"Humbly begging your pardon for whatever I have done. Praying you, for my little child's sake, to come back with me, please.... Please.... Please!"
For a second time he stooped and raised the sobbing woman; bodily picked her up. He was naturally a strong man, and the feeling filling him just then lent additional strength.
He was so much moved by the present that he lost sight of all he had heard, all he had seen in the past. Only knew that this woman, whom he loved with all his heart and soul, whose shoes he would have kissed, knelt to him.
"How dare you?"
His question was put fiercely, as in that moment of lifting, he held her tightly to him. He repeated it:
"How dare you kneel to me? How dare you beg of me to do what the most inhuman wretch in the world would do?"
For a moment he left her side; inside that time had slipped into his overcoat and drawn a cap from his pocket.
"Finish that brandy."
There was that in his voice which commanded obedience; she never thought of disobeying.