There again Was the note of self-abasement. It irritated the
listener.

"Why do you put it in that way? There's no question of what
satisfies me, but of what is good for you."

"Then I think it had better be Birmingham."

"Very well. It's understood that when we leave Paris we go there."

A silence. Then Eve asked abruptly:

"You will go as well?"

"Yes, I shall go back."

"And what becomes of your determination to enjoy life as long as you
can?"

"I'm carrying it out. I shall go back satisfied, at all events."

"And return to your old work?"

"I don't know. It depends on all sorts of things. We won't talk of
it just yet."

Patty approached, and Hilliard turned to her with a bright, jesting
face.

Midway in August, on his return home one afternoon, the concierge