NEXT. Should I, when the present inclination were over, have a
satisfactory memory of this supper.
NEXT. Did I habitually mean to spend my evenings in this way?
LAST. Was it worth while spoiling a record for the sake of a single
deviation?
I answered No to each of these as they came before me in order, with
the upshot that I determined not to go. When Howard came in again I
looked up. He was dressed to the Enth, and as I glanced at his good-
looking, intelligent face, I thought how incongruous it seemed for
him to degrade himself with drink at this supper, and return, as he
probably would, a pitiable object to look at and listen to.
"Going to work, eh?"
I nodded. Howard hitched the cape of his overcoat straight, and went
out. As he shut the door I sprang suddenly to my feet. For a moment
the impulse towards distraction, amusement, relief from strain,
physical movement, overcame me. All the strong, ardent life rushed
up within me. A tremendous prompting came to shout after him, "Wait
a minute, Howard! I'll come, too, after all!" I was half way to the
door. Then I laughed and turned back. I went up to the mantelpiece
and unlocked the doors of a portrait frame that stood there, and
flung them open. It was the frame of Lucia's portrait, which, like
the temple of Janus, stood closed in times of peace and open in
times of war.
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