at the
flat, and had a painful scene with Freeland, who lashed out at him,
rolled out a number of hard words, such as 'blackguard,' 'selfish
beast,' etc., etc., but was nonplussed when Charles, not at all
offended, said quietly,--

'Have you finished?'

'No. What do you propose to do about it? The poor child has no
people. Julia and I are father and mother to her. In fact, I regard
her as my adopted daughter.'

'I should always let her do exactly as she wished,' said Charles.

'Will you leave her alone then?'

'Certainly.'

Freeland regarded that as a triumph, but Clara was furious with him for
interfering, and she scolded him until he promised that in future he
would not say a word.

'What are you going to do?' he asked.

'I need a holiday from Charles,' she said--a new idea to Freeland,
whose conception of love was besotted devotion--'and I am going to live
alone for a time.'

Out she went, and before the day was done she had found a furnished
apartment in the dingy region of narrow streets behind Leicester
Square, and for a time she was entirely absorbed in this new
acquisition. It was her own, her very own. It was at the top of the
house, and looked out over roofs and chimneys westward so that she had
the London sunset for comfort and companionship: more than enough,
sweeter intimacy than any she had yet found among human beings, whose
shallow business and fussy importance always hurt and exasperated
her.... More clearly than ever she knew that there was only Charles
and his work that mattered to her at all. She saw him occasionally and
knew that he was entirely happy. He wrote to her every day and his
plans were maturing famously. Lord Verschoyle was more and more
interested, and as his lordship's interest grew so there waxed with it
Charles's idea of his immense wealth. That worried Clara, who wanted
her genius to prove himself in order to command and not to crave
support. But Charles was elated with the success of his advertising
campaign, and at the growth of his prestige among the artists....
'Such a combination has never been known. We shall simply overwhelm
the public.'

Clara's answer to this was to see that his relations with Sir Henry
Butcher were not neglected. The explosion produced by Kitty's
intervention had split their efforts, so that Charles was now working
through Lord Verschoyle, she through Sir Henry Butcher, and once again
she was embarked upon a battle with Charles