. He said it as he would
say a piece of sculpture was remarkable, because he knew it was so.
    And it gratified her to hear it from him. Other people had such a passion to
make everything of one degree, of one pattern. In England it was chic to be
perfectly ordinary. And it was a relief to her to be acknowledged extraordinary.
Then she need not fret about the common standards.
    »You see,« she said, »I have no money whatsoever.«
    »Ach, money!« he cried, lifting his shoulders. »When one is grown up, money
is lying about at one's service. It is only when one is young that it is rare.
Take no thought for money - that always lies to hand.«
    »Does it?« she said, laughing.
    »Always. The Gerald will give you a sum if you ask him for it -«
    She flushed deeply.
    »I will ask anybody else,« she said, with some difficulty - »but not him.«
    Loerke looked closely at her.
    »Good,« he said. »Then let it be somebody else. Only don't go back to that
England, that school. No, that is stupid.«
    Again there was a pause. He was afraid to ask her outright to go with him,
he was not even quite sure he wanted her; and she was afraid to be asked. He
begrudged his own isolation, was very chary of sharing his life, even for a day.
    »The only other place I know is Paris,« she said, »and I can't stand that.«
    She looked with her wide, steady eyes full at Loerke. He lowered his head
and averted his face.
    »Paris, no!« he said. »Between the réligion d'amour, and the latest 'ism,
and the new turning to Jesus, one had better ride on a carrousel all day. But
come to Dresden. I have a studio there - I can give you work - oh, that would be
easy enough. I haven't seen any of your things, but I believe in you. Come to
Dresden - that is a fine town to be in, and as good a life as you can expect of
a town. You have everything there, without the foolishness of Paris or the beer
of Munich.«
    He sat and looked at her coldly. What she liked about him was that he spoke
to her simple and flat, as to himself. He was a
