her up. As he placed her
in a chair, the dreadful cry was renewed. He only waited to rouse and
encourage her by a word and a look--and ran into the bedroom.

For an instant, and an instant only, he stood horror-struck in the
presence of the poisoned woman.

The fell action of the strychnine wrung every muscle in her with the
torture of convulsion. Her hands were fast clenched; her head was bent
back: her body, rigid as a bar of iron, was arched upwards from the bed,
resting on the two extremities of the head and the heels: the staring
eyes, the dusky face, the twisted lips, the clenched teeth, were
frightful to see. He faced it. After the one instant of hesitation, he
faced it.

Before she could cry out again, his hands were on her. The whole
exertion of his strength was barely enough to keep the frenzied throbs
of the convulsion, as it reached its climax, from throwing her off the
bed. Through the worst of it, he was still equal to the trust that
had been placed in him, still faithful to the work of mercy. Little
by little, he felt the lessening resistance of the rigid body, as the
paroxysm began to subside. He saw the ghastly stare die out of her eyes,
and the twisted lips relax from their dreadful grin. The tortured body
sank, and rested; the perspiration broke out on her face; her languid
hands fell gently over on the bed. For a while, the heavy eyelids
closed--then opened again feebly. She looked at him. "Do you know
me?" he asked, bending over her. And she answered in a faint whisper,
"Amelius!"

He knelt down by her, and kissed her hand. "Can you listen, if I tell
you something?"

She breathed heavily; her bosom heaved under the suffocating oppression
that weighed upon it. As he took her in his arms to raise her in the
bed, Sally's voice reached him, in low imploring tones, from the next
room. "Oh, let me come to you! I'm so frightened here by myself."

He waited, before he told her to come in, looking for a moment at the
face that was resting on his breast. A gray shadow was stealing over it;
a cold and clammy moisture struck a chill through him as he put his hand
on her forehead. He turned towards the next room. The girl had ventured
as far as the door; he beckoned to her. She came in timidly, and stood
by him, and looked at her mother. Amelius signed to her to take his
place. "Put your arms round her," he whispered. "Oh, Sally, tell her who
you are in a kiss!" The girl's tears fell fast as she pressed h