CHAPTERSEVEN——ONTHEPAVEMENT
Fynewasnotwillingtotalk；butasIhadbeenalreadyletintothesecret，thefair-mindedlittlemanrecognizedthatIhadsomerighttoinformationifIinsistedonit。AndIdidinsist，afterthethirdgame。Wewereyetsomewayfromtheendofourjourney。”Oh，ifyouwanttoknow，”washissomewhatimpatientopening。Andthenhetalkedrathervolubly。FirstofallhiswifehadnotgivenhimtoreadtheletterreceivedfromFloraIhadsuspectedhimofhavingitinhispocket，buthadtoldhimallaboutthecontents。
Itwasnotatallwhatitshouldhavebeenevenifthegirlhadwishedtoaffirmherrighttodisregardthefeelingsofalltheworld。Herownhadbeentrampledinthedirtoutofallshape。
Extraordinarythingtosay——Iwouldadmit，forayounggirlofherage。Thewholetoneofthatletterwaswrong，quitewrong。Itwascertainlynottheproductofa——say，ofawell-balancedmind。”Ifsheweregivensomesortoffootinginthisworld，”Isaid，”ifonlynobiggerthanthepalmofmyhand，shewouldprobablylearntokeepabetterbalance。”
Fyneignoredthislittleremark。Hiswife，hesaid，wasnotthesortofpersontobeaddressedmockinglyonaserioussubject。