Please, sir--please, sir--don't send me away! I--I'd rather die than that." He laid his head suddenly down upon the hand he held so tenaciously and began to sob, fighting desperately to stifle all sound.
Saltash sat for a few moments in utter silence and immobility.

Then, abruptly, in a tense whisper, he spoke: "Toby, you little fool, stop it--stop it, do you hear ?--and go below!" The words held a queer urgency.

He raised himself as he uttered them, seeking to free his hand though with all gentleness from the clinging clasp.
"Get up, boy!" he said.

"Get up and go to bed! What?
Oh, don't cry! Pull yourself together! Toby, do you hear ?" Toby lifted a white, strained face.

His eyes looked enormous in the dim light.