'A squirrel, I think... yes, he's going up that tree.' 'How pretty he is, his paws set against the bark.' 'Come this way and we shall see him better.' But they caught no further sight of the squirrel, and Morton asked Mildred the time. 'A quarter-past ten,' she said, glancing at the tiny watch which she wore in a bracelet. 'Then we must be moving on. I ought to be at work at half-past. One can't work more than a couple of hours in this light.' They passed out of the wood and crossed an open space where rough grass grew in patches. Mildred opened her parasol. 'You asked me just now if I ever went to England. Do you intend to go back, or do you intend to live in France?' 'That's my difficulty. So long as I was painting there was a reason for my remaining in France, now that I've given it up---' 'But you've not given it up.' 'Yes, I have. If I don't find something else to do I suppose I must go back. That's what I dread. We live in Sutton. But that conveys no idea to your mind. Sutton is a little town in Surrey. It was very nice once, but now it is little better than a London suburb. My brother is a distiller. He goes to town every day by the ten minutes past nine and he returns by the six o'clock. I've heard of nothing but those two trains all my life. We have ten acres of ground--gardens, greenhouses, and a number of servants. Then there's the cart--I go out for drives in the cart. We have tennis parties--the neighbours, you know, and I shall have to choose whether I shall look after my brother's house, or marry and look after my husband's.' 'It must be very lonely in Sutton.' 'Yes, it is very lonely. There are a number of people about, but I've no friends that I care about. There's Mrs. Fargus.' 'Who's Mrs. Fargus?' 'Oh, you should see Mrs. Fargus, she reads Comte, and has worn the same dinner dress ever since I knew her--a black satin with a crimson scarf. Her husband suffers from asthma, and speaks of his wife as a very clever woman. He wears an eyeglass and she wears spectacles. Does that give you an idea of my friends?' 'I should think it did. What damned bores they must be.' 'He bores me, she doesn't. I owe a good deal to Mrs. Fargus. If it hadn't been for her I shouldn't be here now.' 'What do you mean?'