"It sounds like how Hell operates. I don't much like the sound of that at all. I've spent a very long time staying out of Hell. I'm not about to change that now." He's virtually babbling, and for some strange reason it feels good, as though if he could get it all off his chest, everything would be much better.

"I think I may see what you mean. Not to say that I'm not charming and full of delightful wit, or that I don't enjoy a good conversation as much as the next fellow. It's that I can't seem to stop. It's rather embarrassing."

He claps both hands over his mouth. "Yes, I'm new here." It comes out muffled. "People keep saying they know a friend of mine and that he has told them of me. It's very annoying. I don't like being bandied about like a badly kept secret."