"There's no chance--you are quite sure there is no chance?"
"I am quite sure there is no chance. I have always known, if this happened, there could be no chance."
He muttered something under his breath.
"I do not hear you," she said. "You are reproaching me, I dare say, but it is not worth while. If you make no use of this, you will have time to reproach me as much as you like. If you do make use of it, reproach is past, with time and life. Have you decided?"
"No," he said; "give it to me. If I use it, it must be very soon--if not, never."
She laid the phial on the bench beside him, and he took it up, and placed it in his breast-pocket. She did not touch him, but when she had laid the phial down, stepped back, and leaned against the door.
"Is there anything you want to know--anything I can tell you?" she asked. "Again, my time is very short."
"No," he said; "if I make up my mind to go through this, I shall know all I want; if I don't, I need not know anything."
"Just so," she said, quietly. He looked on the ground, she looked at him.
"Harriet," he said, suddenly, "I am sorry, I--"