`Oh! -- I thought Winnie wrote it to you, in her letter!'

`Oh -- yes -- of course. But I thought perhaps it was only her own little idea --' Gudrun smiled subtly, indulgently. The sick man smiled also, elated.

`Oh no. It is a real project. There is a good room under the roof of the stables -- with sloping rafters. We had thought of converting it into a studio.'

`How very nice that would be!' cried Gudrun, with excited warmth. The thought of the rafters stirred her.

`You think it would? Well, it can be done.'

`But how perfectly splendid for Winifred! Of course, it is just what is needed, if she is to work at all seriously. One must have one's workshop, otherwise one never ceases to be an amateur.'

`Is that so? Yes. Of course, I should like you to share it with Winifred.'

`Thank you so much.'

Gudrun knew all these things already, but she must look shy and very grateful, as if overcome.

`Of course, what I should like best, would be if you could give up your work at the Grammar School, and just avail yourself of the studio, and work there -- well, as much or as little as you liked --'

He looked at Gudrun with dark, vacant eyes. She looked back at him as if full of gratitude. These phrases of a dying man were so complete and natural, coming like echoes through his dead mouth.

`And as to your earnings -- you don't mind taking from me what you have taken from the Education Committee, do you? I don't want you to be a loser.'

`Oh,' said Gudrun, `if I can have the studio and work there, I can earn money enough, really I can.'

`Well,' he said, pleased to be the benefactor, `we can see about all that. You wouldn't mind spending your days here?'

`If there were a studio to work in,' said Gudrun, `I could ask for nothing better.'

`Is that so?'

He was really very pleased. But already he was getting tired. She could see the grey, awful semi-consciousness of mere pain and dissolution coming over him again, the torture coming into the vacancy of his darkened eyes. It was not over yet, this process of death. She rose softly saying:

`Perhaps you will sleep. I must look for Winifred.'

She went out, telling the nurse that she had left him. Day by day the tissue of the sick man was further and further reduced, nearer and nearer the process came, towards the last knot which held the human being in its unity. But this knot was hard and unrelaxed, the will of the dying man never gave way. He might be dead in nine-tenths, yet the remaining tenth remained unchanged, till it too was torn apart. With his will he held the unit of himself firm, but the circle of his power was ever and ever reduced, it would be reduced to a point at last, then swept away.

To adhere to life, he must adhere to human relationships, and he caught at every straw. Winifred, the butler, the nurse, Gudrun, these were the people who meant all to him, in these last resources. Gerald, in his father's presence, stiffened with repulsion. It was so, to a less degree, with all the other children except Winifred. They could not see anything but the death, when they looked at their father. It was