"
"You must not think about it at all," replied Dan.
"And why not? That night I hung at the mercy of your strength and
endurance to pain, when you could easily have saved yourself by letting
me go. Ah, don't deny it," as Dan made a gesture. "I know! My life
was in your keeping, to save it or let it go, as you willed. Daniel
Merrithew, do you ever feel that now you have the right to be
interested in that life that you alone saved?"
"What do you mean?" Dan was looking at her curiously.
The girl laughed excitedly.
"Oh, I don't know exactly what I do mean--except, except that I have
simply felt, well, as though I have no right to be altogether my own
selfish self--in the way I used to be, I mean; that I have no longer an
absolute right---- Oh, how can I explain it clearly? Let us say that
I have a conviction that any serious change I might wish to make in my
life should not be done without--well, not consent, exactly, but good
wishes--no, I mean consent. There, that may be putting it clumsily,
but don't you understand?"
Dan flushed. "I have saved lives before," he said; "and twice men have
saved my life, and I never felt,--felt the way you say toward my
rescuers."
"But that is different; it is impossible to compare man's attitude
toward man as you would a woman's.
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