She looked at him, her eyes wide and piteous. "Then please go
now--go quickly! I--will stay with him till you come back."
"I shall have to leave you for some hours," he said.
"Oh, never mind that!" she answered, "Just be as quick as you can,
that's all! I will be with him. I--shan't be afraid."
She was urging him to the door, but he turned back. He went to the
table, picked up the revolver he had laid there, and put it away in
a cupboard which he locked.
She marked the action, and as he came to her again, laid a
trembling hand upon his arm. "Burke! Could it--could it have been
an accident?"
"No. It couldn't," said Burke. He paused a moment, looking at her
in a way she did not understand. She wondered afterwards what had
been passing in his mind. But he said no further word except a
brief, "Good-bye!"
Ten minutes later, she heard the quick thud of his horse's hoofs as
he rode into the night.
CHAPTER IX
THE ABYSS
"Sylvia!"
Was it a voice that spoke in the overwhelming silence, or was it
the echo in her soul of a voice that would never speak again?
Sylvia could not decide. She had sat for so long, propped against
a chair, watching that still figure on the floor, straining her
senses to see or hear some sign of breathing, trying to cheat
herself into the belief that he slept, and then with a wrung heart
wondering if he were not better dead.
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