"I didn't want you to think something else."
"What? What should I think?"
His voice was thick and rapid, his eyes burned.
"That you'd made a mess of my life, my dear."
"When did I make a mess of your life?"
"Never mind when. I might have married, only I didn't. That's the difference between me and you."
"And that's how I made a mess of your life, is it? I haven't made a furious success of my own, have I?"
"I wouldn't have brought it up against you, if you had. The awful thing was to stand by, and see you make a sinful muddle of it"
"A sinful muddle?"
"Yes. That's what it's been. A sinful muddle."