"I'm not starting it. I am, I earnestly hope, just finishing it. If you want to know, I've had a cold all the summer."
"Well, I haven't noticed it."
"That's because I'm such a good actor. I've been playing the part of a man who hasn't had a cold all the summer. My performance is considered to be most life-like."
Beatrice disdained to answer, and by and by I sneezed again.
"You certainly have a cold," she said, putting down her work.
"Come, this is something."
"You must be careful. How did you catch it?"
"I didn't catch it. It caught me."
"Last week-end?"
"No, last May."