“Oh! yes; and that does it, then? And what next?”
“She ought to receive Holy Communion, and anointing, if she is in danger of death.”
Oliver twitched suddenly.
“Christ!” he said softly.
“Oliver!” cried the girl entreatingly. “Please leave this to me. It is much better so.—And then, I suppose, Father Franklin, you want to give those other things to my mother, too?”
“They are not absolutely necessary,” said the priest, feeling, he did not know why, that he was somehow playing a losing game.
“Oh! they are not necessary? But you would like to?”
“I shall do so if possible. But I have done what is necessary.”
It required all his will to keep quiet. He was as a man who had armed himself in steel, only to find that his enemy was in the form of a subtle vapour. He simply had not an idea what to do next. He would have given anything for the man to have risen and flown at his throat, for this girl was too much for them both.
“Yes,” she said softly. “Well, it is hardly to be expected that my husband should give you leave to come here again. But I am very glad that you have done what you think necessary. No doubt it will be a satisfaction to you, Father Franklin, and to the poor old thing upstairs, too. While we—- we—” she pressed her husband’s knee—“we do not mind at all. Oh!—but there is one thing more.”