If you cannot preserve me from threatening perils no man could, for you are as brave and gallant a gentleman as lives on the earth today." Now, the strange feature of this extraordinary and unexpected outburst of pent-up emotion was that the girl pronounced his name with the slightly emphasized accentuation of one who knew it to be a mere disguise.

The man was so taken aback by her declaration of faith that the minor incident, though it did not escape him, was smothered in a tumult of feeling.
He could not trust himself to speak.

He rose hastily and seized the axe to deliver a murderous assault upon a sago palm that stood close at hand.
Iris was the first to recover a degree of self-possession.

For a moment she had bared her soul.

With reaction came a sensitive shrinking.