"Is there no hope for me?
Perhaps there is somebody else!" "There is nobody else, Mr.Tombey; and, I am sorry to say, you don't know how much it pains me to say it, I cannot hold out any prospect that I shall change my mind." He dropped his head upon his hands for a minute, and then lifted it again.
"Very well," he said slowly; "it can't be helped.

I never loved any woman before, and I never shall again.

It is a pity "-- (with a hard, little laugh)--"that so much first-class affection should be wasted.
But, there you are; it is all part and parcel of the pleasant experiences which make up our lives.

Good-bye, Miss Smithers; at least, good-bye as a friend!" "We can still be friends," she faltered.
"Oh, no," he answered, with another laugh; "that is an exploded notion.
Friendship of that nature is not very safe under any circumstances, certainly not under these.

The relationship is antagonistic to the facts of life, and the friends, or one or other of them, will drift either into indifference and dislike, or--something warmer.