“Oh, God!” she whispered, and turned icily cold.
This was the boon he brought her. This was the road of escape, escape from El-Suleym—the road of death! It was cruel, unspeakably horrible, with a bright world just opening out to her, with youth, beauty, and—— She could not think of her husband.
“God be merciful to him!” she murmured. “But he would prefer me dead to——”
“Quick! They are here!”
She placed her lips to the phial, and drank.
It seemed that fire ran through every vein in her body. Then came chill. It grew, creeping from her hands and her feet inward and upward to her heart.
“Good-bye ... dear....” she whispered, and sobbed once, dryly.
The ropes held her rigidly upright.