They moved, these two, across the floor, their blanched faces straining ahead. With the sudden sting of heat finally across her palm, reddening it, Miss Worte flung wide her arms and her head backward, and her voice tore out without restraint. "God! God! God!" And she fell to trembling so that her knees gave way under her and she crouched on the floor with her face bared to the ceiling, rocking herself back and forth, beating her fists against her flat breasts. "God! God! God!" "Dee Dee!--Dee Dee! my darling! my darling!" "O God! O God! O God!" "Dee Dee darling, it ain't nothing! A little too much strain, that's all. 'Shh-h-h! Lemme bathe them. 'Shh-h-h, my darling. Oh, my God! darling! 'Shh-h-h!" "Lemme go! Lemme go! He told me to-day it would come like this! Only he didn't say how soon. Not how soon. I'm done for, I tell you! I'm done! Kill me, Sadie; if you love me, kill me! He told me and I wouldn't believe it! Kill me, girl, and put me out of it! I can't breathe in the dark! I can't! I can't! I can't live in the dark with my eyes open! Kill me, girl, and put me out of it--kill me! Kill me!" "Dee Dee, my darling, ain't I right here with you? Didn't you always say, darling, when it came you--you'd face it?" Like St. Cecilia, who could not die, she crouched, and the curve of her back rose and fell. "O God! Oh--" "Dee Dee darling, try not to holler out so! Maybe it ain't for--for good. Aw, darling, keep your head down here next to me! Feel how close I am, Dee Dee, right here next to you. 'Shh-h-h! O God! Dee Dee darling, you'll kill yourself going on like that! Don't pull at your hair, darling--don't! Oh, my God, don't!" "I'm done! Kill me! Kill me! Don't make me live in the dark with my eyes open--don't! There's a good girl, Sadie. Don't! Don't! Don't!" From the room adjoining came a rattling at the barred door between. "Cut it, in there! This ain't no barroom. Go tell your D. T.'s to a policeman." They crouched closer and trembling. "'Shh-h-h! Dee Dee, darling, try to be easy and not raise the house--try!" Miss Worte lay back exhausted against Miss Barnet's engulfing arms. Her passion ebbed suddenly and her words came scant, incoherent, and full of breath. "No use. No use. He told me to-day he wouldn't operate. He told me. No, no, all the colors so pale--even the reds--so pale! Lavender and blue I--I just couldn't tell. I couldn't. So pale. Two yards she brought back next day, kicking at--Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" '"Shh-h-h, darling! Don't take on so! Wait till morning and we'll get new drops from him. 'Shh-h-h! Maybe it's only strain." "I know. I'm in the dark for good, Sadie. Oh, my God! I'm in the dark!" Except that her face was withered, she was like Iphigenia praying for death. "Lemme die! Lemme die!" "'Shh-h-h--darling--That's it, rest quiet." Suddenly Miss Worte flung up one arm about Sadie Barnet's neck, pressing her head downward until their faces touched. "Dee Dee darling, you--you hurt."