Pianist in the Dark Read Online Free PDF

bottle, then close it. She stood up, and suddenly her nostrils were invaded by a scent of musk. She sneezed. Her eyelids started to burn so badly that she could no longer breathe.
    By the time the pain had diminished, then disappeared, her eyes were open and calm. She started breathing normally again, but her heart was racing.
    “You have my eyes standing at attention!” she joked, not sounding very assured.
    Without answering, he led her to a couch. He had her lie down and wedged her head amid the cushions so she couldn’t move it.
    “Are you comfortable? Position yourself as if you were going to sleep.”
    Once again the scent of musk wafted up along her body. She felt nothing other than a warm, fragrant wave above her limbs, which relaxed one by one, as if each bone were autonomous. A feather seemed to be exploring her skeleton, lingering over every joint. She felt incredibly light. The wave grew warmer and warmer, then burning hot. She let out a cry, brought her hands to her ears, and lost consciousness.
    When she came to, she felt a weight on her eyelids and smelled the sweet fragrance of honey being spread on warm, buttered bread.
    She turned in the direction of the smell.
    “I’m preparing you something that tastes of childhood. You’ve earned it.”
    He reached out and stroked her cheek.
    “You’ll now be able to open your eyes.”
    He removed the compresses from her eyelids. They had been soaked in a thick oil.
    She grabbed onto his arm, sat up, and cautiously, as slowly as possible, ordered her brain to move her eyelashes and open the lids, which were painful and swollen. She screamed, as much out of surprise as out of fear.
    “Shadows ... I see shadows passing in front of my eyes. It’s no longer pitch-black. It’s black but with holes in it and the holes are less black, and they make shadows! But my head! It’s like it is being banged with a hammer and the banging stops only when I close my eyes.”
    “So keep them closed. I’ll blindfold you so you can keep them shut. The light is going to hurt you for a while.”
    “The light? I have light in my eyes?”
    A gentle smile that she could not discern appeared on Mesmer’s lips. Her candor and innocence provoked emotions in him that he wanted to keep hidden.
    “Magnetism has pierced through the night of your gaze. You will slowly be able to make out shapes. What you call shadows are in fact the contours of the objects in your midst. Can you see my arm moving?”
    She opened her eyes very slowly and perceived the shadow moving up and down. She grabbed onto it, like onto a life buoy.
    She recognized the scent of musk and pressed her face against it.
    “Are you really going to help me see again?”
    “If that is what you want, we will make it happen.”
    She hid her face in the hollow of his elbow.
    “I’m scared.”
    He took her face in his hands and brought it close to his own.
    “You are beautiful. You have nothing to fear.”
    He kissed her forehead, and she felt the quivering of his fingers against her temples. She was overwhelmed by the exquisite gentleness of his gestures.
    He let go of her face abruptly, grabbed a piece of bread and placed it between her teeth. Suddenly famished, she gulped it down.
    “Eat now and stop worrying. In your new life you will have to stop dissecting your every thought.”
    “Why? Does seeing stop you from thinking?”
    He let out a short, sad laugh.
    “Sight can sometimes skew our judgments. What you have in front of your eyes can blind you.”
    “In that case, what is the advantage of seeing?”
    He thought it over before answering.
    “Seeing is neither better nor worse. It is a way of discovering the reality of things and of people. You will develop your knowledge, learn to appreciate nature and to understand the human condition. Seeing can make you lucid.”
    “And happy?” she insisted.
    He did not answer. She heard him stand up and give a maid instructions for the night. She lay down and fell asleep