Page:The Redemption of Anthony (1911).djvu/85

 the machine and extricated The Parson, who was only shaken up. They went and bent over the girl, who had not moved. The Parson knelt down and listened for her heart-beats. To Drake it was an eon of agony before he nodded.

"It beats faintly," he said. "We must get help. You stay here while I go for the farm people."

He limped off, and Drake sat down, lifted Priscilla's head into his lap, and sat looking down at her. He didn't touch her, nor speak to her, nor did he mind the steady drip, drip, of blood from his cut head; he just sat and looked at the white face in his lap, and knew what it was to watch joy go; knew what Orpheus felt as Eurydice faded; knew what every man knows who faces the loss of his heart's desire. All the years of his life marched before him—empty-handed because they had not known Priscilla; the years to come approached with bowed heads, for they were not to know Priscilla; and the lit-