"What power?" I asked, bewildered.
"The power to fly; the power to leave one who will very soon leave you. Ah, Mrs. Hepburne, I have come to say startling things; I know not how you will bear to hear them!"
"Speak on," I said, hoarsely. "Has Ronald sent you? There is some dreadful news to be told. Is my husband ill? For heaven's sake, tell me quickly what has happened!"
[CHAPTER XV.]
FLIGHT.
"DO not distress yourself about Ronald," said William Greystock, gently laying a hand on my arm and putting me back into my seat. "I have seen him to-day, and he is well enough. It is not the state of his health that need concern you now."
I sat down again, panting for breath. What was coming next? I began to wonder vaguely how much I could bear, and yet continue to live on?
"I am doing you a cruel kindness, Mrs. Hepburne," went on Greystock, still with that burning light in his eyes; "but you must know all; at any cost the veil must be torn from your sight. Did not yesterday's experience prepare you in some degree for what was coming?"
That hand of ice was now tightening its grasp on my heart so that I could scarcely breathe. My lips moved; but no sound came from them.