"I have brought the latest news—I have been abroad since my last visit here."
"Abroad again?"
"I'll tell you about that presently. If you're not too busy this morning, and I'm not too unwelcome an intruder, I should be glad to inform you how I fared by following your advice."
"You are not unwelcome, Maurice, though I cannot say that there is any great amount of pleasure experienced by your visit to me."
"Still cold—still unapproachable, after forgiving all the past!"
"But not forgetting, Maurice. You bring the past in with you—I hear it in every accent of your voice; all the figures belonging to it start forth like spectres to dismay me."
"Your past has no reproaches—what is it to mine?"
"A regret is as keen as a reproach."
"Ah! you regret the past!—some act in it, perhaps?" said Maurice, with curiosity.
"We should scarcely be mortal if we could look back without regrets, I think."