'No. He shall come back—himself—in spotless robes. Now you shall take a studio, and I will come and sit to you. I may bring my little friend, Effie Wilmot, with me? That is agreed, then. You will go, Sir, this very morning and find a studio. Have you gone back to your old friends?'
'Not yet. I had very few friends. I shall go back to them when I have got work to show. Not before.'
'I think you should go back as soon as you have taken your new studio. It will be safer and better. You have been too much alone. And there is another thing—a very important thing—the other night you made me a promise. You tore up something that looked like a cheque. And you assured me that this meant nothing less than a return to the old paths.'
'When I tore up that accursed cheque, Armorel, I became a free man.'
'So I understood. But when one talks of free men one implies the existence of the master or owner of men who are not free. Have you signified to that master or owner your intention to be his bondman no longer?'
'No. I have not.'
'This man, Roland,' she laid her hand on his, 'tell me frankly, has he any hold upon you?'
'None.'
'Can he injure you in any way? Can he revenge himself upon you? Is there any old folly or past wickedness that he can bring up against you?'
'None. I have to begin the world again: that is the outside mischief.'