Then this was to be the end?
A momentary flood of relief came over him. His blood seemed warm again.
But the sensation died rapidly away, the physical and mental glow alike.
He remembered those cases, frequent enough, when the whole body loses the power of movement, but the brain survives, active, alive, helpless.
And all the sweat which the physical glow had induced turned to little icicles all over his body, even as the thought froze in his brain.
An hour went by.
Alone in the dark.
His tongue was parched and dry. A sudden wonder came to him—could he speak still?
Without realising what word he used as a test he spoke.
"Kate."