It was a
foolish thing to do.'
"'Yes, it was rather,' said the other man.
"A few days afterwards the man and woman met at a reception. He found
her in a leafy corner of the garden talking to some friends. She
advanced to meet him, holding out her hand. 'What can I say more than
thank you?' she murmured in a low voice.
"The others moved away, leaving them alone. 'They tell me you risked
your life to save his?' she said.
"'Yes,' he answered.
"She raised her eyes to his, then struck him across the face with her
ungloved hand.
"'You damned fool!' she whispered.
"He seized her by her white arms, and forced her back behind the orange
trees. 'Do you know why?' he said, speaking slowly and distinctly;
'because I feared that, with him dead, you would want me to marry you,
and that, talked about as we have been, I might find it awkward to avoid
doing so; because I feared that, without him to stand between us, you
might prove an annoyance to me--perhaps come between me and the woman I
love, the woman I am going back to. Now do you understand?'
"'Yes,' whispered the woman, and he left her.
"But there are only two people," concluded Jephson, "who do not regard
his saving of the husband's life as a highly noble and unselfish action,
and they are the man himself and the woman.
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