“Why?”
“I believe it’s a mistake. It seems to me like throwing down a defiance to your world.”
“But I never play for safety.”
“But think of the danger you’ve passed through.”
The characteristic distressed look deepened in her eyes till they seemed to him tragic. Nevertheless, fearlessness still looked out of them.
“What shall I gain by doing that?” she asked.
“Esme Darlington once said you were a wild mind in an innocent body. I believe he was right. But it seems to me that some day your wild mind may get you into danger again and that perhaps you won’t escape from it unscathed a second time.”
“How quiet and safe it must be at Number 5!” she rejoined, without any irony.
“You wouldn’t care for that sort of life. You’d find it humdrum,” said Dion, with simplicity.
“You never would,” she said, still without irony, without even the hint of a sneer. “And the truth is that the humdrum is created not by a way of living but by those who follow it. Your wife and the humdrum could never occupy the same house. I shall always regret that I didn’t see something of her. Do give her a cordial ‘au revoir’ from me. You’ll hear of me again. Don’t be frightened about me in your kind of chivalrous heart. I am grateful to you for several things. I’m not going to give the list now. That would either bore you, or make you feel shy. Some day, perhaps, I shall tell you what they are, in a caique on the sweet waters of Asia or among the cypresses of Eyub.”