"Oh?"
"But met with no answer."
"Ah."
"Then I spent further years in acquiring money—years of misery they were and years of degradation—that I might discover the secret. I was ruined. I repeat, I was ruined."
"Pardon me. Yes, you were ruined. I am sorry."
"I served as a soldier. I received wounds. I was captive. I was beaten. I escaped. I rose to power. I exploited all modes of living and fulfilling myself, but my experiments brought me no nearer the secret."
"No nearer...."
"Then I set forth on a dreary journey to renew my memory of the Sphinx's face. I sat down beside her. For a long time I learned nothing—the smile seemed hardly less mysterious than it had ever been. Then—but you are not listening...."
"My friend, I am indeed; you were on a dreary journey and——"
"At length one day a youth—but I will not burden you with that, though it was strange...."