E. (with emphasis). Wouldn’t you, really?
H. Unfortunately for me—no.
E. No, I am not the same.
H. (in a low tone). Will you tell me how you have changed?
E. (after a pause). I have grown stout! Yes, I have. I have gained twenty pounds in the four years you have been away.
H. (laughing). The inference pains me deeply. But twenty pounds can be judiciously distributed without actual injury to the possessor. Is there anything else?
E. (sentimentally). Ah, yes, when I am introduced to a new man I no longer expect to find him a mine of entertainment. I used to. Now I am surprised if I have not to be clever for both of us.
H. Is that so new? (Thoughtfully.) I sometimes think I was stupid for both of us—or—could it have been only that you were too wise? (Aside.) Oh, this fatal tendency to reminiscence—and I know better!
E. (with a slight effort). You are carrying me too far back. I am marking my progress since I saw you. (Aside.) Certainly this is too much like burrowing in the leaves of a dead past. No wonder he did not wait until to-morrow.
H. Forgive me, and go on with the disillusionments.