“And doesn't that make you feel badly?”

“Very.” Jeff's confession was a smiling one.

“You don't show it!”

“I don't want to grieve you.”

“Oh, I'm not sure that would grieve me.”

“Well, I thought I wouldn't risk it.”

“How considerate of you!”

They had come to a little barrier, up that way, and could go no further. Jeff said: “I've just been interviewing another reformed pessimist.”

“Mr. Westover?”

“You're preternatural, too. And you're not mistaken, either. Do you ever go to his studio?”