"Don't
say such cruel things to me. You cannot mean them. I would do
anything to serve you. I am more sorry for you than for myself. I
have little to bind me to this life, whereas you have everything.
Indeed, indeed, I have not been away from you many minutes."
Another heavy sea pitched on board. The _Kansas_ trembled and listed
suddenly. Isobel screamed shrilly, and burst into a storm of dry-eyed
sobs. Her mood changed instantly into one of abject submission. She
sprang towards Elsie with hands outstretched.
"Oh, save me, save me!" she wailed. "God knows I am not fit to die!"
There are some noble natures which find strength in the need to comfort
the weakness of others. Elsie drew the distracted girl close to her,
and placed an arm round her neck.
"It is not for us to say when we shall die," she murmured. "Let us try
to be resigned. We must bear our misfortunes with Christian faith and
hope. Somehow, I feel that I have endured so much to-night that death
looks less terrible now. Perhaps that is because it is so near. To
me, the specter seems to be receding."
"Did the captain tell you we had any chance of escape, senorita?" asked
the Spanish maid.
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