Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/315

. . . ,' I began. . . . and then looked, away, but not in time to miss the expression of her face as she cast her eyes first at her husband, then at me,. . . and I knew that I had fetched home a stranger to fill a husband's place."

Leyden paused and stared moodily at the bowl of his china pipe. "There is a good deal in sacred literature, as well as in the laws of each land, Doctor, concerning the impropriety of interfering with the duration of a man's life; is there anything regarding the sin of interfering with his death . . .? because there ought to be! It cannot be pleasing to God to prolong an existence which He has culled in part. . . ."

"Six months later I returned that way on my journey home from Java. I took a sampan and was sculled across to the little island, and there in front of the bungalow I found Dalton sitting beneath the high shade of the royal palms. He had grown heavy; the last lines had left his face, which was now smooth as [ 299 ]