SOMBRE Bill Clinton looked devastated, as if he still could not fully take in the enormity of what had happened.
He offered his hand, smiled sadly and then shook his head.
The sparkle has disappeared from his eyes. They used to gleam mischievously. Now they are cold.
He expressed his absolute horror at the atrocities two weeks ago and paid tribute to the British families who have suffered in the disaster.
When I met him in January just after he had left the White House, he was excited, a man enthusiastically looking forward to the future.
Nine months ago he was the most powerful man in the world. Now he is a grief counsellor.
The stress is clearly getting to him. His eyes are baggy and he has a large red boil on his nose. But he is determined to do as much as he can to help.
He said: "It makes me so sad that some of your people were caught up in this tragedy. My daughter and I went to the memorial service for the missing British people.
"I spent two years in Britain so I feel an affinity with your people.
"After the service, I met a lot of British families because I wanted to thank them for their friendship and support.
"I've told them I am glad so many Brits choose to live and work in this country and I hope that won't change.
"I was incredibly moved by how brave the British families were."
Clinton has been spending as much time as possible in New York, where he was with Cherie Blair at a fire-station memorial to 10 lost rescuers. He has been helping counsel so many people it has caused major problems for his secret service personnel.
He has been visiting the Armoury and Pier 94 where families queue to register their loved ones as missing.
He has shared hugs with hundreds of grieving relatives - among them Colombian Sonia Bermudez who lost her husband at the Trade Center and must now bring up their unborn child alone.
Mr Clinton is "so proud" of the bravery of the firefighters, police officers and the entire rescue team down at Ground Zero, where the twin towers once stood.
Talking in New York, he said: "I know the idea that several hundred firemen died trying to save people has become, for the British people, a symbol of the courage of the New Yorkers and the Americans. And I think that's true."
The former president paused for a second and then said: "Every time I turn around, I see someone else who lost a fireman."
He vowed that the terrorists would never win this war."The worst moment for me was while I was watching events unfold on television. At the bottom of the screen, there was a ticker tape with information running across it.
"They were listing the names of passengers who had been on those doomed aeroplanes.
"I suddenly recognised someone I knew. He was a good guy, a man who helped me out in my work.
"That was the moment that a national and international tragedy had, for me, a human face."
Struggling to take in the scale of the horror, he said: "I think we were all in shock for a few days. Now we are having to get used to the idea that we have been struck by tragedy and I am confident we will recover OK. It is still incredibly upsetting for everyone.
"I have been three times to the family crisis centres and it breaks my heart to see families holding these flyers with pictures of their loved ones.
"They describe that person's age, perhaps their height or what they were wearing on that terrible day.
"For me that will always be an enduring image of this disaster: those people just waiting to learn the worst about their loved ones.
"These people, including the British missing, were just regular people going about their lives.
"That is something bin Laden does not think about.
"It will stay with me for the rest of my life. I will remember their faces and how they came from all over the world to suffer and almost certainly die in the Trade Center."
He backed President Bush and his strong words over recent days.
"I'm sure all Americans will back the president and I've been pleased with the support he's been getting from all over the world."
Clinton was in Australia on a speaking tour when the attacks came. He explained how he returned: "The Bush administration was kind enough to give me a plane. I thought I should be back in America and back in New York.
