Page:The Father Confessor, Stories of Danger and Death.djvu/211

Rh "I have to see a man about that drive to-morrow, or I shan't get a carriage." Then, seeing the look on the young man's face, he added: "You see, my boy, nothing you can say or do just now makes any difference. It's a feeling one has about it all. I dare say we are wrong, and in time it will wear away; but there's a feeling about these things one can't get over just at first."

He hastily left the room, forgetting his daughter.

Edward turned to her.

"You, Alice?"

"I only came to ask Dr. Thornton how to use this; it's poison." She held up a little bottle. "I have such neuralgia, and I am so busy; we leave in the morning. I have so many letters to write." Then she cried, as if afraid, "Oh, let me go—I am so busy."

"I am not detaining you," he said; and opened the door for her.

He sat down in the empty room and took up the phial she had dropped in her haste.

"Life was so sweet, I was afraid to die." He held the bottle to the light—it was quite full.