You are a queer mixture of child and man, of brute
and noble. I only wish that I might read your heart."
"Look down at your feet, Dejah Thoris; it lies there now where it
has lain since that other night at Korad, and where it will ever lie
beating alone for you until death stills it forever."
She took a little step toward me, her beautiful hands outstretched
in a strange, groping gesture.
"What do you mean, John Carter?" she whispered. "What are you
saying to me?"
"I am saying what I had promised myself that I would not say to you,
at least until you were no longer a captive among the green men;
what from your attitude toward me for the past twenty days I had
thought never to say to you; I am saying, Dejah Thoris, that I am
yours, body and soul, to serve you, to fight for you, and to die for
you. Only one thing I ask of you in return, and that is that you
make no sign, either of condemnation or of approbation of my words
until you are safe among your own people, and that whatever
sentiments you harbor toward me they be not influenced or colored
by gratitude; whatever I may do to serve you will be prompted
solely from selfish motives, since it gives me more pleasure to
serve you than not.
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