“Well,” I said, “I can see that it would be something to get off your mind.”
“O, it will be an immense relief, I can assure you. Not that I think there is anything in it. But it is something that one has to endure. I suspect that you regard it as something of a joke.”
“On the contrary, I regard it as an event of almost religious significance. If you would permit me to be sentimental I could say some rather pretty things about Coming Out as an institution. Débutanting is one of those incidents of civilized life which we all permit ourselves to contemplate with real enjoyment. I’m sure that your aunt will enjoy it.”
“But?—”
“I didn’t say ‘but’.”
“You looked it. There was a lurking ‘but’ in your tone, like the diminished seventh. But what?”
“I refuse to have a ‘but’ if I am to be challenged for it. A ‘but’ is sometimes a fragile thing.”
“Yes, and sometimes it is a buttress.”
“Not one that may not be shattered by a woman—even a very young woman.”