She deserved a compliment for one thing; and I tried to pay it, but the words stuck in my throat.

She had a right to kill the boy, but she was in no wise obliged to pay for him.

That was law for some other people, but not for her.

She knew quite well that she was doing a large and generous thing to pay for that lad, and that I ought in common fairness to come out with something handsome about it, but I couldn't--my mouth refused.

I couldn't help seeing, in my fancy, that poor old grandma with the broken heart, and that fair young creature lying butchered, his little silken pomps and vanities laced with his golden blood.