“Come!”
At the bedroom door they parted. With a light instinctive push Barbara forced Letty to go back to the spot on which she had stood earlier. She herself went to the other side of the bed, only to find that the head, in which the eyes were closed again, was now turned that way.
As if aware that some mysterious decision was approaching Miss Moines kept herself in the background. Steptoe had hardly advanced from the threshold. Neither of the women by the bedside seemed to breathe.
When the eyes opened for the third time the intelligence in them was keener. On Barbara they rested long, quietly, kindly, till memory came back.
With memory there was again that restless stirring, that complaining moan. Once more, slowly, distressfully, the head turned on the pillow.
On Letty the long, quiet, kindly regard lay as it had lain on Barbara. They waited; but in the look there was no more than that.
From two hearts two silent prayers were going up.
“Oh, God, end it somehow—and let me have peace!”
“Oh, God, make him live again—and give them to each other!”