"And you are shivering. Come downstairs beside a fire."
"No; we are safer here." Her arms went round him, beneath his coat, and she leaned her head against his breast. "I wish we could go to sleep and never wake."
"I ought never to have left you."
She looked up. "Zebedee, he hasn't worried me. He kissed me once. That's all. That's why I made you kiss my mouth."
"He shall never worry you. I'm going to see him now, and I shall come back soon. Let me go, sweetheart."
"No, I can't let you go. It isn't that I'm afraid for you. I—I don't mind if you hurt each other, but if you killed him—if he killed you—! But you won't do that. You'll just say dreadful things, and then he'll come to me and take me all. Don't you see? He could. He would. In my own way, I can—I can keep him off, but if you went to him and claimed me—No, Zebedee, there would be no hope for me."
"I'll shoot him, if you like, without giving him a chance. The man ought to be shot. He takes advantage of his own beastliness—" He broke off. "If I talk about it I shall choke."
"But he doesn't know about you."
"You didn't tell him that?"
"I couldn't. I couldn't beg. I didn't want to say your name to him, to bring you into it."