[ He shrugs with one shoulder. ]

It's of the past. What 'and' is there to it?

I thought I should have died for it, but some fools believed hard enough to fight for me to survive it. And now, here I am.

I certainly wish it hadn't happened, but I can hardly keep on living the rest of my life on knife's edge for any slip and fall. 'Twould be disingenuous to those who had helped me, and brought in a new age of peace.