“Yes, my belovèd, I gladly will.”
“A few other things are in it—sacred to us; a miniature you had done of me the year before—you went. And lately—I have kept—in a sealed envelope-a thousand pounds in bank notes, in case of just such an emergency as this. Nigel—you will? To please me? It is all yours, really. You might wish to go abroad—travel——”
He hesitated. “Miriam, I have all I need.” Her eyes pleaded. “All right, my darling. The case and all that’s in it. Your gift to me.” He bent and kissed her fluttering fingers. “Don’t be troubled, dear Heart. Such a perfect thought of yours. I will do beautiful things with it; things you would have liked to plan. They will be my own wife’s gifts to me.”
She smiled and closed her eyes, content.
At sunset he knew their one day was over.
He gave her the draught the doctor had left for a last emergency, and momentarily she revived.
Her eyes left his face, to gaze across the sea.
“‘Sunset and evening star,’” she whispered, “‘And one clear call for me.’ Say it, Nigel.”
His great love made him brave.
He repeated the lines, and the deep, sweet music of his voice, as it reached her, held no tremor. Only, he looked away across the sea; not at the dying face.