hehadtoldmeto“shutit，“onlyundersudden，excessiveprovocation，andwith，Iamcertain，asubsequentrepentance；hewas，Iknew，quitegladtobeseenwalkingaboutthevillagewithme。Induecourse，heacceptedtheproposalofapipeandwhiskyinmyroomsreadilyenough，andthere，scentingbysomehappyinstinctthattherewastroubleoftheheartinthis，andknowingthatconfidencesbegetconfidences，Ipliedhimwithmuchofinterestandsuggestionfrommyrealandfictitiouspast。Anditwasafterthethirdwhiskyofthethirdvisitofthatsort，ifIrememberrightly，thataproposofsomeartlessexpansionofalittleaffairthathadtouchedandleftmeinmyteens，thathedidatlast，ofhisownfreewillandmotion，breaktheice。“Itwaslikethatwithme，“hesaid，“overthereatAldington。It’sjustthatthat’ssorum。FirstIdidn’tcareabitanditwasallher，andafterwards，whenitwastoolate，itwas，inamannerofspeaking，allme。“
Iforboretojumpuponthisallusion，andsohepresentlythrewoutanother，andinalittlewhilehewasmakingitasplainasdaylightthattheonethinghewantedtotalkaboutnowwasthisFairylandadventurehehadsattightuponforsolong。Yousee，I’ddonethetrickwithhim，andfrombeingjustanotherhalf-incredulous，would-befacetiousstranger，Ihad，byallmywealthofshamelessself-exposure，becomethepossibleconfidant。Hehadbeenbittenbythedesiretoshowthathe，too，hadlivedandfeltmanythings，andthefeverwasuponhim。
Hewascertainlyconfoundedlyallusiveatfirst，andmyeagernesstoclearhimupwithafewprecisequestionswasonlyequalledandcontrolledbymyanxietynottogettothissortofthingtoosoon。
Butinanothermeetingorsothebasisofconfidencewascomplete；
andfromfirsttolastIthinkIgotmostoftheitemsandaspects——