you come with me? It is the most lovely cathedral in the world, and I think you will find it restful to wander about it for a little while. You can do no good, here or in London. Perhaps when you are calm you will be able to think of something practical.”
Dr. Porhoët saw what her plan was, and joined his entreaties to hers that Arthur should spend a day or two in a place that had no associations for him. Arthur was too much exhausted to argue, and consented from sheer weariness. Next day Susie took him to Chartres. Mrs. Bloomfield was no trouble to them, and Susie induced him to linger for a week in that pleasant, quiet town. They passed many hours in the stately cathedral, and they wandered about the surrounding country. Arthur was obliged to confess that the change had done him good, and a certain apathy succeeded the agitation from which he had suffered so long. Finally Susie persuaded him to spend three or four weeks in Brittany with Dr. Porhoët, who was proposing to revisit the scenes of his childhood. They returned to Paris. When Arthur left her at the station, promising to meet her again in an hour at the restaurant where they were to dine with Dr. Porhoët, he thanked her for all she had done.
“I was in an absurdly hysterical condition,” he said, holding her hand. “You’ve been quite angelic. I knew that nothing could be done, and yet I was tormented with the desire to do something. Now I’ve got myself in hand once more. I think my common-sense was deserting me and I was on the point of believing in the farrago of nonsense
