It was a polite, friendly thing to say. Hugo could not refrain from comparing himself to Valentine Mitchel. An artist—a clever artist and one who would some day be important to the world. Because people could understand what he drew, because it represented a level of thought and expression. He was, like Hugo, in the doldrums of progress. But Mitchel would emerge, succeed, be happy—or at least satisfied with himself—while Hugo was bound to silence, was compelled never to allow himself full expression. Humanity would never accept and understand him. They were not similar people, but their case was, at that instant, ironically parallel. “It isn’t only being strong,” he answered meditatively, “but it’s knowing what to do with your strength.”

“Why—there are a thousand things to do.”

“Such as?”

Mitchel raised himself on his elbows and turned his water-coloured eyes on the populous beach. “Well—well—let’s see. You could, of course, be a strong man and amuse people—which you’re doing. You could—oh, there are lots of things you could do.”

Hugo smiled. “I’ve been thinking about them—for years. And I can’t discover any that are worth the effort.”

“Bosh!”

Charlotte moved close to him. “There’s one thing you can do, honey, and that’s enough for me.”

“I wonder,” Hugo said with a seriousness the other two did not perceive.

The increased heat of August suggested by its very intensity a shortness of duration, an end of summer. Hugo began to wonder what he would do with Charlotte when he went back to Webster. He worried about her a good deal and she, guessing the subject of his frequent fits of silence, made a resolve in her tough and worldly mind. She had learned more about certain facets of Hugo than he knew himself. She realized that he was superior to her and that, in almost any other place than Coney Island, she would be a liability to him. The thought that he would have to desert her made Hugo very miserable. He knew that he would miss Charlotte and he knew that the blow to her might spell disaster. After all, he thought, he had not improved her morals or raised her vision. He did not realize that he had made both almost sublime by the mere act of being considerate. “White,” Charlotte called it.