"So did he--then." "Not he!" The deep voice held unutterable contempt.

"He wanted to make his fortune out of you, that's all.

He didn't care whether you lived or died, the damn' cur!" She shrank at the fierce words, and was instantly aware of the jealous closing of his arms about her.
"You aren't going to break your heart for a dirty swab like that," he said, with more of insistence than interrogation in his voice.

"Look you here, Columbine! You're too honest to care for a beast like that.
Why--though I pulled him out of the quicksand and saved him from the sea--I'd have wrung his neck if he'd stayed another day.

I would that." She started at the fiery declaration, and raised her head.