distinctly to understand that once this venture had
been wound up they intended to sever all business
connection. It would surely have been far more
honest and wise had he seen fit to tell them the true
situation instead of insisting each time he wrote that
the business was just on the verge of reviving. He had'
known that one of them was at the front, while the
others were engrossed by important war-work and
on this they all felt that he had presumed; indeed
they were not sure that after the war they would not
immediately start a proces unless he fell in with their
decision at once, abiding in every respect by their
wishes. These and many other statements that letter
contained, none of which was very easy to stomach.
A nice kettle of fish and no mistake. Kahn twisted
and turned like a rat in a trap, while feeling himself
to be utterly helpless. They were three to one, they
were adamant, and the Galeries Kahn would have
to go — he was overwhelmed by an immense self-pity.
And true it was that every centime he possessed had
been risked for the sake of those dreams of his, quite
as much as for personal ambitions. Those dreams
had already cost him his savings, his rings, his gold
watch, even Beauvais' picture. Yes, even the picture
had been sold in the end to a disagreeable and close-
fisted dealer. Nor had Kahn shrunk from subduing
the flesh, cutting down his food and wine and tobacco;
denying himself the society of a certain large-hearted
lady at Saint Raphael; for into the conception of the
Galeries Kahn as into that of those jerry-built villas,
had gone something of the man's very body and soul;
he had fathered them as men father their children.
They had leapt in the womb of a sorry ideal -— an
ideal that had meant more to him than women.
Anatole Kahn looked around his shop. He looked
at the gilt that the salt air had tarnished, at the cheap
cerise satin and cheaper plush that the careless sun
373