He hurried out after Julius, followed by Lady Mary
and his mother.
"Take her!" cried Julius, standing away from Nora, and looking white and
terror-stricken. "Restore her! Oh, I must not!--I dare not touch her!"
With nimble accustomed fingers Lady Mary undid Nora's dress, while the
doctor applied the remedies usual in hysterical fainting. Nora opened
her eyes and fixed them upon Julius.
"O Julius, Julius!" she cried. "Do not leave me! Come near me! Oh!... I
think I am going to die!"
"My love! my life! my soul!" said Julius, stretching out his hands to
her, but approaching no nearer. "I cannot--I must not touch you! No, no!
I dare not!"
"O Julius!" said she. "Are you afraid of me? How can I harm you?"
"Nora, my life! I am afraid of myself! You would not harm me, but I
would harm you! Ah, I know it now only too well!"
Then, as she closed her eyes again, she said, "I had better die!"
"No, you must not die!" he exclaimed. "Your time is not yet! Yes, you will
live!--live! But I must be cut off--though not for ever--from the sweetest
and dearest, the noblest and purest of all God's creatures!"
In the meantime Lefevre had been examining his sister with closer
scrutiny.
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