“Oh, Patty,” he whispered, in a tense voice, “thank Heaven you’re safe!”
“It was a miracle, Philip; but you did it yourself! I knew it at the time, my brain worked perfectly, but my muscles were paralysed by fear. Oh, suppose yours had been, too!”
“I could have done better if I could have sensed the thing an instant sooner. For a second my brain wouldn’t work, and then I saw my way clear, like a flash, but it was too late! I hadn’t time to back or to get across in front of the car. It was either to run into this cliff, or have that immense machine run into us.”
“It was splendid!” said Patty, the tears coming to her eyes; and then the reaction from the shock came, and she burst into violent sobbing.
“Don’t, Patty; don’t do that,” said Philip, in a pained voice, and Patty looked up, smiling through her tears.
“I’m not really crying,” she said; “it’s just a foolish reaction, and I can’t help it. I’m sorry to be so silly, but I’m just a little hysterical from,—from joy, you know.”
“You behaved splendidly, Patty! If you had moved hand or foot, we would have been dashed to pieces. It was only because I could get full command of the controller and the steering bar that I could manage at all. If you had given a convulsive push the other way,—well, never mind that! But I expect I crushed your hand when I grasped the controller. I had to, to make sure that you didn’t jerk it the other way unintentionally.”
“I guess you did hurt my hand;” and Patty held it up to see. Sure enough, black and blue bruises already appeared on fingers and palm.
“Poor little hand,” said Philip, taking it in his own. “I’m so sorry, Patty.”
“Don’t talk to me like that!” exclaimed Patty, “as if I were a molly-coddle! I’m glad you smashed my hand, as that was the only way to save us from——”