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38 "I'm very busy sometimes."

"You're always busy. Why did you have to go to Amsterdam suddenly? I hardly know the reason."

"It was for Alex."

"And did you succeed?"

"Possibly."

"Oh, I'm not asking to know!" she said, at once, in a tone of piqued indifference which he appeared not to notice.

"I have been thinking things over, Tilly. . . ."

"Thinking things over? When?"

"At Amsterdam."

"I thought you were so busy!"

"I used to think in my room, in the evenings. About you."

"About me?"

"Yes. Tell me, wouldn't you rather have your own house? You might feel happier if you had a home of your own."

She was silent.

"Well, what do you say?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Of course I would rather have a home of my own. I told you so at once . . . when we married."

"Yes, but at that time . . ."

"Well?"

"I didn't see it so clearly . . . that you would not be happy in this house."

"Oh . . . happy? I don't know."

"You're not happy here."

"I would certainly rather have my own house . . . at the Hague."

"At the Hague. Very well. But, if we move to the Hague, Tilly, we shall have to be very economical."