"Just put out his hand and caught my arm, saying with that calm and quiet voice of his:
"'I shall not return any blow you may give me, Mr. Graham, so please do not do anything you will regret when you recover yourself!'
"I realized his strength of body and the grip he had on my arm and even my half-crazed brain recognized the power of his spirit. I came to, apologized, and we had a long talk that made me realize what a thundering good fellow he must be.
"I don't see why you never fell in love with him," Dicky continued.
"He's a better man than I am," he paraphrased half wistfully.
"But I love YOU," I whispered.
Across Dicky's face there fell a shadow. I realized that thoughtlessly
I had wounded him.
XVI
INTERRUPTED SIGHT-SEEING
"Margaret!" My mother-in-law's tone was almost tragic. "Richard has gone off with my trunk checks."
"Why, of course, he has," I returned, wondering a little at her anxious tone. "I suppose he expects to give them to an expressman and have the trunks brought up this morning."