Page:Weird Tales Volume 30 Number 02 (1937-08).djvu/105

This page needs to be proofread.
THE WILL OF THE DEAD
231

must be strong because he was so shattered; she would be strong.

"Then——" He stopped, his eyes clouded, as though for a moment he could not think of words, or what they meant.

"Then," he repeated, "they couldn't understand how it could beat at all for hours, as it did." His hand tightened about hers. "Are you strong enough? Do you know—perhaps you can guess, what was wrong?"

Her eyes asked him, terrified. What dreadful thing could there be wrong with an infant’s tiny heart? "Please, Stephen——"

"This," he said brokenly, "in his heart's right ventricle."

He opened his other hand and showed her what lay on his palm.

She knew then that she would never again be strong enough for anything life might bring her. She felt a scream welling deep within her, but not yet, for a moment, sound.

The sunlight that had been stealing up the counterpane reached and touched what was in his hand. A burst of fire sprang forth, for an instant colored green-blue, and then steadying into a perfect flame, the hue of blood. Magnificent, glorious, the girasol ring winked and glowed.


By ROBERT E. HOWARD


This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.