Julia smiled at him a little sadly.
"Perhaps it is as well," she said, "that we have champions who do not care for detail. It is detail and the sight of suffering which sap all the enthusiasms out of us before our time."
Selingman frowned at her angrily. He blew out another cloud of smoke.
"You make me angry," he asserted. "I love your sex, I adore womanhood. I look upon a beautiful woman as a gift to the world. Beauty is a gift to be made much of, to be nourished, to be glorified. You are tired, young woman. You work too hard. You have the rare gift—has any one ever told you that you are beautiful?"
Julia stared at him, her lips a little parted, half angry, half wondering.
"Look at her," Selingman continued, turning to Maraton. "She has the slim body, the long, delicate figure of those Botticellis we all love—except the Russians. I never yet met a Russian who could appreciate a Botticelli. And her eyes—look at them, man. And you let her sit there till the hollows are forming in her cheeks. Be ashamed of yourself. Take her out into the country. One works just as well in the sunshine. You do better work if you can smell flowers growing around you while your brain is active. Lend her to me for a week. I'll take her to my cottage in the Ardennes. There I live with the sun—breakfast at sunrise, to bed at sunset. I will dictate to you, Miss Julia—dictate beautiful things. You shall be proud always. You shall say—'I have worked for Selingman. Conceited ass!' you will probably add. Thank Heavens that I am conceited! Nothing is so splendid in life as to know your own worth. Nothing makes so much for happiness. . . . Maraton, where shall I find you to-night?"
"In the House of Commons, probably," Maraton replied. "But take my advice. Leave Maxendorf alone for a few days."
"We will see—we will see," Selingman went on, a little impatiently. "Come, I have nothing to do—nothing whatever. I came to London to see you, Maraton. You must put up with me. Work—put it away. The sun shines. Let us all go into the country. I will get a car. Or what of the river? Perhaps not. I am too restless, I cannot sit still. I will walk about always. And I cannot swim. We will take a car and sometimes we will walk. I go to fetch it now, eh?"
Maraton glanced helplessly at Julia. They both laughed.
"I have to be back at four o'clock," the former said. "I have an appointment at the House of Commons then."