"Oh Lord," he said wearily, "this is a mess all around. You don't know what a mess it is, Michael. But all I can tell you is, don't fall in love with Thusis! Because it won't do you any good."
"What do you mean? Do you know who Thusis really is?"
"No, I don't. But I do know that it will do you no good to fall in love with her."
"Has it done you any good to fall in love with her sister Clelia?" I retorted sharply.
"Not a particle."
"Then why have you done it?"
He winced but said pleasantly: "I fell in love with her before I realized it. Now I'm falling out of love with her. I'm curing myself.... Besides, she cares nothing about me.... It will be easier for me to cure myself than for you to recover if you fall in love."
"Thusis will not listen to a serious word from me," said I with sudden bitterness. "I ought to try to cure myself now! ... But I don't want to."
"Michael," he said, "the pretty Thusis, also, had better be very careful, because she already is as close to caring for you seriously as it is safe for any young girl to care for a man whom she knows she never is going to marry."
"Why do you say that?"