"And anyway, you'll agree I've not laid my hands upon them." "Far from it, far from it," he laughed a moment later.
I made no reply.

I was incapable of speaking, my mind was too confused.
I must have time to think, I knew.

This woman, sleeping even now in the spare cabin, was a responsibility, which I must consider, and the only rational thought that flickered through my mind was that I must do nothing hastily if I were to be any help to her at all..