 companionship; she looked curiously
both at Cecily and at Mallard whilst it was going on. The first remark which the
artist addressed to her, when they had been driving for a few minutes, was
perhaps, she thought, an explanation of the proceeding.
    »I shall meet your brother again at Pompeii to-morrow, Mrs. Baske.«
    »Have you seen much of him since he came?« Miriam asked constrainedly. She
had not met Mallard since Reuben's arrival.
    »Oh yes. We have dined together each evening.«
    Between two such unloquacious persons, dialogue was naturally slow at first,
but they had a long drive before them. Miriam presently trusted herself to ask,
-
    »Has he spoken to you at all of his plans - of what he is going to do when
he returns to England?«
    »In general terms only. He has literary projects.«
    »Do you put any faith in them, Mr. Mallard?«
    This was a sudden step towards intimacy. As she spoke, Miriam looked at him
in a way that he felt to be appealing. He answered the look frankly.
    »I think he has the power to do something worth doing. Whether his
perseverance will carry him through it, is another question.«
    »He speaks to me of you in a way that - He seems, I mean, to put a value on
your friendship, and I think you may still influence him. I am very glad he has
met you here.«
    »I have very little faith in the influence of one person on another, Mrs.
Baske. For ill - yes, that is often seen; but influence of the kind you suggest
is the rarest of things.«
    »I'm afraid you are right.«
    She retreated into herself, and, when he looked at her, he saw cold reserve
once more on her countenance. Doubtless she did not choose to let him know how
deeply this question of his power concerned her. Mallard felt something like
compassion; yet not ordinary compassion either, for at the same time he had a
desire to break down this reserve, and see still more of what she felt. Curious;
that evening when he dined at the villa, he had already become aware of this
sort of attraction in her, an appeal to his sympathies together with the
excitement of his combative spirit - if that expressed it.
    »No man,« he remarked, »ever did solid work except in his own strength. One
can be encouraged in effort, but the effort must originate in one
