17/39 The words which came from him were involuntary; he heard them as if another had spoken. But in the doing it she became frightened; his face had altered, it was as if he suffered a horrible pain. Then she heard: 'Will you trust your life to me, Thyrza ?' It was like a flash, dazzling her brain. Never in her idlest moment had she strayed into a thought of this. He had always seemed to her comparatively an old man, and his gravity would in itself have prevented her from viewing him as a possible suitor. |