It was thus that he meant to bear her with him.
He mounted now the bench, and I could imagine with what elation of mind he put out his hands to remove the coffin-lid.

As well as if his soul had been transformed into a book conceived for my amusement did I surmise the exultant mood that then possessed him.

He had tricked Filippo; he had out-witted us all--Madonna herself, included--and he was leaving no trace behind him that should warrant any so much as to dare to think that this vile deed was the work of Messer Ramiro del' Orca, Governor of Cessna.
But Fate, that arch-humourist, that jester of the gods, delights in mighty contrasts, and has a trick of exalting us by false hopes and hollow lures on the very eve of working our discomfiture.

From the soul that but a moment back had been aglow with evil satisfaction there burst a sudden blasphemous cry of rage that disregarded utterly the sanctity of that consecrated place.
"By the Death of Christ! the coffin is empty!" It was the roar of a beast enraged, and it was succeeded by a heavy crash as he let fall the coffin-lid; a second later a still louder sound awoke the night-echoes of that silent place.

In a burst of maniacal frenzy he had caught the coffin itself a buffet of his mighty fist, and hurled it from its trestles.
Then he leapt down from the bench, and flung all caution to the winds in the excitement that possessed him.
"It is a trick of that smooth-faced knave Filippo," he cried.