But now he became conscious of a change in the things around him.

He examined the sumptuous dining room with its lofty decorated ceiling, its Gobelin hangings, its buffet blazing with plate.
"Yes, yes!" he remarked sadly.
And with that she made him understand that he was never to come in the mornings but between four and six in the afternoon, if he cared to.
That was her reception time.

Then as he looked at her with suppliant, questioning eyes and craved no boon at all, she, in her turn, kissed him on the forehead in the most amiable way.
"Be very good," she whispered.

"I'll do all I can." But the truth was that this remark now meant nothing.

She thought Georges very nice and would have liked him as a companion, but as nothing else.