I am not good enough to be company for you.' 'Have I not told you,' said the other fiercely, 'that I have striven and wrestled with the power that brought me here?
Has my whole life, for eight-and-twenty years, been one perpetual struggle and resistance, and do you think I want to lie down and die?
Do all men shrink from death--I most of all!' 'That's better said.

That's better spoken, Rudge--but I'll not call you that again--than anything you have said yet,' returned the blind man, speaking more familiarly, and laying his hands upon his arm.

'Lookye,--I never killed a man myself, for I have never been placed in a position that made it worth my while.

Farther, I am not an advocate for killing men, and I don't think I should recommend it or like it--for it's very hazardous--under any circumstances.

But as you had the misfortune to get into this trouble before I made your acquaintance, and as you have been my companion, and have been of use to me for a long time now, I overlook that part of the matter, and am only anxious that you shouldn't die unnecessarily.