"Richard," said she, bending down to him, "my dear, dear love, keep
your eyes open just a little longer, until I can make you
understand. Oh, Richard, I cared! Indeed, indeed, I cared!"
The blue stare never wavered. It gathered intensity.
"Don't, don't look at me like that, Richard!" cried Alicia,
beginning to sob wildly. "Don't--don't look so--so _angelic_, dear.
Look like your own self at me, Richard! Oh, darling, for our dear
God's mercy's sake, please, please try to look bad-tempered just
once more!"
His pale lips twitched curiously. He sighed. Then he murmured
something that sounded like "not sure."
"Not sure?" wept Alicia. "Oh, my heart, my heart!"
"I think--could die in peace--say 'I love you, Richard,'" murmured
the doctor.
"Oh, I do, I do love you, Richard--_frightfully_!" sobbed Alicia. "I
love you with all my heart!"
The corpse sat up, and for a dead man he showed considerable life.
Painfully he rose, and stood staggering on his feet, big, pale,
shaken, with a bump the size of an egg on the side of his head, but
with such shining blue eyes! He put out a big hand and lifted
Alicia from the ground.
"Leetchy," said Doctor Geddes, "if you ever take back what you've
said I shall be sorry I wasn't killed.
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