Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/305

  "There was another silence, and then he said in a low voice:

Don't you think that it would be easier. . . . for her?'

" 'No,' I said, 'I don't.'

" 'But living I can only be a weight a drag.'

" 'Her little children are that,' said I.

" 'But don't you see,' he cried, 'how different it is? They will grow up. . . ' His voice rose in key.

They will grow up and need her less,'said I; 'it is while they are drags, weights, that they give her the greatest joy.'

" 'Don't,' he groaned, '. . . . don't you see, man, that my mind was at rest about it; that I was cheerful, happy, when it was only a matter of dying, . . . and now that you are taking that away, think of the horror of what's left. . . .' His mouth writhed.

" 'You are the chief sufferer,' said I. 'My sympathy is for you. I did not mean to destroy your faith in the ethics of this thing. [ 289 ]