King of the Castle Part 13

"Die! oh, Isaac, don't say that."

"Yes; and to die through him--through that tyrant, and all to make him rich."

"No, no; you'll get better, dear, as Roberts did, and Jackson, who were worse than you."

"Hah!" he cried, making a gesticulation, as if to cast aside his wife's vain words; and then, with a sudden access of force that was startling, he caught at her hand.

"Sally, my la.s.s," he whispered harshly, "Gartram has murdered me."

"Isaac, my poor husband, don't say that."

"It was all his doing. He always thwarted me, and interfered when I had to blast."

"Pray, pray be still, dear. You are so bad and weak. The doctor said you were to be kept quiet, and not to talk."

"Doctor knew it was all over. I am a dying man."

"No, no, my darling."

"Yes, I'll say it, and more too while I have time. But for Gartram, I should be well and strong now. Oh, how I hate him! Curse him for a dog!"

"Isaac!--darling husband."

"Yes; I always hated him, the oppressor and tyrant. He made me mad about blasting that bit of rock, and I felt I must do it--my way; but he bullied me till my hands were all of a tremble, and I was thinking about what he said till I wasn't myself, and the stuff went off too soon. But it was his doing. He murdered me; and if it hadn't been for him, I should have been right."

"Oh, my darling!"

"Hush, don't cry, my la.s.s. It's all over now, but I can't die peaceful like yet."

"Let me put your poor hands together, Ike, and I'll pray for you."

"Yes, my la.s.s, but not yet. I'm dying, Sally--fast."

"No, no, Ike. There, let me give you a drop of the stuff the doctor left. It'll do you good."

"Nothing'll do me good but you."

"Ike, dear, be still and I'll run and fetch the doctor; he's at the Fort. Gartram has had a bad fit."

"Curse him!"

"No, no, dear, don't curse. You make me shiver."

There was a terrible silence in the gloomy cottage room, where the ghastly face of the injured man seemed to loom out of the darkness, and looked weird and strange. The woman tried to quit his side, but he held her tightly as he lay gazing straight up at her, his breath coming in a laboured way, as if he had to force each inspiration, suffering agony the while; and if ever the stamp of death was set-plainly upon human countenance, it was upon his.

"Sally," he gasped, and his voice was changing rapidly. "Sally!"

"Yes, dear."

"Don't leave me. Where are you?"

"Here, darling; holding your hands."

"Why did you put out the light?"

"Isaac, my own dear man!"

"Listen. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, dear, yes."

"I'm dying fast, and I shall never rest without--without you do what I say."

"Yes, dear, I'll do anything you tell me--you know I will."

"That's right. Quick, before it's too late."

"Oh, if help would only come," moaned the woman.

"No help can come, my la.s.s. Now, put your hand under me and lift my head on your shoulder. That's right. Ah!"

He uttered a groan of agony, and lay speechless as she raised him; and the wife turned cold with horror, as it seemed to her that he was dead, but his lips moved again.

"Now," he said, "I can talk without feeling strangled. Gartram has made an end of me, and it's a dying man speaking to you. It's almost a voice from the dead telling you what to do."

"Yes, dear, tell me. What shall I do?"

"You'll swear to do what I tell you?"

"Yes, Isaac, anything."

"You're in the presence of death, wife, with the good and evil all about us, and what you say is registered against you."

"Yes, dear," said the woman, shuddering.

"You swear, so help you G.o.d, to obey my last words?"

"Yes, dear," cried the woman, with her eyes lighting up, and a look of exultation in every feature; "I'll swear to obey you."

"Then you will measure out to Norman Gartram, and pay back to him all he has paid to me."

"Isaac!"

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, as it says in the Holy Book."

"Husband!"

"You have sworn to do it, woman, and there is no drawing back. As he murdered me, so you shall cut short his cursed life."