onotony about them, as if
they had been often repeated. The speaker turned his head from side to
side upon the pillow uneasily, as if conscious of restraint, then spoke
again in the tone of one newly awakened. "Why doesn't that fellow come?"
he demanded restlessly. "Did you tell him I couldn't wait?"

"He is coming," a quiet voice answered at his side. "He will soon be
here."

He moved his head again at the words, seeming to listen intently.

"Ah, Naomi, my girl," he said, "you've turned up trumps at last. It
won't have been such a desperate sacrifice after all, eh, dear? It's
wonderful how things get squared. Is that the doctor there? I can't see
very well."

The doctor bent over him.

"Are you wanting anything?"

"Nothing--nothing, except that fellow Carey. Why in thunder doesn't he
come? No; there's nothing you can do. I'm pegging out. My time is up.
You can't put back the clock. I wouldn't let you if you could--not as
things are. I have been a blackguard in my time, but I'll take my last
hedge straight. I'll die like a man."

Again he turned his head, seeming to listen.

"I thought I heard something. Did someone open the door? It's getting
very dark."

Yes; the door had opened, but only the dying brain had caught the sound.
As Carey came noiselessly forward only the dying man greeted him.

"Ah, here you are! Come quite close to me! I want to see you, if I can.
You're the little newspaper chap who saved my life at Magersfontein?"

"Yes," Carey said.

He sat down by Coningsby's side, facing the light.

"I was told you wanted me," he said.

"Yes; I want you to give me a promise." Coningsby spoke rapidly, with
brows drawn together. "I suppose you know I'm a dead man?"

"I don't believe in death," Carey answered very quietly.

Coningsby's eyes burned with a strange light.

"Nor I," he said. "Nor I. I've been too near it before now to be afraid.
Also, I've lived too long and too hard to care overmuch for what is
left. But there's one thing I mean to do before I go. And you'll give me
your promise to see it through?"

He paused, breathing quick and short; then went on hurriedly, as a man
whose time is limited.

"You'll stick to it, I know, for you're a fellow that speaks the truth.
I nearly thrashed you for it, once. Remember? You said I wasn't fit for
the society of any good woman. And you were right--quite right. I never
have been. Yet you ended by sending me the best woman in the world. What
mad