And you and the others think it is I who answer." He laughed, not looking at her: "And it happens that you--and the others--are mistaken.

If I appear to be what you say I am, it is merely a form of self-defence.

Do you think I could endure the empty nonsense of a New York winter if I did not present to it a surface like a sounding-board and let Folly converse with its own echo--while, behind it, underneath it, Duane Mallett goes about his own business." Astonished, not clearly understanding, she listened in absolute silence.
Never in all her life had she heard him speak in such a manner.

She could not make out whether bitterness lay under his light and easy speech, whether a maliciously perverse humour lurked there, whether it was some new mockery.
He said carelessly: "I give what I receive.

And I have never received any very serious attention from anybody.