‘You will excuse the dressing-gown, Frank.’
‘I just love you in it. No, you mustn’t pass. Now you can go.’
‘I was so afraid that you would breakfast without me that I had no time to dress. I shall have the whole day to finish in when you are gone. There now—Jemima has forgotten to warm the plates again! And your coffee is cold. I wish you had not waited.’
‘Better cold coffee with Maude’s society.’
‘I always thought men gave up complimenting their wives after they married them. I am so glad you don’t. I think on the whole that women’s ideas of men are unfair and severe. The reason is that the women who have met unpleasant men run about and make a noise, but the women who are happy just keep quiet and enjoy themselves. For example, I have not time to write a book explaining to every one how nice Frank Crosse is; but if he were nasty my life would be empty, and so of course I should write my book.’
‘I feel such a fraud when you talk like that.’
‘That is part of your niceness.’
‘Oh don’t, Maude! It really hurts me.’
‘Why, Frank, what is the matter with you to-day?’
‘Nothing, dear.’