Then: "So be it!" he said, and with ironical ceremony he bowed her out. CHAPTER X SANCTUARY "Hullo, sonny! You!" Edmund Crowther turned from his littered writing-table, and rose to greet his visitor with a ready smile of welcome. "Hullo!" said Piers. "How are you getting on? I was in town and thought I'd look you up. By Jove, though, you're busy! I'd better not stay." "Sit down!" said Crowther. He took him by the shoulders with kindly force and made him sit in his easy-chair. "I'm never too busy to be pleased to see you, Piers," he said. "Very decent of you," said Piers. He spoke with a short laugh, but his dark eyes roved round restlessly. There was no pleasure in his look. The light from Crowther's unshaded lamp flared full upon him. In his faultless evening dress he looked every inch an aristocrat. That air of the old-Roman patrician was very strong upon him that night. But there was something behind it that Crowther was quick to note, something that reminded him vividly of an evening months before when he had fought hand to hand with the Evesham devil and had with difficulty prevailed. He pushed his work to one side and foraged in his cupboard for drinks. Piers watched him with an odd, half-scoffing smile about his lips. "Do you never drink when you are by yourself?" he asked. "Not when I'm working," said Crowther. "I see! Work is sacred, what?" Crowther looked at him. The mockery of the tone had been scarcely veiled; but there was no consciousness of the fact in Crowther's quiet reply. "Yes; just that, sonny." Piers laughed again, a bitter, gibing laugh. "I suppose it's more to you than your own soul--or anyone else's," he said. Crowther paused in the act of pouring out. "Now what do you mean?" he said. His eyes, direct and level, looked full at Piers. They held no anger, no indignation, only calm enquiry. Piers faced the look with open mockery. "I mean, my good friend," he said, "that if I asked you to chuck it all and go round the world with me--you'd see me damned first." Crowther's eyes dropped gravely to the job in hand. "Say when!" he said. Piers made a restless movement. "Oh, that's enough! Strong drink is not my weakness. Why don't you answer my question?" "I didn't know you asked one," said Crowther. He set the tumbler in front of Piers and began to help himself. Piers watched him for a couple of seconds longer, then leapt impulsively to his feet. "Oh, I'm going!" he said. "I was a fool to come!" Crowther set down the decanter and straightened himself. He did not seem to move quickly, but he was at the door before Piers reached it. He stood massively before him, blocking the way. "You've behaved foolishly a good many times in your life, my lad," he said. "But I shouldn't call you a fool. Why do you want me to go round the world with you? Tell me that!"