"Couldn't you get him to tell what's the matter?" she asked, groping for something to say.
"No more than you could. Perhaps even less easily. You know him better than I and understand him better."
She laughed, a little satisfaction warming her at his words. "Sometimes I think I understand him, sometimes I know I don't. As he himself would say, it is merely a matter of blind psychology, is it not?"
"It is not," she answered positively. "It's more a matter of artist psychology, I think."
"Perhaps," he admitted; "certainly the combination is difficult."
"I do wish we could do something for him."
"He would be better off if he would come out with us, but since he will not, he will not." Philip's tone showed clearly that he was inclined to let the matter drop.
But not so Claire. "You are willing to help me, aren't you, Philip?"
"Why yes, if there is any way in which I can be of service."
"We might stay and talk with him more."