He began to sift the sand through his fingers swiftly.

“Duties?” he said in a low voice.

“Yes. Oughtn’t we to do something presently, something besides being happy?”

“What do you mean, Domini?”

“I hardly know, I don’t know. You tell me.”

There was an urging in her voice, as if she wanted, almost demanded, something of him.

“You mean that a man must do some work in his life if he is to keep himself a man,” he said, not as if he were asking a question.

He spoke reluctantly but firmly.

“You know,” he added, “that I have worked hard all my life, hard like a labourer.”

“Yes, I know,” she said.