"Properly mad, and must mean a screw loose in you," he said. "To go into a raging torrent like that for a puppy! You never thought of me."
"Of course I thought of you," she answered in a weary, little voice. "It was your dog and I had to save it. But in truth I thought of nothing. I was in the water before I began to think."
The threatened shadow seemed still to hang over her. Her voice was weak and her manner listless.
"I'd give ten years of my life if it had been me who rescued you," he said. "It's proper gall to think that any other man did it."
"You must forgive him—for my sake, Jacob."
"Forgive him! The mischief is that I'm under a life-long obligation now, and he may be the sort to rub it in. Not that he'll need to. I shan't forget that my debts are for ever beyond payment."
"Have you thanked him?"
"Not yet."
She was silent and then expressed a desire that startled her lover.
"No more have I. But I'm not going to let the day pass before I do."