"Time enough. Leave it now. I'm all right. I've had a good life--better than you might think for. I wish for my sake, and knowing that I've got my end in sight, you'd do the last thing you can for me and countenance this wedding. Perhaps I've no right to ask; but if you knew--if you knew how hard life can be when the flesh gives way and there's such a lot left to do and think about. If you only knew----" "You say 'the last thing I can do for you.' Are you sure of that?" A strange and yearning expression crossed the face of the younger man. He stroked his beard nervously and Humphrey, now awake to physical accidents, marked that his hands were grown very thin and his skin had taken on it a yellowish tinge of colour. There was silence between them for some moments. Then Nathan shook his head and forced a smile upon his face. "Nothing else--nothing at all. But it's no small thing that I ask. I know that. You've a right to feel little affection for either of them--Ned or Cora. But my case is different. Cora's mother----" Again he stopped, but Humphrey did not speak. "Cora's mother has been a good friend to me in many ways. She is a clever woman and can keep her own counsel. There's more of Priscilla Lintern in Cora than you might think. You'll never know how terribly Cora felt Mark's death; but she did. Only she hid it close. As to Ned----" He began to cough and suffered evident pain in the process. When the cough ceased it was some time before he could speak. Then, to Humphrey's discomfort, his brother began to weep. "There--there," he said, as one talks to a child. "What I can do, I'll do. God knows this is a harsh shock to me. I didn't dream of such a thing overtaking you. How old are you?" "In my sixty-third year." "Hope despite 'em. They don't know everything. Pray to the Almighty about it. You're weak. You ought to drink, if you can't eat. I'll come to the wedding and I'll give the woman a gift--for your sake and her mother's--not for her own." Nathan, now unnerved, could not reply. But he took his brother's hand and held it. "God bless you for this," he whispered. "If you could but understand me better and believe that with all my black faults I've meant well, I should die easier, Humphrey." "Don't talk about dying. You're a bit low. I haven't forgotten when Mark went. Now 'tis my turn. Why don't you trust me?" "You never trusted me, Humphrey." The other darted a glance and Nathan's eyes fell. "Never--and you were right not to," he added. Humphrey rose. "I'm your brother and your friend. I can't be different to what I am. I don't respect you--never did. But--well--a silly word most times, but I'll use it--I love you well enough. Why shouldn't I? You're my brother--all I've got left. I'm cut up about this. I wish I could lighten your load, and I'm willing to do it if 'tis in my power." "You have. If you come to that wedding I shall die a happy man."