It occurred to Stas that if Nell were a negress she would have been pounced upon at once, and that in part she owed her preservation to the astonishment of the beast, which seeing before it for the first time a being unknown to it, for a while was uncertain what to do.
A chill passed through the boy's bones.
"Thank God! Thank God that I returned!"
After which he asked further:
"What were you thinking of at that moment?"
"I wanted to call you, and—I could not—but—"
"But what?"
"But I thought that you would protect me—I myself do not know—"
Saying this she again threw her little arms around his neck, and he began to stroke her tufts of hair.
"You are not afraid, now?"