and delicacy. Force there was
none, and perhaps it was to the want of this that the faults--perhaps the
crime--which had made the man's life so miserable were to be attributed.
Perhaps the crime? Yes, it was not likely that an affliction, lifelong
and terrible, such as this he had endured, would come upon him unless
some misdeed had provoked the punishment. What misdeed we were soon to
know.

It sometimes--I think generally--happens that the presence of any one who
stands and watches beside a sleeping man will wake him, unless his
slumbers are unusually heavy. It was so now. While we looked at him,
the sleeper awoke very suddenly, and fixed his eyes upon us. He put out
his hand and took the doctor's in its feeble grasp. "Who is that?" he
asked next, pointing towards me.

"Do you wish him to go? The gentleman knows something of your
sufferings, and is powerfully interested in your case; but he will leave
us, if you wish it," the doctor said.

"No. Let him stay."

Seating myself out of sight, but where I could both see and hear what
passed, I waited for what should follow. Dr. Garden and John Masey stood
beside the bed. There was a moment's pause.

"I want a looking-glass," said Strange, without a word of preface.

We all started to hear him say those words. "I am dying," said Strange;
"will you not grant me my request?"

Doctor Garden whispered to old Masey; and the latter left the room. He
was not absent long, having gone no further than the next house. He held
an oval-framed mirror in his hand when he returned. A shudder passed
through the body of the sick man as he saw it.

"Put it down," he said, faintly--"anywhere--for the present."

No one of us spoke. I do not think, in that moment of suspense, that we
could, any of us, have spoken if we had tried.

The sick man tried to raise himself a little. "Prop me up," he said. "I
speak with difficulty--I have something to say."

They put pillows behind him, so as to raise his head and body.

"I have presently a use for it," he said, indicating the mirror. "I want
to see--" He stopped, and seemed to change his mind. He was sparing of
his words. "I want to tell you--all about it." Again he was silent.
Then he seemed to make a great effort and spoke once more, beginning very
abruptly.

"I loved my wife fondly. I loved her--her name was Lucy. She was
English; but, after we were married, we lived long abroad--in Italy. She
liked the coun