“Who?”
“The mistress and old Gesafam, the aged woman, skilled in all maladies! Come swiftly, O Kromno!”
Allan started, dropped his lantern, and turned very white.
“You mean--”
“Yea, master! Come!”
He found Beatrice in bed, the bronze lamp shining on her face, pale as his own.
“Come, boy!” she whispered. “Let me kiss you just once before--before--”
He knelt, and on her brow his lips seemed to burn. She kissed him, then with a smile of happiness in all her pain said:
“Go, dearest! You must go now!”
And, as he lingered, old Gesafam, chattering shrilly, seized him by the arm and pushed him toward the doorway.