MIZZIE
It will be a hard blow for him. Nobody knows better than I how deeply he has been attached to you. Although he has never said a word to me about it.
LOLO
Do you think it's so very easy for me either, Countess? But tell me. Countess, what else could I do? I am no longer a spring chicken, you know. And one can't help hankering for something more settled. As long as I had a profession of my own, I could allow myself—what do they call it now?—to entertain liberal ideas. It goes in a way with the position I have held. But how would that look now, when I am retiring to private life?
MIZZIE
Oh, I can see that perfectly. But what is he going to do now?
LOLO
Why shouldn't he marry, too? I assure you, Countess, that there are many who would give all their five fingers.... Don't you realize, Countess, that I, too, have found it a hard step to take?
MIZZIE
Do you know what I have been wondering often? Whether he never thought of making you his wife?