CHAPTER XIII
THE WAY BACK
It was a pleasure to meet, even when they had nothing to say, and the two men had stopped to talk.
“Still in London, Rodney.”
“Yes, till the end of the week; and then I go to Italy. And you? You’re going to meet Sir Owen Asher at Marseilles.”
“I am going to Ireland,” and, catching sight of a look of astonishment and disapproval on Rodney’s face, Harding began to explain why he must return to Ireland.
“The rest of your life is quite clear,” said Rodney. “You knew from the beginning that Paris was the source of all art, that everyone here who is more distinguished than the others has been to Paris. We go to Paris with baskets on our backs, and sticks in our hands, and bring back what we can pick up. And having lived immersed in art till you’re forty, you retur
