'And you became great pals?' 'Yes, I suppose we did.' 'She interested you?' Helen smiled a little perplexedly, and lit a cigarette before answering. 'Well, no; I can't say that she did that; but that, probably, was my own fault.' 'Why didn't she interest you?' Gerald went on, taking a cigarette from the case she offered. He was fond of such desultory pursuit of a subject; he and Helen spent hours in idle exchanges of impression. Helen's answer was hardly illuminating: 'She wasn't interesting.' 'It was rather interesting of her to take such an interest in you,' said Gerald subtly. 'No.' Helen warmed to the theme. It had indeed perplexed her, and she was glad to unravel her impressions to this understanding listener. 'No, that's just what it wasn't; it might have been if one hadn't felt her a person so easily affected. She had--how can I put it?--it seems brutal when she is such a dear--but she had so little stuff in her; it was as if she had to find it all the time in other things and people. She is like a glass of water that would like to be wine, and she has no wine in her; it could only be poured in, and there's not room for much. At best she can only be _eau rougie_.' Gerald laughed. 'How you see things, and say them! Poor Miss Jakes!--that's her name, isn't it? She sounds tame.' 'She is tame.' 'Is she young, pretty?' 'Not young, about my age; not pretty, but it's a nice face; wistful, with large, quite lovely eyes. She knows a lot about everything, and has been everywhere, and has kept all her illusions intact--a queer mixture of information and innocence. It's difficult to keep one's mind on what she's saying; there is never any background to it. She wants something, but she doesn't know whether it's what other people want or whether it's what she wants, so that she can't want anything very definitely.' Gerald still laughed. 'How you must have been taking her in!' 'I suppose I must have been, though I didn't know it. But I did like her, you know. I liked her very much. A glass of water is a nice thing sometimes.' 'Nicer than _eau rougie_; I'm afraid she's _eau rougie_.' '_Eau rougie_ may be nice, too, if one is tired and thirsty and needs mild refreshment, not altogether tasteless, and not at all intoxicating. She was certainly that to me. I was very much touched by her kindness.' 'I shall be touched if she'll take Merriston. I'm fearfully hard up. I suppose it would only be a little let; but that would be better than nothing.' 'She might stay for the winter if she liked it. I shan't try to make her like it, but I'll do my best to make her stay on if she does, and with a clear conscience, for I think that her staying will depend on her seeing me.' 'Wouldn't that mean that she'd be a great deal on your hands?' 'I shouldn't mind that; we get on very well. She will be here next week, you know. You must come to tea and meet her.'