"Here," cried Reyburn, as he drew up the ropes to bind them round
Helen's waist. "Take _her_." But the boat was already clear of the
ship and away; and he flung the ropes down again with a motion of
abhorrence, and stood leaning against the stump of the mast, where he
could hear the murmurs of John and Lilian, straining his ears to
listen, as if he must needs torment himself--to listen to those few
low, fervent whispers, with one eager to pour out the love so long
restrained, the other to receive it--both in the face of death making
the life so lately found too sweet a thing to leave.
Soon the little company remaining on the wreck had clustered around
that portion of it; the captain and Mr. Mason were near by, and
Lilian's mother sat beside her and kept her hand; Mr. Sterling, not
far off, held Helen, who lay faint with fright--faint too with many a
pang, snatched as she had been from a dream of warmth and joy to a
nightmare of horror; one moment ruling in a heart that in the next
moment had cast her forth to be trampled on; bewildered by the
repugnance she had too plainly seen in the face of her passionate
lover of two hours ago; half heartbroken with the remembrance of the
tone in which he had called to the crew of the quarter-boat to take
her, and cold with the awful expectancy of the moment.
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