Publisher's Synopsis
"Father Adrian!""I am here!""I saw the doctor talking with you aside! How long have I to live? He told you the truth!Repeat his words to me!"The tall, gaunt young priest drew nearer to the bedside, and shook his head with a slow, pitying gesture."The time was short-short indeed. Yet, why should you fear? Your confession has beenmade! I myself have pronounced your absolution; the holy Church has granted to you hermost holy sacrament.""Fear! Bah! I have no fear! It is a matter of calculation. Shall I see morning break?""You may; but you will never see the mid-day sun."The dying man raised himself with a slow, painful movement, and pointed to the window."Throw up the window."He was obeyed. A servant who had been sitting quietly in the shadows of the vastapartment, with his head buried in his hands, rose and did his master's bidding."What hour is it?""Three o'clock.""Gomez, strain your eyes seaward. Is there no light on the horizon?""None! The storm has wrapped the earth in darkness. Listen!"A torrent of rain was swept against the streaming window pane, and a gust of wind shookthe frame in its sockets. The watcher turned away from the window with a mute gesture ofdespair. No eye could pierce that black chaos. He sank again into his seat, and lookedaround shuddering. The high, vaulted chamber was lit by a pair of candles only, leaving the 5greater part of it in gloom. Grim, fantastic shadows lurked in the corners, and lay across thebare floor. Even the tall figure of the priest, on his knees before a rude wooden crucifix, seemed weird and ghostly. The heavy, mildewed bed-hangings shook and trembled in thedraughts which filled the room, and the candles flickered and burnt low in their sockets.Gomez watched them with a sort of anxious fascination. His master's life was burning out, minute for minute, with those candles. Twenty-five years of constant companionship wouldbe ended in a few brief hours. Gomez was not disposed to trouble much at this; but hebethought himself of a snug little abode in Piccadilly, where the discomforts nowsurrounding them were quite unknown. Surely, to die there would be a luxury comparedwith this. He began to feel personally aggrieved that his master should have chosen such anout-of-the-way hole to end his days in. Then came a rush of thought, and he was grave. Heknew why! Yes! he knew w