THE BULLY MEETS HIS MASTER
The ache and pain in her whole being was no greater than the colossal desire Dick had to comfort and shield her. He rushed toward her with his arms reached out to infold, but she pushed him back, and said hoarsely: “No! No! I sha’n’t let you! It would be an insult now!”
Her eyes were filled with a light he had never seen in them before, a commanding flame that held him in check and stupefied him, as he tried to reason why his love at that moment would be an insult. It did not dawn on him that he was putting himself in the position of one who was proffering silence for affection. All he knew was that everything in the world seemed against him, and, overstrained to the breaking point, he was a mere madman.
“You brought her here?” he hoarsely questioned Bill.
“I did.”
“And told her that her father was under us?”
“Yes.”
“And that I was to be kept above ground?”
“Of course, and I had a reason, because––”