Save yourself, young man;" but the brave Arthur answers, "No," and
half wishes he were blind, so as to shut out the seething vortex
into which one mistep would plunge him. And while he stood there
thus, amid the roaring of the flames, and the din of the
multitude, there floated up to him a girlish voice,
"Shut your eyes, Arthur, make believe you are blind, and maybe you
can walk the beam."
It was Edith. He saw her where she stood, apart from all the rest,
her long black hair unbound just as she sprang from her pillow,
her arms outstretched toward him, and the sight nerved him to the
trial. He looked at her once more, it might be for the last time,
but he would carry the remembrance of that clear face even to
eternity, and with a longing, wistful glance he closed his eyes
and prepared to do her bidding. Then it seemed to him that another
presence than Edith's was around him, another voice than hers was
whispering words of courage, Nina, who went before, guiding his
footsteps, and lightening his load, screening him from the
scorching heat and buoying him up, while he walked the blackened
beam, which shook and bent at every tread, and at last fell with a
crash, but not until the ladder was reached, and a dozen friendly
arms were outstretched for Richard, and for him, too, for sight
and strength had failed him when they were no longer needed.
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