“What was my mother doing in Paris?” asked Joan, “I am only at the end of a journey when you need me,” he had answered, and they had kissed. And next morning she returned to her own life.!

“I know an old actress,” he continued. “She’s the mother of four. They are all on the stage and they’ve all made their mark. The youngest was born in her dressing-room, just after the curtain had fallen. She was playing the Nurse to your mother’s Juliet. She is still the best Nurse that I know. ‘Jack’s always worrying me to chuck it and devote myself to the children,’ she confided to me one evening, while she was waiting for her cue. ‘But, as I tell him, I’m more helpful to them being with them half the day alive than all the day dead.’ That’s an anecdote worth remembering, when your time comes. If God gives woman a drum he doesn’t mean man to take it away from her. She hasn’t got to be playing it for twenty-four hours a day. I’d like you to have seen your mother’s Cordelia.” Joan promised faithfully; and Flossie, standing on tiptoe, suddenly kissed her and then bustled her in.

“No,” she answered. “I’ve seen all the horror and cruelty I want to for the rest of my life.” Joan shot a glance from over her cup. The poor puzzled face was staring into the fire. Joan could almost hear him saying it. She glanced round. There was no sign of the returning waiter. She bent over him and kissed him.