rtily. "And now, haven't you anything to tell me? Are you alone
here? Then, what the deuce do you do with yourself?"
"Chiefly meditate."
"You're the rummest fellow I ever knew. I've wanted to write to you,
but--hang it!--what with hot weather and brass bedsteads, and this and
that----Now, what _are_ you going to do? Your money won't last for
ever. Haven't you any projects? It was no good talking about it before
you left Dudley. I saw that. You were all but fit for a lunatic asylum,
and no wonder. But you've pulled round, I see. Never saw you looking in
such condition. What is to be the next move?"
"I have no idea."
"Well, now, _I_ have. This fellow Birching is partner with his brother,
in Brum, and they're tolerably flourishing. I've thought of you ever
since I came to know him; I think it was chiefly on your account that I
got thick with him--though there was another reason I'll tell you about
that some time. Now, why shouldn't you go into their office? Could you
manage to pay a small premium? I believe I could square it with them. I
haven't said anything. I never hurry--like things to ripen naturally.
Suppose you saw your way, in a year or two, to make only as much in an
architect's office as you did in that----machine-shop, wouldn't it be
worth while?"
Hilliard mused. Already he had a flush on his cheek, but his eyes
sensibly brightened.
"Yes," he said at length with deliberation. "It would be worth while."
"So I should think. Well, wait till you've got to be a bit chummy with
Birching. I think you'll suit each other. Let him see that you do
really know something about architecture--there'll be plenty of
chances."
Hilliard, still musing, repeated with mechanical emphasis:
"Yes, it would be worth while."
Then Narramore called to Birching, and the talk became general again.
The next morning they drove about Paris, all together. Narramore,
though it was his first visit to the city, declined to see anything
which demanded exertion, and the necessity for quenching his thirst
recurred with great frequency. Early in the afternoon he proposed that
they should leave Paris that very evening.
"I want to see a mountain with snow on it. We're bound to travel by
night, and another day of this would settle me. Any objection,
Birching?"
The architect agreed, and time-tables were consulted. Hilliard drove
home to pack. When this was finished, he sat down and wrote a letter:
"DEAR MISS MADELEY,--My fr
|