"Nevertheless, you ought to return."
"Listen," said Warrington, lifting his hand. They became silent, and presently the voice of the city came into the room. "I'm afraid I could not live away from that. How many times have I stopped work to listen to it! How many inspirations have I drawn from it! It is the siren's music, I know, but I am no longer afraid of the reefs. Perhaps I have become enamored with noise; it is quite possible."
"I have lived in London. I thought it was going to be hard to break away, but it wasn't."
They lighted cigars, and Bennington took up the photograph again.
"A lovely face," was his comment.
"With a heart and a mind even more lovely," supplemented Warrington. "She is one of the most brilliant women I have ever met, and what is more, humorous and good-humored. My word for it, she may have equals, but she has no superiors on this side of the ocean."
Bennington looked up sharply.
"Nothing serious?" he asked gently.
"Serious? No. We are capital friends, but nothing more. There's been too much comradeship to admit anything like sentimentality. Ah, boy, you should see her act!"
"I have. I saw her in London last season. She was playing your War of Women. She appeared to me enchanting. But about these actresses ..."