And then, despair, like misfortune, makes us acquainted with strange bed-fellows.
For she may well have despaired.

She was no longer young--you know.
"On the man's side this conjunction is more difficult to explain, perhaps.

One thing, however, must be said of Bamtz; he had always kept clear of native women.

As one can't suspect him of moral delicacy, I surmise that it must have been from prudence.

And he, too, was no longer young.