"Take this little token, sweet Lucy," said he, throwing about her neck
the chain and casket which he had unbound from his own--"take this
little token of Ralph Colleton's gratitude for this night's good
service. I shall redeem it, if I live, at a more pleasant season, but
you must keep it for me now. I will not soon forget the devotedness with
which, on this occasion, you have perilled so much for a stranger.
Should we never again meet, I pray you to remember me in your prayers,
and I shall always remember you in mine."
He little knew, while he thus spoke in a manner so humbly of himself, of
the deep interest which his uniform gentleness of manner and respectful
deference, so different from what she had been accustomed to encounter,
had inspired in her bosom; and so small at this period was his vanity,
that he did not trust himself for a moment to regard the
conjecture--which ever and anon thrust itself upon him--that the
fearless devotion of the maiden in his behalf and for his safety, had in
reality a far more selfish origin than the mere general humanity of her
sex and spirit.
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