"Don't be so pessimistic. It would be much more sensible to think of marriage as solid meadow-land after your present scramble over a shaky what-d'ye-call it."
"True for you! I give you the stage as the shakiest of all scraws. But where is solid footing to be found? The world itself is only a vast bog that sucks in the generations."
"I am sorry I asked you to be serious," he said glumly. "You're such a quick-change artiste."
"I must quickly assume the governess or I'll lose my character," she said, rising resolutely.
He put her cloak tenderly round her.
"You know I'll take you without a character," he said lightly.
"If I had no character I might be tempted to take you," she retorted dispiritingly. "Thank you so much for my first supper."
XX
Eileen slept little. The dramatic possibilities of the interview with Colonel Doherty were too agitating and too numerous. This time the marionette-play needed writing. Who should receive him when he called? Eileen O'Keeffe or Nelly O'Neill?