I have thought a great deal, since, about why I told him, this man who was almost a stranger, the thing I had told almost no one.

Part of it was the exhaustion I have described, the simple mechanical failure of a person who has held too much for too long.

But part of it, I think, was that Arthur asked the way no one else had asked.

Most people, when they see your hands shake, look quickly away, embarrassed for you, and change the subject to spare you both.

Arthur did not look away.