"Does he--does he really say that?  God be thanked for that good news!" exclaimed the poor fellow with more energy than I could have expected from a man presenting such a ghastly appearance as he did.  For his cheeks were sunken, and white as chalk, and his lips were quite blue. "The fact is, Grenvile," he continued, "that I don't want to die yet, if I can help it; not that I am not prepared to die, if it be God's will to take me, for, thanks be to Him, I am ready to go at any moment, if the call should come, as all men should be, especially soldiers and sailors, who are peculiarly liable to receive their summons at a moment's notice. No, it is not that, but I should like to live a little longer, if it might be so, for--for many reasons, the chief of which is that I have a wife at home--whose--whose heart--"