William must be told before she might listen to the words
which she so longed to hear from Paul's lips. It was noble of him to
hold them back. Every moment that she had been sitting by the hearth she
had been expecting to hear them. So that she sat now in tense, quivering
suspense, waiting, fearing, longing, dreading, through this strange,
long silence; filled only by the sighing of the wind-harp and the
crackling of the fire. And then, being a true woman, she could endure it
no longer, and turning slightly she gave him a shy, timid glance. As she
looked she cried out in terror.
His head, which had been so eagerly raised a moment before, had fallen;
his eyes, which had been aglow but an instant since, were closed. The
effort, the agitation, had been too great for his slight strength. The
strong spirit, impatient of the weak flesh, was again slipping away from
it.
She thought he was dying, and forgetting everything but her love for
him, she flew to him and fell on her knees by his side. Raising his
heavy head in her arms she held it against her bosom.
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