"Doctor," said Benedict, pressing the hand which he had retained in his, "how, if we asked from science the miracle that Heaven seems to deny? How if we were to try transfusion of blood?" "What is that?" asked Helen. The doctor considered for a second and looked at the patient: then he said: "There is no hope; we risk nothing." "I asked you," said Helen, "what is transfusion of blood?" "It consists," replied the doctor, "in passing into the exhausted veins of a sick man enough warm, living blood to give him back, if only for a moment, life, speech, and consciousness. I have never performed the operation, but have seen it once or twice in hospitals." "So have I," said Benedict, "I have always been interested in strange things, so I attended Majendie's lectures, and I have always seen the experiment succeed when the blood infused belonged to an animal of the same species." "Well," said the doctor, "I will go and try to find a man willing to sell us some twenty or thirty ounces of his blood." "Doctor," said Benedict, throwing off his coat, "I do not sell my blood to my friends, but I give it. Your man is here." At these words Helen uttered a cry, flung herself violently between Benedict and the doctor, and proudly holding out her bare arm to the surgeon, said to Benedict: "You have done enough for him already. If human blood is to pass from another into the veins of my beloved Karl it shall be mine; it is my right." Benedict fell on his knees before her and kissed the hem of her skirt. The less impressionable doctor merely said: "Very well! We will try. Give the patient a spoonful of some cordial. I will go home and get the instruments." CHAPTER XXXV THE MARRIAGE _IN EXTREMIS_ The doctor rushed from the room as rapidly as his professional dignity would allow. During his absence Helen slipped a spoonful of a cordial between Karl's lips while Benedict rang the bell. Hans appeared. "Go and fetch a priest," said Helen. "Is it for extreme unction?" Hans ventured to ask. "For a marriage," answered Helen. Five minutes later the doctor returned with his apparatus, and asked Benedict to ring for a servant. A maid came. "Some warm water in a deep vessel," said the doctor, "and a thermometer if there is one in the house." She came back with the required articles. The doctor took a bandage from his pocket and rolled it round the wounded man's left arm, the right arm being injured. After a few moments the vein swelled, proving thereby that the blood was not all exhausted, and that circulation still continued, although feebly. The doctor then turned to Helen. "Are you ready?" he enquired. "Yes," said Helen, "but make haste. Oh, God, if he should die!"