ItwasRachel’sturnnowtofeeldepressed。Ashetalkedofwritinghehadbecomesuddenlyimpersonal。Hemightnevercareforanyone；
allthatdesiretoknowherandgetather，whichshehadfeltpressingonheralmostpainfully，hadcompletelyvanished。
“Areyouagoodwriter？“sheasked。
“Yes，“hesaid。“I’mnotfirst-rate，ofcourse；I’mgoodsecond-rate；
aboutasgoodasThackeray，Ishouldsay。“