‘Ah, my beloved! and I not there to help you.’
‘You were doing your duty, Robert; and it will soon be over now—all will be over soon—all pain—all—’
‘Not mine,’ I murmured in an agony. ‘Lionne, tell me—but once before we part—say that you love me!’
‘My legacy,’ she whispered, with a faint smile. ‘Yes, Robert; with all my heart—as my life, better than my life.’
‘O God, spare her!’ I cried aloud.
‘O God, take me!’ she said herself; ‘take me from misery and disappointment to where there are no tears.’
‘And how am I to live without you?’ I exclaimed.
Her dark eyes met mine reproachfully.
‘Janie—your child,’ she gasped. ‘I—I could have been—nothing.’