before he could utter a word in answer, she said, looking at him reproachfully the while—
"You doubt me, sir; I can see it in your face! But, tell me, did I not stay the hand of Ben the Blast, when he would have shot you down? Did you not see how I caused his pistol to fall into the water? Wherefore should I have acted so, I, who can fight as well as I can love, but for some feeling for you which was not that of an enemy.
"'Tis true you saved me from that bullet, and I am grateful, Ann," said Tregenna. "And I will hope you think too gravely of your own case, and that I may soon be able to send you back on shore. Drink this, drink it, and it will, I hope, put some life into you, some warmth, as it did before!"
The reminder brought a tinge of color to Ann's white face.
"Raise my head with your arm then, sir," said she, "and I will drink, since 'tis you who bid me!"
She gave him another long look, passionate, earnest, full of a strange, mysterious pain. Then, having sipped the cordial, she drew a long breath, as if its potency were too great
