Doris very often gave one the trouble of repeating a thing, when Lily felt certain that she had heard it the first time.
She now said nothing at all.
"Like who, did you say?"
Lily shut her eyes, and her impulses at the moment were little short of murderous.
"I say, what's up? Tired? Who's Rosa Dartle?"
"A character in Dickens—'David Copperfield.'"
"How appalling! Dickens' people always are appalling, aren't they? What makes you think I'm like Rosa Dartle, whoever she may be?"
"She used to ask questions."
"I say, I like that! D'you think I ask questions? It's supposed to be a sign of an enquiring nature, isn't it?"
Lily, her despair untinged by any humour, gazed into an abyss of such utter futility as silenced her with sheer amazement.