"Perhaps," he suggested, "you would rather find your way out alone? I
will not offer my escort, for obvious reasons."

She turned slowly round.

"Do not ring," she ordered sharply. "Come here."

He came at once towards her. She took both his hands in hers, she
leaned towards him. She was a tall woman and they were very nearly the
same height.

"Julien," she whispered, "is this all that you have to say to me?"

"It is more," Julien replied frankly, "than I expected ever to have to
say to you again in this world. What do you expect? You don't think
that I am the kind of man to--but that is absurd! Come. We'll part
friends, if you like. Here's my hand."

"We must part, then?" she said.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Unless a walking tour in Normandy for a month appeals to you. You see,
I am going to take a holiday, and I have a fancy that our ideas on the
subject of holidays might not exactly agree."

"A holiday," she repeated. "I am not sure--do you know, Julien, I
sometimes believe that I have never had a holiday in my life?"