“Dear Boss, you know! You be telling her that, for me, living is far worse pain than dying. Tell her you know death is the best thing that could ever be happening to me!”
“Merciful Heaven!” burst in the Angel. “I can't endure this delay!”
She caught Freckles' hand to her breast, and bending over him, looked deeply into his stricken eyes.
“'Angel, I give you my word of honor that I will keep right on breathing.' That's what you are going to promise me,” she said. “Do you say it?”
Freckles hesitated.
“Freckles!” imploringly commanded the Angel, “YOU DO SAY IT!”
“Yis,” gasped Freckles.
The Angel sprang to her feet.
“Then that's all right,” she said, with a tinge of her old-time briskness. “You just keep breathing away like a steam engine, and I will do all the remainder.”
The eager men gathered around her.