“Exactly my argument, put into long words,” said Mary. “There will be plenty of time for that when we get down among those old gentlemen yonder—a year or two hence, you know. Meanwhile, let us take the world as we find it. It isn’t a bad place, after all, at times, and there are several things worth doing for those who are not too lazy.
“Good-bye, I must be off; my bicycle is there against the railings. Oh, how I hate that machine! Now, listen, Morris; do you want to do something really useful, and earn the blessings of an affectionate relative? Then invent a really reliable electrical bike, that would look nice and do all the work, so that I could sit on it comfortably and get to a place without my legs aching as though I had broken them, and a red face, and no breath left in my body.”
“I will think about it,” he said; “indeed, I have thought of it already but the accumulators are the trouble.”
“Then go on thinking, there’s an angel; think hard and continually until you evolve that blessed instrument of progression. I say, I haven’t a lamp.”
“I’ll lend you mine,” suggested Morris.
“No; other people’s lamps always go out with me, and so do my own, for that matter. I’ll risk it; I know the policeman, and if we meet I will argue with him. Good-bye; don’t forget we are coming to dinner to-morrow night. It’s a party, isn’t it?”
“I believe so.”
“What a bore, I must unpack my London dresses. Well, good-bye again.”
“Good-bye, dear,” answered Morris, and she was gone.
“‘Dear,’” thought Mary to herself; “he hasn’t called me that since I was sixteen. I wonder why he does it now? Because I have been scolding him, I suppose; that generally makes men affectionate.”