"That's how I feel," he said sadly, after a long explanation.
Mrs. Thompson had been looking away from him, staring across the river. She held herself rigidly erect, and she spoke now in another voice, with a tone of hardness and coldness.
"I think I recognize the symptoms, Mr. Marsden. When a young man talks like this, the riddle is easy to guess."
"Then guess it."
"Well," she said coldly, "you force me to the only supposition. You are telling me that you have fallen in love."
"Yes."
She winced almost as if he had struck her; and then the parted lips closed, her whole face assumed a stonelike dignity.
"Tell me all about it, Mr. Marsden—since you seem to wish to."
"Love is a great crisis in a man's life. It generally makes him or breaks him forever."
"I hope that fate will read kindly—in your case."