o your world."

"But I never play for safety."

"But think of the danger you've passed through."

The characteristic distressed look deepened in her eyes till they seemed
to him tragic. Nevertheless, fearlessness still looked out of them.

"What shall I gain by doing that?" she asked.

"Esme Darlington once said you were a wild mind in an innocent body. I
believe he was right. But it seems to me that some day your wild mind
may get you into danger again and that perhaps you won't escape from it
unscathed a second time."

"How quiet and safe it must be at Number 5!" she rejoined, without any
irony.

"You wouldn't care for that sort of life. You'd find it humdrum," said
Dion, with simplicity.

"You never would," she said, still without irony, without even the hint
of a sneer. "And the truth is that the humdrum is created not by a way
of living but by those who follow it. Your wife and the humdrum could
never occupy the same house. I shall always regret that I didn't see
something of her. Do give her a cordial 'au revoir' from me. You'll hear
of me again. Don't be frightened about me in your kind of chivalrous
heart. I am grateful to you for several things. I'm not going to give
the list now. That would either bore you, or make you feel shy. Some
day, perhaps, I shall tell you what they are, in a caique on the sweet
waters of Asia or among the cypresses of Eyub."

With the last sentence she transported Dion, as on a magic carpet, to
the unwise life. Her husky voice changed a little; her face changed
a little too; the one became slower and more drowsy; the other less
haggard and fixed in its expression of distress. This woman had her
hours of happiness, perhaps even of exultation. For a moment Dion
envisaged another woman in her. And when he had bidden her good-by, and
had received the tremendous farewells of Jimmy, he realized that she had
made upon him an impression which, though soft, was certainly deep. He
thought of how a cushion looks when it lies on a sofa in an empty room,
indented by the small head of a woman who has been thinking, thinking
alone. For a moment he was out of shape, and Mrs. Clarke had made him
so.

In the big hall, as he passed out, he saw Lord Brayfield standing in
front of the bureau speaking to the hall porter.

"Some day, perhaps, I shall tell you what they are, in a caique on the
sweet waters of Asia or among the cypresses of Eyub."

Dion smiled as he recalled Mrs. Clarke's words