nothing to do. All one night I lay awake, and when I got up in the
morning I felt as if I was no longer my old self. I saw everything
in a different way--felt altogether changed. I had made up my mind
not to look for a new place, but to take my money out of the Post
Office--I had more than twenty-five pounds there altogether--and
spend it for my pleasure. It was just as if something had enraged
me, and I was bent on avenging myself. All that day I walked about
the town, looking at shops, and thinking what I should like to buy:
but I only spent a shilling or two, for meals. The next day I bought
some new clothing. The day after that I took Patty to the theatre,
and astonished her by my extravagance; but I gave her no
explanation, and to this day she doesn't understand how I got my
money. In a sort of way, I _did_ enjoy myself. For one thing, I took
a subscription at Mudie's, and began to read once more. You can't
think how it pleased me to get my books--new books--where rich
people do. I changed a volume about every other day--I had so many
hours I didn't know what to do with. Patty was the only friend I had
made, so I took her about with me whenever she could get away in the
evening."

"Yet never once dined at a restaurant," remarked Hilliard, laughing.
"There's the difference between man and woman."

"My ideas of extravagance were very modest, after all."

Hilliard, fingering his coffee-cup, said in a lower voice:

"Yet you haven't told me everything."

Eve looked away, and kept silence.