She took his hand and laid it slowly upon her bosom, to press it there, so that he could fool the heavy dull throb of her heart. For a moment even then he did not realise what she meant. Then, with a wild cry he leaped to his feet, for his hand was wet with the warm blood which welled from a terrible wound. "You are hurt?" he cried. "To the death, Humphrey. Oh, my love, my love! Take me in your arms once more and hold me to your heart. Tell me that you will remember me, and then lay me here, upon this old stone, with your kiss wet upon my lips. Death will be easy then!" "Death easy! I leave you! If you must die it shall be together!" he panted, as he once more enfolded her in his arms. "This is madness," she whispered, as she struggled feebly in his embrace. "Go, for pity's sake--go!" "My place is here!" he said in a low fierce voice, as he took up the sword she had let fall upon the pavement. "We shall not die alone. Whose cowardly hand inflicted that wound?" "You need not ask," she said feebly. "He missed before--the blow was true this time." "The fiend! The devil!" groaned Humphrey, as the sword quivered in his grasp. "Well, we shall want a slave to open the gates of death. His shall be the task!" She clung to him with failing strength, and drew herself up by him till she could once more rest upon his breast, with her arms tightly clasped about his neck. "You told me at last you loved me," she panted. "You said the words I have so hungered to hear--words I thought that I should have died and never heard pass your lips. Now that I know it, and that it is true, do not embitter my last moments by showing me that I have tried in vain." "I could not live without you now!" he cried passionately, as he held her to him more tightly still. "They are coming. It is too late for me. Let me die in peace, knowing that you are saved." He raised her in his arms and bore her to the great stone, and, as he laid her gently down, the noise of the coming gang could be heard. There was not a moment to lose, and any slip in his instructions would have resulted in destruction; but as he pressed against the stone it easily revolved, and he stooped once more and raised the fainting woman in his arms, to bear her down into the tomb-like structure and place her at the foot of the broad stone stairs which led into the vault. As he loosened her arms from about his neck and passed quickly up again, there were heavy steps in the long corridor, and lights flashed through the openings of the great curtain. So close were the men that Humphrey saw their faces as he stood on the upper step, and dragged at the slab by two great hollows underneath, made, apparently, by the olden masons for the mover's hands.