“Nonsense,” said Stuart, laughing and shaking his head.  “I was only joking; personally I hate people who tell long stories.  That doesn’t matter.  I was thinking of something else.”

He continued thinking of something else, which was, that though he had been in jest when he spoke of having given up the chance of meeting fresh experiences, he had nevertheless described a condition, and a painfully true one.  His real life seemed to have stopped, and he saw himself in the future looking back and referring to it, as though it were the career of an entirely different person, of a young man, with quick sympathies which required satisfying, as any appetite requires food.  And he had an uncomfortable doubt that these many ever-ready sympathies would rebel if fed on only one diet.

The Picture did not interrupt him in his thoughts, and he let his mind follow his eyes as they wandered over the objects above him on the mantle-shelf.  They all meant something from the past,—­a busy, wholesome past which had formed habits of thought and action, habits he could no longer enjoy alone, and which, on the other hand, it was quite impossible for him to share with any one else.  He was no longer to be alone.

Stuart stirred uneasily in his chair and poked at the fire before him.

“Do you remember the day you came to see me,” said the Picture, sentimentally, “and built the fire yourself and lighted some girl’s letters to make it burn?”

“Yes,” said Stuart, “that is, I said that they were some girl’s letters.  It made it more picturesque.  I am afraid they were bills.  I should say I did remember it,” he continued, enthusiastically.  “You wore a black dress and little red slippers with big black rosettes, and you looked as beautiful as—­as night—­as a moonlight night.”

The Picture frowned slightly.

“You are always telling me about how I looked,” she complained; “can’t you remember any time when we were together without remembering what I had on and how I appeared?”

“I cannot,” said Stuart, promptly.  “I can recall lots of other things besides, but I can’t forget how you looked.  You have a fashion of emphasizing episodes in that way which is entirely your own.  But, as I say, I can remember something else.  Do you remember, for instance, when we went up to West Point on that yacht?  Wasn’t it a grand day, with the autumn leaves on both sides of the Hudson, and the dress parade, and the dance afterward at the hotel?”

“Yes, I should think I did,” said the Picture, smiling.  “You spent all your time examining cannon, and talking to the men about ’firing in open order,’ and left me all alone.”

“Left you all alone!  I like that,” laughed Stuart; “all alone with about eighteen officers.”

“Well, but that was natural,” returned the Picture.  “They were men.  It’s natural for a girl to talk to men, but why should a man want to talk to men?”