How slowly the hours passed in that room, where this poor woman was dying. Yes, dying; for although the doctor did all in his power to save her life, there was no hope that she would live through the night. She was still lying on the sofa, from which she was unable to be removed; and when she recovered consciousness, after the shock she had sustained, she opened her eyes to see Kaituna kneeling fondly by her side, and Maxwell, Belk, Ferrari, and the doctor, in the background. Belk had not been able to find the assassin, who was lost among the crowds that thronged the streets, so had returned in an agony of grief to see the woman he loved die before his eyes without being able to save her.
So strange the scene was in this little drawing-room, with the couch upon which rested the dying woman standing near the piano, the glitter of mirrors and ornaments in the dim candle-light, and the silent group standing round the one who was passing away. Outside the sunlight had died out of the sky, the purple twilight deepened to night, and the melancholy light of the moon streamed in through the windows, the blinds of which no one had troubled to pull down. In the passage crouched the servant, sobbing as if her heart would break; but Kaituna could not cry, she could only kneel there with tearless eyes, and a look of anguish on her white face watching her mother die.
"Kaituna," said Mrs. Belswin, faintly.
"I am here, dear mother!"
"You are not hurt?"
"No! No!"
"Thank God," said her mother, with a tone of joy in her weak voice. "I have paid the debt."
"With your life--with your life," moaned the girl, wringing her hands in despair. "Doctor, can you do nothing?"
"Nothing."
"I know I am dying," went on Mrs. Belswin in a stronger voice, having swallowed some restorative; "it is better so! Hush! hush! my poor child! God knows what is best. If I sinned against you in the past, He has permitted me to expiate that sin by saving you from death. Archie! take her, take my darling, and make her a good husband."