Page:Sanctuary (Wharton 1903).djvu/192

 I was trying for, looking at me without speaking, like old friends I'd gone back on, till I simply could n't stand it any longer. I fought it off till to-night, but when I came back to finish the work there you were again—and suddenly, I don't know how, you were n't an obstacle any longer, but a refuge—and I crawled into your arms as I used to when things went against me at school.&quot;

His hands stole back into hers, and he leaned his head against her shoulder like a boy.

&quot;I'm an abysmally weak fool, you know,&quot; he ended; &quot;I'm not worth the fight you've put up for me. But I want you to know that it's your doing—that if you had let go an instant I should have gone under—and that if I'd gone under I should never have come up again alive.&quot;