'Burnett, will you say good-bye?' he gasped. 'I think it will not be long now, and I have said good-bye to Mollie. Oh! this pain, doctor—it has come back again. Can you do anything for me?'
But Dr. Abercrombie shook his head sorrowfully.
'Never mind, then; it must be borne. Burnett, God bless you for all you have done! You will be good to her, I know'—with a glance at his betrothed.
'I will,' returned Michael Burnett.
And then the two men grasped hands.
Cyril hardly spoke after this—his pain was too intense. But once Audrey saw his eyes rest on her ring. 'It is still there,' she heard him murmur. And another time he made signs that she should lay his head on her shoulder.
'I want to die so,' he whispered. And a little later he asked her to kiss him again.
He lay so quiet now that they thought he was going, and Michael knelt down by the bed and offered up the commendatory prayer. But once more the dark eyes opened: there was a strange, unearthly light in them.
'Inasmuch,' he said; 'Inasmuch——'
His head fell back a little heavily, and the soul of Cyril Blake was with its God.