You must believe that we are really interested in you," he continued, laying a kindly hand on the young fellow's shoulder.

"You seem in a bad way, it's true, but your condition is far from desperate.
Patsy's frankness--it's her one fault and her chief virtue--led you to talk about yourself, and I'm surprised to find you so despondent and--and--what do you call it, Beth ?" "Pessimistic ?" "That's it--pessimistic." "But you're wrong, sir!" said the boy with a smile; "I may not be elated over my fatal disease, but neither am I despondent.

I force myself to keep going when I wonder how the miserable machine responds to my urging, and I shall keep it going, after a fashion, until the final breakdown.
Fate weaves the thread of our lives, I truly believe, and she didn't use very good material when she started mine.

But that doesn't matter," he added quickly.

"I'm trying to do a little good as I go along and not waste my opportunities.