"If he isn't a fighting man I never saw one."
"Thank you. You always appreciated him. When he was spun for the army he thought he had lost me. I read despair in his eyes, and he, poor dear, couldn't read what was in mine. And then came that awful scene in King's Charteris Church. He gave me up then, but I stuck to him. And now—now," her eyes filled with tears although her lips were smiling, "he shall know that success or failure counts nothing with me. I want him—him. And anything which stands between us I abhor."
Lady Randolph's attempt to reduce this speech to its elements found expression in a simple: "You will ask him to give up Stepney?"
"I shall ask him to seek work in some place where you do not smell fried fish. There is plenty to do west of Temple Bar."
"And the others? You have flirted with all of them, Betty; don't deny it!"
"But I do deny it."
"You encouraged Harry Kirtling the season before last."
"As if he needed encouragement!"
"He nearly persuaded you to marry him."
"Yes, he did," she confessed, blushing furiously. "I burn when I think of that Ascot week. Bah! what fools girls are! Mark never came near me, answered my letters with post-cards. I give you my word—post-cards. I sent sheaves and received straws. And Harry makes love nicely."