than an intelligent baby."

"I wouldn't have him different. He needn't know anything about other
women, so long as he understands _me_."

"Well, the question is, does he understand himself? What's more, are
you sure you understand him? Ted is two people rolled into one, and very
badly rolled too. The human part of him has hardly begun to grow yet;
he's got no practical common-sense to speak of, and only a rudimentary
heart."

"Oh, Katherine!"

"Quite true,--it's all I had at his age. But the ideal, the artistic
side of him is all but full-grown. That means that it's just at the
critical stage now."

"Of course, I suppose it would be." Audrey always said "Of course" when
she especially failed to see the drift of what was said to her.

"Yes; but do you realise all that the next few years will do for him?
That they will either make or ruin his career as an artist? They ought
to be years of downright hard work, of solitary hard work; he ought to
have them all to himself. Do you mean to let him have them?"

Audrey lowered her eyes, and sat silent, playing with the ribbons of her
dress, while Katherine went on as if to herself--

"He is so young, so dreadfully young. It would have been soon enough in
another ten years' time. Oh, Audrey, why did you let it come to this?"

"Well, really, Katherine, I couldn't help it. Besides, one has one's
feelings. You talk as if I was going to stand in Ted's way--as if I
didn't care a straw. Surely his career must mean more to his wife than
it can to his sister? I know you think that because I haven't been
trained like you, because I've lived a different life from yours, that I
can't love art as you do. You're mistaken. To begin with, I made up my
mind ten years ago that whatever I did when I grew up, I wouldn't marry
a nonentity. What do you suppose Ted's fascination was, if it wasn't his
genius, and his utter unlikeness to anybody else?"

"Geniuses are common enough nowadays; there are plenty more where he
came from."

"How cynical you are! You haven't met many people like Ted, have you?"

"No, I haven't. Oh, Audrey, do you _really_ care like that? I wonder how
I should feel if I were you, and knew that Ted's future lay in my hands,
as it lies in yours."

Audrey's cheeks reddened with pleasure. "It does! It does!" She clasped
her little hands passionately, as if they were holding Ted and his
future tight. "I know it. All I want is to inspire him, to keep him true
to himself