“I lie in the dust,” I said.
“I know the pose,” she said, with a lighter touch. “Happily it is absurd. If it were not that it would be contemptible.”
“Well, pitiless woman, what would you have a man to be and do? Let us suppose provisionally that I ask out of deep, religious curiosity. I may not like the part. How should a man behave with you?”
“I dislike you very much at this moment,” she replied. “By an effort I remember that you have saving qualities. Did you hear me say that I was prepared to make an exception?”
“It may be too late,” I said. “What are the terms? You said under certain conditions.”
She frowned, hesitated and went on slowly.
“It is my castle. You may dwell there, you may come and go, you may make free of it in discretion, agreeably to our joint pleasure, provided you forego beforehand all rights accruing from use and tenure.”
We debated the contract in a high, ceremonious manner. It was agreed that the bargain, if made, should terminate automatically at the instant I should presume to make the slightest demand upon her.
“As if for instance I should demand the key to the chamber of horrors,” I said, whimsically.