"Oh, I don't know. I air my theories sometimes. He always disagrees. Once he told me suddenly it was very bad for me to go about with him." "But you go." "Of course I do." The untold scenes were standing in the way. There was no way of telling them.... Tansley Street life was more and more unreal to them the deeper it grew. It was unreal to them because things were kept back. They were still interested in stories of Wimpole Street, but even there now they only glanced in passing, their thoughts busy in the shared life they perpetually jested over. They listened with reservations; not always believing; sitting in dressing-gowns believing or not as they chose; because one knew one had lost touch and tried to make things interesting to get back into the old glow.... "How did the dinner-party go off?" "Beautifully." "Did you talk German?" "There was no need; the man talked better English than anybody." "Why did it go off beautifully? Tell us about the beautiful things." The strange silent twilight, the reassuring shyness of all the guests; no attempt to talk about anything in particular; cool hard face and upright coldly jewelled body; the sense of success with each simple remark. The evening of music. Life-marked people; their marks showing without pain, covered, half-healed by the hours of kindness. "It's something in the Orlys." "What do you think it is?" "It's something frightfully beautiful." "They are very nice people." "That doesn't mean anything at all." "The secret of beauty is colour and texture. The ointment will preserve the colour and the texture of your skin--in any climate. Read her the piece about the movement of the hands over a tea-tray.... In pouring out tea never allow the hands to fall slack, or below the level of the tray. Keep them well in view, moving deftly among the articles on the tray; sitting well back on the seat of the chair the body upright and a little inclined forward from the hips--see Chap.: III. "How to Sit"--so that the movements of the wrist and hands are in easy harmony with the whole body. Restrain the hands. Do not let the fingers splay out. Do not cramp them or allow any effort to appear in the movement of any part of the hand." "Good heavens. Can't you _see_ those women. But that must be by an American." "Why an American?" "Oh. I don't know. You can tell. Are you going to try all these things?" "Rather. We're going in heavily for beauty culture." "We are going to skip, and have Turkish baths, and steam our faces." "I suppose one ought." "I think so. I don't see why one should look old before one's time. One's life is ageing and ravaging. After a Turkish bath one feels like a new-born babe." "But it would take all one's time and money." "Even so. It restores your self-respect to feel perfectly groomed and therefore perfectly self-possessed. It makes the office respect you." "I know. I hate the grubbiness of snipe-life--sometimes." "Only sometimes?"