Conversationally, this seems to describe a charming, emotive sympathy with her interlocutor. But in its larger meaning, "self-forgetfulness" is of course the essence of altruism. "Universal comprehension," in turn, is exactly what Nostromo posits as impossible in the world of isolating subjectivity. (See .) Note that Mrs Gould only "suggests" the latter; she does not achieve it. The passage's hidden meaning can be translated as: "The impression of understanding another human being can be given only by forgetting the isolating limits of the self," though this bleak interpretation is concealed by a narrative charm mirroring Mrs Gould's own.