And perhaps that is why I did it.

You are right.

I haven't acted the part of a gentleman all through this miserable business.

But what could you expect?
For you see, my father worked his own way up, and my grandfather was a crofter--and I haven't got the blood of Irish kings, on the other side, behind me.
Now I'm being nasty, as you used to say in the old Bungroopim days when I wouldn't play.

YOU were my Ideal, in those days, Joan--before you went and got married.