"Then why do you do it?"
"Why do we do it? Is that what you meant to ask?"
"I did not mean anything."
"So I supposed, from what you said." Vanbrugh smiled and Dolly laughed as their eyes met.
"I was here first," said Vanbrugh after a moment.
"Not at all. I have been at least an hour at old Mrs. Trehearne's."
"I may have seen you go in, and I may have waited all that time to catch you on the door-step."
"So like you! Why are you not defending the chemist who cremated his fifth wife alive in a retort, or the cashier who hypnotised the head of his firm and made him sign cheques with his eyes shut, or the typhus-germ murderer, or something nice and interesting of that sort? Are you growing lazy in your old age, Mr. Vanbrugh?"
"Awfully!"
"How well you talk. When I have made a beautiful long speech and have beaten my memory black and blue for words I cannot remember, just to be agreeable—you say 'awfully,' and think you are making conversation."