the sort of man I was in those days.'

'You're saying that to--to help me,' she said in a low voice.

'No. I have felt like that about it for years.'

'I treated you shamefully.'

'Nothing of the kind. There's a certain sort of man who badly
needs a--jolt, and he has to get it sooner or later. It happened
that you gave me mine, but that wasn't your fault. I was bound to
get it--somehow.' I laughed. 'Fate was waiting for me round the
corner. Fate wanted something to hit me with. You happened to be
the nearest thing handy.'

'I'm sorry, Peter.'

'Nonsense. You knocked some sense into me. That's all you did.
Every man needs education. Most men get theirs in small doses, so
that they hardly know they are getting it at all. My money kept me
from getting mine that way. By the time I met you there was a
great heap of back education due to me, and I got it in a lump.
That's all.'

'You're generous.'

'Nothing of the kind. It's only that I see things clearer than I
did. I was a pig in those days.'

'You weren't!'