Greta carefully sets down her cup, brow furrowing. Johnny had spoken of his past as if it was a sickness, and she hadn't quite believed him because it had seemed impossible. How could one person's history take root in someone else? Or was it just that Johnny was so unused to sympathy that that struck him as poisonous? As if concern for him was something he infected people with?

But here's the Balladeer looking distinctly worn - enough so that she thought he might be ill in earnest. Whatever he thinks of Johnny, she's certain he's not suffering from too much pity for the lad.

"I wish you wouldn't," she says quietly. "It doesn't look as if it's been very good for you."