down and wept, and began to tumble out the whole ridiculous
story of his life; his perpetual disappointment: his terror of being
bound down to anything except the work in which he felt so free, so
wholly master of himself and his destiny; his delight in at last
finding in her a true companion who, unlike all other women, allowed
him to be something more than her possession.

'I'm afraid,' he said in the end, 'that I have never understood women.'

'Leave it to me.' Poor Clara felt that if she tried to explain any
more her head would burst.

He looked up at her gratefully and was at once happy again.

'It was my fault,' said Clara. 'It wouldn't have happened if I'd
thought about life at all. But it was so wonderful being with you and
making your work come to life that I never thought about the rest....
I never looked at it from the woman's point of view, as, being a woman,
I ought to have done.... I think the shock has made me a woman.... I
don't think anything will ever make you a man.'

Charles gaped at her, but was not the least bit hurt. He did not
particularly want to be a man as manhood is generally understood.

'Yes,' he said, 'Lord Verschoyle is deeply interested, and he has two
hundred thousand a year.'

'Wait a moment,' replied Clara, 'I'll go and see if she has left her
address.'

She ran downstairs, but Kitty had left no address. As Clara,
considering the matter, decided that meant either that she intended to
make trouble or that she had good reason for waiting before she made it.

When she returned, Charles was lover-like in his gratitude, but she
repulsed him, told him that he must get on with his designs for _The
Tempest_ and she would see what could be done about his troubles. For
the present, for a little while at all events, she proposed to leave
him and to stay with Julia Wainwright.

'I may have to tell her,' she said, 'but I don't think so.... I won't
let this woman ruin you, Charles.'

'I have hurt you far more than I have hurt her,' he said miserably. 'I
suppose things will never be the same. You'll always feel that I am
keeping things from you....'

'No. No. I know that is all that matters.... It is just the law that
is somehow wrong, giving advantage to any one who is mean enough to
take it.... But women _are_ mean.'

'Not you.'

'No. I do understand you, Charles, but I'm so hurt. I'm so tired I
don't think I can stand much more.'

'I'll do anything you want.'