JOHN HAVILAND was with him a great deal of this time, and, on his recovery, took him severely to task for the life he had been leading. For three years he had been a mere machine--a blind, passionless, purposeful energy. A man, and a young man, could not live like that. What pleasure had he taken in all that time? And a young man, unless he has attained happiness, cannot live entirely without pleasure, even if it be true that he should not seek for it. And Haviland knew enough of Vane's life to feel assured that there had not hitherto been much happiness. Moreover, Vane was a man of the world, and had been out of it for three years. It was unnatural. He should see something of the people of his own country. His mother was well; and would probably be the same for years. And he had been nearly three years in mourning. "Now," John concluded, "I wish you to come to a dinner at our house on Friday." Vane smiled, and looked at his threadbare black suit--one of the original black suits--which had seen much service since he brought it over from France. But he pleasantly accepted John's invitation, and forthwith visited his tailor. That afternoon, in the park, as he turned to come home from his walk, and saw the walls and spires of his own city harshly outlined before the sunset, he realized for the first time that he was a stranger in a strange land. For the first time, as he walked down Fifth Avenue, between the level, high wall of house fronts, with their regular squares of lighted windows, he caught himself wondering what was behind these windows. Now and then he saw a feminine silhouette on the white window-shades; in some houses, even, he could see into a lower room; there were usually pictures on the walls and often books, or bindings, on the shelves; there was frequently an old gentleman by the fireside, and always a young girl or two. It was piquant to catch these glimpses of the domestic hearth from the street; he remembered how impossible such visions were in the Faubourg, among the old hotels between court and garden.