“What I do want--what would make me well--what would make me happy--is that you will promise me, after this, to give up racing. I have never asked this of you before, because I have not fully realised the terrible hold it had on you. But I tell you, in sober seriousness, that, beyond what you will bring upon yourself and our children, if this continues, I shall not live two years. My body is still strong, but my heart and my soul are both sick--sick--and I know that I could die of grief, and chagrin, and shame, and disappointment as readily as if I had been poisoned. I have struggled ever since you began this thing years ago, but lately I have yielded to despair. Now you can kill me or you can save my life.” Blair walked about the room with an agonised look on his fine, sunburned, expressive face. He believed every word that Elizabeth uttered. Presently he came up to her and cried: “Elizabeth, will you promise to live and be happy if I promise you never to start another horse in a race after this one--never to back another horse?” “Yes, I will give you my promise if you will give me yours.” “And,” continued Blair, with a smile that had more pain than mirth in it, “will you promise me to smile again, and to look as cheerful as you used to look when we were first married, and to get back that pretty colour that you once had in your cheeks? for I can’t stand such a woe-begone-looking wife another day.” “I will promise you to be so young, so beautiful, so gay, that you will be amazed at me. I will not only smile, but laugh. I will never be jealous any more.” “My dear, don’t say that,” said Blair, really smiling then; “you can’t any more help going into tantrums every time I look at a pretty girl than you can help breathing, and, besides, it diverts me very much.” “Very well, then; only promise. You know you have never broken your word to me, and your word is all I want.” “Then,” said Blair, after a pause, “I promise.” He was still smiling, but there were drops upon his forehead. He was not unprepared for this, but it was a crisis with him. Elizabeth overwhelmed him with sweet endearments. Blair said truly, that it was the beginning of their second honeymoon.