th, blot out all else, and tell me you will go!"

The intense agony apparent in his voice seemed to break her down
utterly. The tears sprang blinding to her dry eyes, her head bent
forward.

"And," she asked, as if the thought had not yet reached her
understanding, "you will not go without--without me?"

"No; whatever the result, no."

She lifted her face, white, haggard, and looked at him through the mist
obscuring her eyes, no longer wide opened in wildness.

"Then I must go; I must go," she exclaimed, a shudder shaking her from
head to foot; "God help me, I must go!"

A moment she gazed blankly back toward the motionless body on the
ground, the ghastly countenance upturned to the stars, her own face as
white as the dead, one hand pressing back her dark hair. She reeled
from sudden faintness, yet, before he could touch her in support, she
had sunk upon her knees, with head bowed low, the long tresses trailing
upon the ground.

"Beth! Beth!" he cried in an agony of fear.

She looked up at him, her expression that of earnest pleading.

"Yes, yes, I will go," she said, the words trembling; "but--but let me
pray first."

He stood motionless above her, his heart throbbing, his own eyes
lowered upon the ground. He was conscious of the movement of her lips,
yet could never afterward recall even a broken sentence of that prayer.
Possibly it was too sacred even for his ears, only to be measured by
the infinite love of God. She ceased to speak at last, the low voice
sinking into an inarticulate whisper, yet she remained kneeling there
motionless, no sound audible excepting her repressed sobbing. Driven
by the requirements of haste, Winston touched her gently upon the
shoulder.

"Come, my girl," he said, the sight of her suffering almost more than
he could bear. "You have done all you can here now."

She arose to her feet slowly, never looking toward him, never appearing
to heed his presence. He noticed the swelling of her throat as though
the effort to breathe choked her, the quick spasmodic heaving of her
bosom, and set his teeth, struggling against the strain upon his own
nerves.

"You will go with me now?"

She glanced about at him, her eyes dull, unseeing.

"Oh, yes--now," she answered, as if the words were spoken
automatically. He led her away, ignoring the constant efforts she
made, as they climbed the bank, to gaze back across his shoulder.
Finally the intervening branches completely hid that