Out of her sphere - University Library

34 OUT OF HER SPHERE.
and if' the waters, now already laving his
feet, mounted yet higher, yield himself
their prey ? No !
he had not been spared
for that, he had not been thrust back into
life, when he most wished to die, merely
to fling his life away again. He must
make an effort now to live, although it
would have been so much easier to lie
down there and slowly breathe away his
last. He dragged his limbs up the steep
stone stairs, down which he had led his-
wife not two hours ago, to wait till the
coming tide had abated, and then sat down,
to wait till the incoming tide should ebb,
just where she had sat by the window that
looked over the Denes—sat there, weary
and worn-out, till at last the pain that
was pressing on his brain, the dull, deadly
anguish, brought its own relief, and he
slept heavily for hours, just as those sleep
upon the rack, and woke like them, to feel
the rest had only given him greater
strength to suffer.