Strona 244 z 490

I remember picking up a little vellum-covered book in your studio

one day and chancing on that delightful phrase. Well, I am not

like that young man you told me of when we were down at Marlow

together, the young man who used to say that yellow satin could

console one for all the miseries of life. I love beautiful things

that one can touch and handle. Old brocades, green bronzes,

lacquer-work, carved ivories, exquisite surroundings, luxury,

pomp-there is much to be got from all these. But the artistic

temperament that they create, or at any rate reveal, is still

more to me. To become the spectator of one's own life, as Harry

says, is to escape the suffering of life. I know you are

surprised at my talking to you like this. You have not realized

how I have developed. I was a schoolboy when you knew me. I am a

man now. I have new passions, new thoughts, new ideas. I am

different, but you must not like me less. I am changed, but you

must always be my friend.