“Oh, Mr. Dodd,” she cried, “what am I doing?”
“You have been getting a nice sleep, thank Heaven.”
“Yes, and making use of you even in my sleep; but we all impose on your goodness.”
“Why did you awake? You were happy; you felt no care, and I was happy seeing you so.”
Lucy's eyes filled. “Kind, true friend,” she murmured, “how can I ever thank you as I ought? I little deserved that you should watch over my safety as you have done, and, alas! risk your own. Any other but you would have borne me malice, and let me perish, and said, 'It serves her right.'”
“Malice! Miss Lucy. What for, in Heaven's name?”
“For—for the affront I put upon you; for the—the honor I declined.”
“Hate cannot lie alongside love in a true heart.”
“I see it cannot in a noble one. And then you are so generous. You have never once recurred to that unfortunate topic; yet you have gained a right to request me—to reconsider—Mr. Dodd, you have saved my life!!”
“What! do you praise me because I don't take a mean advantage? That would not be behaving like a man.”