Our Beloved Tyrants Scene 32

The only hard evidence of life, in fact, were the tears it had begun to shed upon beholding itself. The lady suffered this to continue for a few seconds – long enough for him to fully appreciate his horrible state of atrophy and degradation – then ordered the attendants with the mirror to move away, while another pair took their place. These two carried an object of similar size and shape, but of a quite different character: a frame of delicately-carved wood, containing the portrait of a lady (to all appearances), wearing a white dress and a melancholy though not unattractive expression, seated with her hands folded upon her lap. Though the work was exquisitely executed and very true to life, its resemblance to the former knight of Vlad Dracula’s court was not much more marked than that of the corpse-like being, who gazed upon the portrait with mixed, though chiefly negative emotions.