She spoke helplessly, wildly.
"There is nothing to be done. There is no one else. She will be all alone."
Then he comprehended her meaning fully.
"No," he said, "I am not so poor as that. I am not a poorer man than my father was, and I can do what he would have done had he lived. My mother will care for the girl, if that is what you wish."
"What I wish!" she echoed. "I wish for nothing—but I must do something for her—before—before—before——"
She broke off, but began again.
"You are like your father. You make things seem simple. You speak as if you were undertaking nothing."
"It is not much to do," he answered, "and we could not do less. I will go to my mother and tell her that she is needed here. She will come to you."
She turned her eyes on him in terror.
"You think," she whispered, "that I shall die soon—soon!"
He did not answer her. He could not. She wrung her hands and dashed them open upon the bed, panting.
"Oh," she cried, "my God! It is over! I have come to the end of it—the end! To have only one life—and to have done with it—and lie here! To have lived—and loved—and triumphed, and to know it is over! One may defy all the rest, the whole world, but not this. It is done!"
Then she turned to him again, desperately.
"Go to your mother," she said. "Tell her to come. I want some one in the room with me. I wont be left alone with her. I cannot bear it."
On going out he found the girl sitting at the head of
