She rose obediently, shivering a little, and drawing the white scarf more closely about her neck.
"Good-night," she said, standing there with wide eyes.
He put out his hand, and her clasp ran through his blood again.
"Good-night," he repeated gently. "Sleep well."
Was it real? Was he awake? He looked after her as she turned away—looked long after she had disappeared. The fiddle in the steerage was still scraping "Robin Adair"; the black stretch of deck was desolate. A violent impulse seized him to overtake her, to snatch her back, to hold her in his arms for once, with words and caresses of consolation. "Dying"! He wondered if Davos, Algiers, the Cape, anything and everything procurable by money, could prolong her life. Then he remembered that she did not wish to live. But that was horrible! She should consult a specialist in town, and follow his advice; he would make her promise it. With the gradual defervescence of his mood, he wondered if she was properly provided for, and he resolved to question Mrs. Baines on the point. He would elicit the information the following day, and something could be arranged, if necessary—if not with Mamie's knowledge, then without it.
The morning was bright, and Mamie was in her chair when he came up from the saloon after breakfast. As he approached, she watched him expectantly, and it was impossible to pass without a greeting. It was impossible, when the greeting had been exchanged, not to remain with her for a few minutes.
"How are you feeling?" he asked; "any better?"
"I never feel very bad; I'm just the same to-day as yesterday, thank you." The "thank you" was something more than a formula, and he felt it. It hurt him to hear the gratitude in her tone, natural as it might be.
"I want you to go to a good physician when you arrive," he said, "say, to Drummond; and to do just as he tells you. You must do that; it is a duty you owe to yourself."
She shrugged her shoulders. "What for? That I may last two years, perhaps, instead of one? It is kind of you to care, but I'm quite satisfied as things are. Don't bother about me."