'I think you mean that if people are so sickening as to have an affectation at all, you would rather they kept it quiet,' said Edith.
'Exactly! At least, it brings a smile to one's lips to see a very young man pretend he is bored with life. I have often wondered what the answer would be from one of these chaps, and what he would actually say, if you held a loaded pistol to his head—I mean the man who says he doesn't think life worth living.'
'What do you think he would say?' asked Coniston.
'He would scream: "Good heavens! What are you doing? Put that down!"' said Edith.
'She's right,' said Aylmer. 'She always is.'
Dulcie came in and brought tea.
'I hope we're not tiring him,' Edith asked her.
'Oh no. I think it does him good. He enjoys it.'
She sat down with Archie and talked to him gently in the corner.
'After living so much among real things,' Coniston was saying, 'one feels half ashamed to discuss our old subjects.'