It was austere in line but richly heraldic in colouring and when she stepped back to look at the finished work, she decided in one and the same moment that it was good and that she would now have to eliminate Geoffrey from her scheme of life. Her reasons were obscure. The thought of doing without him brought with it a faint shock of surprise and pain, but standing there in front of her own work it seemed to her impossible to reconcile anything so simple, so vigorous and so disciplined, with her passionate and confused love for Geoffrey. Her painting was clear and strenuous; it brought her a few moments of ease, followed always by dissatisfaction and renewed efforts, which in their turn brought her again to a period of content. But there was no such rhythm in her emotional life. She loved Geoffrey; at moments she desired him, and was impatient of the scruples which constrained him to refuse her as a mistress; at moments she was conscious of a surge of tenderness for him which made the thought of marriage almost attractive. Often however, she felt a strong revulsion against him, not only as an individual, but as an interloper in her private life who interfered with her peace of mind and destroyed her powers of concentration. The only constant factor in their relationship was her savage determination to protect her work against him. This determination showed itself in a frank and laughing hostility when she was painting well, and in sullen resentment when she was painting badly. As she looked at the completed poster Helen sighed. Geoffrey must go and the sooner the better. It could not fail to be painful to both of them, but she must feel free again. She must disentangle herself from emotional disruptions and reactions. She rang him up at his office and left a message asking him to call in the evening, then flung herself down in a big chair, her hands folded idly in her lap and an expression of weary disenchantment on her face. Her thoughts depressed her. She realised that apart from all sentimental pangs she would miss Geoffrey as an irritant. Already she felt listless and uninspired at the thought of doing without him. He stimulated her, she was goaded to work by the desire to justify herself for her refusal to marry him. Even in her painting she was beginning to rely on him; a state of dependence was almost established. She got up impatiently and looked at her watch. It was only four o'clock and there was no possibility of Geoffrey being with her for at least two hours.