do YOU care for?" asked Lilly.

"Me? I care for several things. I care for my wife. I care for love. And
I care to be loved. And I care for some pleasures. And I care for music.
And I care for Italy."

"You are well off for cares," said Lilly.

"And you seem to me so very poor," said Del Torre.

"I should say so--if he cares for nothing," interjaculated Argyle. Then
he clapped Lilly on the shoulder with a laugh. "Ha! Ha! Ha!--But he only
says it to tease us," he cried, shaking Lilly's shoulder. "He cares more
than we do for his own way of loving. Come along, don't try and take
us in. We are old birds, old birds," said Argyle. But at that moment he
seemed a bit doddering.

"A man can't live," said the Italian, "without an object."

"Well--and that object?" said Lilly.

"Well--it may be many things. Mostly it is two things.--love, and money.
But it may be many things: ambition, patriotism, science, art--many
things. But it is some objective. Something outside the self. Perhaps
many things outside the self."

"I have had only one objective all my life," said Argyle. "And that was
love. For that I have spent my life."

"And the lives of a number of other people, too," said Lilly.

"Admitted. Oh, admitted. It takes two to make love: unless you're a
miserable--"

"Don't you think," said Aaron, turning to Lilly, "that however you try
to get away from it, if you're not after money, and can't fit yourself
into a job--you've got to, you've got to try and find something
else--somebody else--somebody. You can't really be alone."

"No matter how many mistakes you've made--you can't really be alone--?"
asked Lilly.

"You can be alone for a minute. You can be alone just in that minute
when you've broken free, and you feel heart thankful to be alone,
because the other thing wasn't to be borne. But you can't keep on being
alone. No matter how many tunes you've broken free, and feel, thank God
to be alone (nothing on earth is so good as to breathe fresh air and be
alone), no matter how many times you've felt this--it wears off every
time, and you begin to look again--and you begin to roam round. And
even if you won't admit it to yourself, still you are seeking--seeking.
Aren't you? Aren't you yourself seeking?"

"Oh, that's another matter," put in Argyle. "Lilly is happily married
and on the shelf. With such a fine woman as Tanny I should think
so--RATHER! But his is an exceptional nature, and an exceptional case.
As f