She looked round at him with laughter in her eyes.
“You have all the manners of an early Christian martyr,” she said. “Poor soul! Would you like to be thrown to the lions?”
“I should prefer being thrown to the demnition ducks and drakes,” he said moodily.
“You're such a miserable man,” she chided him, “and yet you have everything to make life worth living.”
“Ha, ha!” said T. X.
“You have, of course you have! You have a splendid position. Everybody looks up to you and talks about you. You have got a wife and family who adore you—”
He stopped and looked at her as though she were some strange insect.
“I have a how much?” he asked credulously.
“Aren't you married?” she asked innocently.
He made a strange noise in his throat.