"So you meant to buy me, sir—as you would a horse or dog?"
"No," said Barnabas, without looking up, and speaking almost humbly.
"It would have been the same thing, sir," she continued, a little more haughtily in consequence. "You would have put upon me an obligation I could never, never have hoped to repay?"
"Yes, I see my error now," said Barnabas, his head sinking lower. "I acted for the best, but I am a fool, and a clumsy one it seems. I meant only to serve you, to fulfil the mission you gave me, and I blundered—because I am—very ignorant. If you can forgive me, do so."
Now this humility was new in him, and because of this, and because she was a woman, she became straightway more exacting, and questioned him again.
"But why—why did you do it?"
"You asked me to save your brother, and I could see no other way—"
"How so? Please explain."
"I meant to free him from the debt which is crushing him down and unmanning him."
"But—oh, don't you see—he would still be in debt—to you?"