site and perilous
task of awakening this creature of flowers and glaciers, Mr. Drew
collected his resources with something of the skill and composure of an
artist preparing canvas and palette. He must begin delicately and
discreetly, and then he must be sudden and decisive.

"I want to make you feel, in the first place, if I can," he said,
leaning forward to look into her face and observing with satisfaction
that she made no movement of withdrawal as he came a little nearer in so
doing, "that I'm your friend. Can I, do you think, succeed in making you
feel that?" His experience had told him that it really didn't matter so
much what one said. To come near was the point, and to look deeply.
"I've had so few chances of showing you how much your friend I am."

"Thank you," said Karen. "You are kind." She did not say that he would
succeed in making her feel him a friend.

"We have been talking about you, talking a great deal, since you left
us, your guardian and I," Mr. Drew continued, and he looked at the one
of Karen's hands that was visible, emerging from the shawl to clasp her
elbow, the left hand with its wedding-ring, "and ludicrous as it may
seem to you, I can't but feel that I understand you a great deal better
than she does. She still thinks of you as a child--a child whose little
problems can be solved by facile solutions. Forgive me, I know it may
sound fatuous to you, but I see what she does not see, that you are a
suffering woman, and that for some problems there are no solutions." His
eyes now came back to hers and found them fixed on him with a wide
astonished gaze.

"Has my guardian asked you to say anything to me?" she said.

"No, not exactly that," said Mr. Drew, a little disconcerted by her tone
and look, while at the same time he was marvelling at the greater and
greater beauty he found in the impassive moonlit face--how had he been
so unconscionably stupid as not to see for so long how beautiful she
was!--"No, she certainly hasn't asked me to say anything to you. She is
going away, you know, to Italy; it's a sudden decision and she's been
telling me about it. I can't go with her. I don't think it a good plan.
I can stay on here, but I can't go to Italy. Perhaps she'll give it up.
She didn't find me altogether sympathetic and I'm afraid we've had
something of a disagreement. I am sure you've seen since you've been
here that if your guardian doesn't understand you she doesn't understand
me, either."