“Why then do they try to disgrace me?”
“They think it no disgrace if you’ve changed.”
“That’s very well for her; but it’s pitiful for him, and I declare it surprises me.”
“Oh he came round—he helped me to resist. He pulled his wife off. It was the first shock,” said Schinkel.
“You oughtn’t to have shocked them, my dear fellow,” Hyacinth pronounced.
“I was shocked myself—I couldn’t help it.”
“Lord, how shaky you all are!” He was more and more aware now of all the superiority still left him to cling to.
“You take it well. I’m very sorry. But it is a fine chance,” Schinkel went on, smoking away.
His pipe seemed for the moment to absorb him, so that after a silence Hyacinth resumed:
“Be so good as to remember that all this while I don’t in the least understand what you’re talking about.”