' after the manner of schoolboys,
and Maisie answered, 'Oh, Dick, is that you?' Then, against his will,
and before the brain newly released from considerations of the cash
balance had time to dictate to the nerves, every pulse of Dick's body
throbbed furiously and his palate dried in his mouth. The fog shut down
again, and Maisie's face was pearl-white through it. No word was spoken,
but Dick fell into step at her side, and the two paced the Embankment
together, keeping the step as perfectly as in their afternoon excursions
to the mud-flats. Then Dick, a little hoarsely--'What has happened to
Amomma?'

'He died, Dick. Not cartridges; over-eating. He was always greedy. Isn't
it funny?'

'Yes. No. Do you mean Amomma?'

'Ye--es. No. This. Where have you come from?'

'Over there,' He pointed eastward through the fog. 'And you?'

'Oh, I'm in the north,--the black north, across all the Park. I am very
busy.'

'What do you do?'

'I paint a great deal. That's all I have to do.'

'Why, what's happened? You had three hundred a year.'

'I have that still. I am painting; that's all.'

'Are you alone, then?'

'There's a girl living with me. Don't walk so fast, Dick; you're out of
step.'

'Then you noticed it too?'

'Of course I did. You're always out of step.'

'So I am. I'm sorry. You went on with the painting?'

'Of course. I said I should. I was at the Slade, then at Merton's in St.

John's Wood, the big studio, then I pepper-potted,--I mean I went to the
National,--and now I'm working under Kami.'

'But Kami is in Paris surely?'

'No; he has his teaching studio in Vitry-sur-Marne. I work with him in
the summer, and I live in London in the winter. I'm a householder.'

'Do you sell much?'

'Now and again, but not often. There is my 'bus. I must take it or lose
half an hour. Good-bye, Dick.'

'Good-bye, Maisie. Won't you tell me where you live? I must see you
again; and perhaps I could help you. I--I paint a little myself.'

'I may be in the Park to-morrow, if there is no working light. I walk
from the Marble Arch down and back again; that is my little excursion.
But of course I shall see you again.' She stepped into the omnibus and
was swallowed up by the fog.

'Well--I--am--damned!' exclaimed Dick, and returned to the chambers.

Torpenhow and the Nilghai found him sitting on the steps to the studio
door, repeating the phrase with an awful gravity.

'You'll be more damned when I'm done with you,' s