Then she looked at Paul's face, at the shadowed eyes and the strong sensitive line of jaw, and the way his mouth was tight as though his teeth were clenched and she felt that the things that Gloria or Sally or Esmée would say to Paul would not be the right things. She knew that they would say them, anyhow, unaware of their wrongness, and that they would think that Paul was handsome and romantic; but as she watched Paul standing there silently she felt with a sudden rush of confidence that he would prefer someone whose words were clumsy and inadequate, but honest, to someone whose words were glib and superficial; and this sudden sureness broke her fear of the silence and she no longer sought frantically for words. Then, because there was no longer any need to fear the silence she was able to break it. "Where's Ariel?" "He stayed home with my father," Paul said. "Are you sure you don't mind because I came back?" she asked. "Because if you'd rather be alone I'll just go on walking somewhere." "No--no--" Paul said quickly. "I'm sorry. We live alone and sometimes my father goes a whole day without saying anything. Of course some days he talks a great deal and reads to me but I get used to being with someone and not talking." "Who is your father?" Flip asked. "Where do you live?" "My father's a professor of philosophy. He used to teach in Lauzanne but now he's at the Sorbonne. At least he's there usually, I mean. This year he's on a Sabbatical leave and he's writing a book. That's why he doesn't talk much. He spends hours in his study and then he comes to the table and I don't think he has any idea what he eats. He just sits there and goes on thinking." "Where do you live?" Flip asked again. "At the gate house to the chateau. But I stay over here most of the time and then I'm sure I won't disturb my father and he won't notice me and think I ought to be in school. Besides there's something I want to find out." "What?" Instead of answering Paul asked, "Would you like to see the chateau?" "Oh, yes." "You aren't afraid of bats and mice and rats and beetles and spiders and things, are you?" "Why?" "There are a great many inside." Flip _was_ afraid of bats and mice and rats and beetles and spiders and things; but she was more afraid of Paul's scorn so she said, "I don't mind them." Paul looked at her as though he knew that she minded very much indeed; then he slipped behind the shutter into the chateau, laughing back at her and calling, "Come on, Flip." Flip followed him into a great hall with a fireplace the size of a room. The hall was bare and colder than outside.