harming girl! Looks as if she'd got something in her, too!"

"It's a dear little room, isn't it, Claude?" said Charmian.

"Yes, very."

"You really like it, don't you? You like its atmosphere?"

"I think you've done it delightfully. I was saying to Madre only this
evening how extraordinarily clever you are in creating prettiness around
you."

"Were you? How nice of you."

She laid her cheek against his shoulder.

"You'll be able to work here?"

"Why not?"

"Let's shut the door, and just _feel_ the room for a minute."

"All right."

He shut the door.

"Don't let us speak for a moment," she whispered.

She was sitting now on the deep sofa just beyond the writing-table.
Claude stood quite still. And in the silence which followed her words he
strove to realize whether he would be able to work in the little room.
Would anything come to him here? His eyes rested on Anchises, crouched
on the back of his son, on the burning city of Troy. He felt confused,
strange, and then _depayse_. That word alone meant what he felt just
then. Ah, the little house with the one big room looking out on to the
scrap of garden, yellow-haired Fan, Harriet discreet unto dumbness, Mrs.
Searle with her scraps of wisdom--he with his freedom!

The room was a cage, wire bars everywhere. Never could he work in it!

"It is good for work, isn't it, Claudie? Even poor little I can feel
that. What wonderful things you are going to do here. As wonderful as--"
She checked herself abruptly.

"As what?" he asked, striving to force an interest, to banish his secret
desperation.

"I won't tell you now. Some day--in a year, two years--I'll tell you."

Her eyes shone. He thought they looked almost greedy.

"When my man's done something wonderful!"

CHAPTER XV

In Charmian's conception of the perfect helpmate for a great man
self-sacrifice shone out as the first of the virtues. She must sacrifice
herself to Claude, must regulate her life so that his might glide
smoothly, without any friction, to the appointed goal. She must be
patient, understanding, and unselfish. But she must also be firm at the
right moment, be strong in judgment, be judicious, the perfect critic as
well as the ardent admirer. During her life among clever and well-known
men she had noticed how the mere fact of marriage often seems to make a
man think highly of the intellect of his chosen woman. Again and again
she had heard some distinguished writer or politician