"I wouldn't let life unbuild me."
He did not answer, and presently she asked him a question.
"What d'you think of Johnny Bamsey, Mr. Maynard?"
"Hardly know him well enough to say."
"You know him as well as he knows you—better, because Johnny will be talking more than thinking, same as me. But you're not like that seemingly. In fact, though he's took to you and sees you've got a brain, he says you're rather glum for a young man."
"I expect I am to the eyes of my own generation."
"Why? People ain't glum for nought."
"Oh yes, they are—often for less than nought. It ain't life, it's nature makes many downcast. You see chaps, chin-deep in trouble, always ready to forget it and laugh with the loudest."
"So you do then."
"And others—prosperous men, with nothing to grizzle about—always care-foundered and fretty."