"When Miss Gollop comes back," she said. "There's an hour yet. The Lord knows what an hour is to me, watching. What must it be to him?"
"Why, it may be a lifetime to him—a whole lifetime of torment yet before he's gone," admitted Humphrey.
"I pray to God day and night to take him. If I could only bear it for him!"
Mr. Baskerville knelt beside his brother, spoke loudly, squeezed the sufferer's hand and tried to rouse him.
"My physic, Eliza, for your humanity, Eliza—the clock's struck—I heard it—I swear—oh, my merciful Maker, why can't I have it?"
He writhed in slow suffocation.
"I'll give him his medicine," said Humphrey. "This shan't go on."
"She'll make trouble if you do."
"I hope not, and it's no great matter if she does."
He crossed the room, examined the bottle, took it to the light and poured out rather more than a double dose. He crossed the room with it, heaved a long breath, steadied himself and then put his arm round his brother and lifted him.