"Thank you, Mr. Armitage," he said.
"Oh, Potch looked after her. I couldn't get near," John Armitage said.
An extraordinary quiet took possession of Sophie. When she was going down the road with Potch and Michael, she said:
"Did Bully kiss me, Michael?"
"Yes," he replied.
"I don't know what happened then?"
"Arthur Henty knocked him down," Michael said.
She looked at him with scared eyes.
"They want to fight it out ... but they're both drunk. The boys are trying to stop it."
"Oh, Michael!" Sophie cried on a little gasping breath; and looking into her eyes he read her contrition, asking forgiveness, understanding all that he had not been able to explain to her. She did not say, "I'll never sing there, like that, any more." Her feeling was too deep for words; but Michael knew she never would.