ton's former crimes seemed to him venial by comparison, as he
witnessed the misery and abasement of the glorious creature on whom he
had brought such sorrow, if not shame. The remorse that a strong will
and hard heart had stifled so long found voice at last in three muttered
words--"God forgive me!" A very niggardly and inadequate expression of
contrition--was it not?--conceded to a life whose sins outnumbered its
years. Yet the slight thread of hope drawn therefrom has been able since
to hold back Cecil Tresilyan from the abyss of utter desperation. She
forbore to press him farther then, seeing his increasing weakness, and
trusting, perhaps, that a more favorable opportunity would come.

Indeed, there were a thousand things to be said about the past, in which
both had borne a part, and the future, in which only one could share;
but Royston had estimated rightly the extent of his remaining physical
resources; and when he found how each syllable exhausted him, he became
as chary of words as a miser of his gold. His right hand still grasped
hers firmly; and her delicate cheek was pillowed on his shoulder; the
fingers of his other hand played gently with a long, glossy chestnut
tress that had escaped from the prison of the close cap she wore. So
they remained, for a long time--no sound passing between them, beyond
half-formed whispers of endearment: no one came in to molest them: there
was work enough and to spare, that night, for all in Scutari. The
thought of interruption never crossed Cecil's mind for an instant.
Always careless and defiant of conventionality, or the world's opinion,
she was tenfold more reckless now. Her head was bent down, and her eyes
closed; so that she could not see how the hollows deepened on her
lover's face; nor how the pallor of his cheek darkened rapidly to an
ashen-gray. But inward warnings of approaching dissolution spoke plainly
enough to Royston Keene. He knew what he had to do.

He raised her head from where it rested, and said, so gently, "If my
time is short, there is the more reason that I should be loth to lose
you, even for an hour. But you must have rest; and I feel as if I could
sleep. Do not try to persuade me; but leave me now. When you think
hereafter of this evening, remember what my last words were. _I loved
you best of all._ Darling--wish me good-night; and come to see me early
to-morrow."

He guessed, full well, how long that night would last, and what sight
would meet Cec