For this reason I could never forgive myself if harm befell him on such a journey.

'T would be as if I had lured him to his death.

So 'tis for my sake, not his, that I ask the favor." I leaned against the log wall and thought quickly, her anxious eyes never leaving my face.

There came into my mind a conviction that the girl really loved him; and this made the struggle harder for me to serve him.

Nor did I see clearly how it could well be done, save through a sacrifice of myself, such as I had never intended.
"Surely," she urged, "your wits will conceive some way in which it may be done ?" "Yes," I answered, eager now to hide my own feeling from her; "'tis not hopeless.