"They say he's trying to write an opera. Poor fellow! The very last thing he could do, I should think. But she pushes him on. Since that song of his--I forget the name, heart something or other--her head has been completely turned about his talent. The fact is, Susan, Sennier's sudden fame has turned all their heads, the young composers, _les jeunes_, you know. They are all trying to write operas. In Paris it's too absurd! But an Englishman, with his temperament, too--Oliver Cromwell in Harris tweed!--she must be mad. Of course even if he ever finishes it he will never get it produced." Susan quietly went on eating her eggs. "A totally unknown man. She thinks that song has made him quite a celebrity. But nobody has ever heard of him." "Nobody had ever heard of Sennier till that night at Covent Garden," observed Susan, lifting a glass of water to her lips. "Oh, yes, they had!" Mrs. Shiffney's musical passion for Sennier often led her to embroider facts. "Among the people who matter in Paris he was quite famous." "Oh, I didn't know that," said Susan, without a trace of doubt or of sarcasm. "How could you? Besides, Sennier is a great man, the only man we have, in fact. So you were going to stay with the Heaths?" "I am going. I promised Charmian Heath." "When?" "In about ten days, I think. My mother is rather unwell, only a bad cold. But I like to be at Folkestone to help Mrs. Simpkins." "Susan, what an extraordinary person you are!" "Why?" "You are. But you are so extraordinary that I could never make you see why. Sandringham and Mrs. Simpkins! There is no one like you." She branched off to various topics, but presently returned to the Algerian visit. "What do you think of Charmian Heath, Susan--really think, I mean? Do you care for her?" "Yes, I do." "Oh, I don't mean as a theosophist, I mean as a human being." Susan smiled. "We are human beings." "You are certainly. But, of course, I know you embrace Charmian Heath with your universal love, just as you embrace me and Mrs. Simpkins and the King and the crossing-sweeper at the corner. That doesn't interest me. I wish to know whether you like her as you don't like me and the King and the crossing-sweeper?" "Charmian Heath and I are good friends. I am interested in her." "In a woman!" "Greatly because she is a woman." "I know you're a suffragette at heart!" They talked a little about politics. When coffee came, Mrs. Shiffney suddenly said: "I'll take you over to Algiers, Susan." "But you don't want to go there." "It's absurd your going in one of those awful steamers from Marseilles when the yacht is only about half an hour away." "Half an hour! I thought she was at Naples." "I said _about_ half an hour on purpose to be accurate." "Really, I would just as soon take the steamer," said Susan.