"By good fortune," Hilliard pursued. "I have become possessed of
money enough to live upon for a year or two. At the end of it I may
find myself in the old position, and have to be a living machine
once more. But I shall be able to remember that I was once a man."

Eve regarded him strangely, with wide, in tent eyes, as though his
speech had made a peculiar impression upon her.

"Can you see any sense in that?" he asked, smiling.

"Yes. I think I understand you."

She spoke slowly, and Hilliard, watching her, saw in her face more
of the expression of her portrait than he had yet discovered. Her
soft tone was much more like what he had expected to hear than her
utterances hitherto.

"Have you always lived at Dudley?" she asked.

He sketched rapidly the course of his life, without reference to
domestic circumstances. Before he had ceased speaking he saw that
Eve's look was directed towards something at a distance behind him;
she smiled, and at length nodded, in recognition of some person who
approached. Then a voice caused him to look round.

"Oh, there you are! I have been hunting for you ever so long."

As soon as Hilliard saw the speaker, he had no difficulty in
remembering her. It was Eve's companion of the day before yesterday,
with whom she had started for the theatre. The girl evidently felt