Page:In the name of a woman (1900).djvu/173

 from which the outer wrapper had already been removed. I rushed forward and tore it from her hand, saying not a word, and heeding nothing of the look of surprise and alarm which my wild presence and strange act had called to her face.

Then with a fervent "Thank God," as I held the accursed thing safe in my grip, crushing the fragile box in my straining fingers, I fell upon a chair, and, clasping one hand to my eyes, tried to fight my way back to calmness.

The rush of relief was an intoxicating delight, and in my rapture at her safety I could have shed tears. For the moment I was utterly unmanned. The agony of suspense during the minutes since I had learnt of her danger had well nigh bereft me of my senses; and the relaxation of the strain, with the knowledge of her bare escape from death, made me as weak as a child.

"You are ill, my friend. What has happened?" she asked in her sweet, sympathetic voice, laying a hand on my shoulder.

The touch was like the balm of Gilead to my ruffled senses, and then a sudden shame fell on me, and in a moment I realised how strange my wild conduct must have appeared in her eyes. I remembered, too, that in my delirium I had called to her by her Christian name. And at the thought my confused and dizzied wits were more jumbled than before, and, strive as I would, I could force no words from my tongue.

My silence alarmed her.

"I will summon help," she said; but I stayed her with a protesting hand, and thus we waited while I struggled for some measure of composure.

Many moments passed in this strained, embarrassing silence, till I was sufficiently master of myself to make