Not a word had she wherewith to answer him.
The sight of her, thus, affected him oddly.

His passion for her surged up, aroused by pity for her plight, and awakened in him a sense of his brutality.

A faint flush stirred in his cheeks.

He stepped quickly to her, and caught her hand.

She let it lie, cold and inert, within his nervous grasp.
"Ruth, Ruth!" he cried, and his voice was for once unsteady.