"If I'd loved him?"
"Yes. If you'd gone away with him and made him happy. If you hadn't laughed at him, Barbara."
"I know. It was awful of me. But what could I do?"
"What could you do? We all do it. I do it. Mrs. Levitt did it."
"I didn't do it like Mrs. Levitt."
"No. But you were just one more. Think of it. All his life to be laughed at. And when he was making love, too; the most serious thing, Barbara, that anybody can do. I tell you I can't bear it. I'd have given him to you ten times first."
"Then," said Barbara, "you have got to forgive me."
"If I don't, it's because it's my own sin and I can't forgive myself….
"… Besides, I let it happen. Because I thought it would cure him."
"Of falling in love?"