and as he turned back to Regan, there was grim resolve.
Merrin knelt by the bed. 'Our Father...' he began.
Regan splattered him with dark and stinking bile, and then croaked, 'You will lose! She will die! She will die!'
Karras picked up his copy of the Ritual. Opened it. Looked up and stared at Regan.
' 'Save your servant,' ' prayed Merrin.
' 'In the face of the enemy.' '
In Karras' heart there was a desperate torment. Go to sleep! Go to sleep! roared his will in a frenzy.
But Regan did not sleep.
Not by dawn.
Not by noon.
Not by nightfall.
Not by Sunday, when the pulse rate was one hundred and forty, and ever threadier, while the fits continued unremittingly, while Karras and Merrin kept repeating the ritual, never sleeping, Karras feverishly groping for remedies: a restraining sheet to hold Regan's movements to a minimum; keeping everyone out of the bedroom for a time to see if lack of provocation might terminate the fits. It did not. And Regan's shouting was as draining as her movements. Yet the blood pressure held. But how much longer? Karras agonized. Ah, God, don't let her die! he cried repeatedly to himself. Don't let her die! Let her sleep! Let her sleep! Never was he conscious that his thoughts were prayers; only that the prayers were never answered.
At seven o'clock that Sunday evening, Karras sat mutely next to Merrin in the bedroom, exhausted and racked by the demonic attacks: his lack of faith; his incompetence; his flight from his mother in search of status. And Regan. His fault. 'You should not have given her the Librium...'
The priests had just finished a cycle of the ritual. They were resting, listening to Regan singing 'Panis Angelicus.' They rarely left the room, Karras once to change clothes and to shower. But in the cold it was easier to stay wakeful; in the stench that since morning had altered in character to the gorge-raising odor of decayed, rotted flesh.
Staring feverishly at Regan with red-veined eyes, Karras thought he heard a sound. Something creaked. Again: As he blinked. And then he realized it was coming from his own crusted eyelids. He turned toward Merrin. Through the hours, the exorcist had said very little: now and then a homely story of his boyhood; reminiscences; little things; a story about a duck he owned named Clancy. Karras worried about him. The lack of sleep. The demon's attacks. At his age. Merrin closed his eyes and let his chin rest on his chest. Karras glanced around at Regan, and then wearily stood up and moved over to the bed. He checked her pulse and then began to take a blood pressure reading. As he wrapped the black sphygmomanometer cloth around the arm, he blinked repeatedly to clear the blurring of his vision.
'Today Muddir Day, Dimmy.'
For a moment; he could not move; felt his heart wrenched from his chest. Then he looked into those eyes that seemed not Regan's anymore, but eyes sadly rebuking. His mother's.
'I not good to you? Why you leave me to die all alone, Dimmy? Why? Why you...'
'Damien!'
Merrin clutching tightly at his arm. 'Please go and rest for a little now, Damien.'
'Dimmy, please! Why you...'
Sharon came in to change the bedding.
'Go, rest for a little, Damien!' urged Merrin.
With a lump rising dry to his throat, Karras turned and left the bedroom. Stood weak in the hall. Then he walked down the stairs, and stood indecisively. Coffee? He craved it. But a shower even more, a change of clothing, a shave.
He left the house and crossed the street to the Jesuit residence hall. Entered. Groped to his room. And when he looked at his bed... Forget the shower. Sleep. Half an hour. As he reached for the telephone to tell Reception to awaken him, it rang.
'Yes, hello,' he answer hoarsely.
'Someone waiting here to see you, Father Karras: a Mr. Kinderman.'
For a moment, Karras held his breath and then, weakly, he answered, 'Please tell him I'll be out in just a minute.'
As he hung up the telephone, Karras saw the carton of Camels on his desk A note from Dyer was attached. He read blearily.
A key to the Playboy Club has been found on the chapel kneeler in front of the votive lights. Is it yours? You can claim it at Reception.
Without expression, Karras set down the note, dressed in fresh clothing and walked out of the room. He forgot to take the cigarettes.
In Reception, he saw Kinderman at the telephone switchboard counter, delicately rearranging the composition of a vase full of flowers. As he turned and saw Karras, he was holding the stem of a pink camellia.
'Ah, Father! Father Karras!' glowed Kinderman, his expression changing to concern at the exhaustion in the Jesuit's face. He quickly replaced the camellia and came forward to meet Karras. 'You look awful! What's the matter? That's what comes of all this schlepping around the track? Give it up! Listen, come!' He gripped Karras by the elbow and propelled him toward the street. 'You've got a minute?' he asked as they passed through the entry doors.
