She was unbinding her turban...
He watched, not breathing, a presentiment of something horrible stirring in his brain, inexplicably... The red folds loosened and — he knew then that he had not dreamed — again a scarlet lock swung down against her cheek... a hair, was it? A lock of hair?... thick as a thick worm it fell, plumply, against that smooth cheek... more scarlet than blood and thick as a crawling worm... and like a worm it crawled.


"Shambleau" (1933); later published in Shambleau, and Others (1953)


She was unbinding her turban... He watched, not breathing, a presentiment of something horrible stirring in his brain, inexplicably... The red folds...

She was unbinding her turban... He watched, not breathing, a presentiment of something horrible stirring in his brain, inexplicably... The red folds...

She was unbinding her turban... He watched, not breathing, a presentiment of something horrible stirring in his brain, inexplicably... The red folds...

She was unbinding her turban... He watched, not breathing, a presentiment of something horrible stirring in his brain, inexplicably... The red folds...