Then Julia knelt down by his side, and clasped his cold hand in her own, and listened with her whole soul in her ears, watering his face with her tears.
"That poor thing," he said, turning his eyes toward the motionless form of Marguerita, "you will be kind to her—you will care for her—you will love her?"
"As my own sister," faltered Julia through her sobs, "as my own sister."
"Then I die happy. Gordon," he added, raising his head a little for the last time, "this agony is well nigh over. She has promised to be a sister to poor Marguerita; will you do likewise?"
"She shall be my sister."
"God's blessing on you now friends. I am going, fare-you-well. Weep not for me, for I have lived happily, and I hope not altogether uselessly, and I die happily, for I die with my duty done, in the arms of those I love the most dearly, and in the faith of a Christian."
Then he closed his eyes, quite exhausted with his efforts, and lay for a long time speechless so that they believed him dead.
But he opened them again after a while, and said, very faintly:
"Brown Emperor; good horse. You will be good to him, Gordon?"