"Not me, David," she said softly, as if correcting him.

"You don't mean that it is me ?" she said coaxingly.

"David," she cried, "say it is not me!" He drooped his head, but not before he had seen all the brightness die out of her face.

"Is it so painful to you even to hear me say it ?" he asked gravely.
Her joy had been selfish as her sorrow was.

For nigh a minute she had been thinking of herself alone, it meant so much to her; but now she jumped up and took his hand in hers.
"Poor David!" she said, making much of his hand as if she had hurt it.
But David Gemmell's was too simple a face to oppose to her pitying eyes, and presently she let his hand slip from her and stood regarding him curiously.