296Chapter XVIII.—Trouble Upon Trouble.

“And not to lengthen out unnecessary details, I went to live with her, on account of her love to her husband.  And not long after, my hands were debilitated by my gnawing of them; and the woman who had taken me in, being wholly seized by some malady, is confined in the house.  Since then the former compassion of the women has declined, and I and the woman of the house are both of us helpless.  For a long time I have sat here, as you see, begging; and whatever I get I convey to my fellow-sufferer for our support.  Let this suffice about my affairs.  For the rest, what hinders your fulfilling of your promise to give me the drug, that I may give it to her also, who desires to die; and thus I also, as you said, shall be able to escape from life?”