Part 37 (1/2)

A sickly smile came into his face, and seeesture Then, as if in that gesture he had expended his last grain of strength, he swayed suddenly as he stood

He made as if to reach a chair, but at the second step he stu he fell prone at her feet, his left hand upon his heart, his right outstretched straight fro upon the fatigue and sleeplessness that had been his of late, had deh he was

Upon the instant her anger vanished A great fear that he was dead descended upon her, and to heighten the horror of it cah her agency With a uish she went down upon her knees beside hi to hi him back to life and consciousness

Instinctively she unfastened his doublet at the neck, and sought to draw it away that she ht see the nature of his hurt and staunch the wound if possible, but her strength ebbed away from her, and she abandoned her task, unable to do more than murmur his name

”Crispin, Crispin, Crispin!”

She stooped and kissed the white, clammy forehead, then his lips, and as she did so a treh her, and he opened his eyes A moment they looked dull and lifeless, then they waxed questioning

A second ago these two had stood in anger with the width of the room betwixt them; now, in a flash, he found his head on her lap, her lips on his How came he there? What meant it?

”Crispin, Crispin,” she cried, ”thank God you did but swoon!”

Then the awakening of his soul ca of his body He lay there, oblivious of his wound, oblivious of his mission, oblivious of his son He lay with senses still half dormant and comprehension dulled, but with a soul alert he lay, and was supremely happy with a happiness such as he had never known in all his ill-starred life

In a feeble voice he asked:

”Why did you run away?”

”Let us forget it,” she answered softly

”Nay--tell ht--” she staht you did not really care, that you made a toy of me,” said she

”When they told ry at your neglect If you loved me, I told myself, you would not have used me so, and left rey eyes devour her blushi+ng face Then he closed the upon hiht ca flash A hundred things that had puzzled hirew of a sudden clear, and filled him with a joy unspeakable

He dared scarce believe that he ake, and Cynthia by hiht what she had said How blind he had been, how nescient of hihts travelled on to the source of the misapprehension he remembered his son, and the memory was like an icy hand upon his te there with eyes still closed he groaned Happiness ithin his grasp at last Love ain did he but ask it, and the love of as pure and sweet a creature as ever God sent to chasten atehted word, to make a mock of faith, to deride honour, and to seize this woman for his own She loved hie had come as suddenly upon him Coive him? What to him, in the face of this, was that paltry fellow, his son, who had spurned hiht it there, lying supine upon the ground, his head in her lap

Had he fought it out with closed eyes, perchance honour and his plighted word had won the day; but he opened them, and they lance of his grey eyes peering into the clear blue depths of hers; and in those depths his soul was drowned, his honour stifled

”Cynthia,” he cried, ”God pity ain

CHAPTER XXVI TO FRANCE

That cry, which she but half understood, was still ringing in her ears, when the door was of a sudden flung open, and across the threshold a very daintily arrayed young gentle close upon his heels

”I tell thee, lying dog,” he cried, ”I saw hiivemy losses Be off to your father, you Devil's natural”