“I can’t hear what you say so far away.”
He moved across the room and stood on the hearth beside her, towering above her, with his eyes on the opposite wall.
“I don’t know why I came here at all,” he continued; “but it didn’t seem any use going anywhere else. Why did you run away in the middle! Did you want to punish my presumption for wishing to try and distinguish myself before you, as well as save a woman’s life and honour?”
A little smile shone in Hal’s eyes, where the firelight caught them.
“I can’t hear what you say, right up there, near the ceiling.”
He looked down at the dark shapely head, and something in her poise and in her voice made his heart suddenly begin to thump rather wildly.
“I haven’t got a beanstalk,” she added.
He leaned a little towards her.
“And if you had?” he asked tensely.
“If I had, I would perhaps climb up it.”