'We shall see—the drake is going to her.'
'She is going away from him. She doesn't want him.'
'She's jealous of the others. If there were no other she would.'
'There are always others.'
'Do you think so?'
Mildred did not answer. Ralph waited a few moments, then he said:
'So you're going away for six or seven months; the time will seem very long while you're away.'
Again Mildred was tempted to ask him if she might lend him the money to go to Paris. She raised her eyes to his (he wondered what was passing in her mind), but he did not find courage to speak until some days later. He had asked her to come to his studio to see a picture he had begun. It was nearly six o'clock; Mildred had been there nearly an hour; the composition had been exhaustively admired; but something still unsaid seemed to float in the air, and every moment that something seemed to grow more imminent.
'You are decided to go to France. When do you leave?'
'Some time next week. The day is not yet fixed.'