“Have I wronged you?� she asked falteringly at last.
“As to that, madam,� I returned firmly—oh, I yearned to take her in my arms, to press her to my heart, to call her sweet names, but I did not dare—“you yourself must be the judge. But if you will think a moment you will see that I had no other course. What would your fate have been, left to that murderous rabble on the deck yonder?�
“I could have died,� she faltered.
“Aye, of course, but not until after they had done with you,� I said with a grim plainness of speech, seeing no other way to convince her, and pressing home my slight advantage accordingly.
She shuddered as my meaning became clear to her.
“You should have known me better,� I continued a little reproachfully, “than to have suspected—�
“But your insult to me this very night on the quarter-deck and your indifference to it a moment ago!�
Her cheek flushed at the thought of it in spite of herself, and mine flushed, too, or it would have colored had it been less brown, I have no doubt.
“And is a man to be condemned beyond pardon who has served you truly, because he snatches a kiss in a moment of madness and forgets it when your life and honor tremble in the balance?�
“I did not think even you could forget that—ever,� she said and I could not fathom exactly her purpose in that remark.