Reverently, gratefully as his lips had touched her hands, their touch had sent a strange thrill through her.
“I—I am afraid you did not get much,” she said, and her voice faltered, though she strove to keep it firm and steady.
“Yes, yes!” he said. “Thank you very much. I am better—all right now!” and to prove it he sat up and looked round him.
But his eyes returned to her face almost instantly, as if loth to leave it.
“I never was so sorry in all my life,” he said. “To think that I should have given you all this trouble! And—and frightened you, too!” he added, for she had sunk down upon the bank and was trembling a little as she wiped her hands.
“No, no, I am not frightened,” she said. “But it—it was so sudden.”
He looked round and bit his lip.
“Great Heavens!” he exclaimed, remorsefully, “I—I might have fallen on to you!”
A faint smile played upon her lips for an instant.
“You nearly did so as it was,” she said.