"I couldn't stop to consult you," he said. "I saw this hole, and I made for it. I climbed up with you across my shoulder."
"You are wonderfully strong," she said, in a tone of surprise.
He laughed openly.
"Notwithstanding my size," he said. "Yes; I'm fairly muscular, thank Heaven."
Evelyn's mind was still working round the problem of deliverance.
"We shall have to stay here for hours," she said, "even if—if——"
He interrupted her with grave authority.
"There is no 'if,' Miss Harford," he said. "We may have to spend some hours here; but it will be in safety."
"I don't see how you can tell," she ventured to remark, beginning to look around her with greater composure notwithstanding.
"Providence doesn't play practical jokes of that sort," said Cheveril quietly. "Do you know I have come from the other end of the earth to see you?"