Who'd have fought as you fought--and nearly dead! Who'd have had brains
enough to know just what to do! My darling, that never said 'my darling'
to me, nor heard me call you so. Suppose you haven't a dollar, not a
cent, in the world, and suppose you'll never earn a dollar or a cent in
the world, what difference does that make to me? I could earn it; and
I'd give more for a touch of your finger than a thousand dollars; and
more for a month with you than for a lifetime with the richest man in the
world. You never looked cross at me, or at any one, and you never say an
unkind thing, and you never find fault when you suffer so. You never
hurt any one, I know. You never hurt Vanne Castine--"

Her fingers twitched in her lap, and then clasped very tight, as she went
on:

"You never hurt him, and yet he's tried to kill you in the most awful
way. Perhaps you'll die now--perhaps you'll die to-night--but no, no,
you shall not!" she cried in sudden fright and eagerness, as she got up
and leaned over him. "You shall not die; you shall live--for a while--
oh! yes, for a while yet," she added, with a pitiful yearning in her
voice; "just for a little while--till you love me, and tell me so! Oh,
how could that devil try to kill you!"

She suddenly drew herself up.

"I'll kill him and his bear too--now, now, while you lie there sleeping.
And when you wake I'll tell you what I've done, and you'll--you'll love
me then, and tell me so, perhaps. Yes, yes, I'll--"

She said no more, for her brother entered with the brandy.