"Yes," he said at length with deliberation. "It would be worth
while."

"So I should think. Well, wait till you've got to be a bit chummy
with Birching. I think you'll suit each other. Let him see that you
do really know something about architecture--there'll be plenty of
chances."

Hilliard, still musing, repeated with mechanical emphasis:

"Yes, it would be worth while."

Then Narramore called to Birching, and the talk became general
again.

The next morning they drove about Paris, all together. Narramore,
though it was his first visit to the city, declined to see anything
which demanded exertion, and the necessity for quenching his thirst
recurred with great frequency. Early in the afternoon he proposed
that they should leave Paris that very evening.

"I want to see a mountain with snow on it. We're bound to travel by
night, and another day of this would settle me. Any objection,
Birching?"

The architect agreed, and time-tables were consulted. Hilliard drove
home to pack. When this was finished, he sat down and wrote a
letter: