“Ah!” he said, and showed his teeth in a twitching grin.
“Hush!” I whispered. “I am in great despair. You know perfectly well I am sane; I shall die if I am detained here longer.”
“O! will you?” he responded.
“Listen,” I said, flushing and hanging my head. “I offer you no money, which I have not got. But there are things—other things—sold here, which”—
I tore my hands away, and, putting them to my face, fell back from him.
“Hey!” he said, in a thick whisper, and pursued me. “Why do you pick me out for your favours, you little beauty?”
I did not answer.
“Why?” he insisted.
“If it has to be,” I muttered from my refuge, “you—O, don’t ask me!”
“Why?” he said.