"And now?"
"Ah, now it is different. If a man wants to have another sweetheart, what can we do? It is like the railway. The train comes in and goes and the little station must wait until another train comes."
"And you are going to wait for another train? You were fond of him and can speak like that?"
"I was fond of him," Mimi said. "But I am not silly enough to believe it will last just because I wanted it to last. I knew when it started that I should have to give him up some day. I have learned that. I shall forget him—and hope that he and you will be happy."
Mimi's tears came unrestrainedly now, and as she looked for her handkerchief Elsa picked up Millar's weeping satchel, where he had left it on the table, and gave it to the model. Mimi dabbed vigorously at her streaming eyes.
"I am glad that I met you here," she said when she could control her voice. "I shall be clever to-day and not see him at all. I will go away now and never come back. What time is it?"
"It is 3 o'clock," Elsa said, looking at her watch.
"Then I must go. Another artist in the next block expects me to pose for him, and his laundress comes at 3. He is very clever."
She stood up and looked around the room at the things on the walls—her own pictures—the place that seemed like home to her. She sobbed as she started toward the door.