silent for some moments. Then he asks, in that
dying half-whisper, the only tone he ever will use: "You
think--I--will--die?"

"You cannot live," replies Clarence, gravely.

Again the wounded man shuts his eyes and thinks; then: "How long--will
I--last?" he questions.

"I can keep you alive twenty-four hours--not longer," says Clarence,
after a pause.

"Then--I must talk now."

Clarence goes to a table, and pours something into a tiny glass. This
he brings, and putting it to the lips of the patient, says: "Try and
swallow this. It is a stimulant. Then lie quiet for a few moments;
after that you may talk."

This is done, and for a time there is silence in the room. Then the
wounded man whispers, with an appearance of more strength: "Tell
_her_--to come here."

Mrs. Ralston moves forward, and he looks at her long and attentively.
Then, with a turn of his olden coolness: "You grew tired of me," he
said.

"Yes," she replies, in a low, sad voice, "I grew tired of you; very
tired. But don't talk of those days now. You are too near the end;
think of that!"

"I do," he said, slowly. "But I can't alter the past--and--I don't
know--about the future. I want--to see a--notary."

"Don't you want to see a clergyman?"

"What for? If I am dying--it's of no use to play--hypocrite. I don't
believe in--your clergyman. I admit that--I wronged--you," he
continues, gazing at Mrs. Ralston, "and I deceived Miss Keith. If you
two--can forgive me--I will take my chances--for the rest."

Mrs. Ralston bends above him with a face full of pity, but in which
there is no love. "I forgive you, Edward; and so will Claire, fully.
But you did her very little harm. She was not long deceived. Do you
want to see her?"

"Yes; and--don't let Alice--Cora, you call her--come near me."

Truly, this dying sinner is not a meek one, not a very repentant one.

When they ask him if he will see Miss Arthur, his reply is
characteristic. "Does she want--to see--me?"

No; she has not asked to see him, they say. But of course she would be
glad to come to him.

"Let her alone," he says, "she don't want to see me. If she did, it
would be to scratch out--my eyes--because she is--cheated out
of--being married. She isn't hurt. She is too big a fool."

When Claire comes to his bedside, accompanied by Madeline, he says:
"Miss Claire--I loved you better than any woman I ever knew--truly.
If--you had been Mr. Keith's heiress--I would never have come to
Oak