And with it the remembrance of what he had done.
He had promised to be Lucy's noble friend, and they had run together to escape from the galloping soldiers.

And he had run faster than she.

And at the top of the ladder--the ladder of safety--_he had not waited for her_.
'Any old hero would have waited for her, and let her go first,' he told himself.

'Any gentleman would--even any _man_--let alone a hero.

And I just bunked down the ladder and forgot her.