Ford didn't bother to answer the question directly, but he assumed from the dark look that crossed his face the answer was obvious.

"I felt like such an idiot the whole time," he complained. He had been stewing in this sentiment since it had happened, but hadn't wanted to bring the incident back up with anyone in order to talk about it. Now that Tycho had (perhaps unwittingly) offered him an outlet, the frustration he'd been feeling gushed out of him like water from a broken dam. "Not like I'm usually — suave and charming, or whatever, but I'm also not utterly useless. But it was like the second I tripped on that gnome my brain went home without me. I made everything worse every time I opened my mouth," he said, which, while an exaggeration, did not feel like one at the moment. "And when I wasn't making everything worse I was just staring at her like a fool. I'm sure she thinks I'm a moron — or a cad. I'd think that."

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