"Vera! Vera! Lady Thorold!" I called. "Come--ah! come quickly, he is
dying... _dying_!"
They rushed in from the corridor, where they had been awaiting me. In
an access of despair, Lady Thorold threw herself upon her knees beside
the bed, moaning aloud in a grief terrible to witness. My love stood
beside her, gazing down upon her father--dazed--motionless. Grief had
paralysed her senses.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suddenly, his thin, white lips moved, but no words were audible.
Quickly Vera bent over him. The shrunken lips moved again. He was
murmuring. For an instant, his filmy eyes showed a gleam of
intelligence once again.
"Dick--be good--to her--you--you will be good--_to her_!"
The voice was now, so faint, that I could barely catch his words. His
dull gaze rested upon my eyes. I stooped down. My hand was upon his.
Ah! How cold he was!
"Always," I said aloud, with an effort, a great lump rising in my
throat. "I promise that--I promise I will do all possible to make Vera
happy--always--_always_!"
By the expression, that for an instant came into his dull, filmy eyes, I
saw that he had heard and understood. Slowly the eyelids closed. He
was turning paler still. The light died from his face.
A few seconds later his countenance was ashen, and I knew that he had
breathed his last.
Speechless, motionless, I still stood there.
My hand was still upon his, as it lay upon the coverlet, slowly
stiffening. The only sound audible was the bitter wailing of his
widow--and of Vera. I made no attempt to comfort them. Better, I knew,
let the passion of their sorrow read! its flood-tide, and allow the fury
of their misery to exhaust itself. Words of sympathy, at such a time,
would only be a mockery.
Later, I would do all possible to help them to recover from the awful
blow which had so suddenly fallen upon them.