And then he went on to explain to Croll what he had wanted to have done,--how necessary it was that the thing should be done, and how terribly cruel it was to him that in such a crisis of his life he should be hampered, impeded,--he did not venture to his clerk to say ruined,--by the ill-conditioned obstinacy of a girl! 
He explained to Croll how necessary it was that the thing should be done, and how terribly cruel it was that he should be hampered - he did not say ruined to his clerk - by the obstinacy of a girl! 