"I forget," she said icily, "that you ever did me any wrong."
"And I can't," said he; "I wish to heaven I could. You beheld me to-night in the process of trying—an unedifying sight for Madame la Comtesse de Verneuil."
"An unedifying sight for anybody," said Joanna.
He bowed his head. Something pathetic in his attitude touched her. She was a tender-hearted woman. Her hand caught his sleeve.
"Gaston, why have you come down to this? You of all men?"
"Because I am the one poor fool of all poor fools who takes life seriously."
Joanna sighed. "I can't understand you."
"Is there any necessity?"
"You belong to a time when one wanted to understand everything. Now nothing much matters. But curiously in your case the desire has returned."
"You understood me well enough to be sure that when you wanted me I would be at your service."