"You said--you said yesterday--you had lived straight!" she said, in a low voice.
"Did I?
But what does it matter to you how I live ?" With a touch of recklessness he put the question.

"If Fletcher Hill managed to put the official seal on me, what would it matter to you--now ?" There was almost a note of anger in his voice, yet his hand still held hers in the same close, reassuring grasp.

She could not be afraid.
"It would matter," she said at last.
"I wonder why ?" said Bill Warden.
"Because--we are friends," she said.
He made a sharp sound as of dissent, but he did not openly contradict her.

They were nearing the opening, and the ground was rough and broken.
She stumbled once or twice, and each time he held her up.

Finally they came to a flight of steps that were little more than notches cut steeply in the rock.
"I shall have to carry you here," he said.
Dot looked upwards with sharp dismay.