He made her sit where he could see her, and now and then stretched out his hand to her.

Even in his pain he showed a quieter spirit.

"Something may be working--who can tell!" thought Mary.
It was late in the afternoon when at length he sought further conversation.
"I have been thinking, Mary," he said, "that if I do wake up in hell when I die, no matter how much I deserve it, nobody will be the better for it, and I shall be all the worse." He spoke with coolness, but it was by a powerful effort: he had waked from a frightful dream, drenched from head to foot.

Coward?
No.

He had reason to fear.
"Whereas," rejoined Mary, taking up his clew, "everybody will be the better if you keep out of it--everybody," she repeated, "-- God, and Jesus Christ, and all their people." "How do you make that out ?" he asked.