Toward morning Levice suddenly sprang up in bed and made as if to leap upon
the floor. Kemp's quick, strong hand held him back.
"Where are you going?" he asked. Mrs. Levice stood instantly beside him.
"Oh," gasped Levice, his eyes falling upon her, "I wanted to get home; but
it is all right now. Is the child in bed, Esther?"
"Here she is; lie still, Jules; you know you are ill."
"But not now. Ah, Kemp, I can get up now; I am quite well, you know."
"Wait till morning," he resisted, humoring this inevitable idiosyncrasy.
"But it is morning now; and I feel so light and well. Open the shutters,
Ruth; see, Esther; a beautiful day."
It was quite dark with the darkness that immediately precedes dawn; the
windows were bespangled with the distillations of the night, which gleamed
as the light fell on them.
Mrs. Levice seated herself beside him.
"It is very early, Jules," she said, smiling with hope, not knowing that
this deceptive feeling was but the rose-flush of the sinking sun; "but if
you feel well when day breaks you can get up, can't he Doctor?"
"Yes."
Levice lay back with closed eyes for some minutes. A quivering smile
crossed his face and his eyes opened.
"Were you singing that song just now, Ruth, my angel?"
"What son, Father dear?"
"That--'Adieu, --adieu--pays--amours'--we sang it--you know--when we left
home together--my mother said--I was too small--too small--and--too--"
Ruth looked around wildly for Kemp.
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