"Certainly, sir."
When they had passed from the cottage, Mr. Jackson turned to the boy and grasped his hand.
"I have not yet expressed to you my obligations," he said, with emotion, "for the great service you have done me—the greatest in the power of any man, or boy."
"Don't speak of it, sir," said Grit modestly.
"But I must. You have saved the life of my darling boy."
"I don't know, sir."
"But I do. I cannot swim a stroke, and but for your prompt bravery, he would have drowned before my eyes."
Grit could not well contradict this statement, for it was incontestably true.
"It was lucky I could swim," he answered.
"Yes, it was. It seems providential that I should have had with me so brave a boy, when Willie's life was in peril. It will be something that you will remember with satisfaction to the end of your own life."