te heartily. He was a voracious eater at times. But
there were days when he ate nothing and worked incessantly.

They had begun dinner late, and the little restaurant was getting empty.
Three sets of diners had gone out since they had sat down. The waiters
were clearing some of the tables. A family party, obviously French,
lingered at a round table in the middle of the room over their coffee. A
pale man sat alone in a corner eating pressed duck with greedy avidity.
And Raoul, leaving Miss Van Tuyn and Garstin, placed a large vase of
roses on a table close to the window near the door.

Miss Van Tuyn happened to see this action, and a vagrant thought slipped
through her mind. "Then we are not the last!"

"My nerves are certainly not fiddle strings," she said. "But I have
interests which pull me towards Paris."

"Greater interests here. Have some more champagne! Raoul!"

"M'sieu!"

"You can't deceive me, Beryl."

"Your pose of omniscience bores me. Apart from your gift you're a very
ordinary man, Dick, if you could only be brought to see it."

"Arabian fascinates you."

"He doesn't."

"And that's why you're afraid of him. You're afraid of his power because
you don't trust him. He's doing a lot for you. You're waking up. You're
becoming interesting. A few days ago you were only a beautiful spoilt
American girl, as cool and as hard as ice, brainy, vain, and totally
without temperament as far as one could see. Your torch was unlit. Now
this blackguard's put the match to it."

"What nonsense, Dick!"

"Raoul!"

"M'sieu?"

"That's all very well. But my intention is to paint him, not you. Why
don't you get to work hard? Why don't you put your back into it?"

"This is beyond bearing, Dick, even from you!"

She was looking really indignant. Her cheeks and forehead had reddened,
her eyes seemed to spit fire at him, and her hands trembled.

"Your absolute lack of decent consideration is--you're canaille! Because
you're impotent to paint I am to--no, it's too much! Canaille! Canaille!
That's what you are! I shall go back to Paris. I shall--"

Suddenly she stopped speaking and stared. The red faded out of her face.
A curiously conscious and intent look came into her eyes. She began to
move her head as if in recognition of some one, stopped and sat rigid,
pressing her lips together till her mouth had a hard grim line. Garstin,
who could only see her and the wall at her back, watched all this with
sharp interest, t