Page:Maud Howe - Atlanta in the South.djvu/276

 nerve and brain-cell. With a steady hand he poured the clear, colorless liquid into a medicine-glass, accurately measuring the dose and replacing the stopper from force of habit. He raised the glass, it already touched his lips, when he paused, seemed to hesitate, and then put the glass down with a low sigh.

"Therese—I had forgotten my promise; well, this can wait."

He poured the drops carefully back into the phial, crushed the glass beneath his heel, and then, locking the door behind him, went down stairs into the street.

Where to find that mad girl, that would-be murderess? he asked himself again and again. His whole mind was fixed as intently upon finding Therese as it had been just now on his own destruction. Until he found her he could not be at rest. He had given his word to save her, and with that word unredeemed he could not sleep at ease in his grave. Where to find her? He had exhausted all the places where there was any probability of hearing of her, he was at a loss what to do next. Meanwhile, his feet had brought him to the river-side; he stood leaning against a pier. Presently he laughed aloud at a thought that passed through his mind.

"I cannot even die till I have found and