“I have done with warnings,” he answered more gravely. “They may be a help to you when you don’t want to do a thing; but when you do want they only make you wish for it more. The best way is to follow your inclinations, so long as they are sufficiently moral, and let the rest take care of itself.”
“I don’t know about being the best way; but it is the most pleasant. What is the use of living, if one has to do nothing but struggle,” said Lady Gwendolyn, who found drifting with the tide a happier state of things than struggling against circumstances.
There was a minute’s silence, and then Colonel Dacre looked up from the carpet, which he had been studying with great apparent interest, and observed:
“To-day is Wednesday, is it not?”
“I believe so.”
“How long does it take to buy a dress, Gwen?”
“That depends upon the buyer. If you are fond of shopping it takes several hours; if you dislike shopping as much as I do it only takes a few minutes.”
“A few minutes! Come, that is delightful!” he said cheerily. “But, then, it has to be made, I suppose?”
“Well, as a rule.”
“You are quizzing me, Gwen, I perceive. We always expose ourselves to ridicule when we ask for information.”