The conversation was similar to those which they had had months before, but the fire was nearer the surface now.
"Yes." Philip's answer came swiftly.
"Then you are a sex-maddened mountaineer!"
"And you are talking like the beast you are not. I know you do not believe that."
"I know I do. I would only die for a woman if she were my life."
"But any real love finds her so."
"Folly! I find my work, my future, my dream of a single immortal statue more my life than any woman!" Lawrence exclaimed.
"I wonder if you really do," Claire mused, half to herself.
"Yes," Lawrence insisted, "although she might be necessary to that statue. At least I believe she might—and I would feel sure of it if I wanted her badly enough," he ended amusedly.
"That merely means that you are still utterly selfish!" said Claire.