"He is looking awfully cut up," Mrs. Houghton said to her cousin.
"He is one of the most infernal fools that ever I came across in my life," said Jack.
"I don't see that he is a fool at all,—any more than all men are fools. There isn't one among you is ever able to keep his little troubles to himself. You are not a bit wiser than the rest of them yourself."
"I haven't got any troubles,—of that sort."
"You haven't a wife,—but you'll be forced into having one before long. And when you like another man's wife you can't keep all the world from knowing it."
"All the world may know everything that has taken place between me and Lady George," said Jack. "Of course I like her."
"I should say, rather."
"And so do you."
"No, I don't, sir. I don't like her at all. She is a foolish, meaningless little creature, with nothing to recommend her but a pretty colour. And she has cut me because her husband will come and pour out his sorrow into my ears. For his sake I used to be good to her."
"I think she is the sweetest human being I ever came across in my life," said Jack, enthusiastically.