protection-like

Updated: June 4, 2025

"And supposin' that the first one hadn't claimed her yet, and she'd made the other one leave her, and then the first one come and wanted her to join him in the wickedest thing that ever was, and she wasn't as strong as she had been, and she felt to need the protection-like of the other one: would it be a sin for her to take him back?" Braile made again as if to rise.

William Dean Howells - The Leatherwood God