“That is just where you make a mistake: you do not get half enough air, not half enough society. Amélie was saying so only at dinner to-day; and that’s why I’ve looked in to ask you to come round to us to-morrow evening.”

“Is it a party?”

“No; nobody.”

“Very well, I will come. I shall be very pleased.”

“Yes, but why do you never come of your own accord?”

“I can’t summon up the energy.”

“Then how do you spend your evenings?”

“I read, I write, or I do nothing at all. The last is really the most delightful: I only feel myself alive when I am doing nothing.”

He shook his head:

“You’re a funny girl. You really don’t deserve that we should like you as much as we do.”