[He drinks, mulling over Jasper's comments with a sigh. Did Jasper think he left to see if he knew someone among the new arrivals?]

It is a matter of helping, not waiting. Perhaps you do not feel the same desire, but I spent a long time doing what I thought was helping others. Following a duty.

[Perhaps it was a bad idea to bring up such things, but he wasn't the one who opened with that topic.]