Grandmère stroked my head and hugged me.
"Julian," she said softly. "You are so young. The things you did, you know they were not right. But that does not mean you - P83
are not capable of doing right. It only means that you chose todo wrong. This is what I mean when I say you made a mistake. It was the same with me. I made a mistake with Tourteau.
"But the good thing about life, Julian," she continued, "is that we can fix our mistakes sometimes. We learn from them. We get better. I never made a mistake like the one I made with Tourteau again, not with anyone in my life. And I have had avery, very long life. You will learn from your mistake, too. You must promise yourself that you will never behave like that with anyone else again. One mistake does not define you, Julian. Doyou understand me? You must simply act better next time."
I nodded, but I still cried for a long, long time after that. - P84