"But I'm damned if I'm going to tell anybody! It's hell enough without that!" Crowther's hand closed slowly and very steadily on his shoulder.

"It's just hell that I want to save you from, sonny," he said.

"It may seem the hardest part to you now, but if you shirk it you'll go further in still.
I know very well what I'm saying.

And it's just because you're man enough to feel this thing and not a brute beast to forget it, that it's hurt you so infernally all these years.

But it'll hurt you worse, lad, it'll wring your very soul, if you keep it a secret between you and the woman you love.