“Oh, Lord!”
“The people want dope and it may be that art is the best form in which we can give it them.
But they’re not ready for it yet.
At present it’s another form they want.”
“What is that?”
“Words.”
It was extraordinary, the sardonic vigour he put into the monosyllable.
But he smiled, and though his lips grimaced Charley saw in his eyes for a moment that same look of good-humoured affection that he had been accustomed to see in them.
“No, my boy,” he continued, “you have a good time, go to your office every day and enjoy yourself.
It can’t last very long now and you may just as well get all the fun out of it that you can.”
“What d’you mean by that?”
“Never mind.
We’ll talk about it some other time.
Tell me, what have you come to Paris for?”
“Well, chiefly to see you.”
Simon flushed darkly.
You would have thought that a word of kindness, and when Charley spoke you could never doubt that it was from the heart, horribly embarrassed him.
“And besides that?”
“I want to see some pictures, and if there’s anything good in the theatre I’d like to go.
And I want to have a bit of a lark generally.”
“I suppose you mean by that that you want to have a woman.”
“I don’t get much opportunity in London, you know.”
“Later on I’ll take you to the Serail.”
“What’s that?”
“You’ll see.
It’s not bad fun.”
They began to talk of Simon’s experiences in Vienna, but he was reticent about them.
“It took me some time to find my feet.
You see, I’d never been out of England before.
I learnt German.
I read a great deal.
I thought.
I met a lot of people who interested me.”
“And since then, in Paris?”
“I’ve been doing more or less the same thing; I’ve been putting my ideas in order.
I’m young.
I’ve got plenty of time.
When I’m through with Paris I shall go to Rome, Berlin or Moscow.
If I can’t get a job with the paper, I shall get some other job; I can always teach English and earn enough to keep body and soul together.
I wasn’t born in the purple and I can do without things.
In Vienna, as an exercise in self-denial, I lived for a month on bread and milk.
It wasn’t even a hardship.
I’ve trained myself now to do with one meal a day.”
“D’you mean to say this is your first meal to-day?”
“I had a cup of coffee when I got up and a glass of milk at one.”
“But what’s the object of it?
You’re adequately paid in your job, aren’t you?”
“I get a living wage.
Certainly enough to have three meals a day.
Who can achieve mastery over others unless he first achieves mastery over himself?”