Gabriel often found that those in the worst positions were already born in miserable circumstances that prevented them from rising above it. "I'm sorry you and your mother have lived such a rough life," he said, and he meant it, though it was hard to feel more than an intellectual empathy when his heart was still so eager to maintain the distance between them. "And... this thing between your mother and... your father... my father, if its true, when would it have taken place?"