'Oh, they used to have adventures. Sometimes they were put in a box, the box in a chest with seven locks on it, and placed at the bottom of the sea, beneath the roaring waves. Sometimes they were put in baskets sewn up with red thread. But whatever happened to them, they always turned up all right again, with faces like the moon in the fourteenth night.'
'So that's why you compared me to those beauties, Stella. Well, I couldn't believe you were paying me a compliment. But tell me now, are you glad to see me?'
'Oh yes, of course. But why do you always alight like a bomb? Is the wind from the east?'
'Oh, bother the wind! Tell me all about yourself. Have you been well all the time? I don't believe you have. You used not to have circles under your eyes; and they look bigger.'
'The better to see you with,' answered Stella, smiling.
The most obvious quotation, however, was always thrown away on Ted.
'But why are you not looking well?' he persisted.
'Well, you know, mother had a fever. But dancing is good for me; so I have come to stay with Laurette, that I may dance for weeks before going into the Bush.'
'How often will you dance with me, Stella?'
'Well, that depends; you used to waltz out of time. Have you had any practice during your travels?'