Languidly by her chair I sat,

But my eyes rather flashed at that.

I said, ‘Emilia, people change,

But yet, I own, I find it strange

To hear this common talk from you:

You speak, and some believe it true,

Just as if any wife would do;

Whoe’er one takes, ’tis much the same,

And love—and so forth, but a name.’

She coloured. ‘What can I have said