"Aye, you will be very sorry for that, no doubt," ironically.
"Yes," she returned, with the sweet candor natural to her; "far more sorry than I would have expected or believed."
He laughed a low, bitter laugh, that went to the girl's heart.
"And you think I shall credit that?"
"Why not? one must always believe the truth," she returned, simply. "When I first came here I pitied you dreadfully, and yet I was half afraid of you. I do not fear you at all now."
"Indeed!"
"Your moroseness used to terrify, but now I do not seem to mind all your hard words; they lurk under kind actions, and so they have lost their sting. It was kindness that prompted you to send me all those pretty things."
"Humph, I see the reason for all this civility now."
Queenie's eyes rested tenderly on the worn, cadaverous face.
"You see I am longing to thank you, and yet I hardly know how to do so without giving you offence."