“I will promise anything you wish.”
“If I am not dead before morning, swear to me that you will bring Annette to me, just once, only once! I cannot bear to die without seeing her again. . . . Think that . . . to-morrow . . . at this time perhaps I shall have . . . shall surely have closed my eyes forever and that I never shall see you again. I . . . nor you . . . nor her!”
She stopped him; her heart was breaking.
“Oh, hush . . . hush! Yes, I promise you to bring her!”
“You swear it?”
“I swear it, my friend. But hush, do not talk any more. You hurt me frightfully—hush!”
A quick convulsion passed over his face; when it had passed he said:
“Since we have only a few minutes more to remain together, do not let us lose them; let us seize them to bid each other good-by. I have loved you so much——”
“And I,” she sighed, “how I still love you!”
He spoke again: