He sat down by her side, took one of her hands in his own, and essayed to speak; but his voice refused its office.
Then with that wonderful strength which comes even to the weakest woman in the direst distress, she controlled her own agitation, and wishing to save him the pain of announcing the fatal intelligence, she quietly said:
“I am to die.”
He pressed her hand in mute despair, and not another word was spoken between them. They sat with clasped hands side by side, until the hour of closing the prison separated them. Then, in taking leave, Malcolm, with a broken voice, faltered forth:
“I will see you again, to-morrow.”
She answered:
“Come.”
And so they parted.
That evening it was known throughout the town that the petition for a respite or commutation of Eudora Leaton’s sentence had been rejected; that all hope of saving her life was abandoned, and that the execution appointed for Wednesday morning would certainly proceed.