“This feller knows me,” said Tam. “It was here I finally found the cigarette-holder that Emily wanted.” The shopman brought down various and unlikely things for their inspection, an opium pipe, a large porcelain figure, a curly animal made of dull jade the color of a shallow sea, a polished screen of blackwood. Tam fingered the porcelain figure as he talked. “I promised you I’d tell you various things about Emily. I met her first about three years ago, soon after I had married Lucy. She and I met Emily at a theatre party.... I am a wholehearted man and an obstinate man; at the play I was irritated because Emily seemed so conscious of her own cleverness. I didn’t want to be forced to be conscious of her. I find Lucy adorable because I am never conscious of her—she is like air to me. I am clever myself and I refuse to be distracted. Emily has once or twice very nearly succeeded in distracting me—against my will. I have been hardened against her, simply because she tried so hard. I like awfully being with her. With her I can be much wittier than without her. With her nothing ever falls flat. And Lucy was fond of her too; Lucy insisted on my bringing Emily round the world as my secretary. When that was arranged, Emily said to Lucy, ‘How d’you know I won’t steal Tam? What would you call that, Lucy—committing astigamy?’ It shocked Lucy. Lucy’s mind wears tight stays, you know. That fact makes things easier for me. She never disconcerts me. On the other hand she is often disconcerted by me. Emily never is. To me, after that sally, Emily said—‘How d’you know I don’t love you? What would you call that?’ Somehow Emily ... never paid back the loan of life. Emily never let me forget her. She could not believe that I could continue not to love her. If she had not been so clever I might have loved her. She put her wits between herself and me—a shining armor. She did most fatally watch me, and if there was an increased softness or success between us at any time—her eyes seemed to seize that moment and devour it, so that the moment, for me, was gone. She knows herself and everything that is happening to her too well.” His fingers seemed trying to knead the china figure in front of him. The shopman’s assistant had placed two bowls of tea before them.