She was piteously anxious to have him think kindly of her, and this made itself felt through Harry's roughest mood; then he had an absurd impulse to throw out his arms and offer her protection and tenderness.

Absurd because, turning towards her, he was compelled to look upwards into her eyes, and the tall, strong figure at his side, walking erect, with firm square shoulders, dwarfed his conceit till he felt himself morally and physically a pigmy.
Their conversation drifted to dangerous ground.
'Have you found nothing to help poor Frank ?' she asked.
'Nothing,' he said sharply and suspiciously.
'I am sorry.

Oh! how I wish I could aid you!' 'There's one man that might do that, but he won't.' 'One man?
One?
You said that strangely.

One man?
Who would be so brutal ?' His silence stung her.

She turned sharply.
'Oh, you don't mean--surely, surely you don't mean father ?' Again he did not answer.
'It is not right,' she cried out.