he suddenly snapped the cords that pinioned him as if
they had been thread. He caught his brother's extended hand, and dropped
upon his knees beside him. "Lionel...Boy!" he cried. It was as if
all that had befallen in the last five years had been wiped out of
existence. His fierce relentless hatred of his half-brother, his burning
sense of wrong, his parching thirst for vengeance, became on the instant
all dead, buried, and forgotten. More, it was as if they had never been.
Lionel in that moment was again the weak, comely, beloved brother whom
he had cherished and screened and guarded, and for whom when the hour
arrived he had sacrificed his good name, and the woman he loved, and
placed his life itself in jeopardy.

"Lionel, boy!" was all that for a moment he could say. Then: "Poor lad!
Poor lad!" he added. "Temptation was too strong for thee." And reaching
forth he took the other white hand that lay beyond the couch, and so
held both tight-clasped within his own.

From one of the ports a ray of sunshine was creeping upwards towards the
dying man's face. But the radiance that now overspread it was from an
inward source. Feebly he returned the clasp of his brother's hands.

"Oliver, Oliver!" he whispered. "There is none like thee! I ever knew
thee as noble as I was base. Have I said enough to make you safe? Say
that he will be safe now," he appealed to the others, "that no...."

"He will be safe," said Lord Henry stoutly. "My word on't."

"It is well. The past is past. The future is in your hands, Oliver.
God's blessing on't." He seemed to collapse, to rally yet again. He
smiled pensively, his mind already wandering. "That was a long swim last
night--the longest I ever swam. From Penarrow to Trefusis--a fine long
swim. But you were with me, Noll. Had my strength given out...I could
have depended on you. I am still chill from it, for it was cold...
cold... ugh!" He shuddered, and lay still.

Gently Sir John lowered him to his couch. Beyond it Rosamund fell
upon her knees and covered her face, whilst by Sir John's side Oliver
continued to kneel, clasping in his own his brother's chilling hands.

There ensued a long spell of silence. Then with a heavy sigh Sir Oliver
folded Lionel's hands across his breast, and slowly, heavily rose to his
feet.

The others seemed to take this for a signal. It was as if they had
but waited mute and still out of deference to Oliver. Lord Henry moved
softly round to Rosamund and touche