Not a moment too soon was their entrance, for Ralph's momentary strength had failed from the profuse loss of blood. He had struggled madly to hold his assailant, but her superior strength had overpowered him, and as he sunk back heavily upon the couch, she raised her bloody weapon for a second, surer blow.
But it never reached its mark, for Earl's strong arm caught and flung her fiercely aside as he knelt by his fallen brother.
[CHAPTER LX.]
"MY LOVE SHALL CALL HIM BACK FROM THE GRAVE!"
"Oh, my dear, how ill you look this morning. Surely you did not sleep well!" Helen Fox exclaimed, gazing in surprise and pain at Kathleen's pale cheeks and heavy, somber eyes.
It was the morning after her painful interview with Ralph. Kathleen had not closed her heavy eyes all night for thinking of her lost lover and his cruel, parting words. They had pierced her heart like a thorn, and some sweet, sad lines, strangely appropriate, rang in dizzy changes through her brain:
"It came with the merry May, love,
It bloomed with the summer prime;
In a dying year's decay, love,
It brightened the fading time.
I thought it would last for years, love,
But it went with the winter snow—
Only a year ago, love—
Only a year ago!
"'Twas a plant with a deeper root, love,
Than the blighting Eastern tree;
For it grew in my heart, and its fruit, love,
Was a bitter morsel to me.
The poison is yet in my brain, love,
The thorn in my heart, for you know,
'Twas only a year ago, love—
Only a year ago!"
"Yes," the girl thought, sadly, bitterly, "the root of that love went so deep in my heart that I can never pluck it out unless my life goes with it! Oh, God! that I could forget—that I could give all my heart to the one who holds the promise of my hand! Oh, Teddy, Teddy! you deserve more of me than this! You are so good, so noble, you believe in me so fully, little dreaming that the heart which should be yours is given to another!"