp fell, broke, and was extinguished; and the horse, terrified by this unusual commotion, bounded and went off toward Edinburgh at a gallop, bearing along with it, sole occupant of the gig, the body of the dead and long-dissected Gray.