"Ah then I shall have news of her." "I don't want to frighten you, but I think that likely.

However," little Bilham continued, "if I'm of the least use to you to hold on by--!" "You're not of the least!"-- and Strether laid an appreciative hand on him to say it.

"No one's of the least." With which, to mark how gaily he could take it, he patted his companion's knee.

"I must meet my fate alone, and I SHALL--oh you'll see! And yet," he pursued the next moment, "you CAN help me too.

You once said to me"-- he followed this further--"that you held Chad should marry.