'The heat,' he muttered. 'I'm faint.'
Then there came a loud, hollow knock upon the outer door.
Lamont forgot his infirmity and sprang up excitedly. 'What is that?'
'I believe you are crazy, Hugh!' said his wife angrily. 'The paper, of course.'
'Don't go, Marie,' he pleaded. 'Stay here with me. I'm not feeling well. I don't want to be left alone.'
She stopped irresolutely at his side, and looked up at the nervous face. He was greatly excited, and trembling. With the woman's sympathy for suffering, she placed both hands on his shoulders, then said kindly, 'I'm just going for the paper. Then I will sit by you and read the latest news.'
With a soft hand she pushed back the hair from his forehead. It was moist with heat and his fear of the unknown.
'You really are unwell.'
He put his arms round her; then, yielding to a sudden impulse, he said, 'Kiss me, chérie.'
She did so, though with a perplexed smile, and with no conception of the idea that this was the last embrace which was to pass between them. As she released herself, the deep roar broke forth again from the southern night.