"I have steeled my nerves to it--I shall not shrink, and I am hopeful." "Miss Wesden is here." "You fetched her hither, Maurice tells me," he answered. "You are not a jealous woman, Mattie." "Have I a right to be jealous yet, before my mind is made up?" she answered, lightly. "The month draws on apace--I am looking forward to the future." "Time," said Doctor Bario, and Mattie withdrew, after a silent pressure of hands, given and returned. Mattie went towards the doctor instead of the door. "These interviews must tend to excite him--his pulse is less regular than it was, sir." "I am sorry for it," said Bario, coolly, "but he will have his way--he is one man impetuous in that. He thinks it is better, in _case of anything_!" Mattie backed from him in horror; did Sid fear the result of the experiment himself now? Harriet was waiting anxiously for her return. "Be careful," whispered Mattie, as she passed in, and Mattie followed her with her wistful eyes. They were a long while together, she thought; longer than was necessary, or Doctor Bario should have allowed. What had Harriet Wesden to say to him?--what would she say in moments like those? The curtain was drawn back, and Harriet, with flushed cheeks, and tearful eyes, came rapidly towards Mattie. "What have you said to him?" asked Mattie, almost fiercely. "What I would have said to him had he been dying--as he will die!--oh! as he will die, I am sure of it." "I pray God not," ejaculated Mattie. "I asked him if he had forgiven me--if he would believe that when he gave me up I loved him with my whole heart, and looked for no happiness without him." "You told him that!--you dared to tell him that at such a time!" "I could not have told him at any other, and he was about to be sacrificed by his own will and these mad relations, who have persuaded him to this! He will die, I am sure of it." "Don't say it again--I must hope, Harriet, and you drive me mad by this excitability. What have you done?" "Strengthened his courage--been rewarded by the 'God bless you, Harriet!' which escaped him." "Did he say no more?" "Nothing but 'Too late!' In his heart he must feel that he will _die_, or he would not have said that. Oh! those awful words, which will ring in our ears and be our torment when this is over. Mattie, I must stop it!"