"You're the only person besides Mark who listens. There was Jimmy. But that was different. He didn't know things. He's a darling, but he doesn't know things."
"Who is Jimmy?"
"Mark's friend and mine."
"Where is he?"
"In Australia. He can't ever come back, so I shall never see him again."
"I'm glad to hear it."
A sudden, dreadful doubt. She turned to him in the narrow path.
"You aren't laughing at me, are you? You don't think I'm shamming and showing off?"
"I? I? Laughing at you? My poor child—No—"
"They don't understand that you can really love words—beautiful sounds. And thoughts. Love them awfully, as if they were alive. As if they were people."