Henrietta nodded, although in that moment she couldn't be sure whether she was capable of saying that with any conviction. She honestly couldn't recall whether she had ever lied before in her life, so she didn't know whether or not she was good at it. Henrietta spoke to strangers so rarely that she didn't have many opportunities. The typical social niceties didn't exactly count; no one thought were serious, anyway, so it didn't matter whether she was particularly sincere or convincing when she said them.

She felt like she ought to say something else, but she couldn't think of what. Thank you was not entirely appropriate, given that her mother had just died and now it sounded as though the entire world was rising up against them outside. Still... he could have left. When her mother first appeared outside, when Henrietta had tried to leave, when Mama had fallen off the boardwalk, once he'd realized there was no hope of saving her. He could have left at any point, because this had never been his mess to start with, but he hadn't — and even if things had gone about as wrong as they could possibly go, it seemed like the sort of thing he deserved at least a little gratitude for. She was frightened of what would happen next and she was feeling adrift and disconnected from everything and she was wet and cold, but at least she wasn't alone.

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