e thing to have such a strong will."

"Ah! But if I let it go!"

"Do you think you ever will?"

"Yes," he said with a sort of deep sadness. "On one side's the will. But
on the other side there's an absurd impulsiveness. But don't let's talk
any more of me. Do tell me some more about Algiers and your daughter."

When Heath left her that day Mrs. Mansfield said to herself, "If
Charmian really does care for him he doesn't know it."

What were Heath's feelings toward Charmian she could not divine. She was
unconscious of any desire to baffle her on Heath's part, and was
inclined to think that he was so wrapped up in the rather solitary life
he had planned out for himself, and in his art, was so detached from the
normal preoccupations of strong and healthy young men, that Charmian
meant very little, perhaps nothing at all, to him. She had noted, of
course, the slightly self-conscious look which had come into Heath's
face when she had mentioned Charmian, but she explained that to herself
easily enough. Her mention of Charmian in the sun had recalled to him
the persistence of Mrs. Shiffney, which he knew she was aware of. In
such matters he was like a sensitive boy. He had the peculiar delicacies
of the nervously constituted artist, which seem very ridiculous to the
average man, but not to the discerning woman. Mrs. Mansfield felt almost
sure that his self-consciousness arose not from memories of Charmian,
but of Adelaide Shiffney. And she supposed that he was probably quite
indifferent to Charmian. It was better so. Although she believed that it
was wise for most men to marry, and not very late in life, she excepted
Heath from her theory. She could not "see" him married. She could not
pick out any girl or woman whom she knew, and say: "That would be the
wife for him." Evidently he was one of the exceptional men for whom the
normal conditions are not intended. She thought again of his music, and
found a reason there. But then she remembered yellow-haired Fan. He was
at home with a child, why not with a wife and child of his own? She put
aside the problem, but did not resign the thought, "In any case Charmian
would be the wrong woman for him to marry." And when she said that to
herself she was thinking solely of the welfare of Heath. Because he was
a man, and had been unreserved with her, Mrs. Mansfield instinctively
desired to protect his life. She had the feeling, "I understand him
better than others." In a chivalrous natu