[ ...silence, wherein Hal experiences a gamut of emotion as follows: he's relieved not to be obliged to explain (and not to be belittled, frankly), and--touched, he thinks; most people don't understand that much about his condition (his own personal euphemism), or even if they do a concession like that wouldn't occur. So he's subdued. ]
no subject
That's very kind of you.
[ Much more genuine now. ]