She looked at him with interest.
'I should think your riches in that respect are inexhaustible?'
He smiled.
'Oh yes! I have never had a day's illness, except once, long ago in the Mexican swamps, a marsh fever and a snake-bite.'
'You have travelled much?'
'I have seen most of the known world, and a little of the unknown,' he answered. 'I am like Ulysses; only there will be not even a dog to welcome me when my wanderings are done.'
'Have you no relatives?'
'None!' he added, with an effort. Everyone is dead; dead long ago. I have been long alone, and I am very well used to it.'
'But you must have troops of friends?'
'Oh!—friends who will win my last napoleon at play, or remember me as long as they meet me every day on the boulevards? Yes, I have many of that sort, but they are not worth Ulysses' dog.'