"I helped you—how? I was merely a spectator."
"That was quite sufficient. I felt your eyes were upon me. I fancied I had your approval."
"I most heartily wished you success," she rejoined, again blushing deeply. "But I think you are excessively rash. Suppose the caissons had been fired, you would have been destroyed by the explosion."
"In that case I might have had your sympathy."
"Yes, but my sympathy would have been worth very little. It would not have brought you to life."
"It would have made death easy."
"With such exalted sentiments, 'tis a pity you did not live in the days of chivalry."
"If I had I would have maintained the peerless beauty of the dame I worshipped against all comers."
"Now you are beginning to talk high-flown nonsense, so I must stop you."
But she did not look offended.