"Would you care to?" she asked wistfully. Then smiled as she met his eyes.
"So I shall give up business," she said, "and that tower apartment. There's a letter here now asking if I desire to sublet it; and as I had to renew my lease last June, that is what I shall do—if you'll let me live in the place you made for me so long ago."
He answered, smilingly, that he might be induced to permit it.
Hafiz appeared, inquisitive, urbane, waving his snowy tail; but he was shy of further demonstrations toward the man who was seated beside his beloved mistress, and he pretended that he saw something in the obscurity of the flowering thickets, and stalked it with every symptom of sincerity.
"That cat must be about six years old," said Clive, watching him.
"He plays like a kitten, still."
"Do you remember how he used to pat your thread with his paws when you were sewing."
"I remember," she said, smiling.
A little later Hafiz regained confidence in Clive and came up to rub against his legs and permit caresses.