And I had dismantled his, completely and lawfully, in a weekend.

That is the difference, I suppose, between a man who cheats because he thinks he is clever, and a woman who audits for a living.

But I do not want to leave the impression that the speed of Julian’s downfall was a matter of my cleverness against his stupidity, because that would miss the deeper truth of it, which is more sobering and more just.

Julian was not, in fact, stupid.