'I doubt it. I doubt whether you ever think much of anything I do.'
'That's rather unkind, because you know it isn't true.'
'I always thought very much the same, you know.'
'Rubbish! But come, what are we going to do? Naples seems out of the question; but there's no reason why we shouldn't go to meet them in London.'
'You would much rather wait here, and let them come,' said Alma. 'I don't care particularly about going away. So long as we keep on good terms with each other—that's the chief thing.'
'There has never been a dream of anything else. We are on good terms as a matter of course. It's part of the order of the universe.'
'I'm very sorry, dear, that I threatened the universe with catastrophe; but I won't do it again—indeed I won't. I will watch your face, and be on my guard. And really, you know, under ordinary circumstances, I am good-tempered enough.'
'What's all this about?' cried Harvey. For she seemed to be in earnest, and spoke with a soft humility, such as might have become the least original of wives. 'Watch my face, and be on your guard? Since when have I desired you to be a simpleton?'
'I'm quite serious. It isn't foolish at all. I want to please you; that's all I mean, dear.'
He gazed at her, wondering, inclined to laugh, yet withheld from it by an uneasy feeling.