"Saw things I have longed to see any time the last fifteen years or
so. Learned to talk a little French. Got to feel a better educated
man than I was before."

"Didn't Dudley seem a long way off when you were there?" asked Eve
half absently.

"In another planet.--You thought once of going to Paris; Miss
Ringrose told me."

Eve knitted her brows, and made no answer.



CHAPTER X


When fruit had been set before them--and as he was peeling a
banana:

"What a vast difference," said Hilliard, "between the life of people
who dine, and of those who don't! It isn't the mere pleasure of
eating, the quality of the food--though that must have a great
influence on mind and character. But to sit for an hour or two each
evening in quiet, orderly enjoyment, with graceful things about one,
talking of whatever is pleasant--how it civilises! Until three
months ago I never dined in my life, and I know well what a change
it has made in me."

"I never dined till this evening," said Eve.