CHAPTER XXVIII
THE VIGIL
Some time in the night when Lady O'Gara had nodded in the chair beside her husband's bed, she came awake sharply to the knowledge that he had called her name.
"Mary! Mary!"
She could not have dozed for long, since the fire which she had made up was burning brightly.
"Yes, Shawn, I am here," she answered.
"Move your chair so that I may see your face. I want to talk to you."
His voice was quite strong. There was something in the sound of it that spoke of recovering strength.
"I've been lying awake some little time," he said. "I didn't like to wake you, you poor sweet woman. I liked to hear your breathing so softly there close to me—as you have been all these years."
"You are better, Shawn, wonderfully better," she said, leaning down to see his face, for firelight and the shaded lamp did not much assist her short-sighted eyes.