. I'll take one of you or both of you by the throat and strangle
the life out of you, before I quit. It isn't," he went on, his face
once more disfigured by that ample sneer, "it isn't that I'm afraid of
his wanting to marry you. He won't do that. But he's one of those who
are fond of messing about--philanderer's the word. If he tries it on
with you, he'll find hell before his time! Sit down!"

She had risen to her feet. He clutched at her skirt. The sense of his
touch--she was peculiarly sensitive to touch--gave her the strength she
needed. She snatched it away.

"Now," she declared', "you have had your say. This is what you get for
it. You have offended me. Our friendship is forgotten. The less I see
of you, the more content I shall be. And as to what I do or what
becomes of me, it isn't your business. I shall do with myself exactly
as I choose--exactly as I choose, Richard Graveling! You hear that?"
she reiterated, with blazing eyes and tone cruelly deliberate. "I
haven't much in the world, but my body and my soul are my own. I shall
give them where I choose, and on what terms I please. If you try to
follow me, you'll put me to the expense of a cab home. That's all!"

She walked away with firm footsteps. She felt stronger, more of a woman
than she had done all day. Graveling made no attempt to follow her. He
sat and smoked in stolid silence.

CHAPTER XIX

Julia was conscious of a new vitality as she left the Park. She was her
own mistress now; her half tie to Graveling was permanently broken. So
much the better! The man's personality had always been distasteful to
her. She had suffered him only as a fellow worker. His overtures in
other directions had kept her in a continual state of embarrassment, but
in her ignorance as to her own feelings, she had hesitated to speak out.
She put sedulously behind her the question of what had brought this new
enlightenment.

She took the Tube to the British Museum and went round to see Aaron.
The house was busier than she had ever seen it before; taxicabs were
coming and going, and four or five people sat in the waiting-room.
Aaron looked up and waved his hand as she entered. He was alone in the
study where he worked.

"Come in," he cried eagerly. "Sit down. It's a joy to see you, Julia,
but I daren't stop working. I've forty or fifty letters to type before
he comes in, and he'll be off again in half-an-hour."

She sank into an easy chair. The atmosphere of the cool ro