"
"I should have supposed many minds had been at work here."
Valentine smiled, and the doctor was convinced that both his mouth and
eyes had altered in expression.
"That's true in a way," he answered. "Julian has had various advisers--of
the feminine gender. The love of the moment is visible all over this
room. That is why it amuses me. Those silver ornaments were chosen
by a pretty Circassian. A Parisian picked out that black cabinet in a
warehouse of Boulogne. A little Italian insisted upon that vulgar-painted
sofa--and so on."
"Why do you allow such people to have any intercourse with a room of
yours?"
"Oh, it amused Julian, and I was tired of my room as it was. After 'The
Merciful Knight' went to be cleaned, I resolved on a change."
"For the worse."
"Is it for the worse?"
"Surely."
The eyes of the two men challenged each other. Valentine's glance
was carelessly impudent and hardy. The deference which he had always
given to the doctor was gone. If it had been genuine it was dead. If
it had only been a mask it had apparently served its purpose and was
now contemptuously thrown aside. Doctor Levillier was deeply moved
by the transformation. His friend had become a stranger during the
interval of his absence.
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