"John!" she cried, with such anguish that in one terrible instant all hope went from him.
His soul seemed to stand naked at the very gates of death, and the vision of his brutal ending came before his burning eyes. Words of protest trembled on his lips. This endured but for an imperceptible space of time, and then that larger pity which was not for himself but for Elizabeth, took him quickly to her side.
"John—" she cried again, and held out her arms.
"Do not speak—I know," he said.
Her head drooped on his shoulder, and her strength seemed to forsake her.
"I know, dear!" he repeated.
"We could do nothing!" she gasped.
"You have done everything that love and devotion could do!"
She looked up into his face.
"You are not afraid?" she whispered, clinging to him.