Before you came I did nothing but idle and drift into anything that offered itself.

Since you came--well, I've had you to think about." The old illusion that here was some one who needed her aid began to grow in Carrie's mind.

She truly pitied this sad, lonely figure.

To think that all his fine state should be so barren for want of her; that he needed to make such an appeal when she herself was lonely and without anchor.

Surely, this was too bad.
"I am not very bad," he said, apologetically, as if he owed it to her to explain on this score.