can't stand it! it's too much!"

Montague had noticed when he lifted the man that he was very frail and
slight of build. Now he could feel that the hand that held his arm was
trembling violently. It occurred to him that perhaps the man was not
really hurt, but that his nerves had been upset by the shock.

And he felt certain of this a moment later, when the stranger suddenly
leaned forward, clutching him with redoubled intensity, and staring at
him with wide, horror-stricken eyes.

"Do you know what it means to be afraid of death?" he panted. "Do you
know what it means to be afraid of death?"

Then, without waiting for a reply, he rushed on--"No, no! You can't!
you can't! I don't believe any man knows it as I do! Think of it--for
ten years I've never known a minute when I wasn't afraid of death! It
follows me around--it won't let me be! It leaps out at me in places,
like this! And when I escape it, I can hear it laughing at me--for it
knows I can't get away!"

The old man caught his breath with a choking sob. He was clinging to
Montague like a frightened child, and staring with a wild, hunted look
upon his face. Montague sat transfixed.

"Yes," the other rushed on, "that's the truth, as God hears me! And
it's the first time I've ever spoken it in my life! I have to hide
it--because men would laugh at me--they pretend they're not afraid! But
I lie awake all night, and it's like a fiend that sits by my bedside! I
lie and listen to my own heart--I feel it beating, and I think how weak
it is, and what thin walls it has, and what a wretched, helpless thing
it is to have your life depend on that!--You don't know what that is, I
suppose."

Montague shook his head.

"You're young, you see," said the other. "You have health--everybody
has health, except me! And everybody hates me--I haven't got a friend
in the world!"

Montague was quite taken aback by the suddenness of this outburst. He
tried to stop it, for he felt almost indecent in listening--it was not
fair to take a man off his guard like this. But the stranger could not
be stopped--he was completely unstrung, and his voice grew louder and
louder.

"It's every word of it true," he exclaimed wildly. "And I can't stand
it any more. I can't stand anything any more. I was young and strong
once--I could take care of myself; and I said: I'll make money, I'll be
master of other men! But I was a fool--I forgot my health. And now all
the money on earth can't do me any