“Them ropes has given my arms something, by Ga-ard,” he drawled, feeling his arms with his hands.
Still she sat in her chair before him, slightly cowed.
“You was sharp, wasn’t you, to catch me like that, eh?” he smiled slowly. “By Ga-ard, you had me fixed proper, proper you had. Darn me, you fixed me up proper—proper, you did.”
He leaned forwards in his chair towards her.
“I don’t think no worse of you for it, no, darned if I do. Fine pluck in a woman’s what I admire. That I do, indeed.”
She only gazed into the fire.
“We fet from the start, we did. And, my word, you begin again quick the minute you see me, you did. Darn me, you was too sharp for me. A darn fine woman, puts up a darn good fight. Darn me if I could find a woman in all the darn States as could get me down like that. Wonderful fine woman you be, truth to say, at this minute.”
She only sat glowering into the fire.
“As grand a pluck as a man could wish to find in a woman, true as I’m here,” he said, reaching forward his hand and tentatively touching her between her full, warm breasts, quietly.
She started, and seemed to shudder. But his hand insinuated itself between her breasts, as she continued to gaze in the fire.