He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock.

“Thirty--the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to…”

“Oh, such a shame, such a shame. Oh, such a shame. What’s it all about anyhow?”“…”

“...and for a moment I thought I loved her. But I am slow-thinking and full of i…”

“Travel, which had once charmed him, seemed, at length, unendurable, a business …”