"Oh, I dare say you wouldn't think it's dreadful," he said, with bitterness. "It's simply the case of a man who has made a fool of himself and sees no help of retrieval in himself."
"Can any one else help a man unmake a fool of himself?" she asked, with a smile.
"Yes. In a case like this."
"Dear me! This is very interesting."
She did not ask him what the case was, but he was launched now, and he pressed on. "I am the man who has made a fool of himself—"
"Oh!"
"And you can help me out if you will. Alma, I wish you could see me as I really am."
"Do you, Mr. Beaton? Perhaps I do."
"No; you don't. You formulated me in a certain way, and you won't allow for the change that takes place in every one. You have changed; why shouldn't I?"
"Has this to do with your having made a fool of yourself?"