"Sybil!" exclaimed the astonished Gerard, and he rose from his
seat.
She caught the arm of her father, and leant on him for a
moment in silence. Then looking up with an expression that
seemed to indicate she was rallying her last energies, she
said, in a voice low yet so distinct that it reached the ear
of all present, "There is not an instant to lose: fly!"
The men rose hastily from their seats; they approached the
messenger of danger; Gerard waved them off, for he perceived
his daughter was sinking. Gently he placed her in his chair;
she was sensible, for she grasped his arm, and she murmured--
still she murmured--"fly!"
"'Tis very strange," said Maclast.
"I feel queer!" said the thickset man.
"Methinks she looks like a heavenly messenger," said Wilkins.
"I had no idea that earth had anything so fair," said the
youthful scribe of proclamations.
"Hush friends!" said Gerard: and then he bent over Sybil and
said in a low soothing voice, "Tell me, my child, what is it?"
She looked up to her father; a glance as it were of devotion
and despair: her lips moved, but they refused their office and
expressed no words. There was a deep silence in the room.
"She is gone," said her father.
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