o find some means to please her. He was dissatisfied about
her.

He came back, went into his room, and his spirits incalculably raised by
the cessation of the torture, he went and sat by the window, and looked
out at the lovely garden.

It was a hot summer day; a little wind was in the trees.

Exactly under the window, on the little verandah, sat Harry with
Valentia. Daphne was no longer there.

They were talking; and talking, it seemed to him, in an agitated way.

Leaning a little over he could see Valentia on a bamboo chair. To his
horror he saw that she was crying.

Harry, speaking in a suppressed but rather angry voice, appeared to be
trying to comfort her.

Without a second's hesitation or a moment's scruple, Romer intently
listened. He did not hide or draw behind the curtain. He remained in
full view, in the window, so that they could see him easily if they
happened to look up. But they did not; they were far too much
preoccupied.... He heard Harry speaking volubly, saying, in a tone of
irritated apology and explanation--

"My dear girl, I do wish to heaven you wouldn't take it like that. I
haven't changed--I never shall. I don't care two straws about Miss
Walmer. But really, it is such a splendid chance for me! You ought no
more to expect me to give it up than any other good business opportunity
that might crop up."

"I should never see you again," she answered, her voice broken by sobs.

"Yes, you would. We should be the same as ever. You know we can't do
without each other. You're part of my life."

He spoke casually, but with irritation, as if mentioning a self-evident
fact.

"Oh yes, you say that," she answered sadly. "But nothing could alter the
fact that you wish to be treacherous, and throw me over--and just for
money! It's simply degrading. It's all nonsense to say it will be just
the same!"

"Well, of course--for a time--immediately after the marriage--it
couldn't be; but it would gradually drift into very much the same."

"It wouldn't, even if it could, because I should never see you again,"
she repeated.

Harry stood up with his hands in his pockets, his shoulders raised.

Romer could see his face quite plainly, and wondered at its hard,
selfish, almost cruel expression.

"Well, if you won't you won't," he said. "How can I waste all my life
dangling after a woman who is married to somebody else? I should be only
too delighted--if I could afford it. But I can't, and that's the brut