"It was not like that to me. I think I had been a rather fatuous fool—thinking that there might be in me something that you might care for. But I knew then that without my money—you wouldn't care—"
"People's motives are always mixed," she told him. "You know that."
"Yes, I know."
"You liked me because I was young and made you feel young. I liked you because you could give me things."
"Yes. But now the glamour is gone. You make me feel a thousand years old, Hilda."
"Why?" in great surprise.
"Because I know that if I had no wealth to offer you, you would see me for what I am, an aged broken creature for whom you have no tenderness—"
It was time for him to be getting back to the Lion House. They stopped again at the gate. "If you will keep the ring," he said, "I shall be glad to think that you have it. Jean gays Derry gave you a check. If it is not enough to buy pink parasols, will you let me give you another?" He was speaking with the ease of his accustomed manner.
"No; I am not an—adventuress, though you seem to think that I am, and to condemn me for it."
"I condemn you only for one thing—for that flat bottle behind the books."