"What do you mean?"
"I can tell you after all that" (here he caught Mavis's eye)—"after we've been such friends—as far as I'm concerned, my marriage has been a ghastly failure."
"You mustn't tell me that," declared Mavis, to whom the news brought a secret joy.
"I can surely tell you after—after we've been such dear friends. But we don't hit it off at all. I can't stick Vic at any price."
"Nonsense! She's pretty and charming. Everyone who knows her says the same."
"When they first know her; then they think no end of a lot of her; but after a time everyone's 'off' her, although they haven't spotted the reason."
"Have you?"
"Unfortunately, that's been my privilege. Vic has enough imagination to tell her to do the right thing and all that; but otherwise, she's utterly, constitutionally cold."
"Nonsense! She must have sympathy to 'do the right thing,' as you call it."
"Not necessarily. Hers comes from the imagination, as I told you; but her graceful tact chills one in no time. I might as well have married an icicle."