Though she would never forget and might never forgive his treachery, he was her sole protector in that wilderness of many terrors, and she lacked the resolution to keep him at arm's length.

There was, moreover, something comforting in his presence, something that vastly reassured her, making her lean upon him almost in spite of herself.
"Haven't you slept at all ?" she asked him in wonder.

"How in the world did you keep awake ?" He did not answer her, only laughed again as though at some secret joke.

He seemed to be in rather good spirits, she noticed, and she marvelled at him with a heavy pain at her heart that was utterly beyond expression or relief.
She sat silent for a little, then at length withdrew her hands, assuring him that they were quite warm.
"And I want to talk to you," she added, in a more practical tone than she had previously managed to assume.

"Mr.Ratcliffe, you may be in command of this expedition, but I think you ought to tell me your plans." "Call me Nick, won't you ?" he said.