"Worse," he answered.
He looked into her eyes with evident contrition, and said, "I wonder if it would be fair to ask you to forgive me? Would it?"
She did not answer, and he stretched himself and sighed. His breathing became laboured and stertorous, his skin hot, and his eyes dilated.
"How do you feel now?" asked Roma.
"I'm going," he replied, and he smiled again.
The human soul was gleaming out of the wretched man at the last, and he was looking at her now with pleading eyes which plainly could not see.
"Are you there, Roma?"
"Yes."
"Promise that you will not leave me."
"I will not leave you now," she answered in a low voice.