"
Then, after a pause, words were wrung from his lips.
"Justice--not mercy. I would not take mercy even from Thee. The full
rigour of Thy law--"
There was no alleviation, and Marcella, kneeling there, wished that she
and her father could die together. The horror of helplessness was
searing her soul.
Next day came agonizing pain which made every movement a death. But the
Edinburgh doctor who came brought relief for the pain, and, talking with
Dr. Angus, the Carlossie doctor, mentioned, among other technicalities,
the name of a drug--"digitalis." That afternoon Marcella went back in
the doctor's trap to get the new medicine, and it gave relief. Whenever,
after that, the choking came back, Andrew would cry out for digitalis,
which seemed to him the elixir of life. Sometimes he would pray for
courage; sometimes, cracking suddenly, he would pray for digitalis and
send Marcella often at midnight with a pleading note to the doctor to
give him the drug and a little soothing for his heart that was running
away with him.
Now that he could not move about he still thought of the souls of the
people in the village, and sent a message to them, pleading with them to
come and see him. And they, remembering him as the laird, with a sort of
feudal obedience, came and stood about his bed, to be stormed at or
prayed with according to Andrew's mood.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52