“No such luck,” he corrected grimly. “That young man was given a choice. The moment he was willing to marry the girl he could have walked out of the room free. I do not recall Prothero's saying I can escape death by any such charming alternative.” The girl interrupted quickly.
“No,” she said; “you are not at all like that young man. He stumbled in by chance. You came on purpose to help me. It was fine, unselfish.”
“It was not,” returned Ford. “My motive was absolutely selfish. It was not to help you I came, but to be able to tell about it later. It is my business to do that. And before I saw you, it was all in the day's work. But after I saw you it was no longer a part of the day's work; it became a matter of a life time.”
The girl at his side laughed softly and lightly. “A lifetime is not long,” she said, “when you are locked in a room and a madman is shooting at you. It may last only an hour.”
“Whether it lasts an hour or many years,” said Ford, “it can mean to me now only one thing——” He turned quickly and looked in her face boldly and steadily: “You,” he said.
The girl did not avoid his eyes, but returned his glance with one as steady as his own. “You are an amusing person,” she said. “Do you feel it is necessary to keep up my courage with pretty speeches?”
“I made no pretty speech,” said Ford. “I proclaimed a fact. You are the most charming person that ever came into my life, and whether Prothero shoots us up, or whether we live to get back to God's country, you will never leave it.”
The girl pretended to consider his speech critically. “It would be almost a compliment,” she said, “if it were intelligent, but when you know nothing of me—it is merely impertinent.”
“I know this much of you,” returned Ford, calmly; “I know you are fine and generous, for your first speech to me, in spite of your own danger, was for my safety. I know you are brave, for I see you now facing death without dismay.”
He was again suddenly halted by, two sharp reports. They came from the room directly below them. It was no longer possible to pretend to misinterpret their significance.