"Only I thought ..." Humphrey began. "You see, she supports her family...."
"O Lord!" Ferrol groaned. "It's worse than I imagined."
"Besides, she's ... she's clever ... we have the same tastes."
"Of course you have. But your tastes will alter. You're going to progress.... And she's going to progress, too, on different lines.... A woman's line of progress is different ... and in twenty years' time!"
The telephone bell rang. Ferrol took up the receiver.
"Well, that's all," he said to Humphrey. And then: "I don't take this trouble with every one."
Humphrey groped for words. "No ... I understand ... I see what you mean.... You don't think...."
Ferrol nodded. "You can do what you like, of course."
He put the receiver to his ear and began talking rapidly.