At last I saw the cathedral towers
here looming over the city. They seemed to say something to me, and when
the boat stopped, I came ashore. I have been here a week. I have not
slept at night--and yet it has been a week of rest!"
It seemed to me that he was in a fair way to recover, and that his own
philosophy, if left to take its time, was adequate to the occasion. After
his story was once told I referred to his grievance but once--that
evening, later, as we were about to separate for the night. "Suffer me
to say that there was some truth in _her_ account of your relations," I
said. "You were using her intellectually, and all the while, without
your knowing it, she was using you. It was diamond cut diamond. Her
needs were the more superficial, and she got tired of the game first." He
frowned and turned uneasily away, but without contradicting me. I waited
a few moments, to see if he would remember, before we parted, that he had
a claim to make upon me. But he seemed to have forgotten it.
The next day we strolled about the picturesque old city, and of course,
before long, went into the cathedral. Pickering said little; he seemed
intent upon his own thoughts. He sat down beside a pillar near a chapel,
in front of a gorgeous window, and, leaving him to his meditations, I
wandered through the church.
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