Of High Descent Part 92

She looked at him wildly. The long strain upon his nerves had been too great, and he was white as a sheet, and shaking violently.

"Harry, dear, tell me what to do."

"Let them take me," he said weakly. "It's of no use."

"Hus.h.!.+" she said, full now of a wild desire to save him from disgrace and to aid him in his efforts to redeem the past. "Let me think. Yes: you want money."

Full of the recollection of his former appeal, she took out her keys, opened a drawer, while he half knelt, half crouched upon the carpet.

She had not much there, and, whispering to him to wait, she left the room, locking him in, and ran up to her chamber.

Harry started as he heard the snap made by the lock; but he subsided again in a helpless state, and with the disease that had been hanging about waiting to make its grand attack gradually sapping its way.

In five minutes Louise was back.

"I have not much money," she whispered hastily; "but here are my watch, two chains, and all the jewels I have, dear. They are worth a great deal."

"Too late!" he moaned as he gazed up at her piteously, and for the moment he was delirious, as a sudden flush of fever suffused his cheeks.

"It is not too late," she said firmly. "Take them. Now tell me what next to do."

"What next?" he said vacantly.

"Yes. You must not stay here. My father may return at any time.

Brother--Harry--shall I get you some clothes?"

"No--no," he said mournfully. "I shall want no more clothes."

"Harry!" she cried, taking his face between her hands, and drawing it round so that the light fell upon it; "are you ill?"

"Ill? yes," he said feebly. "I've felt it before--in the wet cave-- fever, I suppose. Lou, dear, is it very hard to die?"

"Oh, what shall I do?" cried the agitated girl, half frantic now.

"Harry, you are not very ill?"

"Only sometimes," he said slowly, as he looked round. "I seem to lose my head a bit, and then something seems to hold me back."

"Harry!"

"Yes," he cried, starting up; "who called? You, Louie, money--give me some money."

"I gave you all I have, dear, and my jewels."

"Yes, I forgot," he said huskily, as in a moment his whole manner had changed, and with feverish energy he felt for the trinkets she had given him.

"You are ill, dear," she whispered tenderly. "Would it not be better to let me fetch our father?"

"I'd sooner die," he cried, catching her wrist. "No. He shall not know. There, I can see clearly now. That horrible weakness is always taking me now, and when it's on I feel as if I should kill myself."

"Harry!"

"Hus.h.!.+ I know now. We must go before he comes back."

"We?" she said aghast.

"Yes, we. I'm not fit to be alone. You must come with me, Lou, and help me. If I go alone I shall go mad."

"Oh, Harry! my darling brother."

"Yes," he cried in a hoa.r.s.e whisper; "I know I shall. It's too horrible to live alone, as I've been living. You must come with me and save me-- from myself--from everybody. Why do you look at me like that?"

He caught her by the shoulder, and glared at her with a long, fierce stare.

"I--I could not leave home, Harry," she said faintly.

"You must, you shall," he cried, "unless you want me to really die."

"But my father, dear?"

"Quick! write!" he said with the feverish energy which frightened her; and dragging open the blotter on a side table, he pointed to a chair.

"He is mad--he is mad," she wailed to herself, as, in obedience to a will far stronger at that moment than her own, she sat down and took up pen and paper.

"Write," he said hoa.r.s.ely.

"Write, Harry?"

"Yes, quick!"

In a horror of dread as she read her brother's wild looks, and took in his feverish semi-delirium, lest he should carry out a threat which chilled her, she dipped her pen and waited as, after an evident struggle with a clouding intellect, Harry said quickly--

"Dear father, I am forced by circ.u.mstances to leave home. Do not grieve for me, I am well and happy; and no matter what you hear, do not attempt to follow me. If you do you will bring sorrow upon yourself, and ruin upon one I love. Good-bye; some day all will be cleared up. Till then, your loving daughter, Louise."

"Harry!" she sobbed, as she laid down the pen, and gazed at the tear-blurred paper. "You cannot mean this. I dare not--I could not go."

"Very well," he said coldly. "I told you it was too late. It does not matter now."

"Oh," she panted, "you are not reasonable. I have given you money. Go as you said and hide somewhere. You are weak and ill now."

"Yes," he said, in a voice which wrung her heart. "I am weak and ill now."

"A little rest, dear, and the knowledge that you have the means of escaping will make you more calm."

He looked at her with his eyes so full of wild anger that she half shrank from him, but his face changed.

"Poor little sis!" he said tenderly; "I frighten you. Look at me. Am I fit to go away alone? I know--I feel that at any moment I may break down and go off my head amongst strangers."

She looked at him wildly, and as she stood trembling there in a state of agitation which overset her generally calm balance, she read in his eyes that he was speaking the truth.