He had failed.

He was inarticulate.
He had seen one of the greatest things in the world, and he had not expressed it.
"What did you think of the--" He hesitated, abashed at his first attempt to use a strange word.

"Of the _motif_ ?" he asked.
"It was confused," she answered.

"That is my only criticism in the large way.

I followed the story, but there seemed so much else.