“He means, Coppy, that even though he had no intention of getting engaged or married, or otherwise entangled, he has discovered – probably with disgust – that the light of Reason has been put out and that he has been forced, against every prompting of intelligence, common sense and will-power, to chuck himself and his future at your feet, because he knows that unless you can be persuaded to pick them up, neither the one or the other will ever be of any value to him again.”
