iends would be glad to see her. It would be
charming to spend a few weeks there with an adequate income; for its
pleasures had hitherto been closed to her, and she looked forward to her
visit as if it were to a foreign city. But though she would not confess
it to herself, her desire to see Arthur was the strongest of her motives.
Time and absence had deadened a little the intensity of her feelings, and
she could afford to acknowledge that she regarded him with very great
affection. She knew that he would never care for her, but she was content
to be his friend. She could think of him without pain.

Susie stayed in Paris for three weeks to buy some of the clothes which
she asserted were now her only pleasure in life, and then went to London.

She wrote to Arthur, and he invited her at once to lunch with him at a
restaurant. She was vexed, for she felt they could have spoken more
freely in his own house; but as soon as she saw him, she realized that
he had chosen their meeting-place deliberately. The crowd of people that
surrounded them, the gaiety, the playing of the band, prevented any
intimacy of conversation. They were forced to talk of commonplaces.
Susie was positively terrified at the change that had taken place in him.
He looked ten years older; he had lost flesh, and his hair was sprinkled
with white. His face was extraordinarily drawn, and his eyes were weary
from lack of sleep. But what most struck her was the change in his
expression. The look of pain which she had seen on his face that last
evening in the studio was now become settled, so that it altered the
lines of his countenance. It was harrowing to look at him. He was more
silent than ever, and when he spoke it was in a strange low voice that
seemed to come from a long way off. To be with him made Susie curiously
uneasy, for there was a strenuousness in him which deprived his manner of
all repose. One of the things that had pleased her in him formerly was
the tranquillity which gave one the impression that here was a man who
could be relied on in difficulties. At first she could not understand
exactly what had happened, but in a moment saw that he was making an
unceasing effort at self-control. He was never free from suffering and he
was constantly on the alert to prevent anyone from seeing it. The strain
gave him a peculiar restlessness.

But he was gentler than he had ever been before. He seemed genuinely glad
to see her and asked about her travels wi