he
picture "Despondency."'

'Well,' he smiled, 'that would be an improvement on most Academy
titles. An ordinary artist would simply name it "Young Gentleman by
Trout-Stream." Haven't you often gone through a gallery picturing all
sorts of dramatic meanings in paintings, only to have your illusions
shattered by the catalogue?'

She nodded. 'You have expressed no surprise at my coming,' she said
abruptly. 'Are women in the habit of tracking you in this way?'

'I'm sorry,' he answered, lazily thrusting his hands into his pockets.
'As a matter of fact you are never very far from my thoughts. Perhaps
that is why I felt no surprise.'

'How are you enjoying your visit?'

'Tremendously.'

'How do you like the guests?'

'Is this a catechism, Miss Durwent?'

She shrugged her shoulders and pulled a leaf from a bush. 'I was
wondering,' she said, 'whether they bored you as much as me.'

'Why,' he said with a slight laugh, 'to be frank, people never bore me.
The moment they become tedious they are of interest to me as a study in
tediousness.'

'Just the same,' she said quickly, 'as when a woman interests you she
becomes an object of analysis. I wish I could detach myself like that.'

'And yet,' he said gently, wondering at the intensity of her eyes, 'I
should have thought you possessed the gift of detachment to a greater
degree than I. You always seem separate and distinct from your
associates.'

She said nothing in reply, and as if by tacit agreement they started
back along the path. He did not break the silence, feeling that words
might be provocative of a retort that would dispel the growing feeling
of mutual confidence.

'No,' she said, after a long pause, 'I do not possess the power of
detachment. It's just that I don't mix well. Have you read Robert
Service's poem about the men that don't fit in?'

'Yes.'

'Well, it's far worse for the women who don't. A man can go out and
try to find some place for himself. We have simply to stay and endure
things.'

Half in compassion he watched her from the corner of his eye, but again
refrained from saying anything. He felt intuitively that she was
trying to break down the barrier of impersonality, but he knew that she
must do it in her own way of timid starts and quick withdrawals.

Although her movements were more restricted by her gown than when she
wore ordinary walking-garments, her vitality and limitless energy lent
a lilt to her step, and even t