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 things away with that dim gesture. "Of course," he said, "I shall go back.

"It is not my fault," he insisted, "that this trouble, this separation, has ever arisen. I was moody, I was preoccupied, I know—things had got into my head. But if I'd been left alone.

"I have been forced into this position," he summarised.

"You understand," said Melville, "that—though I think matters are indefined and distressing just now—I don't attach blame—anywhere."

"You're open-minded," said Chatteris. "That's just your way. And I can imagine how all this upset and discomfort distresses you. You're awfully good to keep so open-minded and not to consider me an utter outcast, an ill-regulated disturber of the order of the world."

"It's a distressing state of affairs," said Melville. "But perhaps I understand