shame gripped her, and she threw herself full-length again, face down.
Her shoulders shook, but she made no sound.

Leighton waited half an hour. He spent the time walking up and down and
smoking cigarettes. He was no longer frowning. At the end of the
half-hour he caught Vi by the arms and lifted her to her feet.

"Come on," he said.

Vi stared at him as one half-awakened.

"I don't want to go anywhere," she said. "I'm very well here."

"Nonsense!" said Leighton, "you don't realize what you're doing to
yourself. On my word, you look positively puttyish."

"Puttyish!" cried Vi, a flush of anger rising to her face. "Grapes,
you're brutal! Since when have you learned to trample on a woman?"

"That's better," said Leighton, coolly. "I thought it would rouse you a
bit."

Vi almost smiled at herself. She laid her hand on Leighton's arm and
turned him toward the door.

"And they still say that no man knows women," she said. She paused and
looked back at the fragments of the statue. Her lips twisted. "Even
boys," she added, "pick out our naked souls and slap them in our faces."

As they walked slowly toward the flat, Vi said: