him. She sat very still, looking
intensely alive.

"To-night I feel as if I didn't know, didn't know at all! You see, I
avoid so many things, so many experiences that I might have."

"Do you?"

"Yes. I think I've done that for years. I know I'm doing it now."

He moved restlessly.

"Mrs. Shiffney has asked me again to go yachting with her."

"But I thought you had refused."

"I did. But she has been again to-day. She says your daughter is going."

"Charmian has been asked."

"Mrs. Shiffney said she had accepted the invitation."

"Yes."

"And now I'm to give my answer on Sunday."

"You seem quite upset about it," she said, without sarcasm.

"Of course it seems a small matter. People would laugh at me, I know,
for worrying. But what I feel is that if I go with Mrs. Shiffney, or go
to Max Elliot's parties, I shall very soon be drawn into a life quite
different from the one I have always led. And I do think it matters very
much to--to some people just how they live, whom they know well, and so
on. Men say, of course, that a man ought to face the rough and tumble of
life. And some women say a man ought to welcome every experience. I
wonder what the truth is?"

Still with her eyes on him, Mrs. Mansfield said:

"Follow your instinct."

"Can't one have conflicting instincts?"

"Oh, no!"

"Then one's instinct may not be strong enough to make itself known."

"I doubt that."

"But I am a man, you a woman. Women are said to have stronger instincts
than men."

"Aren't you playing with your own convictions?"

"Am I?"

He stared at her, but for a moment his eyes looked unconscious of her.

"Mrs. Shiffney said something to me that struck me," he said presently.
"She implied that experiences of all kinds are the necessary food for
anyone who wishes to be at all a big artist. She evidently thinks that
England has failed to produce great musicians because the English are
hampered by tradition."

"She thinks uncleanliness necessary to the producing of beauty perhaps!"

"Ah, I believe you have put into words what I have been thinking!"

"Is it wisdom to grope for stars in the mud?"

"No, no! It can't be!"

He was silent. Then he said:

"St Augustine, and many others, went through mud to the stars though."

"St. Francis didn't--if we are to talk of the saints."

"I believe you could guide me."

Mrs. Mansfield looked deeply touched. For an instant tears glistened in
her eyes. Nevertheless, her next